Universe Today Podcast

My guest today is Dr. Jason Hofgartner, a planetary scientist specializing in icy worlds of the Solar System. Jason wrote a recent paper about the nature of Neptune's moon Triton, first discovered by Voyager 2 back in 1989.

In this week's Questions and Answers show, I explain how astronomers use the Doppler Effect to know if objects are moving towards or away from us, I give my thoughts on Starlink as a user, and I suggest ideas on how to become a better writer.

My guest today is Matthew Campbell, a Mechanical Engineer, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics at the University of Pennsylvania. He's a member of the Bargatin Group, researching nanomaterials and their applications.

My guest today is Dr. John Mather, Senior Astrophysicist in the Observational Cosmology Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Dr. Mather received a Nobel Prize for his influential cosmology work, helping to confirm the Big Bang. He's been involved in almost every major astronomy mission in the last few decades, including Hubble, and of course, James Webb.

My guest today is Dr. Elena D'Onghia, an associate professor at the University of Wisconson--Madison's Department of Astronomy. Her research is focused on the dynamics of galaxies through simulations, theory, and observations.

In this week's episode, I explain how we could use Jupiter as a source of fuel for our fusion reactors, what it means to say there's a scientific consensus, and if gravitational waves can trigger earthquakes.

My guest today is Dr. Chenoa Tremblay, a Post Doctoral Researcher at the SETI Institute. Dr. Tremblay and her team used the Murchison Widefield Array to scan the core of the Milky Way for any sign of signals from extraterrestrial civilizations.

In this week's questions show, I explain how astronomy would be different if we didn't have space telescopes, what was the Universe like shortly after the Big Bang?, and what if James Webb detects oxygen in the atmosphere of another planet?

In this week's questions and answers show, I explain why people might see extraterrestrials as a threat. What could we learn about astronomy if we lived at the center of a supervoid, and how far away are we from the Big Bang?

In this week's episode, I explain why James Webb is actually the perfect telescope for detecting advanced civilizations, could we hide the Earth from snooping aliens, could spacecraft go into polar orbit around the Sun? And more...

My guest today is Dr. Andrei Lobanov, a staff astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Bonn, Germany. Dr. Lobanov was part of a team that just took the highest resolution image ever seen of a blazar, using a network of space and ground-based radio telescopes.

My guest today is Dr. Jillian Scudder, a PhD astrophysicist and assistant professor at Oberlin College. In addition to her teaching and research work, Dr. Scudder also answers space and astronomy questions on her blog and in her newly updated book: Astroquizzical.

https://www.jillianscudder.com/

In this week's QA, I talk about how we can see individual stars in a galaxy like Andromeda, how we know the Universe is bigger than we can observe, and whether black holes are solid objects or infinitely dense singularities.

In this week's episode, I talk about the possibility of a copy of the Hubble Space Telescope, if satellites could relay information like a mesh network, and if it's even possible for plants to survive on the surface of Mars.

In this week's Questions Show I explain why James Webb doesn't have any cameras on board, what the Universe is expanding into, and what is the point of building big telescopes when we're trapped in the Solar System?

My guest today is Dr. Joanna Barstow, a Royal Astronomical Society Research Fellow at University College London. Dr. Barstow specializes in planetary science, studying the atmospheres of planets both inside and beyond the Solar System. She's also a member of the ARIEL science team, an upcoming mission that will categorize the atmospheres of exoplanets.

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/astrophysics/people/joanna-barstow