Science Update: Exoplanets: Finding Life in the Galaxy, January 30, 2025

Join exoplanet astronomer Rob Zellem, of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, as he discusses how we find and characterize exoplanets, planets outside of our own Solar System, with the goal of detecting signatures of life. He will also discuss current and near future ground- and space-based missions, such as NASA’s Hubble, TESS, and James Webb space telescopes, and a citizen science project called Exoplanet Watch, which features amateur astronomers conducting observations of exoplanets to help use these resources more efficiently and to discover new planets.

Zellem will also cover near-future missions, such as NASA’s next flagship mission, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which will both survey the skies in the visible and near-infrared to discover tens of thousands of new exoplanets and take photographs of exoplanets to establish the technologies needed for NASA’s next generation mission, the Habitable Worlds Observatory, which will be designed to discover alien life.

All individuals receive a certificate of participation and 100 NSTA activity points for attending the live seminar and completing the end-of-program survey. A certificate of participation is not awarded for watching the recorded version of the program.

We invite you to register for upcoming web seminars at NSTA.

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To view the presentation slides from the web seminar and related resources, visit the resource collection. Continue discussing this topic in the community forums.

Below are comments from individuals who attended the seminar:

  • "Rob was a fantastic presenter. He gave some GREAT information and presented it in such a way that it was clear and understandable."
  • "The seminar provided a wealth of information about exoplanets, including recent discoveries and the methods used to detect them. The content was well-organized and presented in a way that was easy to understand. The seminar included practical examples of how the information could be applied in educational settings."
  • "The slides along with commentary provided a great visual representation of the information."

A certificate of attendance was deposited into participants' account page for completing the evaluation form at the end of the program.

For more information contact: [email protected]

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