Published Tuesday 26 January 2010 | Jens Holbech

Professor Jørgen Christensen-Dalsgaard, Department of Physics and Astronomy, explains in the DR2 programme Viden Om (Knowledge About) how the Kepler satellite is looking for planets that resemble the Earth, and hopefully support life. Kepler was launched in 2009 and continuously monitors 170,000 stars, about 50 of which are expected to resemble the Earth. Professor Christensen-Dalsgaard heads approximately 300 scientists from all over the world who are working on NASA’s Kepler space mission. The most important aim of this mission is to find new planets where conditions for life are present. Professor Christensen-Dalsgaard is in charge of that part of the Kepler project that uses asteroseismology to determine the size and age of the planets.

The feature begins 1 minute and 45 seconds into the programme, which is available (in Danish only) at www.dr.dk/DR2/VidenOm/Programmer/Viden+Om+med+Ann+Marker/Programmerne/2010/0728135629_1_1_3.htm