A little bleary-eyed this morning, having stayed up to watch the Kepler launch on NASA TV.
Kepler’s mission is to locate rocky earth-sized planets around other stars. The satellite carries an instrument called a photometer, or light meter, that measures the very small changes in a star’s brightness that occur when an orbiting planet passes in front of it.
The real interest is in worlds that orbit in a ‘habitable zone,’ not too near and not too far from their star, where liquid water, and possibly life, could exist.
The build-up to Kepler has prompted much discussion around the possibility of extra-terrestrial life. A couple of weeks back I joined ‘The Search for Life Beyond Earth‘ at the Royal Institution. Last night, via a live feed into Second Life from Chicago’s Adler Planetarium, I joined Scott Gaudi of Ohio State University on a ‘Quest for our Origins – The Search for Other Worlds and Life in The Universe,’ including a review of the latest techniques for remotely identifying earth-like planets.
The technical quality of this event was excellent, with live streaming video, multi-screen slides, and sound.
There is another event tonight at 10 a.m Pacific Time (6 pm UK), about the early universe and the cosmic microwave background. Just time for you to sign up; see you there (SL name Erasmus Magic).
Here are some photos from last night:
Auditorium in SciLands
Scott Gaudi speaking from the Adler Planetarium into Second Life
Multi-screen live presentation
The Quest for our Origins
Scott Gaudi
Microlensing (slide from Scott Gaudi's presentation)
Colourful characters in SL
Since the mid 1980s, I've worked in university and industrial research, as a manager and editor in technology and environment for an international industry association, and held senior business development, strategy, and procurement posts in industry. I hold a PhD in chemical engineering from Birmingham University, an MBA from Warwick University Business School, and an MSc in Science Communication from Imperial College. In 2008, I left industry to focus full-time on my passion for science and technology, and to share that enthusiasm with others as a freelance science communicator. I live in London with my wife Erin.
Contact me at timjones(at)communicatescience.com or through the tab above.
