The European Space Agency’s PLATO mission will use its 26 cameras to study terrestrial exoplanets in orbits up to the habitable zone of Sun-like stars. PLATO will also characterize planets' host stars by studying tiny light variations in the starlight it receives. The analysis of the PLATO data will require more sophisticated stellar models than are available today.
In this talk, Dr. Pierre Maxted (Keele University) will describe the on-going effort by the PLATO stellar science team to calibrate the next generation of stellar models using observations of well-studied "benchmark" stars, and the role that citizen scientists can play in gathering data to characterize benchmark stars in eclipsing binary systems.
Admission: Free
When: Saturday, March 1 at 2 PM Eastern
Register: Online
AAVSO Presents: Educational webinars for curious astronomers.
The AAVSO is an international nonprofit organization of variable star observers whose mission is to enable anyone, anywhere, to participate in scientific discovery through variable star astronomy. We accomplish our mission by carrying out the following activities:
- observation and analysis of variable stars;
- collecting and archiving observations for worldwide access;
- forging strong collaborations between amateur and professional astronomers;
- promoting scientific research, education, and public outreach using variable star data.
