MY CONVERSATION WITH ASTRONOMER KEN TAPPING

Ken Tapping is an Astronomer with the National Research Council of Canada. He joined the BC.com Podcast show and talked about some of the really exciting news coming out of the world of astronomy. Ken looks for, and quite astonishingly is finding extrasolar planets. Finding planets outside of our solar system is tedious work which requires a lot of time and patience. Tapping talks about what they are doing to pinpoint these planets, and he breaks down the methods of how they can actually determine their atmospheric makeup. They can actually detect methane gasses, and other gasses that encompass these planets. We talk about what all of this means for the men and women over at SETI. Searching for intelligent life in the universe is a daunting task, but with the ability to now isolate and actually image planets revolving around other star systems makes the job a bit easier. Ken is really excited about what they can now do, and is very optimistic about the future of extrasolar planetary exploration. Check out the Podcast with Ken Tapping HERE