Date/Time: Wednesday November 13, 2024 starting at 7:30PM
Location: University of Victoria, Bob Wright Centre, Lecture Theatre A104. Park in Lot 1 (pay parking) and cross Ring Road
The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is a mission concept for a large UV/optical/near-infrared observatory to search for and characterize habitable planets beyond our solar system. With an expected launch in the 2040s, the mission’s main objective would be to identify and directly image at least 25 potentially habitable worlds. It would then use spectroscopy to search for chemical “biosignatures” in these planets’ atmospheres, including gasses such as oxygen and methane which could serve as critical evidence for life. The observatory would introduce new capabilities to study the universe with unprecedented sensitivity and resolution, giving us important new insights into the evolution of cosmic structures, including how galaxies form and develop over time. I will review the observatory current design and science objectives, and will discuss ongoing work at NRC to develop new technologies that could lead to a Canadian contribution to this exciting mission.
Bio: NRC astronomer Dr. Christian Marois has revolutionized how we view the universe by pioneering direct imaging of exoplanets. He invented the most powerful high-contrast techniques, and he led a team of astronomers to make the ground-breaking discovery of the first images of planets orbiting a star other than the Sun, the HR8799 planetary system. Dr. Marois is the founder of Canada’s only high-contrast imaging laboratory, NEW EARTH.
He is involved in international collaborations, including the Gemini Planet Imager instrument team, and is working toward developing frontier technologies, focussing on the discovery of Earth-like exoplanets and the search for life outside our Solar system. He is currently leading the development of three projects, SPIDERS, a pathfinder for the Subaru telescope, CAL2, a facility-class sensor for the Gemini Planet Imager, and STARLITE, a system for imaging Earth-like exoplanets orbiting Sun-like stars using ground-based telescopes.
