Dr. Adam Burgasser is an astrophysicist and professor at UC San Diego. As director of the Cool Star Lab, Adam investigates the atmospheres and dynamics of the coolest stars, brown dwarfs, and extrasolar planets; and was part of the team that discovered TRAPPIST-1 (a red dwarf star orbited by seven terrestrial planets) in 2017.
Dr. Burgasser’s talks and panel appearances will include the following:
Little worlds orbiting little stars: It’s time to think small!
The search for life beyond Earth is no longer science fiction, as over a dozen potentially habitable worlds have now been found orbiting stars other than the Sun. Remarkably, many of these newly-discovered worlds orbit the smallest stars. In this talk, Dr. Burgasser will discuss why little stars have become a productive hunting ground for potentially habitable worlds, how we might determine if they are really habitable, and what life might be like orbiting a dim little star.