We should have some interesting news about exoplanets tomorrow afternoon. That’s when a media briefing will be given to reporters at the National Science Foundation in Arlington VA. The briefing is titled “Scientists Make New Discovery About Planets Outside Our Solar System,” and although I have a hunch what this one is about, I’m not confident enough to run with it here. But it’s intriguing that Jack Lissauer (NASA Ames), who is participating in the briefing, has done groundbreaking work on planetary formation in binary systems, as discussed in these pages back in December.
Other participants in the briefing include exoplanetary pioneers Geoff Marcy (University of California, Berkeley) and Paul Butler (Carnegie Institution), as well as Eugenio Rivera from Lick Observatory. Rivera has previously worked with Lissauer on the ‘resonant’ orbits of two planets around the red dwarf Gliese 876, some 15 light years from Earth. Michael Turner, who heads NSF’s Directorate of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, will evidently introduce the panel and present initial findings.
An accompanying Webcast will be available at this address. More on the story as it develops.
