Transcript

Carole Haswell

A famous astronomer called Otto Struve wrote about the possibility of exoplanet transits back in the 1950s. The transit of a planet like Jupiter across a star like the Sun could be detected by the technology available to astronomers then, including the telescope named after him, the 82 inch or 2.1 metre Otto Struve telescope at McDonald Observatory.

I used this telescope a lot when I was training to become an astronomer. It makes me smile to know that I’ve used the same equipment as somebody as far sighted as Struve. Struve was Russian and I’m English. Our connection is through a telescope in remote West Texas.

Astronomy is truly a global science. We all share the same sky, and a feeling of connection to it seems to me to be hardwired into the human psyche. There are a few thousand professional astronomers in the world, and we interact via the internet every day.

Astronomy is a bit like a small town. If two astronomers don’t know each other, the chances are they will at least have a mutual acquaintance. It’s now completely normal for astronomers to work intensively with colleagues they’ve never physically met. And in this way, we have solved and continue to solve some of the most amazing space conundrums, one of which is how to measure a planet you can’t actually see.