News Astronomy

Any aliens orbiting these 2,000 stars could spot Earth crossing the sun

They would find the planet the way astronomers here detect exoplanets

a row of stars in the night sky, with the milky way in the background

Thousands of star systems (some shown in the horizontal line in this artist’s illustration) could see Earth’s shadow as the planet passes in front of the sun.

OpenSpace/American Museum of Natural History

By Lisa Grossman

- More than 2 years ago

Astronomers look for distant planets by watching for the shadow the worlds cast when passing between their star and Earth.