Sasha Hinkley

Columbia University, PhD Candidate

Imaging New Planets from Here on Earth

Astronomers have detected at least 300 planets outside our solar system over the past 14 years. Most of these are detected indirectly, by monitoring the planets' effect on their host star's light. But for the first time, astronomers are now able to actually image, i.e. take pictures of, planets orbiting stars other than our own. I'll describe several of the techniques and results associated with the extremely challenging task of direct imaging of exoplanets from ground-based observatories.