Physical Society Colloquium

Are we alone? This simple question has fascinated all cultures from time immemorial. We are now at a point where we can address this issue in a quantitive manner. Astronomers have now accumulated evidence for the existence of planets around other stars. In one case, these planets have masses similar to that of Earth and the Moon; in other cases, the inferred masses are similar to that of Jupiter. The speaker will weave his own work in this field, specifically the discovery of the first brown dwarf - objects which bridge planets to stars - and then summarize a roadmap by which astronomers hope, over the next quarter century, to directly image and understand the composition of extra-solar planets.

Friday, March 16th 2001, 15:30
Ernest Rutherford Physics Building, Keys Auditorium (room 112)