Hunting For Exoplanets with Astronomer Jessie Christiansen

As a research scientist at Caltech’s IPAC and project scientist for NASA’s Exoplanet Archive, astronomer Jessie Christiansen is dedicated to combing through data to find planets outside our solar system. While she brings highly specialized knowledge to the job, she wants everyone to know that they, too, can aid in this search. In November, Wired magazine chatted with Christiansen about her role in building databases and sharing science with the world.

“I’m so lucky; I get to hunt for planets as my job,” Christiansen said. “I want to know if there’s other life out there. I want to know if we’re alone. It’s one of the oldest questions we have—are we alone?”

As of January 5, 2024, experts like Christiansen have confirmed the existence of 5,569 exoplanets, many with the help of citizen scientists. Through her work on the Exoplanet Archive, which makes datasets related to the search for exoplanets available to the public, Christiansen hopes to help curious individuals become independent planet hunters.

“Anyone can go on PlanetHunters.org and find their own planet,” she said. “It’s just delightful. The number of citizen scientists I’ve been able to publish papers with who have found their own planet—it’s really cool. And I get to enable that.”

To learn more about Christiansen and her passion for exoplanets, citizen science, and giving back to the public, you can read or listen to the Wired story here.