Join the Live Discussion: The Hunt for Other Worlds Heats Up

By Nancy Atkinson - July 8, 2014 at 10:08 PM UTC | Exoplanets
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As readers of Universe Today know, exoplanets are one of the hottest topics in astronomy today. In just the past six months, astronomers have announced the discovery of more than 700 planets orbiting other stars, bringing the total to more than 1700. These discoveries include the first Earth-size planet found in what's called the habitable zone of a star, where liquid water could exist; the oldest known planet that could support life; and the first rocky "mega-Earth," a planet that's much like Earth except that it's 17 times more massive.

On July 9, at 19:00 UTC (3 pm EDT, 12:00 pm PDT), three exoplanet hunters will come together discuss the discovery boom, consider the next steps in the hunt for habitable worlds, and debate whether we're likely to find alien life in the next decade.

You can watch live (or watch the webcast later) below:

The panel includes MIT's Zachory Berta-Thompson, Stanford's Bruce Macintosh and Université de Montréal's Marie-Eve Naud) will come together discuss the recent discovery boom, consider the next steps in the hunt for habitable worlds, and ponder the odds of finding life on another planet. The discussion will be moderated by journalist Kelen Tuttle.

To submit questions ahead of time or during the webcast, send an email to

[email protected]

or post on Twitter with hashtag #KavliLive. You can find additional information about the webcast and the Kavli Foundation

here.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com