Deep Astronomy

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 of the beginning of the universe and what an effect that does NOT have a cause must look like.

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, would lend credence and observational support to the Inflationary Theory of Cosmology, this period just after the Big Bang when astronomers think the universe expanded exponentially and faster than light. The story made the front page of the New York Times and we were hearing about it everywhere.  While I doubt that very many people understood what was being said, clearly something big was happening and so everyone paid attention.  Dr. Brian Keating from USCD was a member of the BICEP2 team and talks about that time with me along with other really interesting goings-on in the world of science, including whether having something like the Nobel Prize is hurting science. Brian Keating's Book: "Losing the Nobel Prize: A Story of Cosmology, Ambition and the Peril of Science's Highest Honor" is available on the Deep Astronomy Amazon Page here: https://amzn.to/2JHl7W4

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 held a conference in late April of 2019 to discuss the science that can be done as it passes so close to the Earth.

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. The Large Millimeter Telescope is the world's largest single-aperture telescope in its frequency range, built for observing radio waves in the wave lengths from approximately 0.85 to 4 mm. It has an active surface with a diameter of 50 metres and 1,960 square metres of collecting area.

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 that idea.

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 this exiting telescope

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 to collect faint light. Eventually, the challenging goals of astronomers will require telescope mirrors larger than can be deployed in space without the capability to assemble them, either with astronauts or with robots, enabled by the decreasing cost of commercial launch vehicles. Join Tony Darnell as he discusses the promise, the challenges, and the capabilities being assessed to assemble the largest future space observatories with Drs. Nicholas Siegler (NASA JPL), Bradley Peterson (OSU/STScI) and Gordon Roesler (Robots in Space LLC). Come hear about a new NASA-chartered study that is looking into this potentially enabling capability. Future in Space Hangouts are endorsed by the American Astronomical Society and the American Astronautical Society.

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 attempt to see the boundary between normal space and that of Sag A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The results are due out soon and this hangout is your chance to learn about one of the most amazing astronomy endeavours ever attempted from Geoff Bower, Chief Scientist for Hawaii Operations for the Event Horizon Telescope.

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 into space and observe cosmic objects with unprecedented sensitivity. The TMT International Observatory LLC (TIO), a non-profit organization, was established in May 2014 to carry out the construction and operation phases of the TMT Project. The Members of TIO are Caltech, the University of California, the National Institutes of Natural Sciences of Japan, the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Department of Science and Technology of India, and the National Research Council (Canada); the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) is a TIO Associate. Major funding has been provided by the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation. Please join Tony Darnell and Christian Ready as they discuss the status of this project with Dr. Christophe Dumas, TMT Observatory Scientist & Head Operations Department.

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 groundbreaking observations in exoplanet research, cosmology, black holes, galaxy formation, etc. Please join us to learn about this amazing institution and what they are doing.

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, especially if you're a robot!

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 capabilities to detect atmospheres and even the components of those atmospheres. The idea is to look for biosignatures on planets for signs of life!