Pianeti extrasolari, un opportunità di Education and Public Outreach

Transcription

1 Pianeti extrasolari, un opportunità di Education and Public Outreach Antonio Maggio Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo

2 Why so an interesting topic Fundamental question about our own existence in the Universe, ancient cultural roots Recent, fast growing and prolific research field, rich of surprises Yet a very simple science theme, easy to understand for anybody Far reaching interdisciplinary links

3 An amazing historic tale 300 B.C D.C.: centuries of philosophical speculations : from heretical proposition to scientific revolution : several decades of false alarm occurrences : first real discoveries : the space mission race starts Today: forthcoming answer to the Big Question?

4 Preposterous discoveries Wolszczan & Frail 1992: A planetary system around the millisecond pulsar PSR ; planet b mass = 0.02 M! Thorsett et al. 1993: PSR B A binary radio pulsar with a planetary companion in the globular cluster M4 Mayor & Queloz 1995: A Jupiter-mass companion to a solar-type star; M sin i = 0.5 M J, P orb = 4.2d, a = 0.05 AU! Can you believe it?

5 So many first time observations 1999: υ And, 1 st multiple-planet system (Butler et al.); HD b, 1 st transiting exoplanet (D. Charbonneau; G. Henry) 2001: 1 st study of the atmospheric composition of an exoplanet with HST; HD 28185b, 1 st planet around a Sun-like star in a long-period circular orbit and in the Habitable Zone 2002: ι Dra b, 1 st planet orbiting a giant star 2005: 1 st direct observations in IR of exoplanets with Spitzer 2007: 1 st detection of water vapor in a planetary atmosphere (Tinetti et al.); 1 st weather map; and so on

6 A new crucial quantity: Eta Earth η Current estimates: between 6 and 23 billion exoplanets in our Galaxy

7 Interdisciplinary Links Classical and Modern Physics Math, Statistics, Informatics Technology Extrasolar planets Chemistry, Biology English language History, Philosophy, Epistemology Geology, Climate, Earth Science

8 Technology, on Earth WASP, HATNet, TReS, OGLE (robotic telescopes) APACHE, and other INAF small telescopes HARPS and (specialized instrumentation vs. multi-purpose facilities)

9 Technology, the future Projects with involvement of Italian scientists (just a selection) CHEOPS PLATO

10 From philosophical topic to popular culture From Epicurus to Galilei (philosophy, epistemology) From Voltaire to Calvino and the modern Science Fiction (literature) From Fermi Paradox ( 50) & Drake s Equation ( 60) to the Kepler survey (probability, statistics) From Star Trek TV series (1966) to Avatar (2009) Exoplanets in newspapers and magazines (media) Exoplanets in smartphone apps and toys (merchandising) A new «bussiness»: selling exoplanet names

11 Exoplanets in The New York Times

12 Transiting exoplanet Lego kit

13 Naming exoplanets: science or bussiness?

14 Exoplanets in Italy: a joint venture in science Birth of a new science community, and the need for a new window and communication channel on the Web Special credit: I. Pagano

15 Exoplanets in Italy: a joint venture in science The Global Architecture of Planetary System (GAPS) project, including a Work Package for E/PO activities Sinergy with the INAF national E/PO project Astronomia e Società funded by MIUR in 2013 (PI A. Maggio)

16 Exoplanets in Italy: a joint venture in science Second life of Telescopio Nazionale Galileo equipped with the HARPS-N spectrograph (special credit: S. Masiero)

17 Exoplanets in Italy: a joint venture in science Special funding of the INAF Way to Other Worlds (WOW) project, for coordination of research, higher education and dissemination activities Higher education - PhD fellowships - PhD School E/PO - Web site - Resources for teachers - Labs for children - Multimedia

18 Present outcomes and goals Increased visibility of INAF R&D activities Better understanding of fundamental research goals from public and private stakeholders Project awards and funding Support for an increasing number of young students and researchers Inspiring the next generation of explorers

19 The Big Question: Are we Alone? Yet we are wishful thinkers. We still want to be able to find life. [ ] But the crucial difference between us and past advocates of plurality is that we have information they never had. [ ] The existence of billions of planets gives us a chance to write the equation, a chance to pin down the relationship between habitability and actual habitation. [ ] We live in a universe that allows us to get some measure of our own significance. Caleb Scharf