Searching for Habitable Worlds: Challenges, Opportunities & Adventures

More than 4000 exoplanets have shown us the huge diversity of these new worlds: among the surprising discoveries are hot planets orbiting their star in a few hours, planets with several suns on their sky, lava worlds, Mini-Neptunes as well as the first potential rocky worlds in the Habitable Zone of their host stars. Observation techniques have already reached the sensitivity to explore the chemical composition of the atmospheres of some hot exoplanets. However, only upcoming telescopes will be able to glimpse into the atmosphere of potentially habitable worlds orbiting other stars. For now, our own planet is our only key to spot life in the universe. Earth's evolution through time and its diverse biota give us clues about what to search for. The spectra of planets allow us to explore potentially habitable worlds light years away. This talk will present the newest results in our search, its challenges, opportunities, and adventures on the way to finding out whether or not we are alone in the cosmos.

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