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Finding planets around other stars

1,311,947 views | Lucianne Walkowicz • TEDGlobal 2011

How do we find planets -- even habitable planets -- around other stars? By looking for tiny dimming as a planet passes in front of its sun, TED Fellow Lucianne Walkowicz and the Kepler mission have found some 1,200 potential new planetary systems. With new techniques, they may even find ones with the right conditions for life.

How do we find planets -- even habitable planets -- around other stars? By looking for tiny dimming as a planet passes in front of its sun, TED Fellow Lucianne Walkowicz and the Kepler mission have found some 1,200 potential new planetary systems. With new techniques, they may even find ones with the right conditions for life.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

About the speaker

Lucianne Walkowicz

Stellar astronomer

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Lucianne Walkowicz works on NASA's Kepler mission, studying starspots and "the tempestuous tantrums of stellar flares."

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.