Astrobiology

Earth-Mass Extrasolar Planets -- Next Year at the Latest!

by Greg Laughlin (Lick Observatory)

Europe/Stockholm
122:026 (House 12)

122:026 (House 12)

Description
In this talk I'll give a brief review of the progress to date in discovering extrasolar planets of ever-lower mass. We're currently at the stage where the first Earth-mass planet detections are almost certainly less than a year away. I'll then look at some specific scenarios for how the first truly potentially habitable planets might be discovered, with particular focus on transits of nearby red dwarfs and on the Alpha Centauri system. I'll end with a detailed timeline of how Earth-like worlds can be characterized once they are discovered, with the proposed TESS mission providing a prime near-term example.

See also his astronomy seminar on Tuesday 10:30, titled "Extrasolar Planets -- Spitzer Takes the Heat".

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