Recent content by ladr0n

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    Undergrad How can you tell that a planet in another star system is tidally locked?

    Thanks Ich, that's what I was looking for.
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    Undergrad How can you tell that a planet in another star system is tidally locked?

    Thanks for the answer, Borg, but I do understand what tidal locking is; my question was about how we can detect it in a star system 20 light-years away, since (I am assuming) it would be impossible to resolve the shape of a planet that far away even with our best telescopes.
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    Undergrad How can you tell that a planet in another star system is tidally locked?

    My question was piqued by this article: http://news.discovery.com/space/earth-like-planet-life.html The article claims that the planet discovered is tidally locked, but does not explain how this was determined. Presumably the planet is much too far away to be resolved by any telescope, and...