Debra Fischer Hunts for a Second Earth at Alpha Centauri

Yale Professor of Astronomy Debra Fischer is one of our planet’s most successful discoverers of exoplanets.  She has set her sights on Alpha Centauri, where she hopes to find a Earth-sized world in the habitable zone: not too hot, not too cold for life. Emily Lakdawalla says there's more to sand than you may think.  Bill Nye found friends of planetary science on both sides of the aisle in DC.  Bruce Betts shows us the night sky in this week's What's Up!  NOTE THE LINK TO THE NEW WHAT'S UP! CONTEST ENTRY FORM BELOW.  Bill Nye might be answering your phone for you.

Related Links

• Debra Fischer's FINDS Exo-Earths Project
• Support Debra's Search!
• CHIRON Spectrometer at Cerro Tololo
• BLOG: "Sand" May Mean Something Different To You
• BLOG: Bill Dunford's Guest Post--Weather Report: Mars

Trivia Contest

This week's prize is Bill Nye the Science Guy's voice on your answering machine!

This week's question:
What is the largest known Near Earth Asteroid?  (Defined as those that come within 1.3 AU of the Sun.)

To submit your answer:
Complete the contest entry form at http:planetary.org/radiocontest no later than Monday, February 4, at 2pm Pacific Time.

Last week's question:
Who was the test pilot that flew the most flights in the X15?

Answer:
The answer will be revealed next week.

Question from the week before:
What is the ratio of escape velocities between the cloudtops of Jupiter and Earth's surface?

Answer:
The ratio is 5.32.