Friday, 29 March 2024

Taylor Observatory hosts Feb. 22 ‘Window to the Universe’ lecture on exoplanets

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The Taylor Observatory will host Dr. Mark Marley in its next “Window to the Universe” on Saturday, Feb. 22.

The event will take place beginning at 8 p.m.

Marley, of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, will give a lecture titled, “On the Road to the Pale Blue Dot: Searching for Habitable Planets with Direct Imaging.”

The lecture will be followed by a planetarium show and, if conditions are clear, observations through the Taylor telescopes.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the discovery of the first confirmed extrasolar planet, an accomplishment that was recognized with the Nobel Prize this year.

We now know of more than 4,000 confirmed extrasolar planets, but we do not yet know how common planets like the Earth are or if any such planets are inhabited.

Finding potentially habitable planets and searching them for life will be one of the great challenges of the next decade.

In his talk Dr. Marley will explain various methods for searching for habitable planets, focusing on the method of direct imaging in which the glare of the planet's star must be removed to a precision of one part in 10 billion to reveal the nearby faint planet.

Dr. Marley will describe possible future strategies, including giant deployable space telescopes and starshades which could rise to the challenge and answer one of humanity's oldest questions, "Are we alone?"

A research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, Marley studies the atmospheres of extrasolar planets and the failed stars known as brown dwarfs.

He recently spent three years helping NASA design and plan a possible future successor to the Hubble Space Telescope known as LUVOIR.

Dr. Marley has published more than 200 scientific articles and has twice been awarded the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement in recognition of his research.

The cost is $5 for adults, while Lake County K-12 students and Taylor Observatory are admitted free.

Additional donations of any amount to support Friends of Taylor Observatory projects at Taylor are greatly appreciated.

For more information, call 707-262-4121.

Taylor Observatory is located at 5725 Oak Hills Lane, Kelseyville.

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