Florida Institute of Technology
High Tech with a Human Touch
Physics and Space Sciences
Astronomy and Astrophysics Public Lecture Series
In our monthly Astronomy & Astrophysics Public Lecture Series we host an evening lecture on a topic of general interest in astronomy in the auditorium Olin Engineering Complex (room EC 118, see map below) on the 4th Friday of each month during the academic year. The lectures are at 8 p.m., and are followed by a public viewing session at the new campus observatory on the roof of the Olin Physical Sciences Building (weather permitting).
Check out previous lectures at FIT's iTunes University site. Click on the Community Login, and find us in the "Research and Lectures" section (iTunes required). Or, if you don't have iTunes, you can just visit our channel at youtube.com/fitastro and stream the videos in your browser.
Sign up for email reminders of upcoming lectures (click here)
"The Crowded Universe: The Search for Living Planets"
Fri Oct 26, 2012
Dr. Alan P. Boss
Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
Canegie Institution for Science
A major advance in human understanding of our universe occurred in 1995 when we entered the era of the discovery of planetary systems around stars other than the Sun. Well over 700 planets have been found outside our Solar System to date, ranging from the fairly familiar to the weirdly unexpected. Most of the new planets discovered so far appear to be gas giant planets, similar to our Jupiter and Saturn. In the last few years, however, dozens of planets have been discovered with much lower masses, in the range of 5 to 20 times the mass of the Earth, masses that are comparable to those of the ice giant planets in our Solar System, Uranus and Neptune. Some of these smaller mass planets appear to be ice giant planets, while others appear to be rocky planets similar in composition to the Earth, but with much more mass, i.e., super-Earths. The latter discovery is tantalizing evidence that Earths are common. The long-term goal is to discover and characterize nearby Earth-like, habitable planets. European space agencies and NASA have launched and planned an array of space-based telescopes that will carry out this incredible search in the next several decades. The French-led CoRoT Mission and NASA's Kepler Mission are searching for evidence of Earth-mass planets by the transit technique, where the presence of the planet is inferred by monitoring the tiny dimming of star light caused by passage of the planet in front of the star it is orbiting. The Kepler Mission is providing our first firm estimate of the frequency of habitable, Earth-like planets in our neighborhood of the galaxy. Once that frequency is known, we will know how best to design specialized space telescopes that will be capable of weighing and imaging these new worlds, and telling us whether their atmospheres show evidence of the molecules necessary for life (e.g., water and oxygen), and possibly even those created by life (e.g., methane). We will then know if any of the nearby stars harbor planets that are habitable, and perhaps even inhabited. We will know just how crowded the universe really is.
Want even more astronomy?
We now have the Melbourne Astronomical Society for local-area amateur astronomers (including students) to meet, discuss science and equipment, tips and techniques. If you'd like to join us for monthly meetings and meet other local-area amateur astronomers, please sign up for the MAS mailing list. We're meeting on the same nights as the Lecture Series at 6:30 p.m. in the Physical Sciences building room 202 (the conference room).
Directions:
Once on campus, park in the lot adjacent to building 1 or 2. Talks will take place in the Olin Engineering Complex Auditorium (room EC 118). Observing will take place on the roof of the Physical Sciences Building (weather permitting)
