Ep. 368: Searching for the Aether Wind: the Michelson–Morley Experiment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) Waves move through a medium, like water or air. So it seemed logical to search for a medium that light waves move through. The Michelson-Morley Experiment attempted to search for this medium, known as the “luminiferous aether”. The experiment...

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Ep. 124: Space Capsules, Part 1 – Vostok, Mercury and Gemini

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Ep. 367: Spitzer does Exoplane...

Posted by susie on Feb 17, 2015

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) We’ve spent the last few weeks talking about different ways astronomers are searching for exoplanets. But now we reach the most exciting part of this story: actually imaging these planets directly. Today...

Ep. 366: HARPS Spectrograph

Posted by susie on Feb 9, 2015

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) Almost all the planet hunting has been done from space. But there’s a new instrument installed on the European Southern Observatory’s 3.6 meter telescope called the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet...

Ep. 365: Gaia

Posted by susie on Feb 9, 2015

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) The European Gaia spacecraft launched about a year ago with the ambitious goal of mapping one billion years in the Milky Way. That’s 1% of all the stars in our entire galaxy, which it will monitor about 70...

Ep. 364: The COROT Mission

Posted by susie on Jan 26, 2015

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) Before NASA’s Kepler mission searched for exoplanets using the transit method, there was the European COROT mission, launched in 2006. It was sent to search for planets with short orbital periods and find solar...

Ep. 363: Where Did Earth’...

Posted by susie on Jan 21, 2015

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) Where on Earth did our water come from. Well, obviously not from Earth, of course, but from space. But did it come from comets, or did the water form naturally right here in the Solar System, and the Earth just...

Ep. 362: Modern Women: Carolyn...

Posted by susie on Jan 12, 2015

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) It hard to think of a more influential modern planetary scientist than Carolyn Porco, the leader of the imaging team for NASA’s Cassini mission exploring Saturn. But before Cassini, Porco was involved in...

Ep. 361: Modern Women: Maria Z...

Posted by susie on Jan 5, 2015

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) Maria Zuber is one of the hardest working scientists in planetary science, being a part of six different space missions to explore the Solar System. Currently, she’s the lead investigator for NASA’s GRAIL...

Ep. 360: Modern Women: Jocelyn...

Posted by susie on Dec 29, 2014

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) Jocelyn Bell Burnell is an Irish astronomer, best known for being part of the team that discovered pulsars, and the following controversy when she was excluded from the Nobel Prize winning team. Ep. 360:...

Ep. 359: Modern Women: Margare...

Posted by susie on Dec 15, 2014

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) Margaret Geller is best known for her work on the large scale structure of the Universe, helping us understand the large clusters, super clusters and cosmic filaments that matter clumps into. Ep. 359: Modern...

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Episode List

Ep. 368: Searching for the Aether Wind: the Michelson–Morley Experiment

Ep. 367: Spitzer does Exoplanets

Ep. 366: HARPS Spectrograph

Ep. 365: Gaia

Ep. 364: The COROT Mission

Ep. 363: Where Did Earth’s Water Come From?

Ep. 362: Modern Women: Carolyn Porco

Ep. 361: Modern Women: Maria Zuber

Ep. 360: Modern Women: Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Ep. 359: Modern Women: Margaret Geller