{"id":285911,"date":"2026-01-15T14:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T14:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/285911\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T14:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T14:48:07","slug":"dr-universe-explores-how-scientists-measure-the-mass-and-size-of-planets-wsu-insider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/285911\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr.\u00a0Universe explores how scientists measure the mass and size of planets | WSU Insider"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington State University\u2019s resident feline scientist, Dr.\u00a0Universe, takes readers on an out-of-this-world journey to answer a big question from Lucy, 10, of Illinois: <a href=\"https:\/\/askdruniverse.wsu.edu\/2026\/01\/08\/scientists-know-mass-size-planets\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">How do scientists know the mass and size of planets<\/a>?<\/p>\n<p>In her latest column, Dr.\u00a0Universe explains that while planets can\u2019t be placed on a scale or measured with a tape, scientists have clever ways to figure out their size and weight. With help from WSU\u00a0geologist Katie Cooper, readers learn how satellites, gravity, and light from distant stars reveal key details about planets both in this solar system and far beyond it.<\/p>\n<p>The column explores how spacecraft measurements, seismic waves, and telescope data from missions like NASA\u2019s TESS help scientists estimate a planet\u2019s mass, shape, and even what it\u2019s made of. Dr.\u00a0Universe also takes the time to introduce young readers to exoplanets \u2014 planets orbiting other stars \u2014 and shows how tiny wobbles and dips in starlight can reveal worlds trillions of miles away.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/askdruniverse.wsu.edu\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ask Dr.\u00a0Universe<\/a> is a science education project from WSU that answers real questions from curious kids around the world. Readers and listeners can submit their own questions and explore more columns, videos, and the Ask Dr.\u00a0Universe podcast online.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Washington State University\u2019s resident feline scientist, Dr.\u00a0Universe, takes readers on an out-of-this-world journey to answer a big question&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[18,19,17,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-285911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-science"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115899669124218175","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}