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President's Dream Colloquium on Emergence and Complexity of Life
Exoplanets and the Search for Habitable Worlds
Watch the Recorded Web Stream
Recorded on November 15, 2012
Lecture Abstract
For thousands of years people have wondered, “Are we alone?” Hundreds of exoplanets are known to transit their host stars, that is the planet goes in front of its star as seen from Earth. The transiting planets are “goldmines” for astronomers, because the planetary sizes, masses, and atmospheres can be routinely measured. NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope is further revolutionizing transiting exoplanet studies with its unprecedented photometric precision. Highlights of transiting planet studies, breakthrough Kepler discoveries, and pioneering technology development will fuel the search for life on other worlds.
About the Speaker
Sara Seager has garnered international recognition for her pioneering research in the field of exoplanet characterization. She has been recognized by professional societies, research institutions and the media for her contributions, and was singled out by Freeman Dyson as an outstanding young physicist whose career is on the rise.
She has co-authored over 70 peer-reviewed articles and has written articles for the lay public in Sky & Telescope. She has given numerous public lectures across North America and has been featured on public television science programs. In 2010, her textbook Exoplanet Atmospheres: Physical Processes was published by Princeton University Press.
She's a scientific advisor to Planetary Resources Inc., the company that's hoping to mine the asteroids — see interview in Atlantic magazine.
Sara Seager's Vancouver talk is co-sponsored by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), founded in 1903.
The RASC is a charitable organization that is dedicated to the advancement of astronomy and allied sciences, and today has about 4,500 members worldwide.
The Vancouver Centre of the RASC is one of the largest and most active of the society's nearly 30 local centres. The RASC supports public education and outreach, as well as scientific research, and produces a number of regular publications, including the annual "Observer's Handbook", a 'must have' reference used by astronomers around the world.
Membership in the RASC is open to everyone who is interested in astronomy; most members are amateur astronomers, united by their passion for the exploration of the cosmos.