Exoplanets and alien atmospheres Exploring beyond our Solar System

Event details

Astrocampus 10th Anniversary

Since the discovery of planets around other stars (exoplanets) in 1995, we have made leaps and bounds in our understanding of these new worlds. We now know of thousands of planets orbiting suns other than our own. However, we have yet to discover a solar system quite like ours. Many of the planets we know about are gas giants like Jupiter that orbit their star much closer than Mercury - in many cases their year is only a few days! State of the art space and ground based telescopes have allowed us to explore these worlds more closely, allowing us to peer into their atmospheres to understand what they are made of, and just how like Jupiter they actually are. In this talk Dr Sarah Casewell will explore just how we find exoplanets (and how you can have a go!), and what we understand about their atmospheres. Looking to the future, she will talk about JWST, and what we have learned in its first two years of operation, as well as the upcoming Extremely Large Telescope and Ariel space mission.

Dr Sarah Casewell is an STFC Ernest Rutherford Research Fellow at the University of Leicester working on irradiated brown dwarf stars. She is an observational astronomer who has shared her work on BBC Radio Leicester, in New Scientist magazine, and on UK Space Conference podcasts.

Exhibition and Observing

4pm to 6.30pm

Get hands-on before the talk with a fun-filled exhibition featuring a planetarium, virtual reality headsets, interactive robots, Astrocampus tours, and more.

Find out more about the exhibition

7.30pm to 8.30pm

Join us after the talk for celebratory cake and bubbly, as well as the opportunity to tour the Astrocampus and observe the night sky (weather permitting). 

The talk will take place in room P/X/001 within the Exhibition Centre, Campus West. Please use the postcode YO10 5NA with sat navs and see the interactive map. Pay and display parking is available on campus.

If you have any questions about this event, please contact astrocampus@york.ac.uk.

Image credit: IAU/L. Calçada, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons