Search for Exoplanets: A Discussion with Professor Sara Seager @ BTG

One of the most existing developments of the last two decades in the field of astronomy is the discovery of exoplanets: planets that orbit around the stars other then our sun. The idea of finding planets outside our solar system is not new; philosophers and scientists have imagined exoplanets for centuries. Giordano Bruno, an Italian philosopher, mathematician, poet, and astrologer theorised exoplanets in sixteenth century. However for centuries there was no mechanism available to detect exoplanets. The first two confirmed exoplanets were discovered in 1992. Since then the detection of new exoplanets continues. By September 2015 the number of confirmed exoplanets has reached 1892. In this podcast I discuss, in detail, with Professor Sara Seager, the fascinating research in the field of exoplanets. Professor Sara Seager is an astrophysicists and planetary scientist at MIT. Her science research focuses on theory, computation, and data analysis of exoplanets. Her research has introduced many new ideas to the field of exoplanet characterization, including work that led to the first detection of an exoplanet atmosphere. She is the author of two textbooks on these topics. She was part of a team that co-discovered the first detection of light emitted from an exoplanet, and the first spectrum of an exoplanet. In twenty thirteen she was awarded a MacArther Fellowship.