"EXTRASOLAR PLANETS AND THE POWER OF THE DARK SIDE"
It is only in the last decade that we have direct evidence
for planets
orbiting nearby, Sun-like stars. If such planets
happen to pass in
front of their stars, we are presented with a golden
opportunity to
learn about the nature of these objects. Recently,
we used the
Hubble to detect and study the atmosphere of an extrasolar
planet
for the first time. I will discuss what we have
learned to date,
and describe a network of telescopes that should detect
several dozen
such worlds in the next couple years.