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Planet Hunting: The Oddity of Finding Another Earth | Natalie Hinkel | TEDxSanAntonio

1,962 views · Published 12 December 2018 · 10:32 · Indexed 23 October 2026

Channel: TEDx Talks · 2018 · Nonprofits & Activism

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Thousands of planets have been discovered outside of our Solar System, and with each one, there is a chance that it could be habitable or inhabited. However, everything has to be "just right" on the planet in order for carbon-based life to thrive. I will discuss the various properties that are required for life on another planet, the definition of "habitability" and how it's expanding, the statistics of finding an Earth-like planet, and what scientists are doing about it now. 

Dr. Natalie Hinkel a planetary astrophysicist at the Southwest Research Institute. She studies the composition of nearby stars and how that may affect the make-up of orbiting planets. She analyzes real exoplanets like the TRAPPIST-1 system, exotic systems where planets orbit two stars, fake exoplanets, machine learning algorithms, and what life would be like on an exo-moon. She has put together the largest catalog of element abundances measured in stars near to the Sun, called the Hypatia Catalog which contains 72 elements in ~6200 stars.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://TED.com/tedx
 Thousands of planets have been discovered outside of our Solar System, and with each one, there is a chance that it could be habitable or inhabited. However, everything has to be "just right" on the planet in order for carbon-based life to thrive. I will discuss the various properties that are required for life on another planet, the definition of "habitability" and how it's expanding, the statistics of finding an Earth-like planet, and what scientists are doing about it now. 

Dr. Natalie Hinkel a planetary astrophysicist at the Southwest Research Institute. She studies the composition of nearby stars and how that may affect the make-up of orbiting planets. She analyzes real exoplanets like the TRAPPIST-1 system, exotic systems where planets orbit two stars, fake exoplanets, machine learning algorithms, and what life would be like on an exo-moon. She has put together the largest catalog of element abundances measured in stars near to the Sun, called the Hypatia Catalog which contains 72 elements in ~6200 stars.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://TED.com/tedx This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

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