Galileo's Science Cafe with Peter Plavchan

How to find Earth 2.0

Presented by Peter Plavchan

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Description of talk: Over 5500 exoplanets have been confirmed or validated to orbit other stars over the past 30 years.  This revolution in our understanding of our Universe is driven by a multitude of advances in data analysis techniques and engineering to achieve unprecedented precision and accuracy. I will provide an overview of the several main methods we use to detect these distant exoplanets, and what we've recently learned from our discoveries.  I will present exoplanet research projects here at George Mason, and conclude with a look to the future of exoplanet discovery.  The race is on to find Earth-sized planets, understand their atmospheres with the James Webb Space Telescope and the future Habitable Worlds Observatory, and search for signs of life.

Plavchan is an Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at George Mason University, and the Director of the George Mason University Observatories. He earned his undergraduate degree in Physics at Caltech in 2001, his PhD from UCLA in 2006, and he has held appointments at the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at Caltech, Missouri State University, and a visiting appointment at the University of Pennsylvania. Plavchan is an observational exoplanet astronomer, with a focus on the formation and demographics of planets around cool dwarfs, utilizing the radial velocity and transit detection methods. He is the PI of a NASA Probe Mission concept called EarthFinder, is a Co-PI of the MINERVA-Australis telescope array, regularly uses the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility iSHELL spectrometer for precise radial velocities, has served as an Executive Committee member of the NASA Exoplanet Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG), and has received multiple NASA Group Honor Achievement Awards. His research is currently supported by NASA, NSF, and the Mt. Cuba Astronomical Foundation, and his work has appeared in numerous local and national publications.