Exoplanet Math: Transit Depth, Orbits, Habitable Zones & Radial Velocity

What you'll build

What you will be able to do

Each lab ends with a concrete result that you build yourself and the checker confirms, cell by cell.

• Measure the baseline and the dip of a transit light curve, turn the depth into the radius ratio and the planet's radius in Earth radii, and plot the light curve.
• Number six observed transits (two were missed), fit the orbital period with SLOPE, predict a future transit and measure the average transit duration.
• Convert six periods to years, get each semi-major axis from the star's mass, the orbital speed in km/s, and check one orbit with Newton's form in SI units.
• Calculate the equilibrium temperature of six planets in kelvin and °C, count the ones in a temperate band and solve for the albedo that would give a target temperature.
• Calculate six stars' luminosities, the inner and outer edges of their habitable zones and test with IF and AND whether each planet lies inside.
• Read the semi-amplitude K off twelve radial-velocity measurements, turn it into the planet's minimum mass in kg and Earth masses, and correct it with the inclination from the transit.
• Combine mass (radial velocity) and radius (transit) of seven planets into bulk density, surface gravity and escape velocity, and look up a composition hint.
• Classify twelve planets by size with an approximate lookup, count a class, average the radius of the short-period planets and plot radius against period.