The Bok Lecture

The Bok Lecture, a highlight of Starfest, features Professor Chris Tinney, Professor of Astronomy at the University of New South Wales. With more than 30 years of experience researching exoplanets — planets beyond the solar system — Chris has dedicated his career to discovering and understanding some of the Universe's most elusive objects.

In this year's lecture, Chris will take audiences on a fascinating journey through how planets form, how astronomers discover them around other stars, and why finding them is so challenging. He will also explore what these discoveries can tell us about the possibility of Earth-like worlds elsewhere in the Universe.

Chris's research has ranged from brown dwarfs, sometimes described as the "little stars that couldn't", to planets orbiting distant suns. Since returning to Australia from the United States and Europe in the mid-1990s, he has used the Anglo-Australian Telescope and worked with leading international teams in California, Hawaii and Chile to discover planets beyond the solar system.

Make your booking for the annual Starfest Bok Lecture and join a renowned astronomer for an inspiring exploration of the worlds that may exist beyond our own.