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The Golden Age of Exoplanet Exploration

Friday, March 15, 2019
7:00pm to 8:30pm
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Ramo Auditorium
  • Public Event

Since the discovery of the first exoplanet orbiting a sun-like star in 1995, several thousand more have been discovered. We've peered into the atmospheres of some, and we've found whole families of planets orbiting strange stars — many in configurations starkly different from our own. We've learned a lot from NASA's Kepler mission, which launched 10 years ago and ceased operations in November 2018.

A new NASA planet-hunting spacecraft called TESS, which began science operations as Kepler was winding down, will give us thousands of new discoveries in the coming years. And the Spitzer Space Telescope has provided us valuable insights into what these worlds might be like.

This show will look at the state of exoplanet science and give us a view of what future discoveries may be around the corner.

Speakers

  • Jessie Christiansen, Research Scientist at the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, Caltech
  • Karl Stapelfeldt, Chief Scientist, NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program, JPL

This is a free event; no tickets or reservations are required.

About the Series

The Theodore von Kármán Lecture Series, named after JPL's founder, and presented by JPL's Office of Communication and Education, brings the excitement of the space program's missions, instruments and other technologies to both JPL employees and the local community. Lectures take place twice per month, on consecutive Thursdays and Fridays. The Thursday lectures take place in JPL's Theodore von Kármán Auditorium and are streamed live via Ustream, and (beginning in July 2018) Friday lectures take place at Caltech's Ramo Auditorium. Both start at 7:00 p.m. Admission and parking are free for all lectures, no reservations are required, and seating is limited.

Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

For more information, please contact Caltech Ticket Office by phone at (626) 395-4652 or by email at [email protected].