SCIENCE AT THE SHINE DOME canberra 6 - 8 may 2009

Symposium: Evolution of the universe, the planets, life and thought

Friday, 8 May 2009

Professor Chris Tinney
Department of Astrophysics and Optics, University of New South Wales, Sydney

Chris Tinney has made major contributions throughout his career in the study of extra-solar planets and brown dwarfs. In addition to being the Australian leader of the international Anglo-Australian Planet Search responsible for detecting over 30 of the 300-odd extra-solar planets known to date, he has major contributions in developing new observing techniques for the detection and understanding of the lowest-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the solar neighbourhood. He is a graduate of the California Institute of Technology and the University of Sydney, and is currently an Australian Professorial Fellow at the University of New
South Wales.

Understanding the planet census of the universe

Around 350 stars are now known to host extra-solar planets. We have found gas-giant planets orbiting in a wide range of environments – from inside the orbit of Mercury out to about the orbit of Jupiter – though mostly in elliptical, rather than circular orbits. We have found stars hosting multiple planets. And we are pushing the threshold for the lowest mass planets yet found down to a few times that of the Earth. Unfortunately, the touchstone for ‘life as we know it’ – an Earth-like planet moving in an Earth-like orbit around a Sun-like star – remains elusive. Nonetheless searches are continuing and techniques are constantly being improved in an effort to meaningfully determine how common ‘habitable’ systems like our own really are.