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VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
PRODID:UW-Madison-Physics-Events
BEGIN:VEVENT
SEQUENCE:7
UID:UW-Physics-Event-9820
DTSTART:20261112T213000Z
DTEND:20261112T223000Z
DTSTAMP:20260828T233405Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260826T122555Z
LOCATION:4421 Sterling Hall
SUMMARY:Copernicus Revisited: is the Earth special?\, Astronomy Colloq
 uium\, Laura Kreidberg\, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
DESCRIPTION:Nearly 500 years ago\, Nicolas Copernicus published his di
 sruptive theory that Earth is not the center of the universe. This "Co
 pernican demotion" has held fast over the centuries\, as astronomers h
 ave learned that there is nothing particularly remarkable about Earth 
 or even the Milky Way. In the last two decades\, however\, a new test 
 of the Copernican Principle has emerged -- the discovery of an abundan
 ce of planets orbiting other stars. These discoveries allow us to put 
 Earth in context and evaluate whether the formation\, architecture\, a
 nd present-day characteristics of our Solar System are in fact typical
 . Thanks to the revolutionary capabilities of the James Webb Space Tel
 escope (JWST)\, we are finally able to study other Earth-size planets 
 in detail\, and in particular search for and characterize their atmosp
 heres. In this talk\, I will give a status report on JWST observations
  of rocky planets. I will cover the latest results for the iconic TRAP
 PIST-1 system\, the study of the surface of the airless planet LHS 384
 4b\, the search for atmospheres on lava worlds\, and observations of p
 lanets in the radius valley at the boundary of rocky and gaseous world
 s. Taken together\, these results provide a first picture of the build
 ing blocks available for the origin of life on terrestrial planets bey
 ond the Solar System\, providing essential context for how special Ear
 th really is.
URL:https://www.physics.wisc.edu/events/?id=9820
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