The vast majority of exoplanets have been discovered using the radial velocity method.

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The science news headlines are buzzing today with the results of a new study by astronomers from the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS).

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An instrument called HARPS (short for High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher) is also a top contender, having already spotted a number of potentially habitable worlds.

MSN: Senior writer

In fact, the first few hundred exoplanets were found by the "radial velocity" technique, which detects tiny motions of a star as it and its planets orbit one another.

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By using an entirely different planet-hunting approach, it should be able to plug this gap, and provide a means of calibrating the census figures resulting from the radial-velocity and astrometric searches.

ECONOMIST: A roadmap for planet-hunting

Astrometric and radial-velocity searches for planets are neatly complementary.

ECONOMIST: A roadmap for planet-hunting