April 20, 2018 8-10PM

Event Type: Lecture and Stargazing
Title: The Celestial Movers and Shakers: How Gas Giants Shape Planetary Systems
Lecturer: Marta Bryan
Position: Graduate Student
Institution: Caltech
Abstract:
Over the past two decades thousands of planets with an extraordinary diversity of properties have been discovered orbiting nearby stars. How such a startling array of exoplanetary systems formed and evolved remains a mystery, and has inspired the hunt for observational clues. In this talk I will explore how new observational evidence sheds light on the important role that gas giant planets play in shaping planetary systems, and how our own Jupiter and Saturn played a starring role in the formation history of our own solar system.