Habitability of exoplanets: Lessons from the Solar system

This seminar is part of the EAI on-line seminars

Floris van der Tak, SRON, the Netherlands Institute for Space Research - University of Groningen, NL

24 January 2023, 16:00 CET

In this seminar, wewill be talking about the habitability of exoplanets, and what we can learn about this from exploring our own Solar system.
The first exoplanet was discovered in 1995, and as of last year, we know more than 5000 planets   orbiting stars other than our Sun.
Astronomers use several methods to observe exoplanets, which they use to measure their sizes and orbital periods, and infer key planetary properties such as temperature and composition.
We find that many extrasolar planets may be habitable, which means that some may actually host some form of life.

But would we be able to recognize signs of life on other planets?
How similar or different will extraterrestrial life be from known life forms on Earth?
And what are the prospects of finding traces of life within our Solar system?
This seminar discusses astrobiological definitions of habitability, and the likelihood of finding life beyond the Earth, both within and outside the Solar system.

Join us at 16:00 CET on the 24th of January on https://meet.goto.com/EAI_online !