Saturday Science Lecture Series
Other Worlds
with Justin Crepp, The Frank M Freimann Assistant Professor of Physics
We now know that planets exist beyond the solar system. In fact, they are common. Recent observations indicate that the formation of terrestrial worlds is a natural outcome of the star formation process: each time a new star is born, so are its planets. In this talk, I will describe how NASA's Kepler space mission has revolutionized our ability to conduct a census of other neighboring worlds. We are on the brink of discovering the first terrestrial planets that orbit in the habitable zone of nearby stars.