LSC’s Space Talk presentation explores whether we’ll find another Earth someday
On Aug. 4, 2022 at LSC After Dark, Liberty Science Center held its third Space Talk presentation!
That night, we welcomed Dr. Emily Rickman to the Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium for the presentation “Will We Find Another Earth?”
Dr. Rickman is a European Space Agency Fellow at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STSI). She works with the James Webb Space Telescope to search for exoplanets – a.k.a. planets outside of our own solar system – for signs they might be like Earth.
Using the technology of the largest planetarium in America, Dr. Rickman took guests on a journey to distant solar systems in search of Earth-like planets. In some places, like TRAPPIST-1, guests saw the potential for discovering a world like ours (TRAPPIST-1 contains Earth-sized planets with the potential for water on their surface).
But in other places, like WASP-76b, where it rains hot vapor droplets of iron, guests learned just how varied the worlds in our galaxy can be.
In her presentation, Dr. Rickman also shared new data from the James Webb Telescope of an exoplanet called WASP-96b. The impressive data – a showcase of the telescope’s amazing sensitivity! – suggests WASP-96b could have oxygen in its atmosphere. Learn more in this video clip from the presentation:
Join us Thursday, Sept. 1 at LSC After Dark for our next Space Talk presentation: “What Secrets Will the James Webb Space Telescope Reveal?”, led by Dr. Kristen McQuinn, Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Rutgers. Click here to reserve your spot now.
