September 13, 1996 Contact: Robert Irion (408) 459-2495; irion@ua.ucsc.edu

ASTRONOMER TO DESCRIBE THE SEARCH FOR NEW PLANETS IN FREE PUBLIC TALK

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--From Comet Hyakutake to the possible detection of past life on Mars, it's been a banner year for astronomy. One of the biggest stories is still unfolding: the discovery of planets orbiting other stars like our Sun. Astronomers have found at least eight of these heavenly bodies, with more announcements likely in upcoming months.

One of the central figures in this cosmic quest, astronomer Geoffrey Marcy, will discuss his research on Friday, September 27, in a public lecture at UC Santa Cruz. His talk, "Planet Search: The Next Generation with Keck," will begin at 8 P.M. in Classroom Unit 2 on the UCSC campus. Admission is free. Parking is available at the Bay Tree Bookstore and adjacent lots.

Marcy, Distinguished University Professor at San Francisco State University and visiting scientist at UC Berkeley, will describe his highly successful research at UCSC's Lick Observatory near San Jose. Using the observatory's 120-inch Shane Telescope and the exquisitely sensitive Hamilton Spectrograph, Marcy and his colleague, astronomer Paul Butler of SFSU and UC Berkeley, have found more new planets than any other research group in the world.

The team is scaling up its research program to the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, home of the world's largest optical telescopes. The sheer size of the Keck Telescope and the precision of its observing instruments should reveal even more planets--perhaps some similar to Earth.

"Many of the planets we have discovered are quite different from those in our solar system," Marcy says. "Some are even more massive than Jupiter, but orbit their host stars in very small orbits, smaller than Mercury's orbit. The character of these new worlds spawns many questions about the uniqueness of our solar system and the prevalence of Earthlike planets. We are now addressing these burning questions with the Keck 10-meter telescope."

Marcy earned his Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics at UCSC in 1982. His adviser, Professor Steven Vogt, designed the Hamilton Spectrograph and oversaw a recent upgrade in its optics that made it, according to Marcy, the best research tool in the world for finding new planets.

Those with access to the World Wide Web may view a colorful presentation of Marcy's research at the following address: http://cannon.sfsu.edu/~gmarcy

Press Releases Home | Search Press Releases | Press Release Archive | Services for Journalists

Maintained by:pioweb@cats.ucsc.edu