Name: The search for planets beyond our solar system
Uploaded: 2015-05-28T15:21:08Z
Duration: 16 min 5 s
Description: Every star we see in the sky has at least one planet orbiting it, says astronomer Sara Seager. So what do we know about these exoplanets, and how can we find out more? Seager introduces her favorite set of exoplanets and shows new technology that can help collect information about them -- and even help us look for exoplanets with life.

Here I say, "And under that wouldn't be rock, but a form of high-pressure ice, like ice IX." 

I used ice IX to refer to the general category of high-pressure ices because it's a familiar term from Kurt Vonnegut's *Cat's Cradle*, but if GJ 1214b, the planet I'm discussing here, is in fact a water world, its most likely form is ice VII (and possibly ice X) due to the planet's predicted interior temperatures. See the upper left of this [water phase diagram](http://ergodic.ugr.es/termo/lecciones/water1.html).

Every star we see in the sky has at least one planet orbiting it, says astronomer Sara Seager. So what do we know about these exoplanets, and how can we find out more? Seager introduces her favorite set of exoplanets and shows new technology that can help collect information about them -- and even help us look for exoplanets with life.

The search for planets beyond our solar system

Recent discoveries reveal that every star in the night sky hosts at least one planet, and the Milky Way alone teems with billions. Astronomers are now on the brink of identifying planets with conditions similar to Earth. Using innovative tools like the starshade, researchers are developing ways to study distant atmospheres for signs of life. This search may soon answer humanity’s oldest question: are we alone in the universe.