Extrasolar Planets
Media Workshop
LASP Center for Astrobiology

January 26th-28th, 2007
Boulder, Colorado



Themes:

• How common are terrestrial (habitable) planets in the universe?  Almost all known extrasolar planets are large, Jovian planets. Many are “hot Jupiters” (or medium-hot Jupiters) because they are the easiest to find with the Doppler method. Under what circumstances might we expect terrestrial planets to occur?
• What do the 200+ known extrasolar tell us about planet formation?  Fifteen years ago, no one would have expected hot Jupiters in sub-AU orbits.  What new ideas of solar system formation and development does that discovery point to?
• The history of the discovery of extrasolar planets and the evolution of technology that enabled discoveries. There are several different techniques for finding extrasolar planets (see methods list below).
• Habitability: Life in the Universe.  The discovery of potential habitable zones in the outer solar system (Titan, Enceladus, etc.) has changed our view of where life can exist.
• How does a NASA mission develop from big science ideas to a science platform to an engineering program to launch:  Kepler as an example. It only takes about 2 decades…