ESOcast 60: A Polarised View of Exoplanets

Astronomers know that planets around other stars beyond the Solar System are common. But these planets are very hard to see and even harder to study. Fortunately, there is a clever trick that helps to separate the feeble glow of a planet from the dazzling glare of its parent star: exploiting the polarisation of the light reflected from the planet.

In this episode of the ESOcast we'll talk about this very special feature of light and how we can use it to detect planets around other stars.

More episodes of the ESOcast are also available.

Credit:

ESO
Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser and Luis Calçada.
Editing: Herbert Zodet.
Web and technical support: Mathias André and Raquel Yumi Shida.
Written by: Georgia Bladon, Richard Hook, Nicola Guttridge, Christoph Keller, Frans Snik, Daphne Stam and Herbert Zodet.
Presented by: Joe Liske (Dr. J).
Narration: Sara Mendes da Costa.
Music: Toomas Erm.
Footage and photos: ESO, Jean-Luc Beuzit/Eric Stadler/IPAG Grenoble, Luis Calçada, Martin Kornmesser, ESA/Hubble, José Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org), Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org).
Directed by: Herbert Zodet.
Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen.

 

ESOcast HD (High Definition - 1280 x 720)
ESOcast SD (Standard Definition - 640 x 480)

ESOcast HD (High Definition) in Apple Podcasts
ESOcast SD (Standard Definition) in Apple Podcasts

About the Video

Id:esocast60a
Release date:4 September 2013, 15:00
Related releases:eso1417
Related announcements:ann13069
Duration:07 m 37 s
Frame rate:30 fps

About the Object

Name:Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch instrument (SPHERE)
Type:Unspecified : Technology : Observatory : Instrument
Unspecified
Category:ESOcast

HD


Large

Large QT
115.0 MB

Medium

Video Podcast
85.5 MB
Medium MPEG-1
192.6 MB
Medium Flash
98.1 MB

Small

Small Flash
42.2 MB
Small QT
28.4 MB

For Broadcasters


Script

Script
28.8 KB

Subtitles

Czech
8.1 KB
English
8.1 KB
German
8.8 KB
Greek
12.6 KB
Italian
8.4 KB
Polish
8.2 KB
Portuguese
8.3 KB
Russian
11.3 KB