Caltech Astronomy Public Lecture Series - The Air We Breathe: A History of Air on Venus, Earth, and Mars - Jackie Villadsen - 05/13/2016

What makes Earth a special place to host life, and could life exist elsewhere in our solar system or beyond? Lecture: 03:50; Lecture Q&A: 38:00; Panel Q&A: 44:13 Date: December 14, 2018 Lecturer: Jackie Villadsen Title: The Air We (Can't) Breathe: A History of Air on Venus, Earth and Mars Abstract: Air is critical to life. To understand where we come from, and to predict whether planets outside our solar system can support life, we need to understand where our air comes from. Venus, Earth, and Mars are all small, rocky planets at a distance from the Sun that gives them "moderate" temperatures, but only Earth has a hospitable atmosphere and oceans on its surface. We will take a tour of these three planets throughout history. How did Mars lose its air and its oceans? How did Venus lose the water from its atmosphere? How has Earth's atmosphere been changed by the presence of life and can we use this information to detect life on planets outside our solar system? Event Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/143414768@N07/sets/72157669909432817 Echo360 Two-Pane Video Stream: https://echo360.org/section/df8345ec-7d0c-4dc3-b450-65a423c24650/public Thumbnail Image Credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2159.html