Seminar: Understanding the stars in our search for another Earth

In just 30 years, we went from no known exoplanets to more than 5000 known exoplanets. This growing sample of exoplanetary systems allows us to study their mass-radius relationship or lack thereof and their connection with their host stars, if any. Despite all these wonderful exotic new worlds, we are yet to find a planet like the Earth. Our biggest challenge is the star itself creating signals due to its magnetic variability that mimic or hide the planetary signals. We have started observing the Sun as a star to understand these stellar nuisance signals giving promising avenues. In this talk, I will give you an overview on the star-planet relationship, our efforts to find and characterise small planets, and how our own Sun is helping to lead the way to find another Earth.

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We shall leave for lunch at around 12:15. There will be fika after the seminar.