Slow English FM is a free live radio in easy, slow English, for English learners. You can listen and read at the same time. Scripts and voices are made by AI. Our news is based on real articles from established news organisations, checked against the sources and published with links so you can read them yourself.
How Gravitational Waves Could Reveal Hidden Exoplanets
· 5:42 · With Maya and Nora
So this could reveal a distinct group of exoplanets.
Transcript
Vocabulary in this episode
white dwarf
A white dwarf is the small, dense remnant left when a star like our Sun reaches the end of its life.
A small, dense star left after a star like the Sun reaches the end of its life.
remnant
A white dwarf is the small, dense remnant left when a star like our Sun reaches the end of its life.
What remains after a star like the Sun reaches the end of its life.
reflex motion
Scientists call that reflex motion.
A small movement of two stars caused by a planet’s gravity pulling on them.
Doppler effect
It can shift the gravitational-wave signal in a repeating way, much like the Doppler effect shifts the sound of a passing siren.
A change in a wave’s observed frequency when its source moves toward or away from you.
radial velocity
The effect is similar in idea to a method called radial velocity, which uses changes in a star’s light to search for planets.
A method that looks for planets by measuring changes in a star’s light as it moves toward or away from us.
slated for
It is still in development and is slated for launch in the mid-2030s.
Planned to happen at a particular time.
resolve
Researchers expect LISA to resolve about 10,000 individual systems.
To detect and distinguish separate systems.
false positive
The researchers say that combining a gravitational-wave detection with an infrared observation could help confirm that the signal comes from a real planet rather than a false positive.
A result that seems to show a planet but does not actually come from one.
