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SLAS Regular Meeting
Friday, May 20, 2016 7:30pm
McDonnell Hall,
Washington University
Exoplanets
by
Dr. Heather Knutson
California Institute
of Technology
Dr. Heather Knutson will be featured at the
May meeting of the St. Louis Astronomical
Society. The meeting will begin at 7:30 PM
Friday, May 20, in McDonnell Hall, Room
162, on the Washington University campus,
Saint Louis, MO 63130. See the home page for directions.
Exoplanets are planets in orbit around other
stars. More than 3,000 such worlds have been
discovered. More continue to be detected by
both ground
-
based and space telescopes. Most
of the first group of exoplanets were giant gas
worlds, like Jupiter and Saturn. Improvements
in technology have made it possible to detect
even Earth
-
sized planets. Of greatest interest
is the detection of Earth
-
sized planets at distances from their host stars suitable for life to
exist. Dr. Knutson will talk about how exoplanets are detected, the characteristics of
some exoplanets, and how the composition of
their atmospheres can be determined. The
presence of certain chemicals in exoplanet
atmospheres could indicate that life exists on
those worlds.
Dr. Heather Knutson is an Assistant Professor
in the Division of Geological and Planetary
Sciences at the California Institute of Technology. She is a member of the Institute's
Center For Planetary Astronomy. Dr. Knutson
received the American Astronomical Society's Annie Jump Cannon Awards in 2012 for
her outstanding research work. She is interested in the physics and chemistry of exoplanetary atmospheres, planet formation and migration, and the search for new low
-
mass eclipsing planetary systems.
May 20, 2016 - Extrasolar Planets - Heather
Knutson, Ph.D. - California Institute of Technology
June 17, 2016 - Meteorologist Mike Roberts
July - TBA
August: 2017 Eclipse - One Year Out - John Wharton, SLSC
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Meeting Agenda
Welcome
Introduction of Officers and Visitors
Main Speaker: Dr. Heather Knutson
Astro 101:
Recognitions
Election Nominations
President - Jim Small
Vice President - Brad Waller
Treasurer - Bill Winningham
Secretary - Mark Jones
Hospitality - Larry Campbell
Board Member at Large - Rich Heuermann
Other nominations?
Elections
MSRAL 2016 - June 3-5, 2016 - Columbia, MO Hosted by MU Physics Dept
Raffle Tickets for:
MSRAL registration fee
Star Parties
Other Announcements
Vacancies in SLAS:
Merchandise Chair - Organizes and selects SLAS merchandise to offer to the public and to members
Eyepiece kits for sale
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