Hi,
An old college buddy of mine is giving a couple of talks on the Kepler mission in the coming weeks.
Searching for Earth-sized planets with NASA's Kepler space telescope
Dr Fergal Mullally, Ames Research Centre in California
Abstract: Finding planets like our own elsewhere in the Galaxy is the first step to answering the age-old question of whether we are alone in theUniverse. Unfortunately, it's very hard to see planets around other stars because the glare from the starshine overpowers the faint planets. Kepler is NASA's first mission capable of finding Earth sized planets in orbit around stars other than our own. Instead of trying to see the planets directly, it measures the change in brightness when a planet passes in front a star and blocks a tiny fraction of the starlight. It is very rare for a planet to line up just right to pass in front of the star as seen from the spacecraft, so Kepler will stare at over 150,000 stars almost continuously for 5-6 years to capture these rare events. I will talk a little about the spacecraft, how we find planets, and present some of recent exciting planet discoveries.
The first talk will be in Dunsink on 27th June. Free, but tickets required. Details at
www.dias.ie/index.php?option=com_content...59&Itemid=60&lang=en
Second talk will be in the Science Gallery on July 4th at 6pm. Again it's free, but you need to book tickets.
sciencegallery.com/events/2012/07/planet...asas-fergal-mullally
Hope to see some of you at one of these talks.
  