In the past year, scientists have discovered an astounding number of planets beyond our solar system. On Monday, February 6, Harvard astronomer Dimitar Sasselov will discuss these “exoplanets” and the possibility of discovering life beyond Earth at February’s Frontiers in Astrophysics lecture. Sasselov recently answered a few questions about the search for other worlds.

Have discoveries of exoplanets within the last few months changed any of our views on the potential for life beyond our solar system?

The Digital Universe Atlas, a scientifically accurate 3D atlas of the known universe assembled and maintained by scientists at the Museum’s Hayden Planetarium, gives audiences the chance to “fly” through space. On Tuesday, November 29, Digital Universe Manager Brian Abbott and research scientist Jackie Faherty will lead the Grand Tour of the Universe. The program, which starts at 6:30 pm, will take viewers to nearby stars, exoplanets, and the most distant objects known in the cosmos, revealing where Earth is in the universe and how it came to be. Abbott recently answered a few questions about his experiences presenting in the Dome.

Almost every star is now thought to form with a planetary system around it. But just how rare a phenomenon are habitable planets? In this podcast, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Linda Elkins-Tanton discusses what is currently known about planetary formation—and what is needed to encourage the development of life.

Dr. Elkins-Tanton’s talk, “A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Habitable Planets in Our Galaxy,” was recorded at the Museum on April 11, 2011.

Blogging from Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, Emily Rice, a research scientist in the Museum’s Department of Astrophysics, is working with a collaborator to model the atmospheres of low-mass stars, brown dwarfs, and giant gas planets, including descriptions of their chemistry and clouds. A major new exhibition about the future of space exploration opens at the Museum this fall.

For this trip, I made an unfamiliar journey to a familiar destination: Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. I have visited Lowell almost 10 times in the past seven years, but until this trip I was traveling to Flagstaff from Los Angeles, where I was studying astronomy at University of California, Los Angeles. For this, my first trip to Lowell since becoming a research scientist at the Museum, I spent 14 hours taking three flights from bustling New York City to tranquil Flagstaff.

Blogging from the Kitt Peak National Observatory in the Sonoran desert in Arizona, Jackie Faherty, a research scientist in the Museum’s Department of Astrophysics, is on an observing trip this month to study brown dwarfs and low-mass stars that are potential hosts to exoplanets. A major new exhibition about the future of space exploration opens at the Museum this fall.

One of the rituals that I follow without fail at a telescope is watching the sunset and sunrise.  It is an essential part of any observing run and a wonderful marker of how our work night begins and ends. Night five at Kitt Peak provided a spectacular sunset, with perfect pink and red puffy clouds on the horizon. This is actually terrible for observing as the pesky clouds interfere with collecting data from way out in the cosmos. Luckily, a few hours into the evening the majority of weather blew off, and I was able to take high-quality data.