Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
I'm one of the 12, um, program scientists within
the astrophysics division.
And we do the scientific oversight
of several of the NASA missions as well as uh, a research
and analysis program which are normally
investigations that, that people apply for.
And also we manage a mission and developments
in ground observatories.
In my case, within the actual planet themes,
we manage two ground observatories.
One in Keck Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii,
and the other one is in Tucson, Arizona.
This one is called, uh, a Large Binocular Telescope.
Interferometer, which is a telescope,
will start working next year.
So we, we manage all that portfolio of activities.
And our responsibility is to do the scientific oversight
and, and manage the, the grant program.
Exoplanets are, are the planets that have been discovered
outside our solar system.
These are a very large distance from our own solar system.
This is way beyond the eight.
We used to have nine with Pluto, but we're eight.
And this is a very recent discipline.
I started, uh, populating all and finding this new, um,
planet, planet outside our solar system in 1995.
So still, it's about a 15-year-old discipline.
However by now, we have found or discovered approximately
about 538, maybe by now 540.
Uh, and there are about 500 others
that are candidates to be confirmed.
So if they're confirmed in the next few months
or in the next year,
we will have over 1,000, uh, additional planets.
Some of them are in multiple systems.
So out of the thousand, we, we may, uh, we are talking
about probably 300 or 200 different solar systems
outside our own.
And these are a very large distance.
The, the closest one is about, uh, 20 light years
or 30 light years in one direction.
So they are very distant.