55 Cancri is extraordinarily rich in heavy elements and extraordinarily efficient at making planets - much more so than our sun - and those elements are the very ones you need to make planets that aren't just gas giants. — Debra Fischer Copy Share Image
Generally speaking, exoplanets can be any size, and they are found in a wide range of orbits. Some have massive gas atmospheres; others are smaller with an icy or rocky composition. — Debra Fischer Copy Share Image
The first exoplanet to be found around a sun-like star was discovered in 1995, just two years before I began studying exoplanet detection. — Debra Fischer Copy Share Image
Naturally, we think that finding another Earth-like planet is identifying a site that's at least friendly here for the evolution of life. The primary… — Debra Fischer Copy Share Image
Kepler's blown the lid off everything we know about extra-solar planets. — Debra Fischer Copy Share Image
Our field is very focused on finding Earth 2.0, and anything we can do to narrow the search is helpful. — Debra Fischer Copy Share Image
It now seems logical that all the stars, like our own sun, must have formed with a system of planets around them. — Debra Fischer Copy Share Image
In 1999, my team discovered that the star Upsilon Andromedae was circled by three gas-giant planets - the first distant multiplanet system ever found.… — Debra Fischer Copy Share Image
Because Alpha Centauri is so close, it is our first stop outside our solar system. There's almost certain to be small, rocky planets around… — Debra Fischer Copy Share Image
As our sensitivity improves, we are finally seeing planets with longer orbital periods, planetary systems that look more like our solar system. — Debra Fischer Copy Share Image
There's no doubt that the search for planets is motivated by the search for life. Humans are interested in whether or not life evolves… — Debra Fischer Copy Share Image
Further ahead, I'd like to see tiny spacebots - smaller than your cell phone - travel outside our solar system to the nearest star… — Debra Fischer Copy Share Image
