Thread by @CSInst

“Our Milky Way galaxy is only one of perhaps a trillion galaxies...These observations present us with a cosmos of billions of trillions of stars & likely thousand times as many possible worlds.” Cosmos: Possible Worlds, Ann Druyan @NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell #COSMOS #COSMOSCSI

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell We were inspired by the new #COSMOS book to wonder about all worlds in our vast universe.

Now you will hear from some of our fellows at the Carl Sagan Institute (@CSInst) on the diversity of worlds already discovered in our Galaxy. Imagine what else is out there!

#COSMOSCSI

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell What is your favorite exoplanet? Let us know and tag #CSIExoplanets with your favorite exoplanet.

We would love to hear from you :)

#COSMOS #COSMOSCSI

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell "Proxima Centauri b is one of the few exoplanets that a human-built spacecraft may be able to visit in our lifetimes." Dr. Mason Peck (Professor of Aerospace Engineering, @Cornell University, @CSI fellow) #COSMOSCSI #COSMOS #CSIExoplanets 1/4

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi "The goal would be audacious, but every day technology research is bringing that future closer to the present: new materials, communications approaches, and spaceflight navigation are all difficult challenges." Dr. Mason Peck #COSMOSCSI #COSMOS #CSIExoplanets 2/4

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi "But the prospect of an up-close-and-personal measurement [of Proxima Centauri b] inspires us to take them on." Dr. Mason Peck #COSMOSCSI #COSMOS #CSIExoplanets 3/4

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi Dr. Mason Peck is on the engineering faculty at @Cornell University, where his research & teaching focus on Aerospace Engineering and Systems Engineering. Learn more about Dr. Peck here: engineering.cornell.edu/faculty-direct… #COSMOSCSI #COSMOS #CSIExoplanets 4/4

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi "HD 80806b was the first planet that was discovered to have an extremely eccentric orbit...greater than 0.9. I was initially amazed that a planet could exist on such an eccentric orbit." Dr. Leslie Hebb (@lesliehebb, Physics Department @HWSColleges) #COSMOSCSI #CSIExoplanets 1/2

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges Dr. Leslie Hebb is an Associate Professor of Physics at Hobart & William Smith Colleges (@HWSColleges). Her research interests include discovering & characterizing exoplanets & understanding magnetic activity on stars. Learn more: hws.edu/academics/phys… #COSMOSCSI #COSMOS 2/2

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges "I find it naturally curious to wonder about the existence of planets around exotic objects such as pulsars." Akshay Suresh (Graduate student, Department of Astronomy, @Cornell, @CSInst fellow) #COSMOSCSI #CSIExoplanets #COSMOS 1/4

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges "Given the limited sample of pulsar planets known today, the initial discovery of multiple planets around pulsar B1257+12 is highly remarkable. This discovery predates our 1st finding of an exoplanet around a main-sequence star." Akshay Suresh #COSMOSCSI #CSIExoplanets 2/4

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges "This discovery predates our first finding of an exoplanet around a main-sequence star. Yet, we know very little about planets around pulsars." Akshay Suresh (@suresh_akshay1) #COSMOSCSI #CSIExoplanets #COSMOS 3/4

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges @suresh_akshay1 Akshay Suresh is a graduate student in the Astronomy department at @Cornell. His research is focused on adio transients, such as fast radio bursts, SETI, and exoplanets. Learn more: astro.cornell.edu/akshay-suresh 4/4

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges @suresh_akshay1 "51 Eri b is one of the most exciting directly imaged objects to date." Dr. Dmitry Savransky (Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering @CornellMAE @Cornell, @CSInst fellow) #COSMOSCSI #CSIExoplanets #COSMOS 1/3

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges @suresh_akshay1 @CornellMAE "This planet we’ve found is young - only about 20 million years old. These discoveries close the loop for theorists on how planetary systems develop." Dr. Dmitry Savransky news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/0… #COSMOSCSI #CSIExoplanets #COSMOS 2/3

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges @suresh_akshay1 @CornellMAE Dmitry Savransky is an Assistant Professor in Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at @Cornell. His research relates to the detection and characterization of extrasolar planets. To learn more: mae.cornell.edu/faculty-direct… #COSMOSCSI #CSIExoplanets #COSMOS 3/3

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges @suresh_akshay1 @CornellMAE "OGLE-2013-BLG-0723LBb is one of the most interesting planets yet discovered...or is it? This object orbits around a brown dwarf which in turn orbits around a small star." Jack Madden (@Astro_Madden, Graduate Student, Astronomy Department, @Cornell) #COSMOSCSI #CSIExoplanets 1/6

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges @suresh_akshay1 @CornellMAE @Astro_Madden "A brown dwarf technically isn’t a star but it also isn’t a planet, so is OGLE-2013-BLG-0723LBb a planet or a moon?" Jack Madden (@Astro_Madden) #COSMOSCSI #CSIExoplanets 2/6

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges @suresh_akshay1 @CornellMAE @Astro_Madden "This object was discovered in 2013 using one of humanity's greatest successes, our understanding of gravity...through the method of gravitational microlensing." Jack Madden (@Astro_Madden) #COSMOSCSI #CSIExoplanets 3/6

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges @suresh_akshay1 @CornellMAE @Astro_Madden "With a mass smaller than Earth it is very likely to be rocky but the surface temperatures could be as low as -230C & the day side would never get much brighter than standing under a street lamp on a dark night here on Earth." Jack Madden #COSMOSCSI #CSIExoplanets 4/6

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges @suresh_akshay1 @CornellMAE @Astro_Madden "The life journey of this planet (OGLE-2013-BLG-0723LBb) might also be very interesting." Jack Madden (@Astro_Madden) #COSMOSCSI #CSIExoplanets 5/6

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges @suresh_akshay1 @CornellMAE @Astro_Madden Jack Madden is a 6th year Ph.D. student in the Department of Astronomy at @Cornell working with Dr. @KalteneggerLisa on modeling the climates of potentially habitable exoplanets.
To learn more: hosting.astro.cornell.edu/~jmadden/
#COSMOSCSI #CSIExoplanets 6/6

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges @suresh_akshay1 @CornellMAE @Astro_Madden @KalteneggerLisa “All [the planets] have such wonderfully unique stories of their own. But if I had to narrow it down to 2 worlds that exemplify the diversity of exoplanets out there, it would be Europa and Titan." Dr. Azul Pinochet-Barros (@AzulPinoba, Microbiology, @Cornell) #CSIExoplanets 1/7

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges @suresh_akshay1 @CornellMAE @Astro_Madden @KalteneggerLisa @AzulPinoba “As a microbiologist I have come to realize that life always finds a way. Our very own Pale Blue Dot is home to a wide range of extreme, hostile environments wherein we generally would not think life to be possible. ” Dr. Azul Pinochet-Barros (@AzulPinoba) #CSIExoplanets 2/7

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges @suresh_akshay1 @CornellMAE @Astro_Madden @KalteneggerLisa @AzulPinoba “Europa (with its active, liquid water subsurface ocean) and Titan (a dense [atmosphere] and ice world with surprising Earth-like features) have extreme environments that are literally beyond this world.” Dr. Azul Pinochet-Barros (@AzulPinoba) #CSIExoplanets 3/7

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges @suresh_akshay1 @CornellMAE @Astro_Madden @KalteneggerLisa @AzulPinoba “However, within these hostile conditions, they each possess particular qualities that leave a sliver of hope for their potential to harbor life, or at least the precursors for it.” Dr. Azul Pinochet-Barros (@AzulPinoba) #CSIExoplanets 4/7

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges @suresh_akshay1 @CornellMAE @Astro_Madden @KalteneggerLisa @AzulPinoba “There is still a lot that we do not understand about these systems." Dr. Azul Pinochet-Barros (@AzulPinoba) #CSIExoplanets 5/7

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges @suresh_akshay1 @CornellMAE @Astro_Madden @KalteneggerLisa @AzulPinoba But with further exploration coupled with our scientific inquisitiveness, who knows what answers we will find in Titan, Europa, and beyond? I for one, cannot wait to find out.” Dr. Azul Pinochet-Barros (@AzulPinoba) #CSIExoplanets 6/7

@NatGeo @NatGeoBooks @Cornell @csi @lesliehebb @HWSColleges @suresh_akshay1 @CornellMAE @Astro_Madden @KalteneggerLisa @AzulPinoba Dr. Azul Pinochet-Barros is a PhD student in the Microbiology Department at @Cornell.

Learn more: museemagazine.com/features/2018/… 7/7