People have dreamed of worlds orbiting other stars for centuries, but it's only been over three decades since we actually learned that they exist. Since then, we've found over 5,000 of them, and we're still discovering more. But so far, we only know of life on Earth. What conditions would such a habitable planet have to meet? Together we will try to "build" one in a thought experiment – from the choice of the spectral type of star and its position in the galaxy to our planet's other planetary neighbours and the chemical composition of "our" planet. Will we succeed in inventing a world where life as we know it can thrive, or is it more difficult than it appears?
The program can be adapted to second grade elementary schools and high schools, or for students in a special seminar/extracurricular science club. During the interactive lecture, students will learn about the history of space exploration and the young field of astrobiology, as well as the basics about the evolution of stars and planetary systems, the evolution of life on Earth, and the influence of various factors on the possibility of long-term liquid water on the planet's surface. The lecture will be spent safely in the habitable zone and will also introduce the ways in which this concept is useful and where it is overly simplistic. Finding a "second Earth" will not be easy, even if we look through the eyes of the most advanced telescopes...
The lecture will be given by Julie Nekola Nováková (evolutionary biology at the Faculty of Science, Charles University, science outreach at the Institute of Physics of the CAS).
