Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton (AAAP) Monthly Meeting

In 1992, the first exoplanets were discovered by measuring the slight timing variations in rotating pulsars. Since then, we’ve pointed increasingly sophisticated ground- and space-based instruments at more normal stars, hoping to image their planets directly, or to see the stars blink, wobble, or lens in ways that reveal orbiting companions. The current tally of exoplanets tops out at about 4,400-and very much still counting. Out of the many hot Jupiters and mini Neptunes we’ve also spotted rocky planets, a few mirroring Earth in size, density, and habitability. Prof. Stassun will discuss the ways in which eclipses and transits of stars by their companions – utilizing light curves from the NASA TESS mission and parallaxes from the Gaia satellite – can be used to determine the fundamental properties of stars and characteristics of their planets by the thousands, and with a precision never before possible.