Where and How to Find Habitable Terrestrial Planets
Ji Wang
Caltech

Terrestrial planets (mass < 20 Earth masses, radius < 2.0 Earth radii) exist in about 20% of stellar systems. This number is unfortunately not 100%. In the quest for another habitable world, we need to decide on where to look for them. My research focuses on comparative studies of planet formation in different environments, e.g., single vs. multiple star systems, metal-poor vs. metal-rich stars. These studies provide clues on benign or hostile environment for planet formation and help to prioritize the search for habitable terrestrial planets. I will also introduce a new technique, high dispersion coronagraphy. This technique is promising in detecting habitable worlds and finding biomarkers in their atmospheres with ground-based extremely large telescopes such as the thirty meter telescope.

Date:	Jeudi, 28 septembre 2017
Time:	12:30
Where:	Université de Montréal
	Pavillon Roger-Gaudry, Local D-460
Contact:	Björn Benneke