NASA to Host News Conference on Discovery Beyond Our Solar System

NASA will hold a news conference at 10 a.m. PST (1 p.m. EST) Wednesday, Feb. 22, to present new findings on planets that orbit stars other than our sun, known as exoplanets. The event will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website.

Details of these findings are embargoed by the journal Nature until 10 a.m. PST (1 p.m. EST).

Media and the public also may ask questions during the briefing on Twitter using the hashtag #askNASA.

The briefing participants are:

• Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington

• Michael Gillon, astronomer at the University of Liege in Belgium

• Sean Carey, manager of NASA's Spitzer Science Center at Caltech/IPAC, Pasadena, California

• Nikole Lewis, astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore

• Sara Seager, professor of planetary science and physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge

A Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) about exoplanets will be held following the briefing at noon PST (3 p.m. EST) with scientists available to answer questions in English and Spanish.

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and updated scheduling information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

The briefing will also be carried live on:

www.ustream.tv/NASAJPL2

For more information on exoplanets, visit:

http://exoplanets.nasa.gov