PUBLIC LECTURE

Kepler and the Exoplanet Revolution
Dr. Lucianne Walkowicz
Henry Norris Russell Fellow, Princeton University

Wednesday, June 11th, 2014, 7pm
Prochnow Auditorium, Northern Arizona University

Until just a few decades ago, our knowledge of planetary systems was limited to our own Earth and the neighboring planets of our solar system.  Over the past several years, however, thousands of planets have been discovered orbiting stars beyond our sun, allowing us to study our own Earth in the context of other worlds for the first time in history.  Dr. Walkowicz will discuss NASA's Kepler Mission, the space telescope responsible for many of these new discoveries, and how it has changed our knowledge of planetary systems forever.  Kepler's findings set the stage not only for understanding planetary systems in general, but also for the possibility of finding life beyond planet Earth.

Dr. Walkowicz's TED talks are available online, as is her Twitter feed.

The Cool Stars 18 Public Lecture is sponsored by The Barringer Crater Company, owners since 1903 of The Barringer Meteorite Crater more commonly known as Meteor Crater, Earth's first proven and best preserved impact site. For more than 70 years the company has supported research and education in the broad field of meteoritics and planetary science and it is pleased to sponsor this important lecture.