Exoplanets and life in the universe Planets of other stars
Andalusia and its role in the discovery of new worlds
Pedro J. Amado Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia
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About the lecture
Today we know the geopolitical, economic, military and even religious aspects that led to the discovery and colonisation of the New World better than the scientific and technical ones that made it possible. As then, the search for a "new world" has accelerated in recent years in a field —the detection and characterisation of exoplanets— that is relatively young, considering that only about twenty-five years have passed since the first planet orbiting another Sun-like star was discovered. In that time, as a human collective, we have gone from thinking our Solar System was unique in the Galaxy to knowing that thousands of planets have already been detected and that there could be billions out there.
In this talk I will present the current state of the science and technology making these discoveries possible, which we now see as cutting-edge but which future generations will regard as "the best that could be done at the time". I hope those generations will see these efforts as humanity's first steps in a desire to travel and explore new worlds, and not as something forced by the state in which we leave them ours.
Text of the official description published by IAA-CSIC on YouTube.
