CBC News reporter Michael MacDonald spotlights the work of Prof. Sara Seager, who he calls a “certified rock star” in her field, describing everything from her interest in astronomy as a young child to her current search for exoplanets and alien life. McDonald writes that, “ultimately, her research could help answer some of the biggest questions facing humankind.”
Prof. Sara Seager speaks with WGBH’s Edgar Herwick about the search for life on other planets, following the discovery of seven Earth-sized exoplanets. "The first thing we’re gonna look for is water vapor in the atmosphere," Seager explains. “If there’s water, we want to look and see if there are gasses that don’t belong that might be produced by life."
Postdoc Julien de Wit speaks with Boston Herald reporter Marie Szaniszlo about the discovery of seven Earth-like planets. De Wit, who is leading the effort to study the planets’ atmospheres, explains that “this is the first time that we’ve found so many small planets — each potentially habitable — around the same star, a star that’s close to us.”
Postdoc Julien de Wit speaks with NPR reporter Nell Greenfieldboyce about the discovery of seven exoplanets that could harbor the conditions necessary to sustain liquid water. Greenfieldboyce reports that de Wit explained that the planets have a “‘winning combination’ of being temperate, Earth-size and ideally suited for follow-up observations with telescopes to analyze their atmospheres.”
An international team of scientists, including astronomers from MIT, has discovered seven Earth-sized planets, reports Sarah Kaplan for The Washington Post. Julien de Wit, a postdoc at MIT who is leading the study of the planets’ atmospheres, explains that repeated observations of the planets, “lifted the veil on the architecture of the system.”
Washington Post reporter Sarah Kaplan writes that a new study by MIT postdoc Julien de Wit provides evidence of a star that pulses when in proximity to its orbiting planet. De Wit and his colleagues found that the “star's brightness oscillated according to the exact rhythm of its planet's orbit.”
MIT astronomers have discovered a star that pulsates in response to an exoplanet orbiting around it, reports Brooks Hays for UPI. The findings “contradict the wisdom of most stellar models, which suggest planets can't influence their host stars in such a manner,” Hays explains.
Postdoc Jennifer Burt speaks with Boston Globe reporter Andrew Grant about a new database of nearby stars that has been made publically available. “This could be a great way to get undergrad and high school students involved in science,” Burt explains. “We’re inspiring the next generation of scientists and that’s awesome.”
In an in-depth piece for The New York Times Magazine, Chris Jones spotlights Prof. Sara Seager, exploring her quest for an Earthlike exoplanet. Jones writes there has been an explosion of knowledge about exoplanets in part because of “Seager’s pioneering theoretical work in using light to study the composition of alien atmospheres.”
In an article for Quartz, Prof. Sara Seager speculates about what it might be like to visit the recently discovered Earth-like planet dubbed Proxima Centauri. Seager writes that “the most fascinating aspect to me is that on the planet, the alien sun would be in the same place in the sky at all times.”
New findings from EAPS postoc Julien de Wit shows that two previously discovered exoplanets 40 light years from Earth have rocky surfaces, which “represent a unique opportunity to go looking for conditions that would favor life,” writes Rachel Feltman for the The Washington Post.
TIME reporter Jeffrey Kluger writes that researchers have discovered three potentially habitable planets. Kluger explains that the researchers observed the planets orbiting an ultracool dwarf star “at a distance at which water—the must-have ingredient for life as we know it—could exist in liquid form.”
Dr. Julien de Wit speaks with Nell Greenfieldboyce of NPR about the three potentially habitable planets that he and his colleagues recently discovered. "These planets are Earth-sized, they are temperate — we can't rule out the fact that they are habitable — and they are well-suited for atmospheric studies," de Wit explains.
Los Angeles Times reporter Deborah Netburn writes that researchers have discovered three potentially habitable planets orbiting an ultracool dwarf star 40 light years away. "The team took a big risk even looking for planets around these stars," says MIT postdoc Julien de Wit, co-author of the paper. "But it has really paid off."
A team of astronomers, including researchers from MIT, have discovered three potentially habitable planets, reports Ashley Strickland for CNN. Strickland writes that the “results are just the beginning of a study that will continue for years. The researchers are already working on observations to see if the planets have water or methane molecules.”