Since the initial discovery in 1995, astronomers have detected over 6000 exoplanets. Several hundred are Earth-like and potentially habitable, projecting to ten billion across the Milky Way. The talk will summarize the search for life in the universe, starting with the Solar System, and moving to the larger regions of space, where there is at least one planet for every star in the galaxy. The first detection of life beyond Earth is finally within reach.

Chris Impey is a University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona. He has over 450 publications on education, observational cosmology, galaxies, and quasars. Chris Impey is a winner of the American Astronomical Society’s career Education Prize from. He’s also been NSF Distinguished Teaching Scholar, Carnegie Council’s Arizona Professor of the Year, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor. He has written 120 popular articles on cosmology, astrobiology and education, two textbooks, a novel called Shadow World, and ten popular science trade books.