5 October 2006

Speaker: Greg Laughlin (UC Santa Cruz)

Title: Extrasolar Planets

Abstract: This talk will describe recent results from four interconnected research projects involving extrasolar planets. I'll start by describing the Systemic collaboration, a public-participation project to improve the characterization of the galactic planetary census. I will then describe recent results from hydrodynamical modeling of the flow patterns on the surfaces of irradiated giant planets. I'll wrap up by describing two observational projects that can potentially detect habitable, Earth-mass worlds around nearby stars from the ground and for a very modest cost.

Video of the Presentation (Talks can be viewed with RealPlayer. Free download is available from www.real.com )