On this month’s episode of, ‘From Here to the Stars,’ our host, Stephen Euin Cobb, interviews Doctor Angelle Tanner. Dr. Angelle Tanner is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Mississippi State University. She has been interested in finding habitable planets outside our solar system since she was quite young. Her research is focused on multiple methods of extrasolar planet detection including using radial velocities, astrometry and direct imaging. She is also involved in research programs devoted to understanding the properties of the stars around which we are looking for planets. These properties include a star’s size, rotational velocity, activity and whether it has a dusty debris disk. By knowing the architecture of planetary systems as well as the properties of their host stars, we also learn more about how those planets formed and evolved and how many similar systems exist in our Galaxy. Dr. Tanner hopes to be a primary contributor to the discovery of life on a nearby, Earth-like planet. Searching for possible planets we could possibly inhabit or planets with all kinds of different environments! An exciting episode you don’t want to miss!

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