Jason
Wright
Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Expertise:
- Astronomy & Astrophysics
Focus Areas:
- Exoplants
- Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
- Space
- Stars
In The Media:
About
- Wright specializes in stellar astrophysics, and making precise radial velocity measurements of stars to detect the exoplanets that orbit them.
- Wright is project scientist for NEID, a PI of NExSS, a co-PI of MINERVA, and a member of the Habitable Zone Planet Finder team.
- Wright is the winner of the SETI Institute's 2019 Drake Award.
Jason Wright is an associate professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State and a member of the Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds. He is a board member and researcher in the Penn State Extraterrestrial Intelligence (PSETI) Center. Wright’s research centers around stars; their atmospheres, activity, and planets, as well as work on SETI. He finds and characterizes new planets around other stars using the Hobby-Eberly Telescope and Keck Observatory.
In The Media
from Inverse May 20, 2022
“Remember: the origin of life on Earth goes back over 4 billion years. So any alien technology that might have brought it to the Solar System was billions and billions of years ago.”
Space Alien Research Could Get Its First Grad Program
from Scientific American November 18, 2019
Astronomers Are Keeping a Close Watch on the Next Star Over
from The Atlantic January 11, 2021
Alien Hunters Discover Mysterious Signal from Proxima Centauri
from Scientific American January 18, 2020
Penn State researchers head team investigating signal possibly sent from neighboring star
from Penn Live January 5, 2021
Are we looking for extraterrestrial intelligence all wrong?
from Salon May 17, 2022
Intelligent Ways to Search for Extraterrestrials
from New Yorker October 3, 2019
The strangest star in the sky finally has an explanation for its flicker
from The Washington Post January 3, 2018
Mystery of 'Alien Megastructure' Star Has Been Cracked
from National Geographic January 3, 2018
An Update From the Astronomers Who Proposed the Alien Megastructures
from The Atlantic May 14, 2016
Evidence of an 'alien megastructure' 1,300 light-years from Earth is rapidly turning to dust
from Business Insider January 3, 2018
Are we alone in the universe? Penn State program searches for intelligent life in outer space
from Patriot-News March 18, 2019
What the UFO discussion really needs
from The Atlantic May 19, 2022
"I think we are seeing a shift. I think NASA has shown a real willingness to bring technosignatures in as part of astrobiology and the search for life in the universe, Congress' mood has shifted, and NASA can see the writing on the wall, and so it has been opening up its grants programs, and our colleagues in the field are listening to us."
Seeking aliens? Watch out for tech more than biosignatures
from Yahoo May 2, 2022
"Technosignatures will probably be very challenging to detect, and since they represent products of alien forms of life, we aren't exactly sure what we are looking for. This means when we find one, it may be ambiguous.”