Public Outreach: 'Exoplanets: Portraits of alien worlds'

With thousands of exoplanets discovered to date, astronomers have turned their interest to their atmospheres.  We try to find answers to questions like: does the gravity, temperature or maybe distance to their parent star affect these atmospheres? Are clouds common? How fast does the weather change on other planets? Until now we haven't found any other planet like our Earth, but the lessons we learn from studying the vast zoo of exoplanet atmospheres helps us prepare for the future study of real Earth-analogues.

Assistant Professor Theodora Karalidi of the University of Central Florida will discuss how we study exoplanet atmospheres using direct imaging, i.e., taking actual photos of the planets. We will see how observing an exoplanet as it rotates around its axis, during an exoplanet day, allows us to create maps. She will talk about how these maps can be used to study the weather on these alien worlds and help us understand why some atmospheres appear to change behavior from one day to the next. Finally, she will talk about how we can make maps of Earth-like planets and look for water, clouds and oceans on these alien worlds.

Theodora Karalidi is an Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida. She grew up in Athens and got her PhD from the University of Leiden working on modeling of exoplanets. Her work focuses on the characterization of exoplanet and brown dwarf atmospheres using a variety of modeling and mapping techniques.

In this lecture Theodora Karalidi will discuss how we study exoplanet atmospheres using direct imaging.

Tickets: https://rijksmuseumboerhaave.nl/te-zien-te-doen/Exoplanets/?fbclid=IwAR2XNk561_jpk7eUH19AcFIlRjklHDHS0mepmpiXvXP3h0y8f4p_GhPiZto

Lecture: ‘Exoplanets: Portraits of alien worlds’ Language: English Date: Wednesday 4 December 2019, 18:00 - 19:00 Venue: Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, Lange Sint Agnietenstraat 10, Leiden Entrance: Special Guest Card, entrance ticket, friend of the museum