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- 5 days ago45 min
Swirls, Rays, and other Moon Oddities with Dr. JA Grier
What are lunar swirls? Which side of the moon has more craters? Should we go back to the moon, and if so, why? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Alice Liu (she/they) welcome Dr. JA Grier (ee-em-eir), Senior Scientist and Senior Education and Communication Specialist at The Planetary Science Institute. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing: the publication of photos of a recently formed crater on the Moon, McGetchin Crater. According to Dr. Grier, new impact craters aren’t that rare, and certainly not on a geologic time scale. Ee describes how the moon is under constant bombardment by objects large and small. For all its proximity to Earth, JA explains, there is much we don’t know about the moon. Chuck asks about some of the unsolved mysteries surrounding the moon, and Dr. Grier tells us about strange features on the lunar surface known as lunar swirls. Another mystery, one which JA wants to know more about, is why the bright rays around craters actually darken over time. Next, we take a deep dive into crater formation on the moon. The impact is just the beginning, but it turns out the process is much more involved than that. After our break, it’s time for our first audience question, from Natisha: “Why are there so many more craters on the dark side of the Moon than on the bright side?” First, Dr. Grier explains why “near side” and “far side” are better descriptions than “dark side” and “bright side,” and even that the far side is actually brighter colored due to the makeup of the surface. And when it comes to the number of craters, it’s pretty consistent on both sides. Another surprise JA drops on us: areas of the lunar surface that look smooth are far from it, which had an impact on the Apollo lunar landings, including Apollo 11. The gang discusses the difficulties of landing on the moon, and on Mars, including the failure of the Mars Climate Orbiter mission, which crashed into the surface of Mars in September 1999. You’ll also hear about the challenges of methane rain for the future Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan, how Martian dust impacted the solar panels on the Spirit rover, and the difficulty of communicating with missions on the far side of the Moon. As JA says, “Space is hard.” For our next audience question, Joey asks, “Why should we spend so much money and time to go back to the Moon? Are there valuable natural resources there that we can mine?” Dr. Grier talks about the importance of research, and how money spent on scientific exploration can have a direct impact on the science we need to improve our lives here on Earth. But when it comes to the idea of exploiting natural resources, whether on the Moon, Mars, or here at home, JA is a little less enthusiastic. If you’d like to keep up with what Dr. JA Grier is doing, you can check out eir Staff Page on The Planetary Science Institute website here: https://www.psi.edu/staff/profile/ja-grier-2/ We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/theliuniverse. Image Credits: McGetchin Crater. – Credit: NASA/GSFC/Intuitive Machines Image of the lunar swirl Reiner Gamma, cropped from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter WAC global mosaic. – Credit: NASA Asymmetrical ray system of the lunar crater Proclus (Apollo 15 image). – Credit: NASA Telescopic views of Copernicus Crater on the Moon. – Credit: NASA / Space Telescope Science Institute Rima Hadley, a sinuous rille, or long depression, on the Moon. The Apollo 15 crew photographed and sampled outcrops of rock on the near and far sides of the rille. – Credit: NASA NASA Apollo mission landings at six sites on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. – Credit: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio Artist concept of the Dragonfly mission on Saturn’s moon Titan. Dragonfly is scheduled to launch July 2028 and arrive in 2034. – Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's solar panels covered in dust in October 2007 on Mars. – Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Lunar Image used on Title Card – Credit: Gregory H. Revera CHAPTERS 00:00 Swirls, Rays and Other Moon Oddities with Dr. JA Grier 01:03 Introducing Dr. JA Grier, Planetary Scientist 02:15 New Lunar Crater, McGetchin Crater - Joyfully Cool Cosmic Thing 09:09 Lunar Mysteries: Lunar Swirls and Bright Rays Around Craters 12:43 In Space, No One Can Hear You Wooooo 15:57 Which Side of the Moon Has More Craters? 22:05 Space Is Hard 32:13 Why Should We Go Back to the Moon? #LIUniverse #CharlesLiu #AliceLiu #AstronomyPodcast #JAGrier
- 2 weeks ago49 min
Chuck GPT - Total Eclipse of the Sun
What’s it like to watch a solar eclipse with your own eyes? What’s actually happening with a solar eclipse? And when can we catch the next 3 solar eclipses? In this episode of Chuck GPT, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Alice Liu answer audience questions about solar eclipses with a little help from executive producer Leslie “Moonshine” Mullen and community director Stacey Severn. Not surprisingly, the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing is the total solar eclipse on August 12, 2026. Lots of people trekked out to see the eclipse, including the entire Liu family, but thanks to pervasive cloud cover, you had to be in sunny Spain to see the event clearly. Our first audience question comes from our Patreon Patron, Santiago – and it’s also our first ever video question! He asks, “If you could travel to any planet or moon in the Solar System to witness the actual best eclipse in the solar system, which one would it be, and why?” Alice, who wrote about this on their blog, Signore Galilei, says that when it comes to planets, Earth has the best, hands down. No other planet has a round moon that’s the right size to create the perfect eclipse. On top of that, Leslie explains why we also live in the best time ever to see a solar eclipse. Our next audience question comes from Brianna, who asks, “Are there any scientific mysteries still left about Solar Eclipses?” Leslie tells us about the controversial Allais effect, which purports anomalous behavior of pendulums or gravitometers during solar eclipses. Chuck reminds us how they’ve used total solar eclipses to measure other things in the universe, including confirming the curvature of spacetime in Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. And Alice brings up the “shadow bands” that occur before and after a total solar eclipse, the causes of which are still unresolved. Our next question is from Brandon: “It seems like a lot of effort to travel thousands of miles to go see a total solar eclipse when it’s like two minutes long. Is it really worth it?” Our answer: a resounding YES! Stacey, Leslie, Alice and Chuck share their memories watching solar eclipses, and why there’s nothing quite like experiencing the moment of totality with your own senses. The next question was asked by a person Chuck met in Iceland during this year’s total solar eclipse. Brooklyn, who is from Australia, asked him about where she could see the upcoming total solar eclipse that will be visible in Australia on July 22, 2028. Chuck goes her one better, and traces out the paths of the next three, in 2027, 2028, and 2030. Our final question is from Dale, another of the people Chuck and Alice met in Iceland. “How do you bridge the gap between what you intellectually know about what’s happening with eclipses, and the overwhelming emotional awe that is felt when the shadow passes over us?” We wouldn’t dream of summarizing Chuck’s awesome answer here (it includes his recitation, by heart, of Walt Whitman’s “When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer”) – go watch or listen for yourself now. If you’d like to check out Alice’s blog mentioned in the episode, you can find it here. We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon. Image Credits: – Total solar eclipse, on Aug. 21, 2017, Madras, Oregon. – Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani – Callisto, Jupiter’s second largest moon. – Credit: NASA/JPL/DLR – Jupiter and its four largest moons (seen as bright dots), by NASA's Juno spacecraft, June 29, 2016. – Credit: NASA – Phobos, a moon of Mars, passing in front of the Sun, by NASA’s Perseverance rover on the Martian surface, April 2, 2022. – Credit: NASA The shadow of the moon during a solar eclipse. – Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio Maurice Allais. – Credit: Creative Commons Solar eclipse paths over the US, 2017 and 2024. – Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio 2027 total solar eclipse path, 2 August 2027. – Credit: ESA 2028 total solar eclipse path, July 22, 2028. – Credit: US National Solar Observatory/Open Street Map 2030 total solar eclipse path, Nov. 25, 2030. – Credit: Eclipse Prediction by Fred Espenak (NASA's GSFC) CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome to Chuck GPT - Total Eclipse of the Sun 03:06 Total Solar Eclipse, August 12, 2026 - Joyfully Cool Cosmic Thing 06:05 Which Planet Or Moon Has the Best Solar Eclipse? 12:07 Why This Is the Best Time in History To See a Solar Eclipse 13:06 Watch Phobos Transit the Sun Via NASA’s Perseverance Rover 14:28 Are There Still Any Scientific Mysteries About Solar Eclipses? 15:18 What’s the Difference Between Solar and Annular Eclipses? 17:05 Real Or Not - The Allais Effect, Pe
- Oct 11, 202643 min
The Light Reveals Everything with Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi SEASON 6 PREMIERE
What can we learn from a beam of light? How much dark matter is there in our solar system? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Alice Liu welcome astrophysicist, inventor, educator, and CEO of The Astro Society, Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi, PhD in the first episode of our 6th season. The Astro Society, aka The Astronomical Society of the Pacific, is the oldest astronomical professional society in the U.S., founded in 1889 after a total solar eclipse seen on the West Coast. They’re the organization behind the Night Sky Network, funded by NASA. As always, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing: a possible dark matter particle detection by the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment at the Sanford Underground Research Facility underground in South Dakota. Dr. Oluseyi explains the event itself, how particle astrophysics works, and why the jury is still out on whether it was an actual discovery of dark matter or not. Our first audience question comes from John: “How much dark matter in the solar system is there?” According to Hakeem, it depends on which model you use: WIMP or MACHO. In a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle model, the mass of dark matter in the solar system would be about one millionth the mass of the Earth. When Chuck asks how something that small can have such an impact, Dr. Oluseyi references the enormity of the galaxy, and the fact that the dark matter halo surrounding it is 10 times bigger than that! Our next question is from Kari, who asks, “What's the difference between bright energy and dark energy?” Hakeem explains that the “dark” in dark energy refers to our lack of knowledge, which is different than the use of dark in “dark matter” because it doesn’t interact with light. He’s more effusive about light and what it can tell us about anything that interacts with it. Next, Dr. Oluseyi talks about his experiences building space telescopes, like the Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array (MSSTA) designed to observe the Sun in ultraviolet and soft x-rays. He also shares some very expensive mistakes made by grad students who went on to have successful careers. After our break, Alice has another audience question. Stephanie asks, “If the Sun's just a ball of gas in space, why hasn't it just evaporated into space yet?” According to Hakeem, that is a brilliant question, and the answer is that it has been, from day one. He says the sun is leaking mass via the solar wind, although it’s not exactly the same process as evaporation. But the sun is so massive, that even this constant loss hasn’t made a dent in it’s size. Moving on, Chuck asks Hakeem how he got into science. His surprising, heartwarming story of “Hope, Hustle, and Help” takes us from Mississippi and the 9th Ward in Houston in the Seventies to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and NASA. We end with Hakeem recounting the story of how he was asked to lead the investigation into whether NASA Administrator James E. Webb was involved with or culpable in the mistreatment of members of the NASA community. The findings: Webb was not only not culpable, but had actually acted to protect gay people and others in government service, as well as working against racism. If you’d like to know more about Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi, you can visit theastrosociety.org website, their YouTube channel, AstroBeatShow, or catch him on his NOVA podcast, “Particles of Thought,” and the “Does It Fly” podcast from Rodenberry Podcasts with Tamara Krinsky. We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon. Image Credits: The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment. – All Images Credit: Sanford Underground Research Facility. The Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array (MSSTA). – Credit: NASA MSSTA payload on Sounding rocket 36.049, White Sands Missile Range, May 1991. – Credit: NASA Visualization of space weather in the solar system in 2015 as the New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto. – Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio, the Space Weather Research Center (SWRC) and the Community-Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC), Enlil and Dusan Odstrcil (GMU) James E. Webb. – Credit: NASA NASA Administrator James Webb tours the new Plum Brook Reactor Facility in Dec. 1961 with Abe Silverstein, Director of the Lewis Research Center. – Credit: NASA CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome to Season 6 of The LIUniverse 01:25 Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi Describes The Astro Society, Founded in 1889 03:46 Possible Dark Matter Detection - Joyfully Cool Cosmic Thing 10:46 How Much Dark Matter Is There in the Solar System? 15:32 What's the Difference Between Bright Energy and Dark Energy? 18:12 What Matters Most When Building Solar Telescopes? 28:27 If the Sun Is a Ball of Gas, Why Hasn't
- Aug 29, 202641 min
Bonus Episode: The Secret Fortress of Ag-Karrah, Part 2 (Actual Play)
What happens next when an astronomer, a mathematician, an educator, a physics student and a biomedical engineer stand upon the threshold of the Great Room of the perilous, Secret Fortress of Ag-Karrah? You get the conclusion to this summer’s bonus Actual Play episode of The LIUniverse starring Dr. Charles Liu, co-host Alice Liu, Hannah Liu, M.Ed., Isaac Liu, and Eleanor Adams. For this episode of The LIUniverse, Chuck and co-host Alice Liu welcome back fan favorite guest and expert on ancient civilizations, author and educator Hannah Liu, M.Ed. (a.k.a. our “Classicist of Awesomeness”), and the show’s “Intern Extraordinaire” and TikTok channel manager, physics student Eleanor Adams. We’ve also got another guest, and it’s none other than “the hidden Liu sibling,” Isaac Liu, “Master of Science and Bricks,”who is pursuing his PhD in Biomedical Engineering starting this fall at Rochester Polytechnic Institute. Normally in these descriptions we tell you what you’ll find in the episode. For the conclusion of this bonus episode, where Alice is gamemastering a live, tabletop role playing game called “Swords & Sorcery,” which is a little like “Dungeons & Dragons” but much simpler, we’re going to skip the sizzle and let you get straight to the steak. The party of stalwart adventurers braving the perils of “The Secret Fortress of Ag-Karrah” is made up of: Charles Liu as Larry the Lion-Livered, a Druid. Isaac Liu as a Dwarven fighter named Brickothy Brickton Hannah Liu as a Tortle magic user named Felix Frankfurter Eleanor Adams as a Palladin of Athena named Annabeth Now, as GM Alice Liu says by way of preamble, “You walk past the dead jellyfish you’ve defeated and enter the Great Room…” Enjoy Part Two, the conclusion of The Secret Fortress of Ag-Karrah. We hope you like this bonus episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/theliuniverse. Credits for this Episode: – “Swords & Sorcery” – Designed by James Lennox-Gordon / UnknownDungeon.itch.io / v1.1 2020 - CC BY SA 4.0. “Swords & Sorcery” is a hack of John Harper’s “Lasers & Feelings.” Find out more here: https://unknowndungeon.itch.io/swords-and-sorcery
- Aug 16, 202648 min
Bonus Episode: The Secret Fortress of Ag-Karrah, Part 1 (Actual Play)
What happens when an astronomer, a mathematician, an educator, a physics student and a biomedical engineer set off to explore the Secret Fortress of Ag-Karrah? You get Part One of this summer’s bonus Actual Play episode of The LIUniverse starring Dr. Charles Liu and company. You read that right! For this actual play podcast episode of The LIUniverse, Chuck and co-host Alice Liu welcome back fan favorite guest and expert on ancient civilizations, author and educator Hannah Liu, M.Ed., and the show’s intern and TikTok channel manager, physics student Eleanor Adams. But for this special occasion – drumroll, please – we’ve also got another guest, and it’s none other than “the hidden Liu sibling,” Isaac Liu, who is pursuing his PhD in Biomedical Engineering starting this fall at Rochester Polytechnic Institute. Normally in these descriptions we tell you what you’ll find in the episode. For this bonus episode, where Alice is gamemastering a live, tabletop role playing game called “Swords & Sorcery,” which is a little like “Dungeons & Dragons” but much simpler, we’re going to skip the sizzle and let you get straight to the steak. We will, however, describe the party that is venturing into “The Secret Fortress of Ag-Karrah.” Charles Liu is Larry the Lion-Livered, a Druid. Isaac Liu is a Dwarven fighter named Brickothy Brickton Hannah Liu is a Tortle magic user named Felix Frankfurter Eleanor Adams is a Palladin of Athena named Annabeth Now, as GM Alice Liu says by way of preamble, “There might be combat. There might be treasure. There might be secrets inside of this hidden fortress…” Enjoy Part One of The Secret Fortress of Ag-Karrah – and be sure to come back for Part 2 in a couple of weeks. (And yes, of course there’s a Joyfully Cool Cosmic Thing this episode, but we don’t want to ruin the surprise.) We hope you like this bonus episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon. Credits for this Episode: – “Swords & Sorcery” – Designed by James Lennox-Gordon / UnknownDungeon.itch.io / v1.1 2020 - CC BY SA 4.0. “Swords & Sorcery” is a hack of John Harper’s “Lasers & Feelings.” Find out more here. #LIUniverse #CharlesLiu #SwordsandSorcery #ActualPlayPodcast
- Jun 13, 202638 min
ChuckGPT - Patreon Question Edition
It’s time for the Season 5 finale of The LIUniverse, which means another episode of ChuckGPT where we answer our audience’s most vexing questions – this time via video from our Patreon Patrons. And to help us answer those questions, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome back fan favorite guest and expert on ancient civilizations, author and educator Hannah Liu, M.Ed. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing: the completion of DESI’s 5-year survey mapping millions of objects in the universe. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument completed the survey ahead of schedule, so there’s still time to map millions more. Hannah tells us about mapping the universe in antiquity, starting with the first star catalog created by the Babylonians about 3,000 years ago. You’ll hear about the Venus tablet from the first millennium BC, Chinese star charts from the Tang dynasty, and Atlas, the mythological Titan who was the “first astrologer.” Returning to the DESI survey, Chuck talks about the change in the dark energy content of the universe that we didn’t really expect. Allen, our resident mathematician, talks about the velocity of universal expansion and a concept called “the jerk.” Then it’s time for audience questions, and for this episode, we’re doing something new. Both audience questions come from Patreon Patrons, and both are in video format so you can actually see our fans asking Chuck the questions – if you’re watching rather than listening, that is. Our first question comes from Patron Lee Dubey, who asks, “Since atoms are mostly empty space, could all matter, including measuring devices, almost undetectably consume minimal space, warping the space around it? If so, could that cause gravity, and could the shrinkage cause a redshift related to dark energy?” We’re not even going to try and summarize the explanation from Allen and Chuck here, except to say that the ensuing conversation includes the physics concept of “unparticles.” Hannah brings up Democritus, who, along with his teacher Leucippus in ancient Greece, first theorized the existence of atoms. Our next question comes from our Patreon Patron Lee Williams, who asks, “If we live in a simulation, is it correct to assume that there’s an architect? Could there be a simulation without an architect?” Given that there’s no scientific answer to either of these questions, Chuck turns to Hannah for enlightenment. While she explains that the question of whether we live in a simulation is a modern concept, Hanna discusses how humanity grapples with the questions of existence and higher powers, and why people engage with religion, magic, or quantum entanglement in the first place. In the free-wheeling, far-ranging conversation that follows, Allen brings up how we create simulations now, by creating processes and letting them run, to offer some perspective on the role of the architect. And yes, H.P. Lovecraft, “The Devil and Daniel Webster,” “Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus,” and even Spider-Man somehow make it into the discussion. And that’s it for this season of The LIUniverse. We want to thank all of you for your questions, your curiosity, and your help in keeping this experiment going. As Chuck always says, “Thank you for being a part of The LIUniverse.” We hope you enjoyed this episode, and this season, of The LIUniverse. If you do, please support us on Patreon. Credits for Images Used in this Episode: Map of DESI’s 5-year survey. – Credit: Claire Lamman/DESI collaboration. Roman statue of Atlas (2nd century AD). Credit: Lalupa / Creative Commons The Venus tablet recording astronomical positions for Venus dating from the first millennium BC. – Credit: FAI / Creative Commons Chinese Tang dynasty star map made around the year 700. – Credit: Public Domain. CHAPTERS 00:00 - We Welcome Back Archaeology Expert, Author and Educator Hannah Liu, M.Ed. 02:28 - Joyfully Cool Cosmic Thing: DESI Completes Its 5-Year Survey of the Universe 04:33 - Mapping the Universe in Antiquity 12:06 - The Empty Space in Atoms, Gravity, Shrinkage, and Dark Energy 16:42 - What Are Unparticles? 22:53 - Do We Live in a Simulation? Is There an Architect?
- May 30, 202643 min
Our Weird, Wondrous Universe with Erika Hamden
How do distant galaxies form? If you have two distant clouds of hydrogen, why does one turn into a star and another doesn’t? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome Dr. Erika Hamden, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Arizona. If Erika looks familiar, that might be because her TED Talk or “New Frontiers,” the TV show she hosts on Arizona Public Media. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, Artemis II, our first manned mission around the moon since 1972. Chuck, Allen and Erika share their excitement watching the mission, and especially the landing, while we watch the “only good video of the moon ever taken with a phone” that Reid Wiseman shot on his iPhone. Dr. Hamden tells us about her research into how distant stars and galaxies form. To fill in the blanks of this cosmic puzzle, she observes hydrogen in its elemental or molecular form – not looking at the stars themselves, but the emissions from hydrogen atoms. You’ll learn about star formation in our galaxy and how Erika discerns the moment that a new star “first turns on.” Then it’s time for our first audience question. Emma B. asks, “How many galaxies are there?” Erika says that in the observable universe, it’s an outrageously large number, probably hundreds of billions or more. We take a look at the Hubble Ultra Deep Field image, which reflects a “tiny, tiny part of the sky,” where every dot except for the 3 stars is a galaxy. And that’s just the universe we can see. Chuck asks Erika to tell us about her book, “Weird Universe: Everything We Don’t Know about Space (and why it’s important).” Professor Hamden shares her belief that anyone can understand anything if it’s explained the right way to them. She talks about a poem by Rebecca Elson called “Responsibility to Awe” and the responsibility scientists have to share the wonders of the world with everybody. For our next audience question, Ava asks, “What is the craziest job in Astronomy that you have seen AI take over from humans?” Erika talks about using LLMs to review the digitized photographic plates of stars and the massive amount of data from the Vera Rubin Observatory, and also which activities still require human creativity. Speaking of creativity, it turns out that before becoming an astrophysicist, Erika got a diploma at Le Cordon Bleu in London and had a career as a professional chef. She still loves to cook and shares her recipe (below) for the Swedish-style cardamom buns she shows us in the episode. Finally, before we go, we congratulate Emily on recently being awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. She shares some wisdom and advice she’s learned on her journey that she also tells her students, but according to her it’s a bit “cheesy” so we’ll let her tell you in the show. If you’d like to know more about Dr. Hamden, you can keep up with her research, follow her on her social media accounts, and find out about her book by visiting her website. We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon. Erika’s Cardamom Bun Recipe You can find the original recipe here on Cecilia Tolone’s Substack. Erika’s Modifications: “My changes are that I add more milk- about 75 grams more, because American flour is drier and Tucson is especially dry! And I played around with adding chiltipin flakes (a local, very spicy pepper) to the filling to make it kind of spicy. It’s great! Finally, I use whole cardamom seeds from Penzey’s that I grind before putting in.” Credits for Images Used in this Episode: Artemis II end of mission splashdown. – Credit: NASA/ Bill Ingalls. Artemis II astronaut Reid Wiseman’s iPhone video of the Earth and the Moon with his iPhone 17 ProMax, using 8x zoom, which he said is comparable to what he was seeing from the Artemis II capsule. – Credit: NASA /Reid Wiseman Hydrogen observed in the Milky Way Galaxy. – Credit: HI4PI Collaboration The Hubble Ultra Deep Field. – Credit: NASA/ESA Example of a photographic plate of stars, including notation marks, aka a Schmidt ammonia-sensitized, near-IR (Kodak I-N) objective-prism plate exposed for 1 hr. – Credit: STScI/ESO/Carnegie. Additional Credits: A Responsibility to Awe, by Rebecca Elson CHAPTERS 00:00 - We welcome University of Arizona Astrophysics Prof. Dr. Erika Hamden 02:43 - Joyfully Cool Cosmic Thing: Artemis II Mission and Return 08:14 - How Do Distant Stars and Galaxies Form? 15:46 -How Many Galaxies Are There? 18:25 - Weird Universe and
- May 16, 202645 min
Ruby Raindrops and Painted Peacocks with Munazza Alam
Are there really exoplanets with where it rains ruby and emerald raindrops? How do we measure the atmospheres of exoplanets light years away? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome Dr. Munazza Alam of the Space Telescope Science Institute. The STScI performs science operations for the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope when it launches in 2026. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing. On Feb 24, 2026, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory activated the alert system it will use to notify astronomers of noteworthy events and sent out 800,000 alerts on that single day! Munazza tells us about how she studies the atmospheres of exoplanets like Wasp 121-b, a gas giant thought to have ruby and sapphire rain. Dr. Alam describes exoplanets with surface oceans made of magma, and she and Chuck talk about the importance of plate tectonics. You’ll hear about Hot Jupiters, Super-Earths, and Sub-Neptunes – and the theories about why we don’t have any of them in our solar system despite the fact that they’re incredibly common in the Milky Way galaxy. Then it’s time for audience questions, which for this episode come from students at Notre Dame Academy on Staten Island, where Munazza is an alum. Not only does past guest Dr. Betty Jensen teach there, as well, but she was a critical influence on Munazza’s career path. (You can listen to our episode with Dr. Jensen here.) The first question is from Charlotte, who asks, “How far have we gone in space?” Munazza, Allen, and Chuck discuss Voyager 1, which at a current distance of nearly 16 billion miles is the man-made object that has gone furthest from Earth. Next up, Gabby asks, “What was the best advice you were given when you were preparing for college?” Dr. Alam’s answer: Pick something you enjoy and are good at - in spite of any pressure you might get from friends, family, and others. A second piece of advice Munazza got was to maintain your breadth, i.e., developing other interests besides your primary focus. For Munazza, that was art and writing, and she shares some of her art later in the show. Finally, Gisella asks if it was hard picking a college. Dr. Alam shares her process, with the caveat that it might not be good advice for everyone. Charles and Munazza reflect on the tradition of scientific exploration, observation, discovery and analysis of which she’s part. Munazza recounts the excitement when JWST observations of transmission spectra of the exoplanet Wasp 39b confirmed their predictions – and also detected something unexpected: sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere of the planet which is a by-product of photochemistry between light from its star and water molecules in the atmosphere of the planet. Finally, Chuck asks Munazza to share some of her art. She shows us one of the first paintings she ever did, a peacock, and tells us a little about it and a portrait she has displayed at the Lowell Observatory. If you’d like to know more about what Dr. Alam is up to, you can follower her on LinkedIn or visit her website . We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon. Credits for Images Used in this Episode: Artist impression of Wasp 121-b, an exoplanet thought to have ruby and sapphire rain. – Credit: NASA, ESA, Q. Changeat et al., M. Zamani (ESA/Hubble) Quake epicenters Digital Tectonic Activity Map of the Earth (DTAM). – Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Illustration comparing the sizes of sub-Neptune exoplanets TOI-421 b and GJ 1214 b to Earth and Neptune. – Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Dani Player (STScI) Illustration of the inferred size of the super-Earth CoRoT-7b (center) in comparison with Earth and Neptune. – Credit: Creative Commons / Aldaron Location of the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft. – Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech JWST transmission spectra of the exoplanet Wasp 39b. – Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI) Radial velocity method to detect exoplanets. – Credit::ESA Transit method for discovering exoplanets (animation). – Credit: NASA PlanetQuest Artist's concept of WASP-107b, a gas giant, orbiting a highly active K-type star about 200 light-years from Earth. – Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, M. Kornmesser CHAPTERS 00:00 - We welcome Dr. Munazza Alam of the Space Telescope Science Institute 02:50 - Joyfully cool cosmic thing: Vera C. Rubin Observatory Alert System 07:00 - How Do We Know What Exop
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