“There are so many reasons to search for exoplanets. But the core reason for me is that I’ve always wanted to know how things are made. (And really I mean how everything is made — bread, buildings, chocolate, roads, stars, planets, galaxies…I was the kid with the endless stream of annoying questions!) In graduate school I studied star formation regions. I’m now fascinated by how planetary systems (both our own and others) are formed. There are plenty of solid theories on how planetary systems form, but ­we’re in a really exciting time now, when we’re finding enough systems at enough different ages that we’re starting to really test those theories. So, I search for exoplanets because I want to know how they were made.”



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