Exoplanets and the science of "Interstellar"

- This event is a production of the Atlanta Science Tavern.
- Dinner starts at 7:00 pm.
- The presentation begins around 7:45.
- Seating will be on a first-come-first-served basis.
- Reservations are not required.
- The capacity of the venue is 80 people.
- We expect a turnout of around 60% of day-of RSVPs.
- Refer to our Open Seating Policy (http://www.meetup.com/AtlantaScienceTavern/messages/boards/thread/40928272) for details.
- There is a $3 contribution requested from non-students.
- This talk will contain spoilers for the movie Interstellar.
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Exoplanets and the science of "Interstellar"

Nicole Cabrera, NSF Graduate Fellow
Department of Astronomy
Georgia State University

The field of exoplanetology experienced an explosion with the Kepler mission, and as telescope and instrument technology improves, astronomers are getting closer to finding habitable Earth-like exoplanets - that is, planets able to sustain liquid water on their surfaces - as well as detecting exoplanets with biomarkers. The film Interstellar probed the possibility of traveling to different types of exoplanets for the purpose of finding a suitable Earth replacement.

In this talk Georgia State astronomer Nicole Cabrera will address the following questions: What kinds of exoplanets can we detect from Earth? What kinds of exoplanets are really out there, and which of them could actually support life? Was the film Interstellar accurate in its depiction of exoplanets?

Warning: this talk will contain spoilers from the movie.

About our speaker
Nicole Cabrera was born in Santiago, Chile and grew up in Miami, Florida. She received her Bachelor's degree in Physics from Georgia Tech after completing two NSF Astronomy internships in Hawaii and New Mexico. Now an astronomy PhD student at Georgia State University, Nicole spends part of her time collaborating with the Institute of Planetology and Astrophysics of Grenoble (IPAG) at Joseph Fourier University in France.

Nicole is also a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and the Chateaubriand Fellowship, which allow her to continue her international research. She is an avid dancer of salsa and swing, and enjoys baking and traveling on the weekends.