Lecture – Are Red Dwarf Planets Habitable?

Science at Cal Lecture Series

Are red dwarf planets habitable?

with Prof. Gibor Basri

Saturday March 16, 2019 at 11:00 AM
100 Genetics and Plant Biology, UC Berkeley
Much recent news about exoplanets has concerned the discovery of earth-sized planets in the “habitable zone” of “red dwarf” stars. This is partly because such planets are more easily found around small stars, and partly because most stars are red dwarfs. Can planets in the habitable zone around a red dwarf could actually harbor earth-like life? Until recently most astronomers would have said “no” but this is changing. Professor Basri will explain why and talk about recent discoveries.
Red dwarf planet

Red dwarf planet. Image: D. Aguilar/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

 
Prof. Gibor Basri

Prof. Gibor Basri

Gibor Basri joined the faculty of the Berkeley Astronomy Department in 1982. His areas of research include star formation, solar and low mass stars, and stellar magnetic activity. He was an early pioneer in the study of brown dwarfs. He has extensively used telescopes at the Lick and Keck Observatories, and was a Co-Investigator on NASA’s Kepler mission, which has revolutionized our knowledge about exoplanets. He is a recipient of the Sagan award for communicating science.

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