NASA to Unveil Major Discovery Regarding Exoplanets

NASA has announced plans to hold a news conference on Wednesday, February 22nd at 12 p.m. CST in order to "present new findings on planets that orbit stars other than our sun, known as exoplanets."  The information to be detailed is currently embargoed until that time by the journal Nature, which will publish the findings upon release.

Expectations are high surrounding the conference, considering the participants that NASA has slated to attend.  Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington; Michael Gillon, astronomer at the University of Liege in Belgium; Sean Carey, manager of NASA's Spitzer Science Center at Caltech/IPAC, Pasadena, California; Nikole Lewis, astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore; and Sara Seager, professor of planetary science and physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge will all be in attendance.  The caliber of speakers and subject matter involved are leading many to speculate that this conference could involve an announcement of an inhabitable exoplanet, or even extraterrestrial life.  

We will have further details tomorrow following the conference.