TCU DEPARTMENT of PHYSICS and ASTRONOMY

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TCU Box 298840
Fort Worth, TX 76129
Phone: (817) 257-7375
Fax: (817) 257-7742
Email:physics@tcu.edu

This page maintained
by Kaoru Yoshida

Welcome to the
TCU Department of Physics and Astronomy!

The mission of the Department of Physics and Astronomy is to support the mission of the College of Science and Engineering and the University by providing undergraduate and graduate education to the Ph.D. level which gives students a core of knowledge in fundamental physics, opportunities to apply physical principles and techniques to a broad range of problems in basic, applied and multidisciplinary research, and experience in the creation of new knowledge through research.

CONGRATULATIONS TO:

Stephen Nauyoks

Winner of the Dean’s Teaching Assistant Award for 2007-08!

CONGRATULATIONS TO:

Raul Peters

Winner of the Harrison Moseley Award for outstanding achievement
as a teaching assistant for the 2007-08!

CONGRATULATIONS TO:

Tess Bernard

Winner of the best Physics undergraduate poster award
at the 2008 TCU Student Research Symposium!

CONGRATULATIONS TO:

Raul Peters

Winner of the best Physics graduate poster award
at the 2008 TCU Student Research Symposium!

The Twelfth Annual
Joseph Morgan Lecture

(General information on the Morgan Lecture)

William Borucki

NASA Ames Research Center

"Kepler: Detection of Earth-size Planets
in the Habitable Zone of Solar-like Stars"

Monday February 25th, 2008 at 8:00 p.m.
Lecture Hall 1, Sid Richardson Building

Monday February 25th, 2008 at 3:00 p.m.
Room 357 , Sid Richardson Building

The first step in discovering the extent of life in our galaxy is to determine the number of terrestrial planets in the habitable zone (HZ) of solar-like stars. Recent discoveries based on the Doppler-velocity technique have shown that many stars have jovian-mass planets, but this technique cannot detect Earth-size planets orbiting solar-like stars. The Kepler Mission is based on observing transits and is designed specifically to determine the frequency of terrestrial planets in the HZ. It will continuously monitor the brightness of 100,000 solar-like stars to detect patterns of transits that provide the size of the planet relative to the star and its orbital period. Combining these measurements with ground-based spectroscopy fixes the stellar parameters, the planet radius, orbital distance, and location relative to the HZ. At the end of the mission, hundreds of terrestrial planets should be discovered in and near the HZ of their stars if such planets are common. Such a result implies that life might be ubiquitous in our galaxy. A null result would imply that we might be the only sentient life. The Kepler Mission instrument and spacecraft have been built are now being tested. Launch is slated for February 2009.

Contact person: Dr. Fanelli

 

 

William Borucki is a senior NASA space scientist, and is currently the Principal Investigator of the Kepler planet quest mission. Kepler is NASA’s 8th Discovery-class mission, slated for a February 2009 launch. Bill has worked at NASA’s Ames Research Center since 1962, spanning almost the entire history of space science. He first worked on the development of the heat shield for the Apollo Mission in the Hypersonic Free Flight Branch. After the successful lunar landings, he transferred to the Theoretical Studies Branch where he investigated lightning activity in planetary atmospheres and the effects of nitric oxides on the Earth’s ozone layer. Currently he leads the Kepler spacecraft mission that will determine the frequency of Earth-size planets orbiting in the habitable zone of other stars.