Why do exo-planets always seem to have quick orbits?

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This is something that always appears weird to me when reading about exo-planets. They usually have these absurd quick orbits around their star, like a couple of days or two weeks at most. Why is that?

In: Planetary Science

5 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s much easier to detect exo-planets that orbit close to their star (and thus have quick orbits) because of the methods used to find them. One method involves watching for planets which pass between their star and earth, which is more likely with a close, fast orbit. And another method uses the wobble produced by the planet’s gravitational effect on the star which is again more likely with closer orbits. We haven’t been looking at any of these stars for 30 years continuously (which is the orbital period of saturn, for example) so we can’t confirm orbital effects of planets with that orbital period

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