Star system

High school (ages 12+)
Space & Astronomy

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/star-system

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the exoplanet detection methods?Key methods include transit photometry and radial velocity measurements
2. What is the habitability factors?Beyond stellar distance, atmospheric composition and stellar activity influence a planet's habitability
3. How do planets orbit around a star?Planets move in elliptical paths around a star, and the farther they are, the longer they take to go around, following Kepler's laws.
4. How do star systems form from clouds of gas and dust?Star systems start when a big cold cloud of gas and dust collapses, spins faster, and forms a spinning disk around a growing star, where dust sticks together to make planets.

Protoplanetary Disk: A rotating disk of dense gas and dust surrounding a newly formed star, from which planets form.
Transit Method: A technique for detecting exoplanets by observing the slight dimming of a star as a planet passes in front of it.
Biosignature: A substance or phenomenon that provides evidence of past or present life.