Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas 326 | Natalie Batalha on What We Know and Will Learn About Exoplanets
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Aug 25, 2025 
Natalie Batalha, a renowned professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UCSC, shares her insights on the fascinating world of exoplanets. She discusses how the Kepler mission revolutionized our understanding of these distant worlds, highlighting their diversity and abundance. The conversation covers the potential for future discoveries, the hunt for exomoons, and the complexities of exoplanet atmospheres. Batalha also reflects on the evolution of habitable zones and exciting upcoming missions aimed at uncovering extraterrestrial life.
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Present For The First Exoplanet Reveal
- Natalie Batalha attended the conference where the first exoplanet around a Sun-like star was announced.
- That front-row experience pivoted many stellar astrophysicists, including Batalha, into exoplanet research.
Learning Transit Photometry At Lick
- The Kepler team practiced transit photometry on a makeshift ground telescope at Lick Observatory.
- That duct-tape, leaking-dome experience taught them false positives and prepared them for the space mission.
Kepler Saved By Engineering Ingenuity
- Kepler lost two reaction wheels and could no longer point at its original field.
- Engineers repurposed it by using solar radiation symmetry to control pointing, enabling the K2 mission.