Sara Seager

Last updated

Sara Seager
OC
Sara Seager CHF-Cain-Conference-May-2016-059.jpg
Seager at a 2016 conference
Born (1971-07-21) 21 July 1971 (age 53) [1]
Toronto, Ontario, Canada [2]
Nationality Canadian–American
Citizenship CanadaUnited States [1]
Education University of Toronto (BSc)
Harvard University (PhD)
Known forSearch for extrasolar planets
SpouseCharles Darrow
Children2
Awards Order of Canada (2020, Officer)
MacArthur Fellowship (2013)
Helen B. Warner Prize (2007)
Harvard Book Prize in Astronomy (2004)
NSERC Science and Technology Fellowship (1990–1994)
Scientific career
Fields Astronomy
Planetary science
Institutions Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2007–)
Carnegie Institution of Washington (2002–2006)
Institute for Advanced Study (1999–2002)
Thesis Extrasolar giant planets under strong stellar irradiation  (1999)
Doctoral advisor Dimitar Sasselov [3] [4]
Website seagerexoplanets.mit.edu
External videos
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg Sara Seager, “The search for planets beyond our solar system”, TED2015
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg “Space Experts Discuss the Search for Life in the Universe at NASA”, NASA 2014
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg “Sara Seager ”, Origins 2011

Sara Seager OC (born 21 July 1971) is a Canadian-American astronomer and planetary scientist. [2] She is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is known for her work on extrasolar planets and their atmospheres. She is the author of two textbooks on these topics, [5] [6] and has been recognized for her research by Popular Science , [7] Discover Magazine , [8] Nature , [9] and TIME Magazine . [10] Seager was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2013 citing her theoretical work on detecting chemical signatures on exoplanet atmospheres and developing low-cost space observatories to observe planetary transits. [11]

Contents

Background

Seager was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and is Jewish. [2] [12] [13] Her father, David Seager, who lost his hair when he was 19 years old, was a pioneer and one of the world's leaders in hair transplantation and the founder of the Seager Hair Transplant Center in Toronto. [2] [14]

She earned her BSc degree in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Toronto in 1994, assisted by a NSERC University Undergraduate Student Research Award, and a PhD in astronomy from Harvard University in 1999. Her doctoral thesis developed theoretical models of atmospheres on extrasolar planets and was supervised by Dimitar Sasselov. [3] [4] [15]

She held a postdoctoral research fellow position at the Institute for Advanced Study between 1999 and 2002 and a senior research staff member at the Carnegie Institution of Washington until 2006. She joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in January 2007 as an associate professor in both physics and planetary science, was granted tenure in July 2007, [16] and was elevated to full professor in July 2010. [17] She currently holds the "Class of 1941" chair. [1]

She was elected a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2020. [18]

She is married to Charles Darrow and they have two sons from her first marriage. Her first spouse, Michael Wevrick, died of cancer in 2011. [19] [20]

Academic research

Seager talking about exoplanets

Seager's research has been primarily directed toward the discovery and analysis of exoplanets; in particular her work is centered around ostensibly rare earth analogs, leading NASA to dub her "an astronomical Indiana Jones." [21] Seager used the term "gas dwarf" for a high-mass super-Earth-type planet composed mainly of hydrogen and helium in an animation of one model of the exoplanet Gliese 581c. The term "gas dwarf" has also been used to refer to planets smaller than gas giants, with thick hydrogen and helium atmospheres. [22] [23] Together with Marc Kuchner, Seager had predicted the existence of carbon planets. [24]

Seager has been the chair of the NASA Science and Technology Definition team for a proposed mission, "Starshade", [25] to launch a free-flying occulting disk, used to block the light from a distant star in order for a telescope to be able to resolve the (much dimmer) light from an accompanying exoplanet located in the habitable zone of the star. [26]

In years since 2020, Sara has been focusing on work related to Venus, with the potential discovery of phosphine, a biosignature gas, in the upper atmosphere. [27]

Seager equation

Seager developed a parallel version of the Drake equation to estimate the number of habitable planets in the Galaxy. [28] Instead of aliens with radio technology, Seager has revised the Drake equation to focus on simply the presence of any alien life detectable from Earth. The equation focuses on the search for planets with biosignature gases, gases produced by life that can accumulate in a planet atmosphere to levels that can be detected with remote space telescopes. [28]

where:

Asteria Spacecraft

Seager was the principal investigator of the Asteria (Arcsecond Space Telescope Enabling Research in Astrophysics) spacecraft, [29] a 6-U cubesat designed to do precision photometry to search for extrasolar planets, a collaborative project between MIT and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. ASTERIA was launched into low Earth orbit from the International Space Station on 20 November 2017, and successfully operated until its orbital decay on 24 April 2020.

Venus Life Finder

In 2020, Seager led a team proposing a mission Venus Life Finder , [30] a small spacecraft to investigate the possibility of life in the atmosphere of Venus. [31] The mission will be a privately-funded spacecraft to be launched by Rocket Lab on the Electron rocket [32] with a target launch date of January 2025.

Honors and awards

Seager was awarded the 2012 Sackler Prize for "analysis of the atmospheres and internal compositions of extra-solar planets," [33] the Helen B. Warner Prize from the American Astronomical Society in 2007 for developing "fundamental techniques for understanding, analyzing, and finding the atmospheres of extrasolar planets," [34] and the 2004 Harvard Book Prize in Astronomy. [35] She was appointed as a fellow to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012 and elected to the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada as an honorary member in 2013. [1] In September 2013 she became a MacArthur Fellow. [36] She was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2018. [37] She was the Elizabeth R. Laird Lecturer at Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2018. [38] On 19 August 2020 Seager appeared on the Lex Fridman Podcast (#116). [39]

In 2020, she was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada. [40] She won the 2020 Los Angeles Times Prize for Science and Technology for The Smallest Lights in the Universe. [41]

She was an honorary graduand at her Alma Mater, the University of Toronto Spring 2023 Convocation. [42]

In 2024, Seager was awarded the Kavli Prize in Astrophysics. [43]

Publications

Books

Journal articles

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exoplanet</span> Planet outside the Solar System

An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not then recognized as such. The first confirmation of the detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, first detected in 1988, was confirmed in 2003. According to statistics from the NASA Exoplanet Archive, As of 8 August 2024, there are 5,743 confirmed exoplanets in 4,286 planetary systems, with 961 systems having more than one planet. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is expected to discover more exoplanets, and to give more insight into their traits, such as their composition, environmental conditions, and potential for life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giant planet</span> Planet much larger than the Earth

A giant planet, sometimes referred to as a jovian planet, is a diverse type of planet much larger than Earth. Giant planets are usually primarily composed of low-boiling point materials (volatiles), rather than rock or other solid matter, but massive solid planets can also exist. There are four such planets in the Solar System: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Many extrasolar giant planets have been identified.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Planet</span> Large, round non-stellar astronomical object

A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets by the most restrictive definition of the term: the terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, and the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a young protostar orbited by a protoplanetary disk. Planets grow in this disk by the gradual accumulation of material driven by gravity, a process called accretion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terrestrial planet</span> Planet that is composed primarily of silicate rocks or metals

A terrestrial planet, telluric planet, or rocky planet, is a planet that is composed primarily of silicate, rocks or metals. Within the Solar System, the terrestrial planets accepted by the IAU are the inner planets closest to the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Among astronomers who use the geophysical definition of a planet, two or three planetary-mass satellites – Earth's Moon, Io, and sometimes Europa – may also be considered terrestrial planets. The large rocky asteroids Pallas and Vesta are sometimes included as well, albeit rarely. The terms "terrestrial planet" and "telluric planet" are derived from Latin words for Earth, as these planets are, in terms of structure, Earth-like. Terrestrial planets are generally studied by geologists, astronomers, and geophysicists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HD 209458 b</span> Gas giant exoplanet orbiting HD 209458

HD 209458 b is an exoplanet that orbits the solar analog HD 209458 in the constellation Pegasus, some 157 light-years from the Solar System. The radius of the planet's orbit is 0.047 AU, or one-eighth the radius of Mercury's orbit. This small radius results in a year that is 3.5 Earth-days long and an estimated surface temperature of about 1,000 °C. Its mass is 220 times that of Earth and its volume is some 2.5 times greater than that of Jupiter. The high mass and volume of HD 209458 b indicate that it is a gas giant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Habitable zone</span> Orbits where planets may have liquid surface water

In astronomy and astrobiology, the habitable zone (HZ), or more precisely the circumstellar habitable zone (CHZ), is the range of orbits around a star within which a planetary surface can support liquid water given sufficient atmospheric pressure. The bounds of the HZ are based on Earth's position in the Solar System and the amount of radiant energy it receives from the Sun. Due to the importance of liquid water to Earth's biosphere, the nature of the HZ and the objects within it may be instrumental in determining the scope and distribution of planets capable of supporting Earth-like extraterrestrial life and intelligence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carbon planet</span> Hypothetical type of planet that contains more carbon than oxygen

A carbon planet is a hypothetical type of planet that contains more carbon than oxygen. Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe by mass after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Charbonneau</span> Canadian astronomer

David Brian Charbonneau is a professor of Astronomy at Harvard University. His research focuses on the development of novel techniques for the detection and characterization of exoplanets orbiting nearby, Sun-like stars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upsilon Andromedae b</span> Extrasolar planet in the Andromeda constellation

Upsilon Andromedae b, formally named Saffar, is an extrasolar planet approximately 44 light-years away from the Sun in the constellation of Andromeda. The planet orbits its host star, the F-type main-sequence star Upsilon Andromedae A, approximately every five days. Discovered in June 1996 by Geoffrey Marcy and R. Paul Butler, it was one of the first hot Jupiters to be discovered. It is also one of the first non-resolved planets to be detected directly. Upsilon Andromedae b is the innermost-known planet in its planetary system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ocean world</span> Planet containing a significant amount of water or other liquid

An ocean world, ocean planet or water world is a type of planet that contains a substantial amount of water in the form of oceans, as part of its hydrosphere, either beneath the surface, as subsurface oceans, or on the surface, potentially submerging all dry land. The term ocean world is also used sometimes for astronomical bodies with an ocean composed of a different fluid or thalassogen, such as lava, ammonia or hydrocarbons. The study of extraterrestrial oceans is referred to as planetary oceanography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gliese 436 b</span> Hot Neptune exoplanet orbiting Gliese 436

Gliese 436 b is a Neptune-sized exoplanet orbiting the red dwarf Gliese 436. It was the first hot Neptune discovered with certainty and was among the smallest-known transiting planets in mass and radius, until the much smaller Kepler exoplanet discoveries began circa 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Super-Earth</span> Type of exoplanet

A Super-Earth is a type of exoplanet with a mass higher than Earth's, but substantially below those of the Solar System's ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, which are 14.5 and 17 times Earth's, respectively. The term "super-Earth" refers only to the mass of the planet, and so does not imply anything about the surface conditions or habitability. The alternative term "gas dwarfs" may be more accurate for those at the higher end of the mass scale, although "mini-Neptunes" is a more common term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extraterrestrial atmosphere</span> Area of astronomical research

The study of extraterrestrial atmospheres is an active field of research, both as an aspect of astronomy and to gain insight into Earth's atmosphere. In addition to Earth, many of the other astronomical objects in the Solar System have atmospheres. These include all the giant planets, as well as Mars, Venus and Titan. Several moons and other bodies also have atmospheres, as do comets and the Sun. There is evidence that extrasolar planets can have an atmosphere. Comparisons of these atmospheres to one another and to Earth's atmosphere broaden our basic understanding of atmospheric processes such as the greenhouse effect, aerosol and cloud physics, and atmospheric chemistry and dynamics.

This page describes exoplanet orbital and physical parameters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GJ 1214 b</span> Super-Earth orbiting GJ 1214

GJ 1214 b is an exoplanet that orbits the star GJ 1214, and was discovered in December 2009. Its parent star is 48 light-years from the Sun, in the constellation Ophiuchus. As of 2017, GJ 1214 b is the most likely known candidate for being an ocean planet. For that reason, scientists often call the planet a "waterworld".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Life on Venus</span> Scientific assessments on the microbial habitability of Venus

The possibility of life on Venus is a subject of interest in astrobiology due to Venus' proximity and similarities to Earth. To date, no definitive evidence has been found of past or present life there. In the early 1960s, studies conducted via spacecraft demonstrated that the current Venusian environment is extreme compared to Earth's. Studies continue to question whether life could have existed on the planet's surface before a runaway greenhouse effect took hold, and whether a relict biosphere could persist high in the modern Venusian atmosphere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gliese 581g</span> Former candidate super-Earth orbiting Gliese 581

Gliese 581g was a candidate exoplanet postulated to orbit within the Gliese 581 system, twenty light-years from Earth. It was discovered by the Lick–Carnegie Exoplanet Survey, and was the sixth planet claimed to orbit the star; however, its existence could not be confirmed by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) / High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) survey team, and was ultimately refuted. It was thought to be near the middle of the habitable zone of its star, meaning it could sustain liquid water—a necessity for all known life—on its surface, if there are favorable atmospheric conditions on the planet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kepler-16b</span> Gas giant orbiting Kepler-16 star system

Kepler-16b is a Saturn-mass exoplanet consisting of half gas and half rock and ice. It orbits a binary star, Kepler-16, with a period of 229 days. "[It] is the first confirmed, unambiguous example of a circumbinary planet – a planet orbiting not one, but two stars," said Josh Carter of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, one of the discovery team.

The Virtual Planetary Laboratory (VPL) is a virtual institute based at the University of Washington that studies how to detect exoplanetary habitability and their potential biosignatures. First formed in 2001, the VPL is part of the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) and connects more than fifty researchers at twenty institutions together in an interdisciplinary effort. VPL is also part of the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) network, with principal investigator Victoria Meadows leading the NExSS VPL team.

References

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  2. 1 2 3 4 Jones, Chris (7 December 2016). "The Woman Who Might Find Us Another Earth". The New York Times Magazine . Archived from the original on 14 February 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  3. 1 2 Back to the thesis: Sara Seager on YouTube
  4. 1 2 Smith, Kerri; Baker, Noah (2016). "Back to the thesis: Late nights, typos, self-doubt and despair. Francis Collins, Sara Seager and Uta Frith dust off their theses, and reflect on what the PhD was like for them". Nature. 535 (7610): 22–25. Bibcode:2016Natur.535...22S. doi: 10.1038/535022a . PMID   27383967.
  5. Seager, Sara (2010). Exoplanet Atmospheres: Physical Processes. Princeton University Press. ISBN   9781400835300.
  6. Seager, Sara (2010). Exoplanets. University of Arizona Press. ISBN   978-0-8165-2945-2.
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