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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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So, as a spectroscopist,
it's just

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been really exciting to
take this very first step

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into getting the best
look at exoplanets

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that we've ever had before.

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We saw a bunch of really
good observations.

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So, a lot of people
showed very cool spectra,

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and spectra are basically what
happens when you split light up

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into all of its
different colors.

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I use spectroscopy to look for
specific signatures that may

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be due to different molecules.

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Well, I'm always
excited to share

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that my hair is the absorption
spectrum of hydrogen.

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So, we've got, like, our
little H alpha and our H beta.

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So, I personally work on
transition spectroscopy.

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So, when a star moves
in front of its planet,

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it sort of filters the
starlight through the gas

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and the atmosphere.

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And that tells you
what's in the atmosphere.

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I was really jazzed about
the Trappist-1g spectrum

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because that's a
habitable zone planet.

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And so even though it
was just a little bit

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of data on that planet, it
showed that we can do it.

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I think, with JWST,
we're really getting

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close to connecting planets
in our own solar system

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to planets outside
our solar system.

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So, JWST is one of the
few observatories where

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you can take a
measurement on Jupiter

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and also take a
measurement on an exoplanet

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with the same instrument.

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Being able to do these
kinds of observations

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now sets us up really
well for future space

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missions in the
next few decades,

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which actually will be
more directly focused

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on answering the question
of whether there is life

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elsewhere in the galaxy.

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