Lots More Information

Related HowStuffWorks Links

• How SETI Works
• How Stars Work
• How the Sun Works
• How Telescopes Work
• How Mars Works
• How Solar Eclipses Work
• How Light Works
• How Satellites Work
• How the Hubble Space Telescope Works
• How Comets Work
• How Asteroids Work
• How Nuclear Bombs Work
• How do astronomers detect that a star has a planet orbiting it?
• Jupiter Explained
• Mercury Explained
• Neptune Explained
• Pluto Explained
• Uranus Explained
• Venus Explained
• The Solar System Explained

Other Great Links

General Information

• The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia
• The Search for Extrasolar Planets
• Astronomy.com: Extrasolar Planets: Fifty and Counting
• Scientific American: A Parade of New Planets
• Extrasolar Planetary Systems
• Sky & Telescope: Habitable Moons: What does it take for a moon to support life?
• Searching for Extrasolar Planets
• Nova On-line: Hunt for Alien Worlds
• Solar System
• European Southern Observatory press Release 18/98: Extrasolar Planet in Double Star System Discovered from La Silla

Planet-hunting Methods

• Extrasolar Detection Methods
• SETI Central: Finding Extrasolar Planets - Warble, Wobble or Wink
• Capabilities of Various Planet Detection Methods
• High precision Doppler measurements: The physics and techniques for finding planets
• Extra-Solar Planet Detection

Space Agency/Organization Planet-hunting Projects

• NASA The Kepler Mission Home Page
• NASA Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) Home Page
• NASA Origins Program Home Page
• European Space Agency: Project Darwin Home Page
• Extrasolar Research Corporation
• Spectrashift.com: Amateur Extrasolar Planet Search

Books

• "The Quest for Alien Planets: Exploring Worlds Outside the Solar System," by Paul Halpern
• "Planet Quest: The Epic Discovery of Alien Solar Systems," by Ken Croswell
• "World-Building," by Stephen L. Gillett, Ben Bova (Editor)
• "Looking for Earth: The Race to Find New Solar Systems," by Alan Boss
• "Are We Alone in the Cosmos?: The Search for Alien Contact in the New Millennium," by Ben Bova (Editor), Byron Preiss (Editor), William R. Alschuler (Editor)
• "Here Be Dragons: The Scientific Quest for Extraterrestrial Life," by Simon Levay, David W. Koerner