How Kepler Found One Planet Every Day: Jason Steffen [Ep. 470]

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Brian Keating

Science, Physics, Natural Sciences

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2024

⏱️ 84 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Get ready to embark on a cosmic journey with Jason Steffen, author of Hidden in the Heavens and one of the brilliant minds behind the groundbreaking Kepler Mission. This live episode of The INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast promises to be an unmissable masterclass in exoplanet science, filled with awe-inspiring discoveries, behind-the-scenes stories, and lessons that redefine our place in the cosmos. What You’ll Discover: 🚀 The Kepler Mission’s Epic Journey: Learn how a team of visionaries overcame two decades of challenges to launch a space telescope that revolutionized planetary science. 🌍 Earth’s Place in the Universe: What have 5,000+ exoplanets taught us about the possibility of finding Earth-like worlds—and the uniqueness of our own planet? 💡 Breakthroughs That Changed Science Forever: From “hot Jupiters” to the unexpected diversity of planetary systems, explore how Kepler rewrote the rulebook on planetary formation. 👩‍🔬 Inspiration for Aspiring Scientists: Hear Jason’s advice for navigating uncertainty, thriving in collaborative missions, and turning curiosity into impactful discoveries. 🔭 The Future of Exoplanet Research: With the James Webb Space Telescope building on Kepler’s legacy, what’s next in the search for life beyond Earth? Why You Can’t Miss This: This isn’t just a podcast—it’s an educational experience for anyone fascinated by the cosmos, science, or humanity’s eternal quest to answer the biggest questions. Whether you’re a seasoned scientist, a student of the stars, or simply curious about our place in the universe, this episode will leave you inspired and enlightened. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	All right. Welcome everybody to what is going to be an amazing journey through the universe of exoplanets.
0:12.6	Something we cover a lot on this channel, and today is now a difference.
0:17.8	We have an incredible guest joining us today all the way from
0:21.7	Las Vegas Nevada or as I call it lost wages Nevada and I hope it'll be as
0:28.1	exciting for you as it is for me reading his book he's got a wonderful new book
0:32.0	out called Hidden in the Heavens and we're going to play our favorite game of judging the book by its cover in just a minute.
0:41.3	And let me just first introduce Jason Steffen.
0:44.2	Jason, how are you today?
0:45.9	Doing well. Thanks for having me.
0:48.1	Congratulations on this great new book.
0:50.4	It's quite a big deal to write a book like this and to do it in such a way that's understandable, even to a simple cosmologist like me.
1:01.3	We've had on a lot of interesting guests lately talking about exoplanets and life.
1:07.0	And I guess while people are trickling into the live stream, I wanted to ask a question.
1:11.8	What would you say if we found out there was no life on any other of these exoplanets?
1:17.9	Earth's the only thing we got.
1:20.0	Would you still say searching for exoplanets is a worthy goal of a scientist?
1:25.3	Yeah.
1:27.4	So one of the things that I, it's a good thing that there aren't, that people are still
1:31.6	trickling in before I, this gets too broadly sent out, is that I don't, I don't really
1:37.2	care about life on other planets all that much.
1:41.0	So one of the reasons I think that studying exoplanets is useful in its own right is that it tells us all of the paths that our solar system did not take.
1:54.0	We learn about how planets form, it allows us to have a more general theory of planet formation that the solar system alone can't provide.
	...

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