Catching Shadows: Kepler's Search for New Worlds

Humanity's quest to learn about the existence of other worlds like our own has made a huge step forward with the launch of NASA's Kepler spacecraft in March 2009.  The mission is designed to survey a slice of the Milky Way Galaxy to identify planets orbiting other stars.  Kepler has the advantage that it can find planets as small as Earth in or near the habitable zone of each star.  It will help us determine if such planets are abundant in our galaxy.  Dr. Batalha will describe the techniques used by the Kepler team to identify Earth-size planets and share some of the mission discoveries to date.

Natalie Batalha is a professor of physics and astronomy at San Jose State University in the heart of Silicon Valley, and the Deputy Science Team Lead for NASA's Kepler Mission. She holds a bachelor's in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a doctorate in astrophysics from UC Santa Cruz. After a post-doctoral fellowship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Batalha became inspired by the growing number of planets being discovered around other stars (500 such planets are currently known.) Eleven years later, she stands poised with the Kepler team to learn whether or not Earth-sized planets are abundant in our galaxy.

Speaker: Dr. Natalie Batalha, San Jose State University and NASA Ames

Part of the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series for Fall, 2010.