Join the Live Discussion: The Hunt for Other Worlds Heats Up

As readers of Universe Today know, exoplanets are one of the hottest topics in astronomy today. In just the past six months, astronomers have announced the discovery of more than 700 planets orbiting other stars, bringing the total to more than 1700. These discoveries include the first Earth-size planet found in what’s called the habitable zone of a star, where liquid water could exist; the oldest known planet that could support life; and the first rocky “mega-Earth,” a planet that’s much like Earth except that it’s 17 times more massive.

On July 9, at 19:00 UTC (3 pm EDT, 12:00 pm PDT), three exoplanet hunters will come together discuss the discovery boom, consider the next steps in the hunt for habitable worlds, and debate whether we’re likely to find alien life in the next decade.

You can watch live (or watch the webcast later) below:

The panel includes MIT’s Zachory Berta-Thompson, Stanford’s Bruce Macintosh and Université de Montréal’s Marie-Eve Naud) will come together discuss the recent discovery boom, consider the next steps in the hunt for habitable worlds, and ponder the odds of finding life on another planet. The discussion will be moderated by journalist Kelen Tuttle.

To submit questions ahead of time or during the webcast, send an email to info@kavlifoundation.org or post on Twitter with hashtag #KavliLive. You can find additional information about the webcast and the Kavli Foundation here.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/

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