Beyond the Sun: Planets Around Other Stars
Diana Dragomir offers a unique twist on the exciting and newsy topic of exoplanets, worlds beyond our own solar system. After reviewing the structure of our own solar system and the techniques used to find planets outside of it, tells us about the hunt for super-Earths, planets larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune, of which there are none in our solar system. It turns out that super-Earths are very common in the
domain of exoplanets. Dragomir tells us about how we know how (and her own role in this discovery), why it matters in the broader search for life, and what the next steps are in this fascinating hunt.