The Discovery of Planets around Other Stars

Description

In the last 15 years, astronomers have become able to find planets orbiting other stars, and over 500 have now been discovered. The Kepler mission in space is actively searching for others, and may ultimately find many more. Some of the planets we have discovered are truly alien, and have no counterparts in our own solar system. This talk will describe the remarkable variety of worlds we have already found and preview the possibility of discovering another Earth out there -- something that may well happen in the next two years.

Andrew Fraknoi is the Chair of the Astronomy Department at Foothill College and Senior Educator at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. He was the California Professor of the Year in 2007 and has received several other awards for his work in explaining astronomical developments in everyday language. Radio listeners may recognize Fraknoi from his regular appearances on KGO, KQED, and KCBS. He is the Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the nonprofit SETI Institute. Asteroid 4856 has been named Asteroid Fraknoi by the International Astronomical Union in recognition of his educational work.

The program will be presented twice, once at 6:30pm and again at 7:45pm. There is no charge for the lecture and it is open to the public, but seating is limited and free tickets are strongly recommended to reserve a seat. They can be picked up in person at the library's Adult Information Desk. If any seats remain, they will be made available at the time of the talk on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, you can call 408-730-7300 x5.

More Info

Link

http://www.sunnyvalelibrary.org

Call

408.730.7300 x5