{"id":277,"date":"2022-01-20T12:17:39","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T12:17:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.exeter.ac.uk\/gsi\/?p=277"},"modified":"2022-01-20T12:17:39","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T12:17:39","slug":"gsi-seminar-series-dr-raphaelle-d-haywood-theres-no-place-like-home-placing-earth-in-its-astronomical-and-geological-contexts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/gsi\/gsi-seminar-series-dr-raphaelle-d-haywood-theres-no-place-like-home-placing-earth-in-its-astronomical-and-geological-contexts\/","title":{"rendered":"GSI Seminar Series: Dr Raphaelle D. Haywood \u2013 There\u2019s no place like home: Placing Earth in its astronomical and geological contexts"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

A new year and a new set of interesting seminars!<\/p>\n

The first of 2022 was from Dr Rapha\u00eblle Haywood, a Senior Lecturer in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter. Dr Haywood gave an immense talk covering the hunt for exoplanets, how we find another Earth-like planet, and shared some important insights into why we should not assume there is a planet B.<\/p>\n

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On a finite world, a cosmic perspective is not a luxury, it\u2019s a necessity<\/p>\n

Caleb A. Scharf, 2014<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dr Haywood began with thought-provoking set of quotes and statistics that brought home the importance of\u00a0why\u00a0<\/em>we need to have this astronomical view and appreciation of our position within it. To realise \u2013 like our humble blue planet \u2013 the existence of planets orbiting other stars is\u00a0extremely common.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Particularly important \u2013 the occurrence of \u201cEarth-like planets\u201d are also common, potentially between 9-21% of suns have a planet like Earth. But what is a planet like Earth?<\/p>\n

An Earth-like planet is similar to us in size \u2013 around a 1\/2 to 1 radius of Earth. But importantly, it also sits within the\u00a0habitable zone<\/strong>. This means it is a suitable distance from it\u2019s sun to allow for 30-100% of heat received on Earth to permit liquid water.<\/p>\n

Dr Haywood estimated that there could be\u00a063 BILLION\u00a0<\/strong>temperate Earth size planets in our galaxy.<\/p>\n

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How to find other Earths<\/h2>\n

Find Earth-like planets goes far beyond it\u2019s size and sun distance \u2013 we have tools that help us find the signatures of Earth \u2013 of\u00a0life.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Earth is a complex self-regulating system composed of interacting systems of the planets rocks, atmosphere, ocean and biosphere. We can use the biosphere and the signatures it produces to help in our exploration. But what does this look like?<\/p>\n

Key components of our biosphere can be identified through their signature\u00a0wavelengths<\/strong>. through the reflectance signatures, we can identify:<\/p>\n