How Far Are They?

Extrasolar planets are being discovered weekly. And, now, Earth-like contenders are showing up. But how far are these stars and the planets that orbit them?

They seem impossibly distant, but people have been clever enough to measure their distances to surprising accuracy. Prof. John Thorstensen, of Dartmouth College's Department of Astrophysics, will explain in simple terms just how this is done, and describe how these methods, some of them quite old, have been given astonishing new power by modern technologies.

He will discuss how there is a good likelihood that the techniques used to find the distances to the stars will soon be sensitive enough to find evidence for earth-sized planets around those nearby stars.

The presentation, free and open to the public, will be held at the monthly SoVerA Meeting, held at the Whiting Library at 7:00 PM, Tuesday, 11 March, Lower Level.

The Southern Vermont Astronomy Group (SoVerA) is an organization composed of amateur and professional astronomers, educators, students and members of the lay public. We are dedicated to making astronomy much more accessible to all. Talks and presentations are free, open to the public, and held at the Whiting Library, lower level, on the second Tuesday of every month, with observing afterwards, sky conditions permitting.

More information may be found at: http://www.sovera.org/ or by calling 802-875-6464.