ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sara Seager - Exoplanet expert
Sara Seager’s research led to the first discovery of an atmosphere on a planet outside our solar system. Now she’s on the hunt for a twin Earth.

Why you should listen
Having helped pave the way for the current torrent of discoveries of planets outside of our solar system (or exoplanets), 2013 MacArthur Fellow Sara Seager is now preparing to fulfill her life dream of discovering a planet with nearly identical conditions to our own.

Seager’s present research and discovery mission projects include Earth-orbiting nanosatellite telescopes as well as the Starshade, a sunflower-shaped giant screen to block intrusive starlight, allowing a space telescope to zoom in on the small exoplanets that have thus far eluded our sight.
More profile about the speaker
Sara Seager | Speaker | TED.com
TED2015

Sara Seager: The search for planets beyond our solar system

Filmed:
1,505,062 views

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.
- Exoplanet expert
Sara Seager’s research led to the first discovery of an atmosphere on a planet outside our solar system. Now she’s on the hunt for a twin Earth. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
I'm here to tell you
about the real search for alien life.
0
960
3112
00:16
Not little green humanoids
arriving in shiny UFOs,
1
4675
3231
00:19
although that would be nice.
2
7930
1724
00:21
But it's the search for planets
orbiting stars far away.
3
9678
3277
00:25
Every star in our sky is a sun.
4
13924
1835
00:27
And if our sun has planets --
5
15783
1381
00:29
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, etc.,
6
17188
2497
00:31
surely those other stars
should have planets also,
7
19709
2436
00:34
and they do.
8
22169
1262
00:35
And in the last two decades,
9
23455
1412
00:36
astronomers have found
thousands of exoplanets.
10
24891
2897
00:40
Our night sky is literally
teeming with exoplanets.
11
28502
2811
00:43
We know, statistically speaking,
12
31337
1552
00:44
that every star has at least one planet.
13
32913
2493
00:47
And in the search for planets,
14
35984
1977
00:49
and in the future,
planets that might be like Earth,
15
37985
2766
00:52
we're able to help address
16
40775
1369
00:54
some of the most amazing
and mysterious questions
17
42168
2849
00:57
that have faced humankind for centuries.
18
45041
2571
00:59
Why are we here?
19
47636
1246
01:01
Why does our universe exist?
20
49215
1674
01:03
How did Earth form and evolve?
21
51476
2047
01:05
How and why did life originate
and populate our planet?
22
53912
2984
01:09
The second question
that we often think about is:
23
57665
3055
01:12
Are we alone?
24
60744
1286
01:14
Is there life out there?
25
62911
1388
01:17
Who is out there?
26
65109
1492
01:19
You know, this question has been around
for thousands of years,
27
67783
3006
01:22
since at least the time
of the Greek philosophers.
28
70813
2417
01:25
But I'm here to tell you
just how close we're getting
29
73254
2547
01:27
to finding out the answer
to this question.
30
75825
2881
01:30
It's the first time in human history
that this really is within reach for us.
31
78730
4215
01:35
Now when I think about the possibilities
for life out there,
32
83294
2979
01:38
I think of the fact that our sun
is but one of many stars.
33
86297
4087
01:42
This is a photograph of a real galaxy,
34
90825
1878
01:44
we think our Milky Way
looks like this galaxy.
35
92727
2446
01:47
It's a collection of bound stars.
36
95197
1639
01:48
But our [sun] is one
of hundreds of billions of stars
37
96860
4387
01:53
and our galaxy is one of upwards
of hundreds of billions of galaxies.
38
101271
4324
01:58
Knowing that small planets
are very common,
39
106707
2767
02:01
you can just do the math.
40
109498
1274
02:03
And there are just so many stars
and so many planets out there,
41
111424
4001
02:07
that surely, there must be life
somewhere out there.
42
115449
2690
02:11
Well, the biologists get furious
with me for saying that,
43
119060
3420
02:14
because we have absolutely no evidence
for life beyond Earth yet.
44
122504
3444
02:18
Well, if we were able to look
at our galaxy from the outside
45
126977
4793
02:23
and zoom in to where our sun is,
46
131794
2208
02:26
we see a real map of the stars.
47
134026
1560
02:28
And the highlighted stars
are those with known exoplanets.
48
136046
3023
02:31
This is really just
the tip of the iceberg.
49
139745
2189
02:34
Here, this animation is zooming in
onto our solar system.
50
142642
3642
02:38
And you'll see here the planets
51
146872
1485
02:40
as well as some spacecraft
that are also orbiting our sun.
52
148381
2833
02:44
Now if we can imagine going
to the West Coast of North America,
53
152968
3364
02:48
and looking out at the night sky,
54
156356
2126
02:50
here's what we'd see on a spring night.
55
158506
2278
02:52
And you can see
the constellations overlaid
56
160808
2010
02:54
and again, so many stars with planets.
57
162842
2269
02:57
There's a special patch of the sky
where we have thousands of planets.
58
165135
4194
03:01
This is where the Kepler Space Telescope
focused for many years.
59
169353
3690
03:05
Let's zoom in and look
at one of the favorite exoplanets.
60
173576
4674
03:10
This star is called Kepler-186f.
61
178863
3261
03:14
It's a system of about five planets.
62
182529
2198
03:16
And by the way, most of these exoplanets,
we don't know too much about.
63
184751
3825
03:20
We know their size, and their orbit
and things like that.
64
188600
2983
03:23
But there's a very special planet
here called Kepler-186f.
65
191607
3962
03:27
This planet is in a zone
that is not too far from the star,
66
195593
4104
03:31
so that the temperature
may be just right for life.
67
199721
3259
03:35
Here, the artist's conception
is just zooming in
68
203004
3031
03:38
and showing you what that planet
might be like.
69
206059
2270
03:43
So, many people have this
romantic notion of astronomers
70
211074
5602
03:48
going to the telescope
on a lonely mountaintop
71
216700
3556
03:52
and looking at the spectacular night sky
through a big telescope.
72
220280
3549
03:55
But actually, we just work
on our computers like everyone else,
73
223853
3372
03:59
and we get our data by email
or downloading from a database.
74
227249
3825
04:03
So instead of coming here to tell you
75
231098
2523
04:05
about the somewhat tedious nature
of the data and data analysis
76
233645
3131
04:08
and the complex computer models we make,
77
236800
2066
04:10
I have a different way
to try to explain to you
78
238890
2198
04:13
some of the things
that we're thinking about exoplanets.
79
241112
2645
04:15
Here's a travel poster:
80
243781
1166
04:16
"Kepler-186f:
81
244971
2320
04:19
Where the grass is always redder
on the other side."
82
247315
2714
04:22
That's because Kepler-186f
orbits a red star,
83
250053
3730
04:25
and we're just speculating
that perhaps the plants there,
84
253807
2692
04:28
if there is vegetation
that does photosynthesis,
85
256523
2618
04:31
it has different pigments and looks red.
86
259165
1943
04:34
"Enjoy the gravity on HD 40307g,
87
262137
4358
04:38
a Super-Earth."
88
266519
1459
04:40
This planet is more massive than Earth
89
268002
2157
04:42
and has a higher surface gravity.
90
270183
1722
04:44
"Relax on Kepler-16b,
91
272333
2897
04:47
where your shadow always has company."
92
275254
1896
04:49
(Laughter)
93
277174
1960
04:51
We know of a dozen planets
that orbit two stars,
94
279158
4182
04:55
and there's likely many more out there.
95
283364
2119
04:57
If we could visit one of those planets,
96
285507
1961
04:59
you literally would see two sunsets
97
287492
1887
05:01
and have two shadows.
98
289403
1255
05:03
So actually, science fiction
got some things right.
99
291484
2417
05:05
Tatooine from Star Wars.
100
293925
1209
05:08
And I have a couple of other
favorite exoplanets
101
296047
2295
05:10
to tell you about.
102
298366
1197
05:11
This one is Kepler-10b,
103
299587
1532
05:13
it's a hot, hot planet.
104
301143
1983
05:15
It orbits over 50 times closer to its star
105
303642
2935
05:18
than our Earth does to our sun.
106
306601
2167
05:20
And actually, it's so hot,
107
308792
1580
05:22
we can't visit any
of these planets, but if we could,
108
310396
2633
05:25
we would melt long before we got there.
109
313053
1974
05:27
We think the surface
is hot enough to melt rock
110
315051
2329
05:29
and has liquid lava lakes.
111
317404
1426
05:31
Gliese 1214b.
112
319457
1584
05:33
This planet, we know the mass and the size
113
321065
2099
05:35
and it has a fairly low density.
114
323188
1588
05:36
It's somewhat warm.
115
324800
1198
05:38
We actually don't know
really anything about this planet,
116
326053
2684
05:40
but one possibility
is that it's a water world,
117
328761
2505
05:43
like a scaled-up version
of one of Jupiter's icy moons
118
331290
3507
05:46
that might be 50 percent water by mass.
119
334821
2483
05:49
And in this case, it would have
a thick steam atmosphere
120
337328
2961
05:52
overlaying an ocean,
121
340313
1856
05:54
not of liquid water,
122
342193
1510
05:55
but of an exotic form
of water, a superfluid --
123
343727
3005
05:58
not quite a gas, not quite a liquid.
124
346756
1990
06:00
And under that wouldn't be rock,
125
348770
1600
06:02
but a form of high-pressure ice,
126
350394
1596
06:04
like ice IX.
127
352014
1276
06:06
So out of all these planets out there,
128
354593
2175
06:08
and the variety
is just simply astonishing,
129
356792
3214
06:12
we mostly want to find the planets
that are Goldilocks planets, we call them.
130
360030
5130
06:17
Not too big, not too small,
131
365184
1917
06:19
not too hot, not too cold --
132
367125
1847
06:20
but just right for life.
133
368996
1349
06:22
But to do that,
we'd have to be able to look
134
370658
2118
06:24
at the planet's atmosphere,
135
372800
1334
06:26
because the atmosphere
acts like a blanket trapping heat --
136
374158
2796
06:28
the greenhouse effect.
137
376978
1336
06:30
We have to be able to assess
the greenhouse gases
138
378338
2820
06:33
on other planets.
139
381182
1150
06:35
Well, science fiction
got some things wrong.
140
383169
2119
06:37
The Star Trek Enterprise
141
385796
1390
06:39
had to travel vast distances
at incredible speeds
142
387210
3627
06:42
to orbit other planets
143
390861
1729
06:44
so that First Officer Spock
could analyze the atmosphere
144
392614
3976
06:48
to see if the planet was habitable
145
396614
1961
06:50
or if there were lifeforms there.
146
398599
1673
06:52
Well, we don't need
to travel at warp speeds
147
400745
2490
06:55
to see other planet atmospheres,
148
403259
2129
06:57
although I don't want to dissuade
any budding engineers
149
405412
2784
07:00
from figuring out how to do that.
150
408220
1923
07:02
We actually can and do study
planet atmospheres
151
410167
2292
07:04
from here, from Earth orbit.
152
412483
1613
07:06
This is a picture, a photograph
of the Hubble Space Telescope
153
414120
3177
07:09
taken by the shuttle Atlantis
as it was departing
154
417321
2750
07:12
after the last
human space flight to Hubble.
155
420095
2239
07:14
They installed a new camera, actually,
156
422358
1886
07:16
that we use for exoplanet atmospheres.
157
424268
2145
07:18
And so far, we've been able to study
dozens of exoplanet atmospheres,
158
426437
4905
07:23
about six of them in great detail.
159
431366
2124
07:25
But those are not
small planets like Earth.
160
433514
2172
07:27
They're big, hot planets
that are easy to see.
161
435710
2394
07:30
We're not ready,
162
438128
1238
07:31
we don't have the right technology yet
to study small exoplanets.
163
439390
4375
07:36
But nevertheless,
164
444106
1158
07:37
I wanted to try to explain to you
how we study exoplanet atmospheres.
165
445288
3897
07:41
I want you to imagine,
for a moment, a rainbow.
166
449652
2222
07:44
And if we could look
at this rainbow closely,
167
452532
2746
07:47
we would see that some
dark lines are missing.
168
455302
2667
07:51
And here's our sun,
169
459127
1421
07:52
the white light of our sun split up,
170
460572
1767
07:54
not by raindrops, but by a spectrograph.
171
462363
2286
07:56
And you can see
all these dark, vertical lines.
172
464673
2451
07:59
Some are very narrow, some are wide,
173
467148
1834
08:00
some are shaded at the edges.
174
468982
1425
08:02
And this is actually how astronomers
have studied objects in the heavens,
175
470431
3604
08:06
literally, for over a century.
176
474059
1495
08:07
So here, each different atom and molecule
177
475578
2426
08:10
has a special set of lines,
178
478028
1525
08:11
a fingerprint, if you will.
179
479577
1556
08:13
And that's how we study
exoplanet atmospheres.
180
481157
2737
08:15
And I'll just never forget
when I started working
181
483918
2360
08:18
on exoplanet atmospheres 20 years ago,
182
486302
1856
08:20
how many people told me,
183
488182
1185
08:21
"This will never happen.
184
489391
1209
08:22
We'll never be able to study them.
Why are you bothering?"
185
490624
2790
08:25
And that's why I'm pleased to tell you
about all the atmospheres studied now,
186
493438
3674
08:29
and this is really a field of its own.
187
497136
1849
08:31
So when it comes to
other planets, other Earths,
188
499009
2522
08:33
in the future when we can observe them,
189
501555
2077
08:35
what kind of gases
would we be looking for?
190
503656
2059
08:38
Well, you know, our own Earth
has oxygen in the atmosphere
191
506144
3175
08:41
to 20 percent by volume.
192
509343
1459
08:43
That's a lot of oxygen.
193
511445
1269
08:45
But without plants
and photosynthetic life,
194
513457
2745
08:48
there would be no oxygen,
195
516226
1410
08:49
virtually no oxygen in our atmosphere.
196
517660
1841
08:52
So oxygen is here because of life.
197
520116
1923
08:54
And our goal then is to look for gases
in other planet atmospheres,
198
522063
4107
08:58
gases that don't belong,
199
526194
2037
09:00
that we might be able
to attribute to life.
200
528255
2383
09:02
But which molecules should we search for?
201
530662
2081
09:04
I actually told you
how diverse exoplanets are.
202
532767
2663
09:07
We expect that to continue in the future
203
535454
1997
09:09
when we find other Earths.
204
537475
1301
09:10
And that's one of the main things
I'm working on now,
205
538800
2572
09:13
I have a theory about this.
206
541396
1293
09:14
It reminds me that nearly every day,
207
542713
2288
09:17
I receive an email or emails
208
545025
2652
09:19
from someone with a crazy theory
about physics of gravity
209
547701
3627
09:23
or cosmology or some such.
210
551352
1832
09:25
So, please don't email me
one of your crazy theories.
211
553208
3333
09:28
(Laughter)
212
556565
1214
09:29
Well, I had my own crazy theory.
213
557803
2178
09:32
But, who does the MIT professor go to?
214
560005
1984
09:34
Well, I emailed a Nobel Laureate
in Physiology or Medicine
215
562703
4211
09:38
and he said, "Sure, come and talk to me."
216
566938
1973
09:40
So I brought my two biochemistry friends
217
568935
1999
09:42
and we went to talk to him
about our crazy theory.
218
570958
2352
09:45
And that theory was that life
produces all small molecules,
219
573334
3441
09:48
so many molecules.
220
576799
1674
09:50
Like, everything I could think of,
but not being a chemist.
221
578497
2895
09:53
Think about it:
222
581416
1183
09:54
carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide,
223
582623
2030
09:56
molecular hydrogen, molecular nitrogen,
224
584677
1859
09:58
methane, methyl chloride --
225
586560
1366
09:59
so many gases.
226
587950
1161
10:01
They also exist for other reasons,
227
589135
1935
10:03
but just life even produces ozone.
228
591094
1852
10:04
So we go to talk to him about this,
229
592970
1758
10:06
and immediately, he shot down the theory.
230
594752
2142
10:09
He found an example that didn't exist.
231
597226
2267
10:11
So, we went back to the drawing board
232
599948
1781
10:13
and we think we have found something
very interesting in another field.
233
601753
3428
10:17
But back to exoplanets,
234
605205
1420
10:18
the point is that life produces
so many different types of gases,
235
606649
3279
10:21
literally thousands of gases.
236
609952
2212
10:24
And so what we're doing now
is just trying to figure out
237
612188
2667
10:26
on which types of exoplanets,
238
614879
1589
10:28
which gases could be attributed to life.
239
616492
3220
10:34
And so when it comes time
when we find gases
240
622182
2048
10:36
in exoplanet atmospheres
241
624254
1351
10:37
that we won't know
if they're being produced
242
625629
2096
10:39
by intelligent aliens or by trees,
243
627749
3030
10:42
or a swamp,
244
630803
1210
10:44
or even just by simple,
single-celled microbial life.
245
632037
2861
10:47
So working on the models
246
635541
1550
10:49
and thinking about biochemistry,
247
637115
1651
10:50
it's all well and good.
248
638790
1197
10:52
But a really big challenge
ahead of us is: how?
249
640011
2885
10:54
How are we going to find these planets?
250
642920
2162
10:57
There are actually many ways
to find planets,
251
645106
2204
10:59
several different ways.
252
647310
1519
11:00
But the one that I'm most focused on
is how can we open a gateway
253
648853
3859
11:04
so that in the future,
254
652736
1237
11:05
we can find hundreds of Earths.
255
653997
1849
11:07
We have a real shot
at finding signs of life.
256
655870
2333
11:10
And actually, I just finished
leading a two-year project
257
658227
3126
11:13
in this very special phase
258
661377
2088
11:15
of a concept we call the starshade.
259
663489
2654
11:18
And the starshade
is a very specially shaped screen
260
666167
2953
11:21
and the goal is to fly that starshade
261
669144
1867
11:23
so it blocks out the light of a star
262
671035
3094
11:26
so that the telescope
can see the planets directly.
263
674153
2939
11:29
Here, you can see myself
and two team members
264
677116
2393
11:31
holding up one small part
of the starshade.
265
679533
2189
11:33
It's shaped like a giant flower,
266
681746
1580
11:35
and this is one of the prototype petals.
267
683350
2483
11:38
The concept is that a starshade
and telescope could launch together,
268
686907
4461
11:43
with the petals unfurling
from the stowed position.
269
691392
2594
11:46
The central truss would expand,
270
694896
2056
11:48
with the petals snapping into place.
271
696976
3092
11:52
Now, this has to be made very precisely,
272
700092
2230
11:54
literally, the petals to microns
273
702346
1588
11:55
and they have to deploy to millimeters.
274
703958
2715
11:58
And this whole structure would have to fly
275
706697
2055
12:00
tens of thousands of kilometers
away from the telescope.
276
708776
3359
12:04
It's about tens of meters in diameter.
277
712159
2142
12:06
And the goal is to block out
the starlight to incredible precision
278
714785
4953
12:11
so that we'd be able to see
the planets directly.
279
719762
2738
12:15
And it has to be a very special shape,
280
723333
2229
12:17
because of the physics of defraction.
281
725586
1889
12:19
Now this is a real project
that we worked on,
282
727499
2219
12:21
literally, you would not believe how hard.
283
729742
2468
12:24
Just so you believe
it's not just in movie format,
284
732234
2662
12:26
here's a real photograph
285
734920
1636
12:28
of a second-generation
starshade deployment test bed in the lab.
286
736580
4991
12:33
And in this case,
I just wanted you to know
287
741595
2079
12:35
that that central truss
has heritage left over
288
743698
2490
12:38
from large radio deployables in space.
289
746212
1914
12:41
So after all of that hard work
290
749372
1656
12:43
where we try to think of all the crazy
gases that might be out there,
291
751052
3793
12:46
and we build the very
complicated space telescopes
292
754869
2928
12:49
that might be out there,
293
757821
1227
12:51
what are we going to find?
294
759072
1296
12:52
Well, in the best case,
295
760725
1758
12:54
we will find an image
of another exo-Earth.
296
762507
2797
12:58
Here is Earth as a pale blue dot.
297
766328
2259
13:00
And this is actually
a real photograph of Earth
298
768611
2559
13:03
taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft,
299
771194
1870
13:05
four billion miles away.
300
773088
1618
13:07
And that red light is just scattered light
in the camera optics.
301
775159
3238
13:11
But what's so awesome to consider
302
779315
2396
13:13
is that if there are intelligent aliens
303
781735
3049
13:16
orbiting on a planet
around a star near to us
304
784808
3954
13:20
and they build complicated
space telescopes
305
788786
2045
13:22
of the kind that we're trying to build,
306
790855
1927
13:24
all they'll see is this pale blue dot,
307
792806
2500
13:27
a pinprick of light.
308
795330
1285
13:29
And so sometimes, when I pause to think
309
797456
3066
13:32
about my professional struggle
and huge ambition,
310
800546
4253
13:36
it's hard to think about that
311
804823
1993
13:38
in contrast to the vastness
of the universe.
312
806840
2419
13:42
But nonetheless, I am devoting
the rest of my life
313
810120
4126
13:46
to finding another Earth.
314
814270
1350
13:48
And I can guarantee
315
816296
2215
13:50
that in the next generation
of space telescopes,
316
818535
2383
13:52
in the second generation,
317
820942
1540
13:54
we will have the capability
to find and identity other Earths.
318
822506
5406
13:59
And the capability
to split up the starlight
319
827936
2674
14:02
so that we can look for gases
320
830634
1553
14:04
and assess the greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere,
321
832211
3486
14:07
estimate the surface temperature,
322
835721
1598
14:09
and look for signs of life.
323
837343
1758
14:11
But there's more.
324
839736
1421
14:13
In this case of searching
for other planets like Earth,
325
841181
3364
14:16
we are making a new kind of map
326
844569
2595
14:19
of the nearby stars
and of the planets orbiting them,
327
847188
3260
14:22
including [planets] that actually might be
inhabitable by humans.
328
850472
3771
14:26
And so I envision that our descendants,
329
854915
2381
14:29
hundreds of years from now,
330
857320
1805
14:31
will embark on an interstellar
journey to other worlds.
331
859149
3027
14:35
And they will look back at all of us
332
863059
2912
14:37
as the generation who first found
the Earth-like worlds.
333
865995
3008
14:41
Thank you.
334
869822
1151
14:42
(Applause)
335
870997
6511
14:49
June Cohen: And I give you,
for a question,
336
877532
2100
14:51
Rosetta Mission Manager Fred Jansen.
337
879656
1728
14:53
Fred Jansen: You mentioned halfway through
338
881817
2031
14:55
that the technology
to actually look at the spectrum
339
883872
3787
14:59
of an exoplanet like Earth
is not there yet.
340
887683
2629
15:02
When do you expect this will be there,
341
890336
1887
15:04
and what's needed?
342
892247
1268
15:05
Actually, what we expect is what we call
our next-generation Hubble telescope.
343
893539
4615
15:10
And this is called the James Webb
Space Telescope,
344
898531
2341
15:12
and that will launch in 2018,
345
900896
1703
15:14
and that's what we're going to do,
346
902623
1822
15:16
we're going to look
at a special kind of planet
347
904469
2264
15:18
called transient exoplanets,
348
906757
1456
15:20
and that will be our first shot
at studying small planets
349
908237
3101
15:23
for gases that might indicate
the planet is habitable.
350
911362
3298
15:27
JC: I'm going to ask you
one follow-up question, too, Sara,
351
915477
2809
15:30
as the generalist.
352
918310
1206
15:31
So I am really struck
by the notion in your career
353
919540
3093
15:34
of the opposition you faced,
354
922657
1399
15:36
that when you began thinking
about exoplanets,
355
924080
2144
15:38
there was extreme skepticism
in the scientific community
356
926248
2666
15:40
that they existed,
357
928938
1151
15:42
and you proved them wrong.
358
930113
1269
15:43
What did it take to take that on?
359
931406
1713
15:45
SS: Well, the thing is that as scientists,
360
933143
2070
15:47
we're supposed to be skeptical,
361
935237
1958
15:49
because our job to make sure
that what the other person is saying
362
937219
3048
15:52
actually makes sense or not.
363
940291
1339
15:53
But being a scientist,
364
941654
2557
15:56
I think you've seen it from this session,
365
944235
2420
15:58
it's like being an explorer.
366
946679
1682
16:00
You have this immense curiosity,
367
948385
1989
16:02
this stubbornness,
368
950398
1299
16:03
this sort of resolute will
that you will go forward
369
951721
2382
16:06
no matter what other people say.
370
954127
2031
16:08
JC: I love that. Thank you, Sara.
371
956182
1676
16:09
(Applause)
372
957882
2995

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sara Seager - Exoplanet expert
Sara Seager’s research led to the first discovery of an atmosphere on a planet outside our solar system. Now she’s on the hunt for a twin Earth.

Why you should listen
Having helped pave the way for the current torrent of discoveries of planets outside of our solar system (or exoplanets), 2013 MacArthur Fellow Sara Seager is now preparing to fulfill her life dream of discovering a planet with nearly identical conditions to our own.

Seager’s present research and discovery mission projects include Earth-orbiting nanosatellite telescopes as well as the Starshade, a sunflower-shaped giant screen to block intrusive starlight, allowing a space telescope to zoom in on the small exoplanets that have thus far eluded our sight.
More profile about the speaker
Sara Seager | Speaker | TED.com