Extrasolar Planets and the Search for Habitable Worlds May 12, 2008

Sara Seager, Ellen Swallow Richards Associate Professor of Planetary Science and Associate Professor of Physics at MIT, researches the atmospheres and interiors of extrasolar planets, especially the subset of exoplanets called transiting planets, which pass in front of their stars as seen from Earth. Transiting planets have immeasurably changed the study of exoplanets because their physical properties can be now be routinely measured; this development has accelerated the race to find exoplanets that might be habitable.