Copernicus Revisited: Is the Earth Special?

Date

Sep 23, 2024

Time

4:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Speaker

Prof. Laura Kreidberg

Affiliation

Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

Series

MPI-PKS Kolloquium

Language

en

Main Topic

Physik

Other Topics

Physik

Description

Nearly 500 years ago, Nicolas Copernicus published his disruptive theory that Earth is not the center of the universe. This "Copernican demotion" has held fast over the centuries, as astronomers have learned that there is nothing particularly remarkable about Earth or even the Milky Way. In the last two decades, however, a new test of the Copernican Principle has emerged -- the discovery of an abundance of planets orbiting other stars. These discoveries allow us to put Earth in context and evaluate whether the formation, architecture, and present-day characteristics of our Solar System are in fact typical. One of the biggest open questions is whether Earth-like exoplanets have water, a key ingredient for life. Thanks to the revolutionary new observing capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), it is possible to characterize the atmospheres of Earth-sized worlds for the first time. In this talk, I will share the latest observations of rocky exoplanet atmospheres from JWST, discuss the implications for their water abundances in comparison to the Earth, and answer the question: was Copernicus wrong?

Last modified: Sep 23, 2024, 7:37:04 AM