Friday, March 30, 2012 (NOTE CHANGE OF DATE)
Debra Fischer, professor of astronomy at Yale University, will speak to the AAA Friday, March 30, on the subject of òÀÜSearching for Earthlike Worlds.òÀÝ The free public lecture begins at 6:15 p.m. in the Kaufmann Theater of the American Museum of Natural History.
Dr. Fischer notes that astronomers have been discovering exoplanets for two decades.
òÀÜMost detected exoplanets are fairly massive gas giants, reflecting a bias in discovery techniques. However, the race is on to detect smaller worlds that orbit at distances where liquid water might pool on the surface and provide an environment similar to the one on Earth, where life has flourished.
òÀÜI will discuss factors that have led to a habitable world here and highlight efforts to find planets that remind us of our home world.òÀÝ
Fischer began hunting for exoplanets in 1997, by measuring tiny periodic shifts in radial velocities of other stars. She discovered the first known multiple-planet system in 1999 and contributed to the understanding of planet formation with analysis that quantified the impact of chemical composition on planet formation.
From 2003 to 2008, Fischer led an international consortium to carry out a search for planets around metal-rich stars. That project alone detected more than 50 extrasolar planets. Some of these planets transit in front of their stars; and the measured decrement in starlight reveals the mass, size, and density of the planets.
Fischer is principal investigator for theˆàCerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory, where her team is using a high-resolution spectrometer to carry out aˆàsearchˆàfor rocky planets around our nearest stellar neighborsòÀÔtheˆàAlpha Centauri A and B binary pairˆàof stars. FischeròÀÙs team is developing next-generation instrument designs, aiming to break current records and detect Earth analogues that will become targets in the search for life.