how are we able to see planets that are 100’s of lightyears away? By continually increasing the magnification of a telescope? How do we know anything about the planets atmosphere if it’s that far away? For example, the Corot-7b, we are told it rains rocks there.

Question

how are we able to see planets that are 100’s of lightyears away? By continually increasing the magnification of a telescope? How do we know anything about the planets atmosphere if it’s that far away? For example, the Corot-7b, we are told it rains rocks there.

In: Technology

Answer 1

We’re not able to see them.
We see them block the light from their star.
Or we see their gravity tugging on their star.

We know about their atmosphere because when they block that star, some light pass through the atmosphere, which filters out some light but not others.