Extrasolar Planets

David Charbonneau Headshot

David Charbonneau

Fred Kavli Professor of Astrophysics

Research Interests: Detection and characterization of extrasolar planets, with the goal of studying inhabited worlds. In pursuit of this goal I also pursue novel ground-based and space-based instrumentation, and studies of stellar astrophysics.... Read more about David Charbonneau

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden Street MS-16
Cambridge, MA 02138

Phone: 617 496 6515
p: (617) 495-3752
Jonah Peter

Jonah Peter

Graduate Student (Biophysics)
Research Interests:  Astrobiology, origin of life, symmetry breaking in prebiotic molecular systems.
Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden Street, MS-10
Cambridge, MA 02138
Dimitar Sasselov

Dimitar Sasselov

Phillips Professor of Astronomy
Director, Origins of Life Initiative
Senior Advisor in the Sciences for Advanced Study

Research Interests:  Professor Sasselov studies, among other things, extrasolar planets, and he's a co-investigator on NASA's Kepler mission, which is monitoring 100,000 stars in a three-year hunt for exoplanets -- including Jupiter-sized giants. Sasselov watches for exoplanets by looking for transits, the act of a planet passing across the face of its star, dimming its light and changing its chemical signature. This simple, elegant way of searching has led to a bounty of newly discovered planets. https://sasselov.cfa.harvard.edu/... Read more about Dimitar Sasselov

Perkin Lab, P-336
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden Street, MS-16
Cambridge, MA 02138
p: (617) 495-7451