Within the scientific community, there is healthy skepticism. And the question is, 'How do you ever get to a meaningful null result? How long and how hard do SETI scientists have to look for extraterrestrial intelligence and find nothing before… — 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
There may be hundreds of small seed planets - or planetesimals - which grow in the disk of matter around a star. — Debra Fischer Copy Share
The universe has told us the most common types of planets are small planets, and our study shows these are exactly the ones that… — Debra Fischer Copy Share
