Emily LakdawallaFeb 14, 2013

Planetary Society Weekly Hangout, Thu Feb 14 1200PT/2000UT: Courtney Dressing

Emily Lakdawalla and Courtney Dressing talked about just how common Earth-sized exoplanets may be in our neighborhood. Courtney and her advisor recently published a paper about Kepler data on nearby planets around cool stars (PDF), which was the subject of a press briefing last week.

Courtney's name should be familiar to Planetary Society members -- nine years ago she was one of a group of 16 high-school students who were at JPL during the first days of the Spirit and Opportunity missions as part of our "Red Rover Goes to Mars" project.

Below is a recording of the event.

This content is hosted by a third party (youtube.com), which uses marketing cookies. Please accept marketing cookies to watch this video.

Hypothetical Earth-size planet orbiting a young red dwarf
Hypothetical Earth-size planet orbiting a young red dwarf When it's young, a red dwarf star frequently erupts with strong ultraviolet flares as shown in this artist's conception. Some have argued that life would be impossible on any planet orbiting in the star's habitable zone as a result. However, the planet's atmosphere could protect the surface, and in fact such stresses could help life to evolve. And when the star ages and settles down, its planet would enjoy billions of years of quiet, steady radiance.Image: David A. Aguilar (CfA)

Searching around for images of Courtney from her days as a Red Rover Goes to Mars Student Astronaut, I found this awesome B-roll recorded by a professional at JPL as Courtney and her partner Rafael Morozowski were taking a tour of mission operations with NASA's Dave Lavery. I also spotted Mark Lemmon and Jim Bell. At the end, they depart very late at night -- they were working on Mars time and their days ended in the wee hours of the morning. Fun! (The video starts after about 40 seconds of test pattern.)

The Planetary Fund

Your support powers our mission to explore worlds, find life, and defend Earth. Give today!

Donate