On this special pledge drive edition of the Perpetual Notion Machine, we ventured to the vast reaches of outer space AND the vast reaches of our listener’s generosity. Although, we’re close to finding 2,000 exoplanets, we didn’t come close to that number in pledges. But visitors to this page can still click on the pledge link to donate, or listen to our June 11 show.
Our guest tonight was Jim Lattis, director of the UW Space Place. We discussed the types of planets found, how they were found, and the likelihood of finding an Earth-like planet.
For more information check out the Exoplanet Data Explorer website, the Wikipedia page on explanets, and PlanetQuest from NASA. NASA also has an Exoplanet Archive that lists by name all the ones found. Wikipedia also has a list of space telescopes grouped by frequency ranges.