Hey, podcast listeners, it's one of those infrequent special messages, secret messages that we have just for you guys.

We leave out the radio folks because there are more things we can say to you quite frankly,

and this is the first of these that we're attempting with to you're

there quite frankly and this is the first of these that were attempting with with a guest

Deborah you there I am thanks that Deborah Fisher is you're gonna hear her in a few

minutes for the regular interview segment on the radio show talking

about some very exciting stuff in her ongoing search for exoplanets, those planets

circling other stars. In fact, with this one it's particularly exciting because

Deborah is going to be looking, we hope, for a planet in the the nearest star

system to Earth, the Alpha Centauri group.

Deborah, the reason I wanted you to be part of this little special message

is because we're about to make a new appeal out of the planetary

to support your work.

And what is this about?

We're going to help you by time?

That's right, it's much appreciated.

Yes indeed, the advantage that we have with the Chiron Spectrometer at Sarah Tololo is that we have the possibility

of buying 200 nights or more per year.

The funding for this time can't be purchased with federal grants.

NASA invests in space missions, they do fund projects at KAC, but they don't allow, and the NSF does not allow the purchase of ground-based telescope time.

This is a project that's near and dear to my heart.

I'll say I've been working on it long before I was able to convince anyone to give us

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