Sara Seager
Professor of Physics and Planetary Science, MIT
I’m an astrophysicist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Kavli Prize in Astrophysics, 2024. My research focuses on exoplanets, planets which orbit stars other than our sun. My quest is to find another Earth, a true ‘Earth twin’, and to search for signs of life on any kind of exoplanet by studying their atmospheres. I’ve played a leadership role on space missions, and I’m also working for new, more sophisticated ways to find planets.
EXPs by Sara Seager
With hundreds of billions of stars in a galaxy and hundreds of billions of galaxies, there are just untold numbers of planets out there. The vastness of space is truly incomprehensible.
We hope that understanding how planets form and the kinds of planets will help us better understand Earth, our solar system and our role here.
When I think of an Earth-like exoplanet, I think of a planet with oceans, continents and a friendly atmosphere. In short, a planet like Earth orbiting a star like our own sun.