Dr. Heather Knutson Professor of Planetary Science California Institute of Technology, Adam P. Showman Distinguished Visiting Lecturer
When
Abstract: Nearly a decade has passed since the discovery that planets with sizes intermediate between that of the Earth and Neptune (“super-Earths” or “mini-Neptunes”, depending on their densities) dominate the observed population of close-in exoplanets. These planets have no solar system analogue, yet a significant fraction of Sun-like stars appear to have at least one (and often more) interior to Mercury’s orbit. In my talk I will describe ongoing efforts to characterize the present-day properties of these planets, and to constrain their corresponding past formation and atmospheric mass loss histories.
Professor Knutson is the inaugural speaker for the Adam P. Showman Distinguished Visiting Lectureship.
Read more about Professor Heather Knutson https://www.gps.caltech.edu/people/heather-a-knutson
Refreshments served at 3:20p.m. in the Kuiper atrium