The Grand Tour: Exploring Planets Outside the Solar SystemExploring Space Lectures
Lecturer: Heather Knutson, California Institute of Technology
June 22, 2017 | 8:00pm
National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.
(This lecture will also be presented online.)
The past decade has marked a period of great progress in the quest to understand planets outside our solar system. The first ones discovered were enormous. Observations of eclipsing systems, in which the planet periodically passes in front of and then behind its star as seen from Earth, have given us new insight into the nature of these alien worlds. Explore these unfamiliar planets as California Institute of Technology assistant professor of planetary science Heather Knutson describes ongoing efforts to understand their compositions, temperatures, and weather patterns using both ground- and space-based telescopes.
Tickets for this lecture are free and must be reserved in advance