BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
PRODID:UW-Madison-Physics-Events
BEGIN:VEVENT
SEQUENCE:0
UID:UW-Physics-Event-5046
DTSTART:20190221T213000Z
DTEND:20190221T230000Z
DTSTAMP:20260419T084913Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20190207T163213Z
LOCATION:4421 Sterling Hall\, Coffee and cookies 3:30 PM\, Talk begins
  3:45 PM
SUMMARY:Preparing for Earth 2.0: The Detailed Properties of Terrestria
 l Planets\, Astronomy Colloquium\, Andrew Vanderburg\, University of T
 exas
DESCRIPTION:Over the past thirty years\, astronomers have made extraor
 dinary progress in detecting planets around other stars. We now know t
 hat stars commonly host planets with a wider range of physical propert
 ies and system architectures than exist in our own solar system\, and 
 that planets likely outnumber stars in our galactic neighborhood. Now\
 , planet detection technologies have advanced to the point where the d
 irect detection of Earth-like exoplanets to search for biosignatures i
 s within reach\, and NASA is studying two space mission concepts with 
 these goals in mind to potentially launch in the late 2030s. However\,
  before this can happen\, significant gaps in our knowledge of exoplan
 ets must be covered so that these missions can be designed and their d
 ata can be interpreted. In my talk\, I will describe work to fill in t
 hese gaps in our understanding of exoplanets. In particular\, I will s
 how how measurements of the bulk densities of small planets can constr
 ain the planets' bulk composition and the presence of thick hydrogen/h
 elium atmospheres. I will show how observations of white dwarf stars c
 an reveal the elemental composition of rocky planets and the path towa
 rds using white dwarfs to learn about the compositional diversity of p
 lanets around other stars. Finally\, I will show how modern artificial
  intelligence techniques can help measure precisely how common Earth a
 nalogs are\, a crucial input parameter for designing missions to chara
 cterize Earth analogs.
URL:https://www.physics.wisc.edu/events/?id=5046
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR