Space

Heads Up Exoplanet Lovers! NASA Holds News Conference With Regards To New Findings Of Exoplanets

Carter A.
First Posted: Feb 22, 2017 04:52 AM EST

As many would know, the exoplanets or the planets that orbit stars other than our Sun are rumored to be "Earth-like." Today, Feb. 22, NASA will be holding a news conference to discuss the new findings on these so-called exoplanets, according to the statement released by the agency.

According to the statement, the news conference will start at 1 p.m. EST (6 p.m. GMT). But, no other specifications about the "new findings" have been shared to the public. However, the details will be embargoed by the journal Nature until 1 p.m. EST.

In the news conference, NASA will be featuring five speakers. These are as follows:

Thomas Zurbuchen who is an associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at the headquarters of NASA;

Michaël Gillon who is an astronomer from the University of Liège in Belgium;

Sean Carey who is a manager of NASA's Spitzer Science Center at Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena;

Nikole Lewis who is also an astronomer at Space Telescope Science Institute at Baltimore;

Sara Seager who is a professor of the planetary science and physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology or MIT.

Sara Seager is also a leading exoplanet scientist who, among the other things, is working on the problem of how the bio signatures in the exoplanet's atmospheres will be identified.

As follows, Space Telescope Science Institute is a center for astronomical research as well as the mission operation of the Hubble Space Telescope and also NASA's planet-hunting telescope called the Kepler.

In addition, following the news conference, the five scientists will be participating in a Reddit Ask Me Anything or AMA session at around 3 p.m. (8 p.m. GMT). Of which, the members of the public can pose any questions to the scientists with the use of the Reddit message board, according to Space.com.

Meanwhile, the general public can watch the news conference tomorrow live on NASA TV or Space.com.

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