Weekly Space Hangout — June 15, 2022: CREW HaT: An Answer to Radiation Shielding? with NIAC 2022 Awardee Dr. Elena D’Onghia
Release Date: 06/17/2022
Weekly Space Hangout — January 11, 2023: The Final Episode
Weekly Space Hangout
Join us this week for our first News Roundup of the New Year, which is also the final episode of the Weekly Space Hangout! Thank you to everyone who made this show possible over the years and who helped bring science to the community! **************************************** The Weekly Space Hangout is a production of CosmoQuest. Want to support CosmoQuest? Here are some specific ways you can help: Subscribe FREE to our YouTube channel at Subscribe to our podcasts Astronomy Cast and Daily Space where ever you get your podcasts! Watch our streams over on Twitch at – follow and subscribe!...
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Weekly Space Hangout — January 4, 2023: Dr. Eddie Schwieterman Discusses Nitrous Oxide as a Biosignature
Weekly Space Hangout
Historically, scientists using spectrographic analysis to study exoplanet atmospheres have considered oxygen and methane as two key biosignatures when identifying "life-friendly" planets. But could nitrous oxide (N2O) — aka "Laughing Gas" — also be a reliable biosignature? A explains why N2O can — and should — be included as a biosignature gas. Tonight we are pleased to welcome the paper's lead author, Dr. Eddie Schwieterman, astrobiologist at UC Riverside, to discuss why N2O is an indicator of life. Dr. Eddie Schwieterman is an Assistant Professor of Astrobiology in the Department of...
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Weekly Space Hangout — December 14, 2022: Chillin' with Dr. Francis Halzen, PI of IceCube
Weekly Space Hangout
Viewers who watched/listened to our November 16, 2022, episode may remember that Dr. Leah Jenks told us about . This week we are pleased to welcome Dr. Francis Halzen, Principal Investigator for IceCube, who will discuss the significance of these detections in understanding how active galaxies "work," and potentially ushering in the age of Neutrino Astronomy. With funding from the National Science Foundation the IceCube project at the South Pole melted eighty-six holes over 1.5 miles deep in the Antarctic icecap to construct an enormous astronomical observatory. The experiment discovered a...
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Weekly Space Hangout — December 7, 2022: The Science of the L1527 "Butterfly" with Dr. Karl Stapelfeldt
Weekly Space Hangout
During our November 16th show, Carolyn Collins Petersen introduced us to the hourglass/butterfly of L1527, an image captured by JWST using its onboard NIRCam. (You can read the original story . This week we are joined by Dr. Karl Stapelfeldt, Chief Scientist for NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program at JPL who will help us understand the science behind this amazing structure. Karl earned a B.S.E. in Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Physics at Princeton University, and a Ph.D. in Astrophysics at Caltech. His career at NASA includes positions at both the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and most...
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Weekly Space Hangout: November 30, 2022 - News Roundup!
Weekly Space Hangout
It's time for another News Roundup ! Buckle up for another hour of news!! **************************************** The Weekly Space Hangout is a production of CosmoQuest. Want to support CosmoQuest? Here are some specific ways you can help: Subscribe FREE to our YouTube channel at Subscribe to our podcasts Astronomy Cast and Daily Space where ever you get your podcasts! Watch our streams over on Twitch at – follow and subscribe! Become a Patreon of CosmoQuest Become a Patreon of Astronomy Cast Buy stuff from our Redbubble Join our Discord server for CosmoQuest - Join the Weekly Space...
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Weekly Space Hangout — November 23, 2022: Hipparchus' Lost Star Catalogue with Dr. Victor Gysembergh
Weekly Space Hangout
Greek astronomer Hipparchus, who lived in the second century BCE, is considered to be the greatest astronomical observer of his time. Among his achievements are the development of trigonometry, the ability to predict solar eclipses, discovering and measuring the precession of the equinoxes, and, in approximately 135 BCE, the compilation of the first comprehensive star catalogue in the western world. Since that time, scientists have spent centuries searching for Hipparchus' Star Catalogue, but it disappeared and has never been found. Or has it? In 2017, researchers used multispectral imaging...
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Weekly Space Hangout — November 16, 2022: Up, Up, & Away with Dr. Jacob Izraelevitz and JPL's Venus Aerial Robotic Balloons
Weekly Space Hangout
Despite the romance associated with Venus for millennia thanks to its having been named after the Roman god of love, Venus has proven to anything BUT romantic - LITERALLY! Combining the toxic and corrosive composition of its atmosphere with the crushing pressure exerted on anything that attempts to venture too far into it, Venus is the last place most of us would choose for a date. These conditions proved to be disastsrous for missions that sent traditional craft to the planet. To date, the only "craft" to have survived for more than a few hours are the 1985 and balloon missions where each...
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Weekly Space Hangout — November 9, 2022: Untying an Early "Cosmic Knot" with Dr. Andrey Vayner
Weekly Space Hangout
Since its final commissioning and being placed in service, JWST has been delivering on its promise to provide unprecedented insight into the most distant — and oldest — regions of our Universe. Whether it's providing a new view of our nearby neighbor Jupiter, or sussing out never-before-seen details of the iconic Eagle Nebula and its Pillars of Creation, let's face it - the imagery so far has been nothing less than stunning! But more importantly, the data being collected by JWST's onboard instrumentation are allowing scientists the ability to peer back in time to study the oldest cosmic...
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Weekly Space Hangout — November 2, 2022: Revisiting Apollo Photographically with Andy Saunders, Author of Apollo Remastered
Weekly Space Hangout
This week we are airing our prerecorded interview with Andy Saunders, the author and creative force behind the new book "Apollo Remastered." Andy used his talent and expertise to digitally remaster and restore the original flight film from America's first missions to the Moon. Universe Today's own Nancy Atkinson (who is also a WSH alumna,) interviewed Andy this past month, and as a special treat, Nancy is joining us tonight as well. Andy Saunders is a British author, science writer, and one of the world's foremost experts of NASA digital restoration. His photographic work has been exhibited...
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Weekly Space Hangout — October 26, 2022: The ATA Searches for Technosignatures with Dr. Sofia Sheikh from the SETI Institute
Weekly Space Hangout
As we discover new exoplanets on an almost daily basis - particularly now that JWST is online - scientists are ramping up their research into identifying those planets that may exhibit traces of life (as we know it.) Scientists use spectrographs to examine the composition of these exoplanet atmospheres looking markers called technosignatures - trace elements that may be indicative of life. What constitutes a technosignature? Does the presence of one or more technosignatures mean that an exoplanet is a strong candidate for hosting life? Can atmospheric markers not included in our current list...
info_outlineAs humanity dreams of exploring destinations both within our own solar system as well as those far beyond, the greatest challenge to be overcome is how to provide effective protection against the inevitable, prolonged exposure to lethal levels of radiation. We all know that Earth's strong magnetic field continually protects us. But can a sufficiently strong magnetic field be generated aboard a spacecraft? 2022 NIAC winner Dr. Elena D'Onghia joins us tonight to discuss a new concept that may just be the solution we need!
Elena is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison's Department of Astronomy, and the principal investigator for this innovative concept called CREW HaT which stands for Cosmic Radiation Extended Warding using the Halbach Torus. The project, which has been awarded funding from NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC), incorporates superconductive tape technology, a deployable design, and a Halbach Torus (shown in tonight's thumbnail). The Halbach Torus is a circular array of magnets that generates an asymmetric magnetic field with an enhanced magnetic field outside of a spacecraft that diverts cosmic radiation particles and a suppressed magnetic field within the astronaut's habitat.
To learn more about CREW Hat visit their NIAC page here: https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2022/CREW_HaT/
You can also read more about it here: https://phys.org/news/2022-05-magnetic-astronauts-dangerous-space.html
Dr. Elena D'Onghia is an Associate Professor in the Astronomy Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to joining UWM, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Elena's research combines unique analytic models and high-resolution numerical simulations to get new insights into the dynamical processes that form the stellar skeleton of our Galaxy.
You can learn more about Elena on her UWM faculty page here: http://www.astro.wisc.edu/our-people/faculty/donghia-elena/.
And be sure to check out the Mad Astro Dynamics Research Group at UWM here: https://www.madastrodynamics.com/
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