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The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know  By  cover art

The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know

By: The Great Courses,Joshua N. Winn
Narrated by: Professor Joshua N. Winn
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Publisher's summary

As recently as 1990, it seemed plausible that the solar system was a unique phenomenon in our galaxy. Thanks to advances in technology and clever new uses of existing data, now we know that planetary systems and possibly even a new Earth can be found throughout galaxies near and far.

We are living during a new golden age of planetary discovery, with the prospect of finding many worlds like Earth. Most of the thousands of planets we've detected can't be imaged directly, but researchers are able to use subtle clues obtained in ingenious ways to assemble an astonishing picture of planetary systems far different from our own. We are in the midst of an astronomical revolution, comparable to the Copernican revolution that established our current view of the solar system - and we invite you to take part.

Embark on this unrivaled adventure in 24 lectures by a veteran planet hunter. Designed for everyone from armchair explorers to serious skywatchers, The Search for Exoplanets follows the numerous twists and turns in the hunt for exoplanets - the false starts, the sudden breakthroughs, and the extraordinary discoveries. Explore systems containing super-Earths, mini-Neptunes, lava worlds, and even stranger worlds. You also get behind-the-scenes information on the techniques astronomers used to find evidence of planets at mind-boggling distances from our home base. Learn how astronomers determine how many planets are in a system as well as how large they are and the characteristics of their atmospheres. You will feel like Dr. Watson in the presence of Sherlock Holmes as Professor Winn extracts a wealth of information from a spectrum, a light graph, a diffraction pattern, and other subtle clues.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2015 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2015 The Great Courses

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Fun across the universe

This lecture series is interesting and fun. As a non-astronomer, with close to zero knowledge about stars and planets beyond our own solar system, I was curious to find out what could possibly be known about unimaginably distant planets, when the only data we have to inform us are tiny dots of light in the night sky. And those tiny dots of light aren’t even planets, they are stars, so how the heck can we know if these stars even have planets orbiting them, when these can't be seen by the most powerful telescopes.

But, quite a lot is known, or rather, has been deduced, by a bunch of extremely clever space geeks who have analysed the light emanating from distant stars and noticed that this light changes ever-so-slightly whenever a planet crosses in front of a star. This event, called a ‘transit’, is relatively rare, because the planet has to be positioned exactly between us and the star for this to occur. So it is roughly as rare as an eclipse would be in our solar system. But, fortunately for us, there are billions of stars out there - and so even a relatively rare event will occur enough times to supply the astronomers with lots of information about the size, orbit periods (‘years’) and composition of these planets.

So there’s lots of good stuff in this lecture series, narrated in an excellent and interesting style, and, unlike other lecture series I’ve listened to, this one is right up to date - recorded in 2015.

I learnt that the majority of solar systems in the universe have two or more suns orbiting around each other, rather than just the one as in our solar system. How come we can’t see these twin or triplet stars? Because, from a great distance they appear as just one blob of light.

And I also learnt that stars are classified by their luminosity according to this sequence of letters: o,b,f,g,k,m,l,t and y, in descending order of brightness where 'o' is the brightest and 'y' is the faintest (our sun is a 'g' star). This sequence is easily committed to memory using the mnemonic 'Old Bald Fat Guys Kiss More Ladies Than You'. This proves two things: Firstly, that space geeks have a sense of humour, and secondly, that the first sentence of my review is true.

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44 people found this helpful

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Fascinating!

If you 1) love looking at the night sky, 2) love wondering what or who is out there, and 3) take interest in technical details at least of middle-level sophistication (for example, there are five different methods of planet-hunting, each treated in detail and involving their own brief physics lessons), I would recommend this listen for sure! The professor is very well-spoken and genial. And the subject matter is treated with an eye to the future — no arrogance at all in assuming that what's known today is anything close to what we'll know some day. It's the past, present and future of the exoplanet search. One note: if you are interested especially in the search for intelligent life, you may be left wanting more. The bulk of the course is the nuts and bolts of exoplanetary science, and it so happens that many planets found are not thought to be life candidates. But all the background knowledge will help you appreciate why it's so challenging to find life candidates. Our technological challenges so far have actually seemed biased against detecting such planets. I think it's a fascinating story, well-told.

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12 people found this helpful

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awe-inspiring!

Great course, literally and metaphorically. Enjoyed listening to this immensely. A very detailed survey of the field of exoplanets but I never felt lost. In fact some of the more general physics concepts here where more clearly explained than any other course I've listened to. Hugely accessible.

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10 people found this helpful

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Wonderful and exciting

If you have an interest in science and astronomy, this is the course for you. Some of the math went over my head but it didn't take away from the enjoyment and I definitely feel better informed on the subject now. I wish I could take a test and see how much I retained but it was a wonderful introduction to this relatively new area of science.

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8 people found this helpful

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Just complex enough.

This is a great book. Don't be intimidated by the math. The formulas are given but only for the sake of a complete explanation. The ideas are clear even with my rather limited understanding of mathematics. Very up to date and interesting.

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Great course on exoplanets, wonderfully narrated

Professor Joshua N Winn is an MIT scientist and exoplanetary researcher who lights up this course with his brilliant narrative on the search for exoplanets starting from way back. The techniques used such as astrometry, Doppler shift, transiting planets (eclipse), gravitational lensing and direct imaging are explained in great detail in a very fun way. The course is not meant for researchers but just people with a basic understanding of science, not too much, but just enough to start with Newtonian Mechanics. Loved all of this course and would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know more. The new telescopes that are coming in the next few decades such as James Webb and and WFIRST-AFTA will be able to peer into space for exoplanets in the near distance as well as go into deep space. We live in very exciting times!

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6 people found this helpful

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Very good! you will learn a lot

This is a great book for anyone wanting to understand what are exoplanets, where are they, how do we find them and where is that research going to take us.

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It's not just an Awful Lot of Space

Any additional comments?

When the astronomer and science popularist Carl Sagan wrote, “The universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space,” it was still unknown whether any planets even existed outside of our solar system. With brilliant, yet child-like fascination, Professor Joshua Winn's 24 lecture series on The Search for Exoplanets, explores the tools and the techniques which have led to the discovery that most of the stars you see have distance worlds orbiting them. Learn about systems containing super-Earths, mini-Neptunes, hot Jupiters, lava worlds, worlds orbiting binary stars and how techniques such as the doppler method, the transit method, the radial velocity method and direct imaging have different strengths and weaknesses that make them suited to discovering different types of worlds.Only 12 hours long, this lecture series is very entertaining for anyone who wonders about the universe above.

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  • Rj
  • 07-08-16

wow

full of detail that was very educational and I am planning on listening to it again

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Must read!

This was easy to follow and very well narrated. I feel like I have a moderate understanding of dis field and am ready for the next big news story.

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