Astrophysicist,
planetary scientist Sara Seager to speak Nov. 28 at URI
By Olivia Ross
Sara Seager, one of Time magazine’s
Most 25 Influential People in Space, will present a lecture titled, “The
Search for Another Earth,” as part of this year’s Honors Colloquium at the
University of Rhode Island.
The lecture will be held on Nov. 28
at 7 p.m. in Edwards Hall, 64 Upper College Road.
Seager is a professor of earth,
atmospheric, and planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and a 2013 MacArthur Fellow.
The MacArthur Fellowship Program
awards unrestricted fellowships to talented individuals who have shown
extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked
capacity for self-direction.
The focus of Seager’s research
revolves around theory, computation, and data analysis of exoplanets.
Exoplanets are planets that exist
beyond our solar system and orbit around stars other than the sun.
Some of her most substantial contributions to the field of exoplanet characterization include work that led to the first detection of an exoplanet atmosphere.
Some of her most substantial contributions to the field of exoplanet characterization include work that led to the first detection of an exoplanet atmosphere.
Referred to by NASA as an
“astronomical Indiana Jones,” Seager has published two textbooks on the topics
of extrasolar planets and their atmospheres.
Seager earned her bachelor’s degree
from the Math and Science Physics Specialist Program at the University of
Toronto and her Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard University.
In addition to studying exoplanets
and their atmospheres, Seager is frontiering advanced hardware design and space
mission projects, including ExoplanetSat.
This particular endeavor aims to
build low-cost “nano-satellites” to observe planetary transits.
Essentially, the concept involves
dozens of cheap replicas of an extremely small space telescope that will
provide the ability to explore space in ways like never before.
The ultimate goal of Seager’s
research is to find an earth-like exoplanet and determine that there is life on
it.
In order for life to be sustainable
on an exoplanet, it would have to be one of reasonable mass that orbits its
star within a comfortable temperature that is not too hot or too cold and would
allow water to remain liquid.
Titled, “Origins: Life, the Universe
and Everything,” this fall’s colloquium addresses such questions as “Where did
we come from? How did the universe begin? How did intelligent, rational beings
arise? And from such humble beginnings, how did we develop a mind that can ask
these big questions?
Now in its 54th year, the colloquium
is the University’s premier public lecture series, offering lectures on most
Tuesday evenings through Dec. 5. Seager’s lecture will be shown on the web at
stream.uri.edu