Countdown to JWST #1: Finally Ready to Launch? (00:21:22)
Here's the first installment of Countdown to JWST, a podcast that will track the mission up to launch (hopefully) later this year. Let's light this candle!
Was There A First Cause? (00:54:36)
Was there a first cause? Can there be a event that started everything? What would such an event look like? In this episode Tony and Charlotte discuss the scientific and philosophical understanding ...
When An Atheist Met A Catholic Theologian (00:38:39)
This episode kicks off what I hope will be a weekly posting for the DA Show. My wife Charlotte is a Catholic theologian and philosopher who has taught me much outside of my scientific realm. I have ...
A Cautionary Science Tale: BICEP2 and the Perils of the Nobel Prize (00:56:16)
Remember all the commotion about the BICEP2 mission back in 2014? Cosmologist had announced the observation of polarized "B-mode" waves that, if connected to the universal cosmic microwave background...
Using Nuclear Power for Deep Space Exploration (01:02:27)
It turns out that NASA and others have been thinking about the inefficiencies of using chemical rockets to go to the Moon, Mars and the Outer Planets. One very attractive solution is Nuclear Thermal ...
The Apophis Asteroid: Should You Be Worried? (00:42:15)
Let's talk about the potentially hazardous asteroid known as Apophis. In April, 2029 this 320 meter rock will get so close that it will pass under the orbit of geosynchronous satellites! Astronomers...
Was the Event Horizon Telescope Black Hole Image a Waste of Time? (00:36:26)
In this podcast: an essay on whether the effort that went into making the black hole image in the distant galaxy M87 by the Event Horizon Telescope was worth it; an interview with star mapper Wil Tiri...
The Large Millimeter Telescope (01:00:47)
This podcast features science and technology from the Large Millimeter Telescope. Our guests Nat DeNigris and David Sanchez will be on hand to discuss this amazing facility being operated in Mexico.
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Just How Fast is the Universe Expanding EXACTLY? ...and how do we know this? (01:01:52)
We've known since Edwin Hubble's time that the universe has been expanding. What we've only recently learned (like, in the past 10 years or so) is that the universe is accelerating as it expands. Me...
Life in the Universe? We May Be It! (00:35:13)
I'm not convinced that life is everywhere in the cosmos. It is entirely possible, based on what we know today, that we are the only life there is. Anywhere. This episode is a brief discussion of th...
Women in Science w/ Carol Christian (01:11:43)
Welcome to the first in a series of monthly discussions about topics in astronomy with Carol Christian, a colleague and friend of mine that has cohosted Astro Coffee Hangouts with me for years.
This m...
The Exolife Finder Telescope (ELF) (00:58:54)
Members of the PLANETS Foundation are working hard to secure funding for a telescope specifically designed to look for life on other worlds. In this episode, we discuss the capabilities and design of...
The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) (01:01:10)
The next generation of world-class ground based observatories are being built right now. Among them, The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT). Learn about this amazing telescope that will become the world...
Building Huge Telescopes in Space Using Robots (00:58:43)
Astronomy’s Future Will Be Built: New Capabilities to Assemble in Space the Largest Observatories.
Scientific performance of telescopes depend strongly upon the observatory’s aperture, its capability ...
From the Moon to Mars (01:02:24)
For decades advocates of the exploration of the Moon have argued that this will make possible subsequent exploration of Mars. But is this really true?
Recently several dozen experts critically examine...
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) (01:06:44)
Did you know there is an effort underway to actually see the event horizon of a black hole? Right now, astronomers around the world are processing data taken earlier of the center of our galaxy in at...
Using Resources in Space to Sustain Human Exploration (01:01:14)
NASA has for decades been assessing options to utilize the resources available in space – often on the Moon and Mars – to sustain long-duration human operations. It will be prohibitively expensive to ...
The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) (01:00:03)
The largest ground-based telescope is now being built on the top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is a new class of extremely large telescopes that will allow us to see deeper ...
The Origin of Life w/ PZ Myers (01:03:09)
Had a great discussion yesterday with biologist PZ Myers about the origin of life on Earth. What is our current knowledge of how life began on our planet? Is life easy or hard to make? We also extend...
Amazing Astronomy at the European Southern Observatory (01:00:11)
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has been on the forefront of astronomy discovery for decades. They operate telescopes primarily in South America, in Chile, and their astronomers have made grou...
Clarke Exobelts: A Technosignature for finding Alien Civilizations (01:04:28)
Clarke Exobelts, appropriately named after Arthur C. Clarke, are belts of satellites around and exoplanet that are in a geosynchronous orbit around it. These belts have distinct characteristics that c...
Using Robots to Explore and Repair in Space (01:01:10)
Did you know there is a commercial effort to design robotic spacecraft to go into orbit and repair/replace/remove old, broken and damaged satellites? The future is very bright in space exploration, es...
Possible Exomoon Around Kepler-1625b (01:04:49)
This week we are talking with Alex Teachey from Columbia University whose recent paper using observations from the Hubble Space Telescope revealed that there might be an exomoon around Kepler-1625b, a...
HabEx and Future Earths: New Concept to search for Earth-like Worlds (01:02:46)
HabEx is one of four concept missions being considered for the next generation of space telescopes. HabEx will search for rocky worlds like Earth in orbit around other stars and it will have unique ca...
Stop Being a TESS Hater! (00:25:48)
Lots of people are expressing disappointment that TESS won't be looking at the sectors of the sky long enough to see anything. I disagree. Please use the Discord server to let me know what you think!
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