EARTH’S TWINS ?THE SEARCH FOR EXO-EARTHS

ZSUZSA HORVATH KOSZTOLANYI HIGHSCHOOL

BUDAPESTInternational Conference on

Teaching Physics Innovatively17-19 August 2015

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Earth and Mars

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ARE WE ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE?

Is there life beyond Earth?

Where is everybody?(Enrico Fermi)

Will we find intelligent life?

What is life? Could we detect life?

How did life evolve on the Earth?

What makes a world habitable?

Can we live in elsewhere in the universe?

How did the Solar System form?

How many alien solar systems have beenfound so far?

What fractions of stars host planets?

Are Earth-size planets in the habitablezone of stars common or rare in ourgalaxy?

What are the most important exoplanetdiscoveries so far?

What is the nearest exoplanet to Earthand our solar system?

Are there Earth-like planets around ournearest stellar neighbor?

What is the shortest distance between anexoplanet and its parent or host star sofar?

What is the strongest surface gravity foran exoplanet so far? …

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OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

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PLANET SYSTEMS DISCOVERED BY KEPLER

SPACE TELESCOPE

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How Are the Discoveries Made?

Direct detection:Imaging

Indirect detection:Radial velocity (Spectroscopic method)

Transit method

Gravitational microlensing

Astrometry, Pulsar timing and others

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The radial velocity graph of 51 Pegasi

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Artist’s concept of 51 Pegasi b, thefirst exoplanet detected around Sun-

like star (1995)Image via Dr. Seth Shostac/SPL

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DIRECT IMAGING

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HABITABLE ZONE

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RECENT DISCOVERIES

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Kepler-452b

EARTH AND KEPLER-452b15

KEPLER SPACE TELESCOPE

FUTURE EXOPLANETS MISSIONS

TESS (2017)TransitingExtrasolar

Survey Satelitte

CHEOPS (2017)Characterizing

ExOPlanetSatellite

PLATO (2024)Planetary Transitsand Oscillations of

stars

JWST (2018)James Webb

Space Telescope

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INTERSTELLAR TRIP PLANNER (PlanetQuest Interactive, NASA)

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http://www.planethunters.orghttp://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/interactiveshttp://eyes.jpl.nasa.gov/eyes-on-exoplanets.html

Are we alone in the universe?

"I believe we are going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth in the next decade and definitive evidence in the next 10 to

20 years," "We know where to look, we know how to look, and in most cases

we have the technology,"

Ellen Stofan, chief scientist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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Thank you for your attention!

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References:

http://kepler.nasa.gov/

http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/science

http://lcogt.net/spacebook/exoplanets/

http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/

http://phl.upr.edu/projects/habitable-exoplanets-catalog

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