THE GREAT POTENTIAL OF EXOPLANET SATELLITES FOR HIGH ENERGY ASTROPHYSICS

Krista Lynne Smith will discuss how the new generation of satellites like Kepler and TESS designed to search for the minute signals of transiting exoplanets around main sequence stars have many design properties that make them ideal instruments for high-precision timing studies of numerous high energy phenomena. In particular, the study of accretion disks around black holes and the physics of energetic young stars have had many recent breakthroughs due to these fascinating instruments, and the future is bright for rapid optical timing if we can continue to leverage these missions for science beyond their intended target.