Local astronomers, in their roles here at CIERA and at Chicago’s Adler Planetarium, received a flurry of press requests for interviews and quotations in relation to the discovery of a system of exoplanets announced by NASA in February. Though CIERA’s researchers were not directly involved in the discovery of the seven new planets, their ability to communicate its meaning to the public was invaluable to local press.
Adler Planetarium Director of Citizen Science and CIERA Postdoctoral Research Affiliate, Laura Trouille, was interviewed about Planet Hunters and other Zooniverse citizen science projects on National Public Radio’s Science Friday February 24 (hear the segment here; Dr. Trouille begins at about 9 minutes in).
Aaron Geller, NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow, was interviewed by Chicago CBS 2 in the Adler’s Solar System gallery (see photo, left). Aaron also gave two radio interviews: 101 WKQX in the morning of February 23, and 1690 am WVON that evening. View Aaron’s Facebook Live video, courtesy of Adler Planetarium: