Our Universe Revealed Lecture Series
The Search for Life & Earth 2.0
Dr. Jonathan Crass, Department of Physics
For centuries, humans have looked up at the stars in the night sky and pondered a fundamental question about our place in the Universe:
Are we alone?
Twenty years ago, the first planet outside our solar system was discovered, heralding a new era in the search for life beyond Earth. Today, our knowledge of these ‘exoplanets’ has expanded significantly with over one thousand confirmed planets, with a growing knowledge of their composition and the processes by which they formed.
Join us as we explore the techniques used to discover these planets and what their discovery means for understanding our solar system. We’ll discuss both current and future instruments, how they answer these questions and what they are aiming to discover in the coming decade.