Which complementary technique measures the stellar wobble caused by a planet's gravitational tug to yield the planet's mass?
Answer
Radial velocity method
Exoplanet characterization often requires combining multiple detection techniques because no single method yields all necessary data. The transit method provides the planet's size and orbital rhythm. In contrast, the radial velocity method focuses on the star itself. This technique measures the minuscule back-and-forth wobble of the star caused by the gravitational pull exerted by its orbiting planet. The magnitude of this wobble is directly related to the planet's mass. When astronomers successfully use both the transit method (yielding radius) and the radial velocity method (yielding mass), they can calculate the density, which is key to understanding the planet’s fundamental composition.
Related Questions
What does the time interval between successive dips in brightness measure in transit observations?What geometric constraint causes the transit method to inherently fail to detect some exoplanetary systems?What crucial factor for assessing planetary composition (rock vs. gas) requires combining transit data with radial velocity data?What feature of the resulting plot of brightness over time characterizes the light curve during a transit event?Why is the transit method significantly more sensitive for detecting planets around M-dwarfs than around large, bright stars like the Sun?What must an astronomer know accurately to calculate the radius of a transiting planet using transit depth data?What is the significance of 'periodicity' in identifying a true planetary signal using the transit method?Which physical characteristic of an exoplanet cannot be revealed solely by utilizing the transit method?When observing our Sun, what precision level in luminosity measurement is required to detect the transit of Jupiter?Which complementary technique measures the stellar wobble caused by a planet's gravitational tug to yield the planet's mass?