Dr. Alan Dressler , of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, kicked off the first of the Las Cumbres Observatory Lecture Series at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History tonight, presented by the University of California, Santa Barbara .
In a lecture entitled "The Search for Another Earth: Looking For Life In All the Right Places," Dr. Dressler spoke about what makes up life here on Earth, how we will hopefully find Earth-like planets in the near future orbiting our neighboring stars, and if it will be possible to detect life on these distant planets.
(taken from the UCSB Lecture website)
Astronomers have joined the growing number of scientists who seek to understand the origins of life on Earth and to look for life beyond Earth. Studies of Earth's extreme environments suggests that life here may have arisen in conditions that were hostile compared to the land and oceans of Earth today. However, because these difficult conditions may have been common during the formation of planets around nearly every star in our Galaxy, the development of life as we know it may not be a rare event. The number of planets discovered around our neighbor stars is growing, and research has begun to address basic questions: How common are Solar Systems like our own? How common are rocky worlds like our Earth? If Earth-like worlds are common, future space missions will be able to study them in enough detail to reveal if they are suitable for life, indeed, if life is actually present.
Dr. Alan Dressler is famed for his studies of distant galaxies and of the large-scale structure of the universe. In addition to his scientific research, Dr. Dressler authored the popular book Voyage to the Great Attractor: Exploring Intergalactic Space. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1996, and won the Newton Lacey Pierce Prize from the American Astronomical Society in 1983. In 1999 NASA awarded him the Public Service Medal. He is a member of the Terrestrial Planet Finder Coronograph Science and technology definition team.
Watch the lecture through UCTV!
