Comments on: An exoplanet with an orbit like Mars https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/an-exoplanet-with-an-orbit-like-mars/ Tue, 22 Jul 2014 09:54:24 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Competential https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/an-exoplanet-with-an-orbit-like-mars/#comment-181588 Tue, 22 Jul 2014 09:54:24 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=29758#comment-181588 Kepler was in service from 2009 April 8 until 2013 May 11. That’s about 1500 days. The data might reveal exoplanets with orbital periods almost as long, given that two transits is enough.

But even a single transit could be confirmed as an exoplanet by other methods. There are more than a dozen methods to find or confirm exoplanets! Doppler, astrometry, polarization, direct observation, metallicity of the star… The booming exoplanetary astronomy community will squeeze every exoplanet they can out of Kepler’s data. And there is no strict upper limit to orbital period if single transits are successfully followed up by other methods.

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