Astrophysics Colloquium Sept 10 2019 — Exoplanet: On The Hunt For Earth Twin, Pathway For Origin Of Life (speaker: Didier Queloz, MKI/MIT; Cavendish Laboratory And Geneva University)

Tuesday September 10, 2019 4:00 pm

Exoplanet: On the hunt for Earth twin, pathway for origin of life 

Exoplanet collection identified in the last 25 years ranges from massive and big planets like Jupiter to smaller denser and more compact objects similarly to Earth. Most of these planets are assembled in system orbiting close to their star.

In that rich and stimulating landscape, this talk will describe two specific programs aiming to fill-in with additional small “habitable” planets and to detect Earth twin systems amenable for future work about origins of life.

First “Speculoos survey” currently in operation and looking for Earth size planet transiting ultra-cool dwarfs, second  “Terra Hunting Experiment” designed to detect Earth twin. These two projects will be presented in the general context of recent works about possible minimum conditions required on Earth to allow for the formation of  life chemical building blocks.

Speakers

  • Didier Queloz, Visiting Scientist, MIT/MKI; Professor of Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory and Geneva University.

Event Contact

Debbie Meinbresse