'The Sky Is for Everyone — Exploring the Unknown Is Thrilling To
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THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI 00 TIMES EVOKE SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020 ‘The sky is for everyone — exploring Redefining ‘Her’ he world is full of stories. And one vital the unknown is thrilling to me’ story is that of women, challenging the Getty Images Tconstricting roles conventional socie- Sara Seager is an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at the FROM HER EYES: Nasa’s Christina Koch ties routinely place them in. These roles, completed the longest ever spaceflight based on both traditional and commercial Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Described by — 328 days — by a woman astronaut. ideas of ‘a woman’s place’, have not been sim- Nasa as ‘an astronomical Indiana Jones’, Seager is leading Returning to Earth last week, Koch, who ply metaphorical. They come with real bar- was also part of the first all-female riers to women’s growth, even in fields which the search for another Earth-like planet. Seager spoke with spacewalk, reportedly said her effort seem to be above gender roles. Srijana Mitra Das at Times Evoke about what drives her was historic, but she had also deeply For instance, numerous studies find wom- missed raindrops, wind and the sea en professionals, from doctors to software exploration, why other planets are vital — and how she has engineers, science PhDs to filmmakers, earn navigated a field dominated by men: ferent projects searching for a new substantially less than their male counter- Earth but my favourite endeavour in parts. Women business executives can report- What got you interested in astronomy? thing I loved — astronomy, which is ap- this is the Starshade project. This is a edly earn upto 45% less than men while the The sky is for everyone. Even in a plied math and physics — and it would giant specially-shaped screen, tens of participation of women in fields unrelated to city, the Moon and planets such as Ve- be foolish to pass up the opportunity to meters in diameter. Starshade will be gender is met with strong resistance. Even as nus and Jupiter are visible, shining follow my dream. The problem was my attached to its own spacecraft and it’ll we marked the International Day of Women brightly. I always loved the night sky. dad, whom I adored, told me to get a prac- fly in formation with a space telescope, and Girls in Science this week, the United When I was a child, I saw the full moon tical job, to be able to financially support nearly perfectly aligned at tens of thou- Nations has found fewer than 30% of the following me as my dad drove me in his myself and ‘not rely on any man’. I strug- sands of kilometres of separation. Star- world’s scientists are women. car. No matter where he turned, the gled with the choice, but I ultimately known, and find your own answers, us- because humans have always won- shade will block out starlight, so only Yet, this is a story of triumph for many moon was always there! A big mystery decided to pursue astronomy. ing observations and computer models, dered ‘Are we alone?’. The fact that we planet light enters telescopes. Starshade women, historically and in the present, have for a small child. I saw the moon through fascinates me. Most of our Earth has can answer this question with state- was conceived of in the 1960s. In 2013, I refused to let such barriers stop them from a telescope for the first Nasa today calls you an ‘astronomical been explored. However, exoplanets of-the-art astronomy tools is amazing! was asked to lead the team. There is also redefining their own lives. Indeed, in just the time at an ‘astronomy Indiana Jones’. What is it about new are completely unknown. We are not quite at the ‘finding signs the MIT-led Nasa mission TESS. last year, the world has seen women astro- party’. Wow, I thought — I planets that fascinates you? Life beyond Earth fascinates me of life’ stage, but the astronomy com- Launched in 2018, this searches for nauts conduct the first all-female spacewalk, had no idea the moon was The idea of exploring, of ‘seeing’ munity is finding rocky planets with transiting planets — those seen in front increasing numbers of women joining ‘hard its own whole world. something for the first time, is abso- orbits that imply the planets are ‘hab- of a star. TESS also studies smaller, science’ fields while women have taken the When I turned 16, I lutely thrilling to me. The con- itable’ — not too hot, not too cooler red dwarf stars for rocky planets. lead in the global struggle to limit further took a physics class — a cept of being able to ask A Search For New Worlds cold, just right for life. I help run TESS and at MIT, our job is damage to Earth and mitigate climate change. defining moment oc- your own questions, to find planet candidates. How can life be deciphered Significantly, as women rise above so- curred. The teacher held about something What is an exoplanet? Describe your work on an exoplanet? ciety’s status quos, they are also redefin- a plywood board with a completely un- All the planets in our solar system searching for a As a woman scientist, how have you man- ing how they view themselves as human giant hole cut out. The students had to orbit around the Sun. Exoplanets are Knowing the time between each transit ‘new Earth’? aged in a field dominated by men? beings. Many celebrate feminism’s role in shoot a spring across the room. We had planets that orbit around other stars. helps astronomers understand how far I have dif- Surprisingly, I had little resistance helping them understand their own to measure the ‘spring constant’ and use Why are they important? a planet is from a star — this points to the during my studies. I think I (acciden- strengths. But many are rethinking femi- equations to predict what angle to shoot Certain planets discovered by Nasa’s Kepler temperature on the planet. Crucially, if an tally) chose mentors who had daugh- nism as well, pondering over whether the spring, based on the distance from spacecraft, launched in 2009, turned out to be exoplanet has the right temperature conditions, it ters. They wanted their own daughters male aggression can be countered by pos- the plywood board. rocky planets located at a signifi cant distance could contain ozone, carbon dioxide, oxygen and water to succeed, and perhaps such thoughts ing female versions of the same. It is such I was shocked that my spring went from the star they orbit. Conditions on these in its liquid form — signifi cant for supporting life. were transferred onto me. behaviour that has led the world to greed, through! The concept that we can write planets, and their distance, creates what scientists How many exoplanets have been discovered? There have been snide remarks wars and the abysmal climate scenario we equations to describe the world around call a ‘habitable zone’, one where life may be possible. In 1992, astronomers found the fi rst planet-sized masses from peers and professors, but I was now face. Should such behaviour be rep- us was transformative. around pulsar PSR1257+12, which is located 1,000 light years able to ignore them. Recently, I have licated, or should these modalities of What got me interested in astronomy How are exoplanets studied? encountered gender-based bias. Now The Kepler mission studies exoplanets using the ‘transit away from Earth. In 1995, the fi rst-known exoplanet came to power themselves be questioned? was the idea that we can study objects light — this was a Jupiter-like gaseous planet found near the I’m older and not perceived as a daugh- The dilemma is faced by millions of wom- in the night sky using physics equa- method’. As a planet passes in front of a star, its path is ter-type but perhaps as a threat. I have called a transit. In this movement, the planet blocks a small sun-like star 51 Pegasi, located just 50 light years away from en globally — and their search for answers is tions. This is an amazing idea — that Earth. While the Kepler mission has discovered several planets, also been at high-profile events where profound. We bring you vignettes of the bril- we can use equations and models to portion of the star’s light. Scientists can decipher the change women in general are just treated Nasa’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission is liance created as women reimagine their own understand mysterious, very distant in the brightness of a star thereby when a planet transits with disrespect or ignored. I have not searching for planets close to the nearest and brightest stars. selves, while they remake ‘a man’s world’. objects. I realised I had found some- before it. This can help them understand the size of the planet. yet figured out what to do about this. Research: Nasa, National Geographic, space.com But globally, don’t girls have much less access to mobile technology? Portraits of Power: ‘Teenage girls will be the next wave online — That’s a very important ques- tion. We’ve done ground-breaking Women Leading the Change research with the Vodafone Foun- this is a huge untapped opportunity for growth’ dation here. Globally, boys are 1.5 HEDY LAMARR times more likely than a girl to The famous Hollywood actor was also an own a phone — but, in the last inventive genius, credited with having pioneered is CEO of Girl Effect, an international NGO three years, the number of girls Jessica Posner Odede the technology for WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth working with adolescent girls, using digital technology.