Watch The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know

2015
1 Season

The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know is a fascinating and informative exploration of the field of exoplanetary research. This course, part of The Great Courses Signature Collection, is presented by esteemed astronomer and astrophysicist Joshua Winn, who brings his extensive expertise and passion to the subject.

Beginning with an overview of the types of exoplanets that have been discovered to date, Winn delves into the methods that astronomers use to detect these distant planets. We learn about radial velocity, transit, and microlensing techniques, and how each of these methods reveals different aspects of the exoplanets being observed.

One of the most exciting aspects of exoplanetary research is the incredible diversity that has been observed among the planets discovered so far. Winn highlights some of the most interesting and unusual exoplanets, including hot Jupiters, super-Earths, and even planets with multiple stars in their systems.

As well as discussing the physical characteristics of exoplanets, The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know also delves into the philosophical and existential questions raised by the discovery of these distant worlds. What can exoplanets tell us about our place in the universe? Are we alone in the universe, or are there other intelligent beings out there?

Throughout the course, Winn's engaging delivery and clear explanations make even the most complex topics accessible to laypeople. Whether you're a casual stargazer or a seasoned astronomer, The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know is a must-watch for anyone interested in the cutting-edge field of exoplanetary research.

One of the key takeaways from this course is the significance of exoplanetary research for our understanding of the cosmos, and of our place in it. By studying exoplanets, astronomers can glean insights into the formation and evolution of planetary systems, and may even discover signs of life beyond our own planet.

The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know is also notable for its use of stunning visuals and animations to illustrate the various concepts and techniques discussed throughout the course. We get to see beautiful computer-generated images of exoplanets, as well as animations of the methods used to detect them.

Overall, The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know is a fascinating and illuminating exploration of one of the most exciting areas of modern astronomy. With Joshua Winn's expert guidance, viewers will come away with a new appreciation for the vastness and complexity of the universe, and for the remarkable achievements of contemporary science.

The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know is a series that ran for 1 seasons (24 episodes) between September 25, 2015 and on The Great Courses Signature Collection

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Seasons

24. Coming Soon: Biosignatures, Moons, and More!

September 25, 2015

Explore the distinctive biosignatures that show the presence of life of any kind on an exoplanet. Then close with Professor Winnï¿½Ûªs tip sheet on exoplanetary discoveries likely in the near future-from evidence of moons to planets being destroyed by giant stars.

23. The Search for Life on Exoplanets

September 25, 2015

Join the quest for life on exoplanets, focusing on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI)-a hunt for signals from alien civilizations inspired by a landmark paper in 1959. See how the famous Drake equation points to factors that determine how many such civilizations may exist.

22. Long-Term Future Planet-Finding Projects

January 1, 1970

Peer into the future at ambitious projects that may one day succeed in collecting light directly from an Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone of a nearby star. Examine three different engineering approaches: the coronagraph, interferometer, and starshade.

21. Near-Term Future Planet-Finding Projects

September 25, 2015

The success of exoplanetary science has spurred a wave of new projects to increase our knowledge of worlds beyond our solar system. Survey ground- and space-based programs that are now in the works. Professor Winn gives a preview of a space mission that he and his MIT colleagues are designing.

20. Finding Planets with Direct Imaging

September 25, 2015

Turn to the most obvious way to find exoplanets: direct imaging. Explore the optics of telescopes to learn why spotting an exoplanet next to its parent star is so difficult. Then see how this limitation has been overcome in a handful of cases.

19. Finding Planets with Gravitational Lensing

September 25, 2015

Get a lesson in Einsteinï¿½Ûªs general theory of relativity to understand an effect called gravitational microlensing, which allows astronomers to deduce a planetï¿½Ûªs existence without recording any light from the planet or its host star. This technique reveals exoplanets that would otherwise go undetected.

18. Our Nearest Exoplanetary Neighbors

September 25, 2015

Pinpoint the location of the nearest exoplanetary systems to Earth. First, get the big picture on the layout of our Milky Way galaxy, its size, and the Sunï¿½Ûªs position. Also learn why the Kepler spacecraft focused on exoplanets much more distant than those targeted by the Doppler technique.

17. Living with a Giant Star

September 25, 2015

In billions of years, the Sun will expand into a red giant, possibly engulfing Earth. Learn how planet-finding techniques give astronomers insight into the processes inside giant stars. Then study the planets around these behemoths for clues about Earthï¿½Ûªs ultimate fate.

16. Living with a Dwarf Star

January 1, 1970

The most common stars are class M dwarf stars, which are smaller and less luminous than the Sun (class G). Earth-sized planets are much easier to detect around M-dwarf stars, especially if the planets are within the relatively close-in habitable zone. Explore examples and the prospect for life on such worlds.

15. Earthlike Planets

September 25, 2015

Begin your search for planets that may harbor life by studying the conditions that make Earth habitable, including its distance from the Sun, surface temperature, atmosphere, and oceans. Then examine strategies for finding earthlike planets and the progress to date.

14. Lava Worlds

September 25, 2015

Explore the theoretical limit of the smallest possible orbit for a planet, taking into consideration tidal stresses and other destructive processes. Then focus on Professor Winnï¿½Ûªs search for such objects, which found probable lava worlds-planets heated to rock-melting temperatures by their extreme closeness to their host stars.

13. Planets Circling Two Stars

September 25, 2015

See how data from the Kepler spacecraft confirms a scenario straight out of the movie Star Wars: a planet with two suns. Investigate the tricky orbital mechanics of these systems. A double star also complicates the heating and cooling cycle on a planet. However, the view is spectacular!

12. Compact Multiplanet Systems

September 25, 2015

Dig deeper into the treasure trove of data from the Kepler mission, which discovered hundreds of compact multiplanet systems, with planets much more closely packed than in our solar system. Explore the dynamics of these groupings, which have planets interacting strongly through mutual gravitation.

11. Transiting Planets and the Kepler Mission

September 25, 2015

The planet search took a giant leap forward in 2009 with the launch of the Kepler spacecraft, which used the transit technique to observe nearly 200,000 stars over a four-year period. Study Keplerï¿½Ûªs goals, results, and the persistence of the astronomer who championed it.

10. Super-Earths or Mini-Neptunes?

September 25, 2015

Learn how a sensitive new instrument led the way in finding planets smaller than the Jupiter-sized giants that dominated the earliest exoplanetary discoveries. Halfway in size between Earth and Neptune, these worlds have uncertain properties. For clues about their nature, consider how our solar system formed.

9. Stellar Rotation and Planetary Revolution

September 25, 2015

Trace Professor Winnï¿½Ûªs own search for the subtle signs that tell whether a star has a tilted axis. Discover why this is an important clue in the mystery of misplaced giant planets. Also hear how he chanced into the field of exoplanetary science.

8. Sniffing Planetary Atmospheres

September 25, 2015

Survey the history of spectroscopy to understand how a telescope and a diffraction grating can disclose the composition of a star and its planet. Then learn how transits and occultations are ideal for analyzing planetary atmospheres, paving the way for the search for signatures of life.

7. The Transits of Exoplanets

September 25, 2015

A tiny percentage of exoplanets can be detected transiting-or passing in front of-their host stars. Combined with Doppler shifts, transits provide information about a planetï¿½Ûªs size, mass, density, and likely composition. Learn how ambitious amateur astronomers can use this detection technique in their own backyards.

6. Explaining the Misplaced Giant Planets

September 25, 2015

The standard theory of planet formation is based on our solar system. But does this view require revision based on the existence of misplaced giant planets-hot Jupiters circling close to their parent stars? Compare competing theories that try to resolve this conflict.

5. The Misplaced Giant Planets

September 3, 2016

Investigate 51 Pegasi b, the first planet detected around a Sun-like star, which shocked astronomers by being roughly the size of Jupiter but in an orbit much closer to its star than Mercury is to the Sun. Probe the strange characteristics of these hot Jupiters, which have turned up around many stars.

4. Pioneers of Planet Searching

September 25, 2015

Chart the history of exoplanet hunting-from a famous false signal in the 1960s, through ambiguous discoveries in the 1980s, to the big breakthrough in the 1990s, when dozens of exoplanets turned up. Astronomers were stunned to find planets unlike anything in the solar system.

3. Doppler and Transit Planet-Finding Methods

September 25, 2015

Explore two other indirect approaches for finding exoplanets: first, by measuring the Doppler shift in the color of a star due to the pull of an unseen orbiting planet; and second, by measuring the tiny drop in the brightness of a star as a planet transits in front of it.

2. How to Find an Exoplanet

September 25, 2015

Given the extreme faintness of a planet relative to the star it orbits, how can astronomers possibly find it? Learn about direct and indirect methods of detection. As an example of the indirect method, discover why a planet causes a starï¿½Ûªs position to change, providing a strategy for locating exoplanets without seeing them.

1. Why Study Exoplanets?

September 25, 2015

Learn about the exciting mission of exoplanetary science-the study of planets orbiting stars beyond the Sun. Review the eight planets in our solar system, which provide a baseline for understanding the more than 1,000 worlds recently discovered in our region of the Milky Way galaxy.

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Where to Watch The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know

The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know is available for streaming on the The Great Courses Signature Collection website, both individual episodes and full seasons. You can also watch The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know on demand at Amazon Prime and Amazon.