Om episode
Astrophiz 86: Professor Jonti Horner – Exobiology Part 2 ‘Fingerprinting Exoplanets, NASA, TESS & MINERVA-AUSTRALIS’ + ‘What’s Up Brendan’ because Dr Ian ‘Astroblog’ Musgrave is away at a conference in Hawaii. In Part 2 of an extended three part interview, our featured guest is Professor Jonti Horner, the Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia. With thousands of citations, he is an esteemed Astronomer and Astrobiologist who researches Exoplanets, Exoplanet Habitability and the evolution of our Solar system. Jonti is leading the construction of the MINERVA-Australis exoplanet search and follow-up facility at the USQ Mt. Kent Observatory. In todays episode we hear about not contaminating space with our earthly bacteria as we explore the cosmos with robotic spacecraft, the history of exoplanet discovery, the different techniques used to discover exoplanets and fingerprinting exoplanet atmospheres, and how he is in a team working with NASA to confirm TESS’s exoplanet discoveries with the new MINERVA telescope facility using 'off the shelf' optical instruments at the University of Southern Queensland