Weekly Space Hangout

The Weekly Space Hangout with Fraser Cain and our team of Journalists brings you the latest in space news as well as interviews with special guests from the space and science community. This podcast is funded through Patreon.com/CosmoQuestX and produced out of the Planetary Science Institute.

Weekly Space Hangout — January 11, 2023: The Final Episode 01/12/2023

Weekly Space Hangout — January 4, 2023: Dr. Eddie Schwieterman Discusses Nitrous Oxide as a Biosignature 01/05/2023

Weekly Space Hangout — January 4, 2023: Dr. Eddie Schwieterman Discusses Nitrous Oxide as a Biosignature 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 Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of California, Riverside. He earned his undergraduate degrees in physics and astrophysics from the Florida Institute of Technology and his PhD in astronomy and astrobiology from the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr. Schwieterman studies the climate, atmospheric chemistry, geochemical evolution, and spectral appearance of terrestrial (rocky) planets. His research specifically focuses on the habitability and potential biosignatures of exoplanets. To learn more about Eddie's research visit his (www.eddieschwieterman.com) and follow him on Twitter: . You can also read more about nitrous oxide as biosignature in the following SciNews article: . **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/25514256

Weekly Space Hangout — December 14, 2022: Chillin' with Dr. Francis Halzen, PI of IceCube 12/15/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — December 14, 2022: Chillin' with Dr. Francis Halzen, PI of IceCube 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 flux of neutrinos reaching us from the cosmos, with energies more than a million times those of neutrinos produced at accelerator laboratories. These cosmic neutrinos are astronomical messengers coming from some of the most violent processes in the universe and from the biggest explosions since the Big Bang. We will discuss the IceCube telescope and highlight the recent discoveries that some high-energy neutrinos — and cosmic rays — originate from sources powered by rotating supermassive black holes. Francis Halzen is a Vilas and Gregory Breit Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Born in Belgium, Halzen received his Master’s and PhD degrees from the KUL Leuven, Belgium, and has been on the physics faculty at UW–Madison since 1972; in 2021, Halzen was named a Vilas Research Professor, one of the university’s most prestigious honors. He has been a fellow of the American Physical Society since 1994, and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the , the , a 2018 Bruno Pontecorvo Prize, the , the , the , and honorary doctorates at several universities. Halzen is the Principal Investigator of IceCube, a cubic-kilometer neutrino telescope buried in the Antarctic ice at the South Pole. IceCube’s first observations of high-energy cosmic neutrinos garnered the 2013 "Physics World" Breakthrough of the Year Award. In September 2017, IceCube detected a high-energy neutrino from the direction of a blazar called TXS 0506+056. This was the first-ever evidence of a source of high-energy cosmic rays, whose origins have been notoriously difficult to pinpoint since they were discovered over one hundred years ago. Also a skilled science communicator, Halzen travels widely, giving about 20 or more invited talks per year at conferences, workshops, and colloquia. He also gives regular public talks to local and national groups and interviews for television and radio. Halzen is the co-author of "Quarks and Leptons", a classic textbook on modern particle physics that continues to be used extensively throughout college campuses today. He has a large number of publications to his credit and has written or edited several other books. His essay “Antarctic Dreams,” about the early days of AMANDA, IceCube’s precursor, was featured in "The Best American Science Writing 2000". To stay up-to-date with IceCube, visit the and follow them on Twitter (@uw_icecube), Instagram (@icecube_neutrino), and Facebook (@icecubeneutrino). **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/25337610

Weekly Space Hangout — December 7, 2022: The Science of the L1527 "Butterfly" with Dr. Karl Stapelfeldt 12/10/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — December 7, 2022: The Science of the L1527 "Butterfly" with Dr. Karl Stapelfeldt 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 recently at the Goddard Space Flight Center, where he has served as the Chief of Goddard's Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory since 2011. Karl’s NASA science contributions include project science roles for the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes and science observations using the Herschel Space Observatory. He served as chair of the Exoplanet-Coronagraph Probe-Scale Science and Technology Definition Team, and as a member of the Astrophysics Subcommittee of the NASA Advisory Council. **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/25284537

Weekly Space Hangout: November 30, 2022 - News Roundup! 12/01/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — November 23, 2022: Hipparchus' Lost Star Catalogue with Dr. Victor Gysembergh 11/25/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — November 23, 2022: Hipparchus' Lost Star Catalogue with Dr. Victor Gysembergh 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 and computer algorithms to examine an ancient manuscript that had been discovered in a Greek Orthodox monastery in Egypt in 2012. The resulting images not only uncovered astronomy-related writings (e.g., and the about the constellations,) but also hidden in the manuscript were star coordinates. Could this manuscript include part of Hipparchus' star catalogue? Tonight we are airing Fraser's prerecorded interview with Dr. Victor Gysembergh, research professor at the French National Scientific Research Centre. Victor is one of the two experts who examined the manuscript images - tune in to hear all about his conclusions. Victor Gysembergh is a CNRS research professor at the Centre Léon Robin (Sorbonne Université). He is currently working on an edition of the fragments of Eudoxus of Cnidus, as well as on editions of Claudius Ptolemy’s treatise On the Analemma and his recently discovered treatise on the Meteoroscope. You can read all about this exciting discovery here: You can also read the resulting paper about this find here: You can learn more about Hipparchus here: Image credit: Heritage Daily/Peter Mallik - (Adapted) **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/25133142

Weekly Space Hangout — November 16, 2022: Up, Up, & Away with Dr. Jacob Izraelevitz and JPL's Venus Aerial Robotic Balloons 11/17/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — November 16, 2022: Up, Up, & Away with Dr. Jacob Izraelevitz and JPL's Venus Aerial Robotic Balloons 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 survived just over 46 hours before their batteries ran out. It would seem that baloons are the way to go! This week we are joined by Dr. Jacob Izraelevitz, Principal Investigator of the JPL project that is developing robotic balloons — currently called aerobots — that will eventually (hopefully) lead to successful exploration of Venus. In July, 2022, a one-third scale prototype aerobot successfully completed two test flights and achieved controlled flight at more than 4000 feet. These flights were coordinated by , a commercial provider of high altitude/near space platforms and flight services. You can read all about this exciting project in the . Dr. Jacob Izraelevitz is a Robotics Technologist and Group Lead at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the Extreme Environment Robotics Group, and is the Principal Investigator of JPL's Variable-Altitude Venus Aerobots development task. His career at JPL has primarily sat at the interface of controls and fluid mechanics, covering both powered and buoyant aerial platforms for Venus and Mars. Jacob also acts in a systems engineering role for instrument accommodation on the Europa Lander. Jacob received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the aerodynamics of flapping wings, and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Olin College of Engineering. To learn more about Jacob and stay up to date with his research, or . **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/25054440

Weekly Space Hangout — November 9, 2022: Untying an Early "Cosmic Knot" with Dr. Andrey Vayner 11/10/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — November 9, 2022: Untying an Early "Cosmic Knot" with Dr. Andrey Vayner 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 structures while they are still in their infancy, potentially unlocking never-before understood processes that have led to the Universe as we know it today. This week we are joined by Dr. Andrey Vayner, a member of a multinational team led by Dominika Wylezalek of Heidelberg University (Germany) that has been studying SDSS J165202.64+172852.3, an “extremely red” QUASAR that dates back to the earliest days of the Universe, some 11.5 billion years ago. Using data collected by NIRSpec, JWST's near infrared spectrograph (https://webb.nasa.gov/content/observatory/instruments/nirspec.html), the team has been able to confirm the presence of not just one, but three, companion galaxies of the QUASAR that are actively in the process of merging. Andrey is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University Physics and Astronomy Department. He obtained his Ph.D. from UC San Diego in 2019. He studies how galaxies and supermassive black holes evolve over cosmic time using advanced ground and space-based telescopes. His current focus is on early-release science observations with JWST, studying the most powerful active galactic nuclei that are heavily obscured by dust. Want to learn more about this exciting research? Visit: Want to take a deeper dive? You can find the . To follow Andrey and learn more about his research, visit: and you can also follow him on Twitter: @astrovayner **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/24972546

Weekly Space Hangout — November 2, 2022: Revisiting Apollo Photographically with Andy Saunders, Author of Apollo Remastered 11/03/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — November 2, 2022: Revisiting Apollo Photographically with Andy Saunders, Author of Apollo Remastered 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 internationally at some of the most renowned venues, and regularly makes headlines in the world press - including BBC News, CBS News, Daily Telegraph, New York Times, USA Today, Smithsonian Magazine and Fox News, among others. His remastered images have also been utilised by NASA and reside in their own archives. To learn more about Apollo Remastered, including where you can get your own copy of this gorgeous book and/or reprints of images in the book, visit . To learn more about Andy, visit . **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/24895572

Weekly Space Hangout — October 26, 2022: The ATA Searches for Technosignatures with Dr. Sofia Sheikh from the SETI Institute 10/29/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — October 26, 2022: The ATA Searches for Technosignatures with Dr. Sofia Sheikh from the SETI Institute 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 of technosignatures still be indicative of life, just not as we know it? This week, we welcome Dr. Sofia Sheikh from the to discuss how the ATA is playing an instrumental role in this research. Dr. Sofia Z. Sheikh is a radio astronomer and astrobiologist working at the SETI Institute. She obtained her undergraduate degrees in physics and astronomy at UC Berkeley, and has recently returned to the Bay Area with an NSF-ASCEND Postdoctoral Fellowship after getting her PhD in Astronomy and Astrobiology at Penn State. Currently, she is performing SETI searches and studying pulsars and fast radio bursts with the Allen Telescope Array, a 42-dish radio array located in Hat Creek, California. You can learn more about the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) by visiting their . *************************************** Cover image/file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en. File name: Technosignatures.jpg; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Technosignatures.jpg Study name: "Searching for technosignatures in exoplanetary systems with current and future missions" Study/source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576522002594 Authors of the study: Jacob Haqq-Misraa, Edward W. Schwieterman, Hector Socas-Navarro, Ravi Kopparapu, Daniel Angerhausen, Thomas G. Beatty, Svetlana Berdyugina, Ryan Felton, Siddhant Sharmaa, Gabriel G. De la Torre, Dániel Apai, TechnoClimes 2020 workshop participants **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/24840099

Weekly Space Hangout — October 19, 2022: NICER Maps a Neutron Star's Surface with Dr. Zaven Arzoumanian and Dr. Keith Gendreau 10/20/2022

Weekly Space Hangout: October 12, 2022 - News Roundup! 10/13/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — October 5, 2022: Astronomy for Equity with Mike Simmons 10/08/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — October 5, 2022: Astronomy for Equity with Mike Simmons Nothing transcends human differences here on our tiny planet than sharing the wonders of the night sky. For 50 years, Mike Simmons has been sharing and spreading astronomy with the world, both locally and internationally. Tonight, Mike joins us to share his newest venture, Astronomy for Equity, as he continues his calling to share astronomy with local communitites around the world. Astronomy for Equity brings together existing resources, expertise, networks, and communities to create opportunities for STEM growth in marginalized, isolated, and underserved areas. Mike Simmons is a long-time friend of the WSH. He is probably best known by members of our community for having founded (and lead) Astronomers Without Borders for over 14 years. In 2020, Mike retired from AWB and joined Blue Marble Space Institute of Science as an Affiliate Research Scientist - which allowed him to found Astronomy for Equity. Mike is also on the Board of Directors of the International Dark-Sky Association. You can learn more about by visiting their webpage. Be sure to also check out their impressive which includes such familiar names as Universe Today's Nancy Atkinson, "Bad Astronomer" Phil Plait, and former WSH guest Astronaut Nicole Stott! With these folks on the team, Astronomy for Equity can't help but succeed! If you are interested in helping Astronomy for Equity, they are currently running a crowdfund campaign to help students in Libya learn Astronomy. If you are so inclined and would like to contribute (no amount is too small!) please go here: To stay up to date with Mike and his various projects, you can follow him on as well as . **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/24626559

Weekly Space Hangout — September 28, 2022: Piquing Our Curiosity with Dr. Ashwin Vasavada 10/01/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — September 28, 2022: Piquing Our Curiosity with Dr. Ashwin Vasavada On August 5, 2022, a plucky little rover named Curiosity celebrated its 10th Anniversary on the surface of Mars. Since being lowered on Mars that summer day it has continued to exceed all mission expectations. For ten years, Curiosity has called Gale Crater and the foothills of Mount Sharp "home," all while wandering around the name of science and traveling nearly 18 miles (29 kilometers) and ascending 2,050 feet (625 meters). What have we been able to learn about Mars during this decade? And what lies ahead for the "Little Rover that Could?" Join us tonight as Dr. Ashwin Vasavada brings piques our "Curiosity" and answers these questions. Dr. Ashwin Vasavada is a planetary scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Currently he is the Project Scientist for NASA's Curiosity rover that began development in 2003 and just completed its tenth year on the surface of Mars. He now leads the international team of scientists as they explore Gale Crater. He also has participated in the operation and analysis of data from several other NASA spacecraft missions, including the Galileo mission to Jupiter, the Cassini mission to Saturn, and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. He holds a B.S. in Geophysics and Space Physics from UCLA and a Ph.D. in Planetary Science from Caltech. You can stay up to date with and by following it on both and . **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/24553839

Weekly Space Hangout — September 21, 2022: Milky Way "Autobiographer" Dr. Moiya McTier 09/23/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — September 21, 2022: Milky Way "Autobiographer" Dr. Moiya McTier This week we are super excited to welcome Dr. Moiya McTier to the Weekly Space Hangout - this time as our special guest! In 2019, Moiya joined the Weekly Space Hangout as one of our first Early Career Journalists, and in April, 2021, she extended our WSH tradition of producing PhDs. On August 16th, Moiya's "autobiographical" book, The Milky Way, was published, and this week she is here to tell us all about it. Moiya grew up in the middle of the woods of rural Pennsylvania without running water. From there, she went to Harvard University where she became the first person in the school’s long history to study both astrophysics and folklore & mythology. On April 7, 2021, Moiya earned her PhD in astronomy at Columbia University in New York City, after her successful thesis defense. Moiya researched how the Milky Way’s structure influences exoplanet populations. Outside of research, Moiya has written a science fiction novel, designed an exhibit for the New York Hall of Science, and given more than 100 talks and performances about science. You can learn more about Moiya on her website . Be sure to follow her on , , and . **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/24473067

Weekly Space Hangout — September 14, 2022: The Geology of Exoplanets with Dr. Paul Byrne 09/17/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — September 14, 2022: The Geology of Exoplanets with Dr. Paul Byrne The first suspected exoplanet was identified back in 1988, and was then confirmed in 1992. Since then, the rate at which detection/confirmations have been made has been increasing. And JWST has already directly imaged its first exoplanet! What data are we able to gather from here on Earth? What are we able to learn about these planets from the data collected? How does exoplanet geology compare with our own geology here on Earth? Let's find out as we welcome planetary geologist Dr. Paul Byrne, to the WSH. Paul Byrne received his B.A. in geology, and Ph.D. in planetary geology, from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. He was a MESSENGER postdoctoral fellow at the Earth and Planets Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, DC, and an LPI postdoctoral fellow at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas. He is an Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis; before coming to WashU, he was an assistant and then associate professor at North Carolina State University. Paul's research focuses on comparative planetary geology—comparing and contrasting the surfaces and interiors of planetary bodies, including Earth, to understand geological phenomena at the systems level. Byrne’s research projects span the solar system from Mercury to Pluto and, increasingly, to the study of extrasolar planets. He uses remotely sensed data, numerical and physical models, and fieldwork in analogue settings on Earth to understand why planets look the way they do. Be sure to follow Paul on ! **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/24406128

Weekly Space Hangout — September 7, 2022: How to Teach Grown-Ups about Pluto with Dean Regas 09/09/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — September 7, 2022: How to Teach Grown-Ups about Pluto with Dean Regas Welcome back to another season of the Weekly Space Hangout! In our season's premiere, we are excited to welcome back to the show our good friend Dean Regas from the Cincinnati Observatory! Dean has just released his new book "How to Teach Grown-Ups about Pluto" which is a light-hearted guide to Pluto's discovery and demotion that puts KIDS in charge! You can view the and learn more about it - including how to get your own copy - . Dean is a renowned educator, author, national popularizer of astronomy and an expert in observational astronomy. He has been the Astronomer for the Cincinnati Observatory since 2000. From 2010-2019 Dean was the co-host of the PBS program Star Gazers. He is the author of five books including "Facts From Space!" and "100 Things to See in the Night Sky". Dean is a Contributing Editor to Sky and Telescope Magazine and a contributor to Astronomy Magazine, where he won 2008 “Out-of-this-World” Award for astronomy education. Dean has written over 160 astronomy articles for the Cincinnati Enquirer, blogged for the Huffington Post and is regularly featured on television and radio. Dean is a frequent guest on National Public Radio’s Science Friday with Ira Flatow and NPR's Here & Now. He also hosts an astronomy podcast called "Looking Up!" Dean has developed his skills as a dynamic writer and public speaker who brings the complicated field of astronomy down to Earth for students of all ages. Be sure to stay up to date with Dean by visiting his and by following him on and on . **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/24326544

Weekly Space Hangout — June 29, 2022: Focusing JWST with Lee Feinberg, Optical Telescope Manager [Season Finale] 07/02/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — June 29, 2022: Focusing JWST with Lee Feinberg, Optical Telescope Manager [Season Finale] NOTE: Due to an unexpected production issue, our audio cuts out at 11:44 for just over one minute, and again at 13:51 for just over 15 seconds. We apologize for this. Since JWST launched in December, 2022, we have been holding our collective breath as it made its way to its final home at the L2 Lagrange point. Throughout its approximate month-long journey, JWST systematically worked through a complicated series of deployment and commissioning procedures, including the all-critical focusing and alignment of the telescope's 18 primary mirror segments using 132 different actuator motors. On April 29, 2022, it was announced that focusing and alignment had completed successfully. Tonight, we are joined by Lee Feinberg, Optical Telescope Element (OTE) Manager for JWST, who will tell us what this exacting process truly entailed. Lee Feinberg is the NASA Optical Telescope Element (OTE) Manager for the James Webb Space Telescope at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, a role he has been in since 2002. Earlier in his career, Lee was the Assistant Chief for Technology in the Instrument Systems and Technology Division at Goddard and prior to that Lee was part of the optical team that repaired the Hubble Space Telescope on SM1, STIS instrument manager on SM-2, and he co-led the concept study for Wide Field Camera-3. Lee was a member of the LUVOIR and Habex Science and Technology Definition Teams and focuses his current research on ultra-stable telescopes and segmented space telescopes. Lee is a Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Fellow and a Goddard Space Flight Center Senior Fellow. To learn more about Lee, visit his NASA webpage https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/meetTheTeam/people/feinberg.html as well as this featured Conversations With Goddard interview Lee explains the process of Webb's early alignment: Seeing the Light | Lee Feinberg | TEDxUniversityofRochester: Interview on Your Space Journey: Finally, be sure to follow Lee on Twitter: And of course, be sure to visit the JWST website to stay up to date with the latest news: https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/ **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/23614445

Weekly Space Hangout — June 22, 2022: Former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver and Her New Memoir "Escaping Gravity" 06/25/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — June 22, 2022: Former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver and Her New Memoir "Escaping Gravity" This week we are honored to welcome former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver to the Weekly Space Hangout. Her new memoir, Escaping Gravity (Diversion Books, June 21, 2022), offers a "first-hand account of how a handful of revolutionaries managed to outmaneuver the system of political patronage and bureaucracy that threatened the space agency and the future of human spaceflight. From inside NASA, Garver drove changes to policies and programs that enabled competition that challenged the expensive and ineffective traditional systems at the exact time the capabilities and resources of the private sector began to mature." Lori Garver led the NASA transition team for President-elect Obama and served as Deputy Administrator of NASA from 2009 - 2013. Lori is a Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, an Executive in Residence at Bessemer Venture Partners, and a member of the Board of Directors for Hydrosat. Garver founded Earthrise Alliance, a philanthropic organization utilizing satellite data to address climate change, and co-founded the Brooke Owens Fellowship, an internship and mentorship program for collegiate women. Previous senior executive positions include former General Manager of the Air Line Pilots Association, Vice President of the Avascent Group, Associate Administrator for Policy at NASA, and Executive Director of the National Space Society. Garver is the recipient of the 2021 Public Service Award for AIAA, the 2021 Heinlein Award for the National Space Society, the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award for Women in Aerospace, and has been awarded three NASA Distinguished Service Medals. Lori holds a B.A. in Political Economy from Colorado College and an M.A. in Science, Technology, and Public Policy from George Washington University. Be sure to visit the to learn more about the book, including how to order your own copy. You can also learn more about Lori by visiting her as well as her . Follow Lori on , , and . **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/23537435

Weekly Space Hangout — June 15, 2022: CREW HaT: An Answer to Radiation Shielding? with NIAC 2022 Awardee Dr. Elena D’Onghia 06/17/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — June 15, 2022: CREW HaT: An Answer to Radiation Shielding? with NIAC 2022 Awardee Dr. Elena D’Onghia As 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: You can also read more about it here: 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: . And be sure to check out the Mad Astro Dynamics Research Group at UWM here: **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/23461856

Weekly Space Hangout — June 8, 2022: News Roundup! 06/11/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — June 1, 2022: Fuel Cell Technology and Space Applications with Ian Jakupca, NASA Glenn Research Center 06/03/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — June 1, 2022: Fuel Cell Technology and Space Applications with Ian Jakupca, NASA Glenn Research Center Developing reliable, renewable, and safe power/energy storage systems is a key requirement for future space missions, both within our solar system and those venturing beyond it, as well as for establishing a permanent human presence on the moon and/or Mars. Are fuel cells one solution to this need? And what exactly constitutes a fuel cell? Find out tonight as we are joined by Ian Jakupca from NASA's Glenn Research Center. After graduating from the University of Dayton, Ian began developing specialized flow control components, instrumentation and electrochemical stacks for aerospace systems at the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio in 2000. His initial work supported the development team working on the next generation Space Shuttle Orbiter fuel cell power system before transitioning to oxygen and hydrogen generation through water electrolysis and regenerative fuel cell energy storage systems. This early component work supported efforts to monitor and operate regenerative fuel cell energy storage systems in vacuum environments. Over time his work expanded to system-level designs to meet the requirements of a range of vehicles. Ian's primary research interest is the efficiency of integrated electrochemical systems with a focus on low-power techniques to manage reactants, heat, power and instrumentation. He led multiple system design and demonstrations efforts for air-independent (H2/O2) primary and regenerative fuel cell systems. To date, he has innovation awards for software and hardware and is the lead author on over 20 external publications. As the Fuel Cell Technology Lead at NASA Glenn Research Center, he supervises and consults for multiple technology development projects involving ISRU electrolysis, primary fuel cells, and regenerative fuel cells for space and aerospace applications. To learn more about the research being done in fuel cell technology (and more!) view the following presentations: Also be sure to check out the . **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/23319353

Weekly Space Hangout — May 25, 2022: Why Hello Sag A* - It's Nice to Finally See You, with Dr. Lia Medeiros 05/27/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — May 25, 2022: Why Hello Sag A* - It's Nice to Finally See You, with Dr. Lia Medeiros On May 12th, 2022, the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration released the first-ever direct image of Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the center of our galaxy. Tonight we are very pleased to welcome Dr. Lia Medeiros, a member of the EHT Collaboration, to the WSH. If you watched the NSF's streaming Q&A session following their press conference, you may recognize Lia as a member of the panel. Dr. Lia Medeiros is currently an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study. In 2013, she completed her undergraduate education at the University of California-Berkeley in Physics and Astrophysics, and went on to earn her Masters and PhD (2019) in Physics from the University of California-Santa Barbara. After completing her classwork, Lia took advantage of the flexibility allowed by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and spent three years at the Steward Observatory at The University of Arizona and one year at the Black Hole Initiative at Harvard. Lia's PhD thesis was completed in collaboration with University of Arizona Professors Feryal Özel and Dimitrios Psaltis. Lia was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and spent most of her childhood living in several cities in Brazil and a few years in Cambridge, England. One of the highlights of her career has been having the opportunity to engage with the scientific community in Brazil. She has given multiple talks in Brazil to both academic and public audiences in both English and Portuguese. When not simulating supermassive black holes, Lia loves horseback riding, practicing aerial silks, salsa dancing, and almost any type of art, especially ceramics and drawing. To learn more about Lia, — you will absolutely be mesmerized by the movie on her landing page! You can stay up to date with Lia and her research by following her on and . **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/23251286

Weekly Space Hangout: May 18, 2022 — Bringing Exoplanets into Focus, Bit by Bit with Alex Madurowicz 05/21/2022

Weekly Space Hangout: May 18, 2022 — Bringing Exoplanets into Focus, Bit by Bit with Alex Madurowicz NOTE: We apologize for the audio issues in this week's podcast. We are working to diagnose and resolve the issues, and we appreciate your patience as we do so. Gravitational lensing has been used to discover far-distant galaxies that are obstructed from view thanks to the inconvenient positioning of astronomical interlopers. Recently, researchers have begun asking if this same lensing technique could be adapted to use the gravity of OUR SUN to suss out never-before seen details of the more than 5000 exoplanets discovered to date. It is thought that by aligning the sun in a straight line between a space-based telescope and an exoplanet, exoplanet images could be obtained. But this would require a lot of fuel and time. Tonight's guest is Alexander Madurowicz, PhD candidate at Stanford University. Alex has developed an algorithm that reconstructs an exoplanet's surface using a single, annular image acquired by looking directly at the sun. Light from this ring is then undistorted by reversing its having been bent by the gravitational lens (i.e., our Sun,) which yields the ring of light being turned back into a whole, round planet. This method of imaging exoplanets was presented in a . Alex Madurowicz is a Physics PhD candidate at Stanford University. His research interests are in astronomical instrumentation, specifically for the direct imaging of extrasolar planets. He works with his advisor Bruce Macintosh and other collaborators from universities around the world on the Gemini Planet Imager project. The Gemini Planet Imager combines adaptive optics and coronagraphy to correct distortions from Earth’s atmosphere and obscure noise from host stars to directly observe planets which millions of times fainter than the stars they orbit. He has also worked on speculative instrument designs such as star shades and the solar gravitational lens which could revolutionize the future of exoplanet imaging. You can . **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/23185451

Weekly Space Hangout: May 11, 2022 — Small, but Powerful, Micronovae with Dr. Simone Scaringi 05/14/2022

Weekly Space Hangout: May 11, 2022 — Small, but Powerful, Micronovae with Dr. Simone Scaringi Astronomers recently announced that, with the help of the ESO VLT, they had observed a new type of small — yet powerful — stellar explosion: a Micronova. , was led by Dr. Simone Scaringi, astronomer at Durham University in the UK. We are pleased to welcome Simone to tonight's WSH to tell us more about this exciting discovery. Simone earned his undergraduate BSc in Mathematics with Astronomy at the University of Southampton, after which he obtained both a M.Phil and PhD also from Southampton in the Astronomy group (2010). He spent the next two years at Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands, as a postdoctoral fellow before moving to KU Leuven, Belgium, in 2012 with a FWO Pegasus Marie Curie fellowship. In 2015 Simone joined the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany where he held a Humboldt fellowship. In 2017 Simone was appointed lecturer at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and in 2018 he moved to the United States as an Assistant Professor at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, USA. Since 2020 he has been an Assistant Professor in the Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy at Durham University. Simone's primary research interests are accretion physics across the scales, compact objects, time-series analysis, machine learning, and Galactic photometric surveys. You can learn more about Simone and his research by visiting as well as . You can also as well as , although he admits to rarely using Twitter! IMAGE CREDIT: This artist’s impression shows a two-star system where micronovae may occur. The blue disc swirling around the bright white dwarf in the centre of the image is made up of material, mostly hydrogen, stolen from its companion star. Towards the centre of the disc, the white dwarf uses its strong magnetic fields to funnel the hydrogen towards its poles. As the material falls on the hot surface of the star, it triggers a micronova explosion, contained by the magnetic fields at one of the white dwarf’s poles. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser, L. Calçada **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/23110061

Weekly Space Hangout: May 4, 2022 - News Roundup! 05/07/2022

Weekly Space Hangout: April 27, 2022 — Catching Up With Dr. Paul M. Sutter (aka "The Spaceman") 04/30/2022

Weekly Space Hangout: April 27, 2022 — Catching Up With Dr. Paul M. Sutter (aka "The Spaceman") If you are a long-time viewer of the Weekly Space Hangout, then Dr. Paul Sutter is no stranger to you at all. For several years, he was one of our on-air journalists (along with Dr. Kimberly Cartier and Dr. Morgan Rehnberg.) Since leaving the WSH fold, Paul has continued to be one of the busiest people around. Tonight we are excited to welcome Paul back to the show (even if it is for only one night) so he can bring us all up to date with everything he has been doing - as well as hopefully share a few exciting things he has planned. But first, let me share some of the highlights. In addition to being the author of two books (with a third in the works that is due in 2023,) Paul regularly writes articles for Space.com, Ars Technica, Nautilus, Undark, Live Science, and many more , with his articles syndicating to news outlets worldwide. When he isn't writing new content for publication everywhere, Paul hosts numerous science shows across all platforms, including "How the Universe Works" on Science Channel, "Space Out" on Discovery, and "Edge of Knowledge" on Ars Technica. And who can forget that he writes and hosts his "Ask a Spaceman" podcast, which is one of the top podcasts in the world! Oh - and if that isn't enough - did I mention Paul has been traveling extensively through his collaboration with Syren Modern Dance. "Ticktock" is a stage experience exploring the nature of time through a woven performance of narration, music, and movement. And this year he joined Syren as a U.S. Cultural Ambassador to the World Expo in Dubai! But perhaps the most exciting news is that in December 2021 Paul and Kate St. Amand, co-artistic director of Syren Modern Dance (and the real brains behind "Ticktock") became engaged!!!! CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU BOTH!!! Paul earned his PhD in physics in 2011 as a Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellow at the University of Illinois. He then spent three years as a research fellow at the Paris Institute for Astrophysics followed by two years at the Trieste Observatory in Italy. Paul currently holds a research professorship at the Institute for Advanced Computational Science at Stony Brook University and a guest researcher position at the Flatiron Institute in New York City. Previously he held a joint position as the chief scientist at the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio, and as a cosmological researcher at the Ohio State University. You can learn more about Paul by and be sure to follow him on , , and . And don't forget to subscribe to his Ask a Spaceman podcast! **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/22961165

Weekly Space Hangout: April 20, 2022 — How to Access and Use Survey Data with NASA's Kevin Gill 04/21/2022

Weekly Space Hangout: April 20, 2022 — How to Access and Use Survey Data with NASA's Kevin Gill Let's face it - there isn't a single one of us who hasn't gazed at myriad stunning astronomy images that are readily available on the web. Whether it's Jupiter's Great Red Spot, Saturn's gorgeous rings, desolate Martian landscapes, or a spectacular deep sky object, the "raw material" behind each of these beauties is often publicly available data collected by survey missions. But how exactly does a long string of seemingly random "ones and zeros" get tranformed into such amazing visual imagery? Tonight, Kevin Gill, the image processing "magician", is with us to give us an introduction into how to access the public archives as well as how to process their data. Kevin Gill is a software and spaceflight engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Los Angeles, California. He enjoys astrophotography and processing images collected by numerous missions include Cassini, Voyager, Galileo, Curiosity Rover, Perseverance Rover, HiRISE, Juno, Akatsuki, Hubble, and more. To learn more about Kevin's image processing and his open source custom image processing software, be sure to . While you are there, be sure to have a look at his amazing portfolio. Don't forget to follow Kevin on , , and . **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/22872152

Weekly Space Hangout — April 13, 2022: Sailing Away Using Diffractive Solar Sails, with Amber Dubill 04/15/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — April 13, 2022: Sailing Away Using Diffractive Solar Sails, with Amber Dubill Tonight we are very excited to welcome Amber Dubill from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory to the WSH. Amber has worked on both IMAP and DART, and also has a keen interest in advanced solar sail design concepts. Solar sails have long been theorized as being a viable means of spacecraft propulsion — eventually — and we do seem to be moving closer to their being a reality… In June 2019, the Planetary Society succesfully launched their crowdfunded, proof-of-concept LightSail 2, and it is still going strong! In fact, you can check on its . Meanwhile, in Rochester NY, Dr. Grover Swartzlander from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) was developing a new approach to solar sail design - one that could potentially allow spacecraft to photograph the poles of the sun for the first time! In April 2019 RIT and Dr. Swartzlander were awarded a ! As a mechanical engineering student at RIT, Amber worked closely with Dr. Swartzlander on the diffractive solar sail design, and their collaboration continues today. Amber started her experience on low cost, high risk CubeSats space at RIT as a student and at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC). This evolved into research on advanced technology concepts for spacecraft. She has developed expertise in the use of solar sailing, and has become a champion for diffractive solar sailing through collaboration on NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts. She continues working to further develop diffractive solar sailing technology: a new type of massless, infinite propulsion, that will enable spacecraft to sail around our Sun and view it like never before. To stay up to date with Amber's research, follow her on as well as on . You can learn more about . You can read more about the **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/22807865

Weekly Space Hangout — April 6, 2022: Archaeology of Space: The ISS Archaeological Project with Dr. Justin St. P. Walsh 04/07/2022

Weekly Space Hangout — April 6, 2022: Archaeology of Space: The ISS Archaeological Project with Dr. Justin St. P. Walsh This week we welcome Dr. Justin Walsh to the show to tell us about the archaeology of space. Wait… WHAT???? You read that correctly… the archaeology of space. Justin is a PI of the International Space Station Archaeological Project (ISSAP) [https://issarchaeology.org/], the first large-scale space archaeology project. Initiated in 2015, the archaeological study of a space habitat — specifically the ISS — is aimed at understanding the "evolving cultural, social, and material structures in the ISS’s unique context." Justin is an archaeologist who researches and teaches Mediterranean art and archaeology at Chapman University in Irvine, CA. He is listed in the Register of Professional Archaeologists and has worked on excavations around the world. His other areas of interest include studying problems related to cultural heritage management, especially including the emerging field of space archaeology which led him, together with his co-PI Dr. Alice Gorman from Flinders University, to develop the first large-scale archaeological investigation of a human habitation site in space. To learn more about ISSAP visit the project's website: You can stay up to date with ISSAP by following them on Twitter (https://twitter.com/issarchaeology) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ISSarchaeology) To learn more about Justin and his other archaeological research, visit https://www.chapman.edu/our-faculty/justin-walsh. Be sure to also follow him on Twitter (https://twitter.com/jstpwalsh). **************************************** 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 Hangout Crew! - Don't forget to like and subscribe! Plus we love being shared out to new people, so tweet, comment, review us... all the free things you can do to help bring science into people's lives. /episode/index/show/weeklyspacehangout/id/22721678

Weekly Space Hangout

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