Join us at USQ for World Space Week as NASA Scientist, Dr Doug Hudgins, shares with everyone what great things are happening in the search for Worlds outside of our Solar System. This special event will also be live streamed for those unable to attend in person.
The Dr Doug Hudgins’ (NASA) Public Talk followed by Stargazing is at USQ Toowoomba on Sunday 6 October 2019. This public seminar is suitable for all ages, so bring along the little ones. Stargazing will start at 7.30pm and will be held at 'The Grove' which is located half way up the drive, on the south side of the main USQ entrance road (off West Street).
Dr Doug Hudgins
Dr Doug Hudgins is the Program Scientist for NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program and its TESS mission and is the Program Officer for the Astrophysics Data Analysis Program. As Exoplanet Exploration Program Scientist he is responsible for setting the scientific direction of NASA’s efforts to discover and understand the planets (called exoplanets) orbiting stars other than the Sun. He is also a keen amateur astronomer, telescope maker and enthusiastic astronomy outreach person.
Professor Rob Wittenmyer
Prof Rob Wittenmyer is the originator and lead of the MINERVA-Australis planet-hunting observatory. He joined USQ in 2017 after eight years at UNSW Sydney, with a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin. He has contributed to the discovery of more than 50 exoplanets, including 15 planets confirmed using MINERVA-Australis data. In addition to exoplanets, he enjoys soccer, badminton, and weightlifting.
Details of location for stargazing can be found here.
Dr Doug Hudgins
Exoplanets in our own neighbourhood: Getting to know the neighbours.
One of the most exciting challenges facing NASA today is the search for life beyond our solar system. NASA’s trailblazing Kepler mission conducted a census of planets around other stars, called “extrasolar planets” or “exoplanets” for short. Kepler showed us that there are more planets than stars in our galaxy, and that small planets—planets up to about 4x the size of Earth—are by far the most common of all. Today, NASA’s TESS mission is searching for our nearest neighbours—the planets around the nearest and brightest stars to us here on Earth. The TESS survey will provide a roadmap for future NASA missions that will study our nearest neighbours to see what they are like and look for any hint that they might harbor life.
To meet the challenge of looking for life among the stars, NASA has established its Exoplanet Exploration Program. In this talk we will look at the latest scientific results, the technology development, and the future mission concepts that the program is engaged in to blaze a path to finding Earth 2.0.
Dr. Doug Hudgins' visit to USQ is funded as a Gift of the United States Government.
Professor Rob Wittenmyer
MINERVA-Australis: Australia’s dedicated planet-hunting machine
Less than a generation ago, we wondered, as we had for millions of years before, whether there were any other planetary systems at all.
Now, we are privileged to be in the first generation of humans to know that many of the points of light dusting our night sky are host to orbiting worlds, some of which may be like our Earth. MINERVA-Australis at the University of Southern Queensland's Mount Kent Observatory is the only Southern Hemisphere precise radial velocity facility wholly dedicated to follow-up of exoplanets identified by the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). I give an overview and update of operations, and I present our precise radial velocity results and orbital solutions for several TESS planets.
Unable to attend on-campus?
USQ is excited to stream the seminar via Zoom Webinar.
The webinar details:
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Via the meeting URL: https://usq.zoom.us/j/975351261
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SIP: 975351261@zoom.aarnet.edu.au
H.323: 182.255.112.21 or 202.177.207.158 (AU)
Meeting ID: 975 351 261
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Meeting ID: 975 351 261
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