# Presentation: 352573

## Slide 1

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	 [This image is a placeholder to be projected while guests are coming 	in.   Presenters can use it for introductory remarks about this tale of 	one of our greatest quests.  Of all the questions we can ask about the 	universe, perhaps none appeals more to us as human beings than the 	question: ”Are there other planets in the universe similar to our own 	that contain living beings?"  Soon, for the first time in history, we 	will have the technology to do more than just wonder about the 	answer to that question.  We will have the technology to seek out 	such places as NASA goes ... In Search of ... other Earths.]	
	[Be sure to use the “Slide Show” format in PowerPoint when you 	give this presentation.  Several of the slides are animated, and the 	animations will not work in the normal “slide view.”]
WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Artist’s conception of an extrasolar planet.
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NOTE ON THE PRESENTATATION SCRIPT: The italicized portion of the script repeats the text on the slide.  If you want to give a faster version of the presentation, use mostly this text.  The next body of text in dark blue is a suggestion of what you might want to say to add some more detail and lengthen the presentation.

## There are 200 billion stars in our galaxy... 

**2**

*There are 200 billion stars in our galaxy...** *

*...**one of them is our Sun.*

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	There are 200 billion stars in our galaxy . . . one of them is our Sun.  
Our galaxy is so large that if you could travel at the speed of light, it would take you 100,000 years to go from one side to the other.  And this giant "city of stars" known as the Milky Way Galaxy is only one of billions of other galaxies beyond the Milky Way.  There are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of Earth.  

WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Atlas Image [or Atlas Image mosaic] obtained as part of the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation.The center of our Milky Way Galaxy is located in the constellation of Sagittarius. In visible light the lion's share of stars are hidden behind thick clouds of dust. This obscuring dust becomes increasingly transparent at infrared wavelengths. This 2MASS image, covering a field roughly 10 x 8 degrees (about the area of your fist held out at arm's length) reveals multitudes of otherwise hidden stars, penetrating all the way to the central star cluster of the Galaxy.

EXTRAS:  Far out in the country, on a dark starry night, it seems as though we can see countless stars.  In reality, however, we can only see about 2000.  If we made a model of our whole Milky Way Galaxy that was 10 feet across, almost all the stars we could see with our naked eyes on a clear, dark night would exist within a little bubble a few inches (about 5 centimeters) across centered on our solar system.  All the other stars in our galaxy lie beyond.  

##             The sun has nine planets... 

*            **The sun has nine planets...** *

*...**we know of one that has life.*

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	There are 200 billion stars in our galaxy . . . one of them is our Sun.  
Our galaxy is so large that if you could travel at the speed of light, it would take you 100,000 years to go from one side to the other.  And this giant "city of stars" known as the Milky Way Galaxy is only one of billions of other galaxies beyond the Milky Way.  There are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of Earth.  

WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Atlas Image [or Atlas Image mosaic] obtained as part of the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation.The center of our Milky Way Galaxy is located in the constellation of Sagittarius. In visible light the lion's share of stars are hidden behind thick clouds of dust. This obscuring dust becomes increasingly transparent at infrared wavelengths. This 2MASS image, covering a field roughly 10 x 8 degrees (about the area of your fist held out at arm's length) reveals multitudes of otherwise hidden stars, penetrating all the way to the central star cluster of the Galaxy.

EXTRAS:  Far out in the country, on a dark starry night, it seems as though we can see countless stars.  In reality, however, we can only see about 2000.  If we made a model of our whole Milky Way Galaxy that was 10 feet across, almost all the stars we could see with our naked eyes on a clear, dark night would exist within a little bubble a few inches (about 5 centimeters) across centered on our solar system.  All the other stars in our galaxy lie beyond.  

## Is there another Earth out there? 

**2**

- Is there another Earth out there?

- Are there other planets in the universe?

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	Are there other planets in the universe?  Is there another Earth out there?

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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:   The crew of Apollo 8 took this picture of the Earth above the lunar surface in December 1968. 
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EXTRAS:  The horizon, about 570 kilometers (250 statute miles) from the spacecraft, is near the eastern limb (edge) of the Moon as viewed from the Earth.

## Some planets were known to the ancients who watched them move against the night sky.

**2**

*Some planets were known to the ancients who watched them move against the night sky.*

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	Some planets were known to the ancients who watched them move against the night 	sky.
From the earliest time, the night sky has evoked awe and contemplation about our origins.  Where do we come from?  Are we alone?
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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  An artist’s conception of early people watching the sky wondering about other worlds.
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## Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were the “Wandering Stars.”

*Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and **Saturn were the “Wandering Stars.”*

*“**Planet” comes from the Greek word for “wanderer.”*

**Notes:**

SCRIPT:  	Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were the 		“Wandering Stars”
The ancient Greeks called these moving lights"planetai” meaning "wandering stars.”  The word comes down to us today as “planets” and the names we use are the ones given to them by the Romans.

WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Enhanced visualization of actual planet images.  The relative sizes of the planets are not to scale, and neither are the distances.

EXTRAS:  The motions of the various planets against the starry background is due to the fact that each planet is traveling around our sun in a different orbit and at a different speed (as is the Earth).  Because the orbits of planets seen with the naked eye are all roughly in the same plane (the solar system is somewhat flat like a pancake), we see the planets travel through a narrow band, or zone, that encircles the sky. 

## Over the centuries, telescopes got better and better... 

- Galileo and his Refractive Telescope, 1609

- Herschel’s Reflecting Telescope, 1789

- The Hooker Telescope -
- Mount Wilson, ca 1920

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	Over the centuries, telescopes got better and better...
The telescope has gone through many changes and improvements since its invention in the early 1600s.  Here we see Galileo and his telescope, one of Hershel’s reflecting telescopes from the late 18th century, and the turn of the century Hooker telescope on Mount Wilson in California.  

WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Illustrations of three telescopes:
Galileo and his Refractive Telescope, 1609 (Five years after the appearance of the great supernova of 1604, Galileo builds his first telescope. He sees the moons of Jupiter, Saturn's rings, the phases of Venus, and the stars in the Milky Way. He publishes the news the following year in "The Starry Messinger.”)
Herschel’s Reflecting Telescope, 1789
The Hooker Telescope, Mount Wilson, 1920
EXTRAS: The origin of the telescope is surrounded by controversy.  Though Galileo is often said to have invented the telescope, the  most likely story puts it in the shop of an obscure Dutch spectacle maker named Hans Lippershey, about 1600.  Two children were playing with his lens, put two together, peered through them at a distant church tower and saw it wonderfully magnified.  Lippershey looked for himself and soon mounted the lenses together, creating his "looker."   In 1608, Lippershey tried to sell it to the Dutch army, but his offer was eventually turned down because of claims from others that they had invented it.

## And other planets were “discovered.” 

*And other planets were “discovered.” *

*Uranus*

*Pluto*

*Neptune*

- 5

*The year 1781*
- The first planet “discovered.”
-  William and Caroline Herschel

*The year 1846  *
- First observed by Galle and d'Arrest
- (based on calculations by Adams
- and Le Verrier).

*The year 1930  *
- Discovered by Clyde Tombaugh

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	And other planets were “discovered”
	Uranus was discovered in 1781 by William Herschel;  Neptune was first observed in 1846;  and Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh.  The telescopes they used had become our eyes into the solar system and the universe beyond.
WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:   
Uranus: Image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) with the  Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on August 8, 1998
Neptune: Image taken by NASA's Voyager 2 became the first spacecraft to observe the planet Neptune during the summer of 1989
Pluto: Image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 in June and July 1994
EXTRAS:  Uranus was discovered by accident one night by the German born English astronomer Sir William Herschel.  He was charting faint stars with his telescope when he came upon something which he first thought was a comet.  But, after watching it for several nights and plotting its orbit, Herschel realized that he had found a planet whose orbit lay beyond Saturn.  
Carefully studying the motion of Uranus in its orbit led to the realization that the planet's movements could only be fully explained if another planet existed beyond Uranus that was tugging on it.  In the 1845, English mathematician John Adams calculated where in the sky such a planet should lie but the Astronomer Royal paid no attention to Adams's letters and even refused to see him.  Meanwhile, a year later, a French mathematician named Urbain Leverrier reached the same conclusion unaware of Adams' work.  Leverrier took his calculations to Johann Galle at the Berlin Observatory who agreed to look for the planet.  On his first attempt on his very first night of searching, he found it almost exactly where Leverrier (and Adams) had predicted.  This eighth planet was named Neptune!
Early in the 20th century, the American astronomer, Percival Lowell went in search of yet another planet that must lie beyond Neptune.  After ten years of diligent searching, Lowell died in 1916 without success.  Fourteen years later, using improved equipment at the same observatory, the young American astronomer, Clyde Tombaugh found Lowell's ninth planet, a faint, elusive speck of light at the edge of our solar system.  Ultimately, it was called Pluto, a name submitted by a little girl in a national naming contest.

## But what about more distant worlds?  Thousands of years ago, Greek philosophers speculated.

- “There are infinite worlds both like and unlike this world of ours...We must  believe that  in all worlds there are living creatures and planets and other things we see in this world.” 			*Epicurius *
*	**	**c. 300 B.C*

*But what about more distant worlds?  Thousands of years ago, Greek philosophers speculated.*

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	But what about more distant worlds?  Thousands of years ago, 		Greek philosophers speculated.
Examples of early philosophical musings include the Greek Epicurius who, in the 3rd century BC, wrote, "There are infinite worlds both like and unlike ours ... we must believe that in all worlds there are living creatures."  And, in the 1st century BC, the Roman philosopher Lucretius reasoned, "In the universe, nothing is only one of its kind.  In other regions, surely there must be other Earths, other men, and other beasts of burden.”  

WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  The fresco "La Scuola di Atene" (The School of Athens) was painted by Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio, 1483-1520) in the years 1509 -1511 and is located in the "Stanza della Segnatura" in the Vatican. The School of Athens was commissioned by Pope Julius II and the stanza della Segnatura was one of the rooms in which he lived and worked. 

EXTRAS:  There are many other examples of early speculation about other worlds.  In the 5th century BC, the Greek philosopher Metrodus of Chios wrote, "To consider the Earth the only populated world in space is as absurd as to think that in an entire field sown with seed, only one grain will grow." In 13th century China, the sage Teng Mu professed, "Outer space is like a kingdom and our Earth and sky are like no more than a single person in that kingdom."  And in the 15th century, the Muslim astronomer, Ulugh Beg noted that in the Koran it says, "Among (God's) signs is the creation of the heavens and the Earth, and the living creatures that He has spread in both of them."  The notion of extraterrestrial life has been quite common across cultures and across the centuries.  At times such notions were acceptable.  At others, societies and cultures were not as tolerant.  

## And so did medieval scholars.

- The year 1584
- "There are countless suns and countless earths all rotating around their suns in exactly the same way as the seven planets of our system . . .  The countless worlds in the universe are no worse and no less inhabited than our Earth”
- 		***Giordano Bruno***
- 		in De L'infinito 			Universo E Mondi

- 4

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	And so did medieval scholars.
In the year 1584, the Italian monk, Giordano Bruno also expressed belief in the possibility of life on other worlds.  When he refused to recant,  the Church burned him at the stake.  
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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Early drawing of Giordano Bruno.
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EXTRAS:  Giordano Bruno was born in 1548 and was executed in the year 1600 after a lengthy trial.  He was a staunch supporter of the Copernicus Theory and believed that the universe was infinite.  Excommunicated from the Calvinist Church, he moved to France in 1582 and became the royal lecturer for King Henry III. He escaped prosecution for his views twice before he was burned at the stake for his heretical teachings. 

## And in the last hundred years, Hollywood came knocking.

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	And in the last hundred years, Hollywood came knocking.
Hollywood, as well as science fiction literature, has helped fire our imagination by giving shape to countless creatures from other planets and by helping us travel to distant worlds. 
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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Movie images:
Left:   	“Destination Moon” 1950
Center:	"This Island Earth," alien with Faith Domergue 1955 Universal 	International
Right:	"Forbidden Planet," Anne Francis, Robby the Robot, Leslie 	Nielsen, MGM, 1956.
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EXTRAS:  Science fiction films depicting extraterrestrial life go back more than a century.  In 1902, the French film director, George Milies, created the classic silent movie short “A Trip to the Moon,” which featured moon men encountered by astronauts from Earth.

## While Hollywood worked on the public imagination, scientists started to turn science fiction into science fact.

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	While Hollywood worked on the public imagination, scientists 	started to turn science fiction into science fact.  
For many years, astronomers wondered if there were planets around other stars in the universe.  But our technology just wasn’t good enough to find them.  And then... 

WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:   Photograph of the twin 10 meter Keck telescopes on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.  The image on the right is a photograph of the testbed for the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM), one of NASA’s  key planet-finding missions at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

## In 1995, a breakthrough:

*the first planet around another star.*

- A Swiss team discovers a planet – 51 Pegasi –
- 48 light years from Earth.

- Artist's concept of an extrasolar planet (Greg Bacon, STScI)

- 7

- Didier Queloz and Michel Mayor

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	In 1995, a breakthrough: the first planet around another star. 
Swiss astronomers used new, more sensitive technology  to make an historic discovery – the first planet to be found in orbit around another star.  The star's name is 51 Pegasi and it is located in the fall constellation, Pegasus, the flying horse, 48 light years from Earth.
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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Artist’s rendering of an extrasolar planet.  Black and white photograph of the scientists who made the discovery, Didier Queloz and Michel Mayor.
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EXTRAS:  The breakthrough came as a result of a more sensitive type of spectrograph which, as we will see, could sense very slight periodic motions in stars caused by the gravitational pull of encircling planets.  Within a few months the American team of planet-hunters, Geoff Marcy and Paul Butler, would begin discovering many extrasolar planets using the same techniques.

## And then the discoveries started rolling in:

*And then the discoveries started rolling in:*

**“****First new solar system discovered”****	**		USA TODAY
- 		April 16, 1999

**“****10 More Planets Discovered”**
- 		      Washington Post		August 6, 2000

**“****New Planet Seen Outside Solar System”**
- 		New York Times
- 		April 19, 1996

## You can even see some of the stars 

*You can even see some of the stars *
*that have planets in the night sky...*

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	You can even see some of the stars that have planets in the night sky...
On clear, dark, moonless nights away from city lights, some stars with extrasolar planets can be seen with the naked eye.  In this sky, you can see the stars and constellations visible to the naked eye from the northern hemisphere on a late spring or early summer evening. 

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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Artist’s rendering of northern hemisphere night sky with major constellations.

## ...if you know where to look

*...**if you know where to look*

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	...if you know where to look	
Not far from the bright orange star Arcturus, in the constellation Bootes, the herdsman is the star tau Bootis.  It is 49 light years away and has at least one planet.  Below and to the right is the star Spica in the constellation Virgo and, within that constellation, is the star 70 virginis.  It’s 59 light years away and also has at least one planet. 
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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Artist’s rendering of northern hemisphere night sky with major constellations.  Inset windows showing how Earth’s orbit compares to the orbits of the two discovered extrasolar planets.

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EXTRAS:  Currently, about two dozen stars (with a total of 33 planets) can be seen with the unaided eye.  

## Just how far are these new planets?

- from the Moon...

- it would take
**one second**

*IF YOU WANTED TO RADIO HOME*

*FOR YOUR WORDS TO REACH EARTH*

## But not far on a cosmic scale.  

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	But not far on a cosmic scale.  
	[Click space bar]
	Imagine, if you shrunk our 	solar system to a little larger 	than a quarter.  Then, our Solar System would be this big.
	[Click space bar]
	Our Milky Way Galaxy would be the size of the United 		States, 
	[Click space bar]
	and the neighborhood we’ve discovered the new planets in 	would only be the size of New York City.	

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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  1) A quarter vs. our solar system, 2) size of Milky Way Galaxy relative to the United States, and 3) photograph of New York City.

EXTRAS: The solar system is 7 billion miles across, or 11 light hours and the Milky Way Galaxy is about 100,000 light years across.

## Planet-hunters are detectives using powerful telescopes and computers

- 9

*How have we found*
*all these planets?*

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	How have we found all these planets?  Planet-hunters are detectives 		using powerful telescopes...

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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Photographs of telescopes and planet-hunters: 
 The Anglo Australian Telescope in Australia
 Geoff Marcy and Paul Bulter, a renown planet-hunting team at the University of  California, Berkeley
 The twin Keck Telescopes on Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

EXTRAS: A number of powerful ground-based telescopes have been used by astronomers in the detection of extrasolar planets. Here is a press release from April 1999 related the discovery of the first extrasolar “planetary system” at the Lick Observatory:  

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--Astronomers from four research institutions have discovered strong evidence for a trio of extrasolar planets that orbit the star Upsilon Andromedae. This is the first multiple planet system ever found around a normal star, other than the nine planets in our Solar System. The closest planet in the Upsilon Andromedae system was detected in 1996 by San Francisco State University (SFSU) astronomers Geoffrey Marcy and R. Paul Butler. Now, after 11 years of telescope observations at the Lick Observatory near San Jose, CA, the signals of two additional planets have emerged from the data. Therefore, Upsilon Andromedae harbors the first planetary system that is reminiscent of our own Solar System.

## Scientists use the Doppler shift to measure the tug of planets on stars.  Here is how it works:

- If an unseen planet tugs the star back and forth...

- ...the light from the star shifts slightly to the red as the star moves away from you.

- ...and slightly to the blue as it moves toward you.

- Astronomers can detect these shifts by very carefully observing the  spectra (or colors) of the stars.

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	Scientists use the doppler shift to measure the tug of planets on stars. 	Here is how it works:
	[Click space bar]
	an unseen planet tugs the star back and forth...
	[Click space bar] 
	light from the star shifts slightly to the red as the star moves 	away from the observer..
	[Click space bar] 
...and 	slightly to the blue as it moves toward the observer.
	[Click space bar]
	Astronomers can detect these shifts by very carefully 		observing the spectra (or colors) of the stars. 
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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:   Cartoon animation of how the “radial velocity” method of detecting planets using Doppler shift works.   Use the arrow keys in “slide show mode” of PowerPoint to switch back and forth between the” blue shift” and the “red shift.”
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EXTRAS: Almost all planets outside our solar system have been discovered with this technique. Because planets close to their stars complete a cycle around their stars faster and because massive planets tug harder on their stars and cause the biggest Doppler shifts, most of the extrasolar planets discovered so far are massive and located close to their stars.  Also, if a planet's orbit is tilted 90 degrees to our line of sight, no Doppler shift will be seen in the star's spectrum no matter how massive the planet.

## But if the goal is to find planets with evidence of life, the ones discovered so far are not good candidates.

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	But if the goal is to find planets with evidence of life, the ones 	discovered so far are not good candidates.

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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Artist’s rendering of distant world with suggestion of DNA.  Slide of microscopic life.

## Most of new discoveries are gas giants like Jupiter or Saturn and in the wrong location. 

*Most of new discoveries are gas giants like Jupiter or Saturn and in the wrong location. *

- The right location in our solar system.

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	Most of the new discoveries are gas giants like Jupiter or 		Saturn and in the wrong location.
Here’s a look at the right location in our solar system, with Earth at the center of the what is often called the “habitable zone.”  “Real estate” is a very important concept in the search for planets that might have life.
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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Artist’s rendering of planets in our solar system with “habitable zone” highlighted.  Planet scale sizes are correct but distance is highly compressed.

## Many of the new planets get too hot or too cold to support life.

- Most of them have highly elliptical orbits, or are too close to their parent stars.

*Many of the new planets get too hot or too cold to support life.*

- Too hot!

- Too cold!

- Just right!

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	Many of the new planets get too hot or too cold to support life.
	Most of them have highly elliptical orbits, or are too close to 	their parent stars.
Most -----------------------
WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Artist’s rendering of planets too close in or too distant.
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EXTRAS:  For a planet to have the right conditions for life, it has to be the right distance from its star.  The Habitable Zone, also known as the “Goldilocks Zone,” exists at a distance where conditions would not be hostile to living organisms.  In our solar system, Mercury has daytime temperatures hot enough to melt lead, and night time temperatures that drop hundreds of degrees below zero, while Pluto is in a deep freeze. Also, a planet’s orbit has to be fairly circular.  Otherwise, at times, it would be carried too close or too far from its star for comfort.  
Venus offers a good example of a runaway Greenhouse Effect.  What free oxygen and water or water vapor that might have been present on Venus very early in its history have either escaped into space or combined with other substances in its soil and rock.  

## Finding another Earth won’t be easy because:

- 1) Earth-like planets are  small,

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	Finding another Earth won’t be easy because:
[Click space bar] 
Earth-like planets are  small, and 
[Click space bar] 
2)  Planets are relatively close in to bright stars.
Let’s look at each of these challenges.
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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Artist’s rendering of a green, rocky extrasolar planet.

## The planets discovered so far are closer in mass to Jupiter.

*The planets discovered so far are closer in mass to Jupiter.*

- Jupiter’s diameter is eleven times greater than the Earth’s, and it has over 300 times the mass.

- This is what we are looking for

- This is what
- we’ve found

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	The planets discovered so far are closer in mass to Jupiter. 	This is what we’ve found, on the left.  And this is what we are 	looking for, on the right.
Jupiter’s diameter is eleven times greater than the Earth’s, and it has over 300 times the mass.  
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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  This graphic shows a scale size comparison of Jupiter and Earth.  NASA’s Cassini spacecraft captured Jupiter as it passed by the planet.
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EXTRAS:  The relative mass of Jupiter to Earth is comparable to the relative mass of a bowling ball and a marble.  A planet also has to have the right mass to support life as we know it.  Too little mass and it probably won’t have much of an atmosphere.  Too much mass and it may have a thick poisonous atmosphere thousands of miles deep like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.  

## Stars are a billion         times brighter...

*Stars are a billion         times brighter...*

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	Stars are a billion times brighter...

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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Artist’s rendering of a lighthouse with beacon shining.

## ...than the planet

*...**than the planet*

*...**hidden *
*in the glare.*

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	...than the planet 
[Click space bar] 
	...hidden in the glare.

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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Artist’s rendering of a lighthouse with beacon off.  A small firefly is perched atop the lighthouse lamp.

##                                      Like this firefly.

*                                     **Like this firefly.*

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	Like this firefly.

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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE: Artist’s rendering of a lighthouse with beacon off.  The firefly comes into full view.

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EXTRAS: Some NASA missions on the drawing board are being designed specifically to block out the bright light from the parent star.  The coronagraph design for the Terrestrial Planet Finder mission is one example of the break-through technologies that will be needed to find Earth-like planets near bright stars.

## And how will we know a planet supports life?

- Look for evidence of oxygen

- Look for liquid water

- Analyze the reflected light from the planet to see if the planet has an atmosphere

- Look for signs of biological activity (methane)

*and rule out other explanations.*

- 17

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	And how will we know a planet supports life?
Even if we do find that small rocky planet with a circular orbit, it has to have the right things in its atmosphere and on its surface to create and support life.  We want to look for evidence of oxygen, for liquid water, to see if it has an atmosphere (from the reflected light), and to look for signs of biological activity.  And we want to make sure to rule out other explanations.
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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Graphics representing different “signatures” for life to exist on Earth, including ozone, water, methane, and evidence of an atmosphere.
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EXTRAS:   The recent discoveries of so-called extremophile forms of life that survive or even flourish in environments from polar ice cores to boiling, sulfurous pools to deep, dark ocean trenches has stretched our understanding of the conditions under which life can exist and, perhaps, even evolve. 

## And putting telescopes in space will help in the search.

- This is from the ground

- This is from space

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	And putting telescopes in space will help in the search.
[Click space bar twice]
You can see how much clearer the resolution is in the Hubble Telescope photograph of the Eagle Nebula than the image taken from the ground.  The telescope in space doesn’t have to worry about atmospheric distortion.
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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Two images of the famous Eagle Nebula, also known as M16.  The nebula is a nearby star-forming region 6,500 light years away in the constellation Serpens.  The first image was taken by the EWB Telescope in Auckland, New Zealand, and the second was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on April 1, 1995.
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EXTRAS:  Our atmosphere is filled with moving currents of air–swirling winds as well as air rising upward from warm surfaces like houses and roads.  (Have you ever seen “heat waves” rising from hot pavement on a summer day?)   Telescopes that look up at the stars from the ground have to look through all this turbulent air and that can make the universe look as “rippley” and distorted as the world appears when you look up from the bottom of a swimming pool.  These distortions aren’t bad enough to keep us from discovering other Jupiters around other stars.  But, they make it tough to find planets as small as Earth.  The movements caused by less massive planets like Earth are just too small to see through all the distortion.    

## So now the hunt for Earth-like planets really blasts off...  

- 19

*So now the hunt for Earth-like planets really blasts off...  *

*...**on the ground *
*and in *
*space.*

- Keck Interferometer

- Spitzer Space Telescope

- SIM PlanetQuest

- Kepler

- Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer

- Terrestrial Planet Finders

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	So now the hunt for Earth-like planets really blasts off...on 	the ground and in space.

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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Images of several NASA ground and space-based missions, including the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer, the Keck Interferometer, the Kepler mission, the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Space Interferometry Mission, and the Terrestrial Planet Finder.
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EXTRAS:  The Large Binocular Telescope Inteferometer, the Space Interferometry Mission, the Keck Interferometer, and the Terrestrial Planet Finder are all a part of NASA’s Navigator Program.  NASA’s Navigator program is an integral part of NASA’s Astronomical Search for Origins Theme, within NASA’s Office of Space Science.  The Kepler Mission and the Spitzer Space Telescope are also NASA missions, but are not a part of the Navigator Program.
Several of these NASA missions have more than one science goal, but the search for Earth-like planets around other stars is the one goal they have in common (note: the Spitzer Telescope will not be looking for planets directly, but will contribute to the search by analyzing planet and start-forming regions).

## As NASA gets ready to launch the most sensitive instruments ever built.

- And with these missions, we will use different methods to find planets.

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	As NASA gets ready to launch the most sensitive instruments 	ever built.
[Click space bar]
And with these missions, we will use different methods to find planets.
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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Artist’s rendering of the separated instruments of the Terrestrial Planet Finder.  This design is just one of two competing designs for this future planet-finding mission. 
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EXTRAS:  The exciting news is that new technologies are again on the horizon–new technologies being developed by NASA and others (such as the European Space Agency) that are allowing us to find and map other solar systems and may soon allow us to actually discover other Earths.  Throughout the history of science, new technologies open the door to new discoveries. More sensitive detection tools allow us to investigate objects or phenomena which were beyond our reach.

## For example, we will look for the star’s light to dim slightly when a planet passes in front. 

*For example, we will look for the star’s light to dim slightly when a planet passes in front. *

*This is called the transit method*

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	      For example, we will look for the star’s light to dim 		      slightly when a planet passes in front.
[Click space bar twice to show planet moving in front of star]
[Click space bar a third time]
Scheduled to launch in 2007, Kepler will hunt for planets using a specialized one-meter diameter telescope called a photometer to measure the small changes in brightness caused by these passing planets (or transits).
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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  
 Cartoon animation of how the “transit method” works.   Use the arrow keys in “slide show mode” of PowerPoint to show the planet moving back and forth across the star.  You can use the arrow keys as a toggle to demonstrate the movement of the planet before moving on.  Also, note the line on the graph shifting to show lower levels of light.
2. Artist’s rendering of Kepler mission telescope.   

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EXTRAS: Many planet-hunters on the ground are trying to confirm the existence of extrasolar planets already discovered by predicting the occurrence of transiting planets and then measuring them.  So far, only one transit has been confirmed.        

## We will measure the tiny wobble of stars against other stars in the background.

*We will measure the tiny wobble of stars against other stars in the background.*

*This is called astrometry*

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	      We will measure the tiny wobble of stars against other 	      stars in the background.
[Click space bar twice to show star shifting positions]
[Click space bar a third time]
Scheduled to launch in 2009, the Space Interferometry Mission will determine the positions of stars several hundred times more accurately than anything previously possible, helping to pin-point Earth-sized planets.
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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  
 Cartoon animation of how the “astrometry method” works.   Use the arrow keys in “slide show mode” of PowerPoint to show the the man making detailed measurements against the smaller background stars. Feel free to use the arrow keys as a toggle to demonstrate the shifting of the star before moving on. 
Artist’s rendering of the Space Interferometry Mission.   
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EXTRAS: Unseen planets can cause a star to move relative to more distant background stars. Astronomers can deduce the presence of planets from these subtle shifts in position. SIM will use a technology called an interferometer, which involves two telescopes separated along a baseline acting as a single powerful instrument.  This space telescope will achieve unprecedented accuracy in measuring tiny shifts in the positions of stars

## We will block out the bright light from the star.

- The Terrestrial Planet Finder Coronagraph (left) and Interferometer

- The two Terrestrial Planet Finder observatories will search from space for planets as small as Earth and for signs about whether they can support life.

*We will block out the bright light from the star.*

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	   We will block out the bright light from the star.  		      	   Remember the lighthouse and the firefly?
[Click space bar twice to show star being covered by disc]
[Click space bar] 
Telescopes that block the light from the central star can take images of planets that might be in orbit around them.       
[Click space bar] 
The Keck Interferometer combines the light of two 10-meter telescopes to take images of hot Jupiter-size planets that shine bright in infrared light.   
[Click space bar] 
Terrestrial Planet Finder will search from space for planets as small as Earth and for signs about whether they can support life.       
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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:   1. Cartoon animation of how direct detection works.   Use the arrow keys in “slide show mode” of PowerPoint to show the the man covering the bright star with a disc. 2. Photograph of the Keck Telescopes on Mauna Kea in Hawaii.  3. Separated spacecraft design of the  Terrestrial Planet Finder (one of several designs being considered).
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EXTRAS: One of the TPF designs under review will utilize a coronagraph technology to blot out the bright light from the parent star.   Coronagraphs have been used to study the corona surrounding the Sun and to search for sub-stellar companions of nearby stars (brown dwarfs).

## And we will explore regions where planets formed to get clues about the universe

*And we will explore regions where planets formed to get clues about the universe*

- In an early stage, before planets are formed, some stars are shrouded in dense disks of gas and dust.

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	And we will explore regions where planets formed to get clues 	about the universe.  In an early stage, before planets are 		formed, some stars are shrouded in dense disks of gas and 	dust.
	[Click space bar] 
Launched in 2003, the Spitzer Space Telescope is using its infrared camera to study  the beginnings of planetary systems.

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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  
 An artist’s rendering of a planet-forming region.
 An artist’s rendering of the Spitzer Telescope in space.
 Photograph of the launch of the Delta 7920H launch vehicle leaving Cape Canaveral, Florida on August 25, 2003 and carrying the Spitzer Telescope.

## Over the next several years, we will continue to try to answer the big question:

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	Over the next several years, we will continue to try to answer 	the big question: 
	[Click space bar] 
	Is there another Earth out there?

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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  Front page headline article from the June 4, 2003 edition of USA Today.
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EXTRAS:  The USA Today article described in detail the search for another Earth being undertaken by NASA and others, including the great technology advances being made by the Kepler, SIM, and TPF missions.

## And one day, we might turn again to the poets and philosophers...

**And the end of all our exploring **
**Will be to arrive where we started **
**And know the place for the first time. **
**               ***** ******	******T.S. Eliot ***
***Four Quartets***

- For more information go to http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov

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*And one day, we might turn again to the poets and philosophers...*

## NASA’s Vision:  

- *Kepler and the Spitzer Space Telescope are  not a part of the Navigator Program.

**Additional Information**

- This presentation was created by the Navigator Program Public Engagement team.
- For more information go to: *http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov*

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*NASA’s Vision:*
- To improve life here,
- To extend life to there,
- To find life beyond.**  **

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	[This image is a placeholder that you may want to project 	while guests are leaving]

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WHAT’S ON THE SLIDE:  NASA vision statement and program credits.