Von Kármán Lecture Series: New Worlds: Exoplanet Discoveries from the Spitzer Space Telescope November 13, 2008

Speaker: Dr. Michelle Thaller, Manager of Education and Public Outreach, Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology

New discoveries streaming back from the Spitzer Space Telescope continue to surprise and amaze everyone. No one could have predicted some of the amazing things we're finding, not even the mission scientists themselves! Spitzer has proved itself to be a true pioneer in the characterization of extrasolar planets, providing the first real, if crude, weather map of a world around another star over 250 light years away. We're also finding evidence of planet formation in the oddest places, from the cool, dark space around brown dwarfs to the hard-radiation baked environment near neutron stars. Come watch sunrise and sunset around a massive Jupiter-like planet, or trace high-velocity winds on an alien world where we've found water vapor in the cloud-tops. With Spitzer, these new worlds are becoming real places to us, challenging us to imagine even more.

Official Website: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures/nov08.cfm