Name: Margaret Turnbull
Institution: Carnegie (DTM)

University of Washington

Astrolunch

Abstract:
What will it take to find habitable planets, and life, beyond the Solar System? In this talk I'll discuss the many intertwining problems involved in target selection for the direct imaging of habitable worlds orbiting stars in the Solar Neighborhood. We'll also ask, for an inhabited planet like the Earth, which biosignatures we can hope to detect based on what we have seen in the Earthshine spectrum. Budget crises aside, we'll have a look at the science, from Earthshine monitoring experiments to compilation of Solar Neighborhood encyclopedia, that remains to be done in support of such an immensely challenging project. Finally, I note that astrobiology (especially in the case of a successful detection of extraterrestrial life) is probably the single most effective tool that we have in combating sliding standards of science education, and we'll have a look at the impact astrobiology is currently having on all levels science education in this country. The search for life on other worlds is perhaps the most universally engaging, for both laymen and PhDs, scientific project currently in existence.