Willow Taiger

Exoplanets 101

Lectures After Dark

How scientists find worlds beyond our solar system and what those worlds can tell us about Earth’s past and future.

Pub L'Île Noire

LAD Montreal

<h3>Event description</h3><p>We now know planets are common beyond our solar system, but finding them is not as simple as pointing a telescope at a distant star. In this Lectures After Dark talk, astronomy graduate and science communicator Willow Taiger introduces exoplanets: what they are, how scientists detect them, and why they matter.</p><p>Although exoplanets are a recent discovery in astronomy, they have already changed how scientists think about the universe and our place in it. Willow will walk through the clues researchers use to study worlds we cannot visit, without requiring a physics degree at the door.</p><p>The talk also looks back at Earth. By comparing other planets and planetary systems, we can ask better questions about our own planet's past, future, and what makes a world habitable.</p><h3>What the audience will walk away with</h3><ul><li>What exoplanets are and why they became one of astronomy’s biggest modern discoveries.</li><li>How scientists detect planets that are far too distant to visit or see directly.</li><li>What other worlds can teach us about Earth’s history, future, and habitability.</li><li>A clearer sense of how astronomy turns tiny signals into big questions.</li></ul><h3>About the speaker</h3><p>Willow Taiger is an astronomy graduate from the University of Toronto with a focus on planetary science. She researched exoplanets during her studies and while interning at the Institute for Research on Exoplanets at Université de Montréal. She has also led public astronomy education as head of Education and Public Outreach at the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada's head office, gives public talks with RASC Montréal, and will begin a Master's in Geology at Université de Montréal this fall.</p>

Exoplanets 101

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Exoplanets 101

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