Radio revelations: Discovering our galaxy’s hidden planets

BrisScience is back for 2022! We can't wait to explore the wonders of science with you this year.

This month, we're back at home, as COVID-19 has again hampered our efforts to present at The Edge, but we hope to return to in-person events as soon as possible. In the meantime, get comfy and join us on the hunt for exoplanets.

For decades, astronomers have searched for planets outside our solar system using radio telescopes, but no clear detections have been made... until now.

Join us to hear from UQ astrophysicist Dr Benjamin Pope, whose team recently detected 19 red dwarf stars using the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio telescope in Europe, then discovered four orbiting planets from their magnetic fields interacting with their stars.

Dr Pope will explore this exciting new technique for planet-hunting, the likely harsh radiation environments on these newly discovered planets, and how Western Australia’s upcoming Square Kilometre Array could one day find planets that may be habitable.

Register for the webinar

Meet the presenter

Dr Benjamin Pope is a Lecturer in Astrophysics and ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellow at The University of Queensland. After studying for his undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Sydney, he did his DPhil in Astrophysics at Balliol College, Oxford, followed by a NASA Sagan Fellowship at New York University. He researches exoplanets and stellar astrophysics using space telescopes.

Watch the recording