The Planet Hunters

From: KQED
Series: QUEST
Length: 05:19

How many more planets are out there? Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: The Planet Hunters
From: KQED

Exoplanetsjpg_small Since 1995, astronomers have identified more than 200 new planets, but these planets aren't in our solar system. Known as exoplanets, they're the planets orbiting other suns and Bay Area scientists are leading the search. QUEST reports on some of the latest efforts to find new planets-- and maybe even life-- in outer space. Plus, lots of great photos! Pick/choose/link from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kqedquest/sets/72157605331314187/

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Piece Description

Since 1995, astronomers have identified more than 200 new planets, but these planets aren't in our solar system. Known as exoplanets, they're the planets orbiting other suns and Bay Area scientists are leading the search. QUEST reports on some of the latest efforts to find new planets-- and maybe even life-- in outer space. Plus, lots of great photos! Pick/choose/link from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kqedquest/sets/72157605331314187/

Broadcast History

Aired twice locally on KQED/KQEI during Morning Edition B segment

Transcript

High atop Mount Hamilton just east of San Jose is a series of white domes dotting the 42-hundred foot crest line. Inside each one is a powerful telescope opening a window on our universe. The search for extra solar planets, or planets outside are solar system, began right here at the University of California?s Lick Observatory.

(ROOM TONE IN THE DOME)

FISHER: "There are five stars that I will be looking at tonight. And I have just finished modeling the planets around them (tight edit at end)"

Debra Fisher, is a professor of Astronomy at UC San Francisco and ? a planet hunter.

(BRING SHUTTER AMBI UP AND THEN FULL)

In preparation for this night's observation, the shutter of Lick?s biggest dome opens?revealing a huge telescope, with a mirror three meters in diameter. Fisher trains it on a small point in the Milky Way. Astronomers prefer to search in this hazy swath of li...
Read the full transcript

Timing and Cues

Suggested host intro:

We learned in school there were nine planets in our solar system. Pluto got demoted and now there are eight. But take a look outside our solar system and even bigger discoveries are taking place. Since 1995 astronomers have identified more than 200 new planets orbiting other suns. As From KQED in San Francisco, Andrea Kissack reports on the latest in planet hunting.