Name: The search for planets beyond our solar system
Uploaded: 2015-05-28T15:21:08Z
Duration: 16 min 5 s
Description: Every star we see in the sky has at least one planet orbiting it, says astronomer Sara Seager. So what do we know about these exoplanets, and how can we find out more? Seager introduces her favorite set of exoplanets and shows new technology that can help collect information about them -- and even help us look for exoplanets with life.

Membership export 1100

Membership Export 400

Membership Export 700

Membership Export 1400

As a thank you to our members, we’re giving them a virtual first look at select talks from the conference. Want in? Become a member by April 11.

TP Membership Access 3/16

Here I say, "And under that wouldn't be rock, but a form of high-pressure ice, like ice IX." 

I used ice IX to refer to the general category of high-pressure ices because it's a familiar term from Kurt Vonnegut's *Cat's Cradle*, but if GJ 1214b, the planet I'm discussing here, is in fact a water world, its most likely form is ice VII (and possibly ice X) due to the planet's predicted interior temperatures. See the upper left of this [water phase diagram](http://ergodic.ugr.es/termo/lecciones/water1.html).

Every star we see in the sky has at least one planet orbiting it, says astronomer Sara Seager. So what do we know about these exoplanets, and how can we find out more? Seager introduces her favorite set of exoplanets and shows new technology that can help collect information about them -- and even help us look for exoplanets with life.

The search for planets beyond our solar system

Talk details

About the speaker

Learn more

Watch next