Where is Earth 2.0? Discovering a Planet Like Ours

This event takes place at LaunchPad, the official home of UT Austin at SXSW.

PANELISTS:

• Dan Jaffe, Vice President for Research and Astronomy Professor, The University of Texas at Austin
• Taft E. Armandroff, Director, McDonald Observatory, The University of Texas at Austin
• Anita Cochran, Assistant Director, McDonald Observatory, The University of Texas at Austin
• Cyril Grima, Research Associate, Institute for Geophysics, The University of Texas at Austin

Speculation and hypotheses about a planet like our own has given way to an exciting period of exploration, modeling and development of new search techniques. Astronomers, physicists, geologists and bioscientists work together to understand the development of planetary systems, the evolution of life and the ways in which earth-like planets reveal their presence. UT Austin is leading the way in this area given its many resources and research coming out of the McDonald Observatory, the Department of Astronomy, the Center for Space Research and the Jackson School of Geosciences. Complementing the expertise in these areas are the prospective discoveries to come at the Giant Magellan Telescope.