LOCATION: Prescott Public Library
SPEAKER: Dr. Tyler Robinson
COMMENTS: Astronomers now know of thousands of worlds orbiting other stars in our Galaxy. These so-called “exoplanets” are surprisingly diverse, spanning giant planets with super-heated atmospheres to small rocky worlds with rock vapor in their air. These findings are all leading up to the discovery everyone is waiting for – another planet like our own!
Dr. Tyler Robinson is an exoplanet researcher and astrobiologist. He’s studied planets both inside and outside our Solar System at a number of different institutions: the University of Washington, NASA Ames Research Center, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. As a new faculty member at Northern Arizona University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, he brings the search for Earth-like exoplanets to the Colorado Plateau.
Extremely knowledge and blessed with the ability to present his subject in layman’s terms, and proud of being one of only 10 Astrobiologists in America, Dr. Robinson was a hit! A brilliant speaker who presented a thoroughly enjoyable, informative and exciting look at where we are and where we are heading in the search for exoplanets and possibly inhabitable planets such as Earth. Speaking totally without notes and fielding each question with clear and understandable answers, it was obvious Dr. Robinson is a speaker we hope will visit us in the future as the search for exoplanets evolves.