ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Lucianne Walkowicz - Stellar astronomer
Lucianne Walkowicz works on NASA's Kepler mission, studying starspots and "the tempestuous tantrums of stellar flares."

Why you should listen

Lucianne Walkowicz is an Astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. She studies stellar magnetic activity and how stars influence a planet's suitability as a host for alien life. She is also an artist and works in a variety of media, from oil paint to sound. She got her taste for astronomy as an undergrad at Johns Hopkins, testing detectors for the Hubble Space Telescope’s new camera (installed in 2002). She also learned to love the dark stellar denizens of our galaxy, the red dwarfs, which became the topic of her PhD dissertation at University of Washington. Nowadays, she works on NASA’s Kepler mission, studying starspots and the tempestuous tantrums of stellar flares to understand stellar magnetic fields. She is particularly interested in how the high energy radiation from stars influences the habitability of planets around alien suns. Lucianne is also a leader in the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, a new project that will scan the sky every night for 10 years to create a huge cosmic movie of our Universe.

More profile about the speaker
Lucianne Walkowicz | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2011

Lucianne Walkowicz: Finding planets around other stars

Luciane Walkowicz: Te zbulosh planete rreth yjeve te tjere

Filmed:
1,240,810 views

Si i zbulojme planetet-- madje edhe ato me jete---perreth yjeve te tjere? Duke studiuar njollen e vogel ndersa planeti kalon perpara diellit te tij, partner e TED Luciane Walkowicz dhe misioni Kepler kane gjetur rreth 1,200 sisteme planetare te fuqisheme. Me teknikat e reja , ata mund edhe te gjejne ndonje planet me kushte te pershtatshme jete.
- Stellar astronomer
Lucianne Walkowicz works on NASA's Kepler mission, studying starspots and "the tempestuous tantrums of stellar flares." Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

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Planetary systems outside our own
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Sistemet Planetare jashte sistemit tone
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are like distant cities whose lights we can see twinkling,
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jane si qytete te largeta me drita qe pulsojne,
00:20
but whose streets we can't walk.
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por qe ne te rruget e te cilit ne nuk mund te ecim.
00:23
By studying those twinkling lights though,
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Duke studiuar keto drita pulsuese,
00:25
we can learn about how stars and planets interact
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mund te mesojme se si yjet dhe planetet bashkeveprojne
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to form their own ecosystem
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ne vete ekosistemin e tyre
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and make habitats that are amenable to life.
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per te krijuar vend-banime qe jane te domosdoshem per jeten.
00:33
In this image of the Tokyo skyline,
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Ke kete pamje te vijes qiellore te Tokios,
00:35
I've hidden data
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Une kam fshehur te dhena
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from the newest planet-hunting space telescope on the block,
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nga qendra me e re e kerkimit hapsinor
00:39
the Kepler Mission.
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Misioni Kepler
00:41
Can you see it?
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A mund ta shihni ate?
00:43
There we go.
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Ja ku po fillojme.
00:45
This is just a tiny part of the sky the Kepler stares at,
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Kjo eshte thjesht nje pjesez e vogel e qiellit qe Kepler vezhgon
00:48
where it searches for planets
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aty ku kerkon per planetet
00:50
by measuring the light from over 150,000 stars,
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duke matur ndricimin e 150,000 yjeve,
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all at once, every half hour,
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ne te njejten kohe, cdo gjysem ore,
00:55
and very precisely.
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dhe shume preciz.
00:57
And what we're looking for
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Dhe ate qe po kerkojme
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is the tiny dimming of light
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eshte nje dobesim i vogeli drites
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that is caused by a planet passing in front of one of these stars
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qe shkaktohet kur planeti kalon perpara njerit prej yjeve
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and blocking some of that starlight from getting to us.
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duke bllokuar pak nga drita qe vjen te ne.
01:07
In just over two years of operations,
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Per me pak se 2 vjet kerkimesh
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we've found over 1,200
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ne kemi gjetur mbi 1,200
01:12
potential new planetary systems around other stars.
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sisteme te reja planetare rreth yjeve te tjere
01:15
To give you some perspective,
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Qe tju jap nje perspektive,
01:17
in the previous two decades of searching,
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ne dy dekadat e meparshme te kerkimeve,
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we had only known about 400
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njiheshin vetem rreth 400
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prior to Kepler.
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perpara Keplerit.
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When we see these little dips in the light,
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Kur shikojme keto dobesime drite,
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we can determine a number of things.
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ne mund te percaktojme nje numer gjerash.
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For one thing, we can determine that there's a planet there,
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Ne fillim ne mund te percaktojme qe aty ka nje planet
01:30
but also how big that planet is
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por gjithashtu dhe se sa i madhe eshte
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and how far it is away from its parent star.
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dhe se sa larg eshte nga ylli meme.
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That distance is really important
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Ajo distance eshte shume e rendesishme
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because it tells us
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sepse na tregon
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how much light the planet receives overall.
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sa shume drite merr planeti ne teresi.
01:42
And that distance and knowing that amount of light is important
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Kjo distance dhe kjo sasi sasi drite jane te rendesishme,
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because it's a little like you or I sitting around a campfire:
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sepse eshte sikur ti ose une jemi ulur rreth zjarrit.
01:48
You want to be close enough to the campfire so that you're warm,
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Ti do te rrish aq afer zjarrit qe te ngrohesh ,
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but not so close
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por jo shume afer
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that you're too toasty and you get burned.
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qe te arrish te digjesh.
01:54
However, there's more to know about your parent star
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Megjithate, ka me shume per te mesuar rreth ylllit te nje planeti
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than just how much light you receive overall.
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sesa drita qe merr ne teresi.
01:59
And I'll tell you why.
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Dhe do t'ju tregoj pse.
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This is our star. This is our Sun.
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Ky eshte ylli jone. Ky eshte Dielli.
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It's shown here in visible light.
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Eshte ne drite te dukshme.
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That's the light that you can see with your own human eyes.
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Kjo eshte drita qe mund te shohesh me sy njerezor.
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You'll notice that it looks pretty much
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Ju do te vereni qe duket si
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like the iconic yellow ball --
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portreti i nje topi te verdhe--
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that Sun that we all draw when we're children.
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si Dielli qe vizatonim kur ishim femije.
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But you'll notice something else,
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Por ju do te vereni dicka tjeter,
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and that's that the face of the Sun
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qe faqja e Diellit
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has freckles.
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ka njolla.
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These freckles are called sunspots,
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Keto njolla quhen njolla-djellore,
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and they are just one of the manifestations
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dhe jane vetem nje tregues
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of the Sun's magnetic field.
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i fushes magnetike te diellit.
02:26
They also cause the light from the star to vary.
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Ato gjthashtu shkaktojne ndryshimin e ndricimit.
02:29
And we can measure this
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Dhe mund ta masim kete
02:31
very, very precisely with Kepler and trace their effects.
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shume, shume saktesisht me Kepler dhe te ndjekim efektet e tyre.
02:34
However, these are just the tip of the iceberg.
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Megjithate, keto jane vetem maja e ajsbergut.
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If we had UV eyes or X-ray eyes,
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Nqse ne do kishim sy me rreze UV ose X,
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we would really see
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ne do te shihnim
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the dynamic and dramatic effects
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efektet dinamike dhe dramatike
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of our Sun's magnetic activity --
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te aktivitetit te fushes magnetike te Diellit---
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the kind of thing that happens on other stars as well.
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kjo gje qe ndodh edhe tek yjet e tjere.
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Just think, even when it's cloudy outside,
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Vetem mendoni, madje edhe kur moti eshte me re,
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these kind of events are happening
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kete lloj evente jane duke ndodhur
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in the sky above you all the time.
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ne qiell siper teje gjate gjithe kohes.
02:57
So when we want to learn whether a planet is habitable,
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Keshtu qe kur duam te dime nqse nje planet eshte i banueshem,
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whether it might be amenable to life,
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dhe mund te jete i besueshem per jetesen,
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we want to know not only how much total light it receives
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ne duam te dime jo vetem sesa drite merr
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and how warm it is,
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dhe sa i ngrohte eshte,
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but we want to know about its space weather --
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por ne duam motin hapsinor qe ka --
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this high-energy radiation,
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kete energji te larte rrezatuese,
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the UV and the X-rays
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te rrezeve UV dhe X
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that are created by its star
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qe jane krijuar nga ylli i tij
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and that bathe it in this bath of high-energy radiation.
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ne te cilen ai zhytet.
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And so, we can't really look
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Pra, nuk mund te shikojme
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at planets around other stars
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tek planetet e yjeve te tjere
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in the same kind of detail
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ne menyre kaq te detajuar
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that we can look at planets in our own solar system.
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si tek planetet e sistemit tone djellor.
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I'm showing here Venus, Earth and Mars --
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Po ju tregoj ketu Venusin, Token, dhe Marsin --
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three planets in our own solar system that are roughly the same size,
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tre planetet ne sistemin tone diellor qe jane afersisht ne te njejten mase,
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but only one of which
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por vetem njeri nga te cilet
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is really a good place to live.
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eshte i mire per te jetuar.
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But what we can do in the meantime
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Por cfare mund te bejme ne kete kohe
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is measure the light from our stars
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eshte ta masim driten nga yjet tona
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and learn about this relationship
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dhe te studiojme marrdhenien
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between the planets and their parent stars
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midis planeteve dhe yjeve meme
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to suss out clues
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per te zbuluar
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about which planets might be good places
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cilet nga planetet jane te mundshem
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to look for life in the universe.
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te kene jete ne univers.
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Kepler won't find a planet
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Kepler nuk gjen dot nje planet
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around every single star it looks at.
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rreth cdo ylli te vetem qe shikon .
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But really, every measurement it makes
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Por cdo matje qe ben
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is precious,
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eshte e cmueshme,
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because it's teaching us about the relationship
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sepse na thote dicka mbi maredhenien
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between stars and planets,
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midis yjeve dhe planeteve,
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and how it's really the starlight
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dhe se si eshte vertete drita e yllit
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that sets the stage
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qe krijon kushtet
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for the formation of life in the universe.
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per formimin e jetes ne univers.
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While it's Kepler the telescope, the instrument that stares,
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Ndersa telescopi Kepler, nje instrument qe vezhgon,
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it's we, life, who are searching.
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jemi ne, jeta , qe kerkojme.
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Thank you.
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Falemderit .
04:17
(Applause)
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( Duartrokitje )
Translated by Etrit Adami
Reviewed by Helena Bedalli

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Lucianne Walkowicz - Stellar astronomer
Lucianne Walkowicz works on NASA's Kepler mission, studying starspots and "the tempestuous tantrums of stellar flares."

Why you should listen

Lucianne Walkowicz is an Astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. She studies stellar magnetic activity and how stars influence a planet's suitability as a host for alien life. She is also an artist and works in a variety of media, from oil paint to sound. She got her taste for astronomy as an undergrad at Johns Hopkins, testing detectors for the Hubble Space Telescope’s new camera (installed in 2002). She also learned to love the dark stellar denizens of our galaxy, the red dwarfs, which became the topic of her PhD dissertation at University of Washington. Nowadays, she works on NASA’s Kepler mission, studying starspots and the tempestuous tantrums of stellar flares to understand stellar magnetic fields. She is particularly interested in how the high energy radiation from stars influences the habitability of planets around alien suns. Lucianne is also a leader in the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, a new project that will scan the sky every night for 10 years to create a huge cosmic movie of our Universe.

More profile about the speaker
Lucianne Walkowicz | Speaker | TED.com