Explore Exoplanets: The Discoverers

Is there a planet near the center of our galaxy like Trantor? Jessie shares what she's found in the NASA Exoplanet Archive, and Peter answers a viewer question: "How old do stars have to be to have planets?" 🌟🪐🪐🪐

All Roads Lead to AU Mic ⛔🔭🪐 Despite denial, discouragement and telemarketing jobs, Dr. Peter Plavchan found a path to a career in astronomy...and a famous exoplanet! Join Jessie as she chats with Peter about how he discovered AU Mic b in plain sight.

A Real-life Tatooine?🪐☀️☀️ Did Jessie go to a galaxy far, far away to find a real-life counterpart to Tatooine, Etienne's favorite fictional planet?

Jessie chats with Dr. Etienne Bachelet about how stars can bend light, and how we can use that phenomenon to find exoplanets.

Jessie continues her chat with Dr. Jennifer Burt of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and reveals whether she's found a real-life Roshar in the NASA Exoplanet Archive or if that multi-planet system is still a fantasy. They also answer a viewer's question:"What do astronomers mean when they say "Earth-like planet"?

IPAC's Dr. Jessie Christiansen chats with Dr. Jennifer Burt of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on how she splits starlight into rainbows (a.k.a. Extreme Precision Radial Velocity) to study exoplanets, which of the six planets she's discovered (so far) is her favorite, and why she prefers fictional planets in fantasy novels over those in science fiction.⚔️

Forbidding and Forbidden Planets: In this second half of Dr. Jessie Christiansen's interview with Dr. Chas Beichman, we find out why Altair 4 is Chas's favorite fictional planet and if there are any real planets like it in the NASA Exoplanet Archive.

Blowtorch On A Planet! In this inaugural episode, Jessie finds out why her boss, Executive Director of the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute Dr. Charles Beichman, is considered a pioneer in exoplanet research. Dr. Beichman uses NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to spy on a planet that goes from room temperature to over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit in one Earth day.