| Event Description:
Webster Cash, Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Scienes (APS), University of Colorado Boulder Struggling with the mathematics of diffraction and the search for life in the universe Our best hope of finding evidence of life in the Universe is to study the Earth-like planets around nearby stars. Spectra can show the byproducts of life (like Oxygen) in the atmosphere of these 鈥淪ister Earths鈥�. But we cannot see these planets because they huddle close to their parent star and are lost in the glare. Here at CU we have been working on External Occulters wherein a large 鈥渟tarshade鈥� is flown on a seperate spacecraft into the line of sight to a star. If diffraction around the shade is properly controlled, then the planets can be directly detected and studied. We have recently found a new apodization function that allows much better control of the diffraction. I will explain all this in the colloquium and introduce the mathematics that has enabled the technology. |
| Location Information: 听听() 1111 Engineering DR聽 Boulder, CO聽 搁辞辞尘:听245 |
| Contact Information: Name: Ian Cunningham Phone: 303-492-4668 贰尘补颈濒:听amassist@colorado.edu |