Best Deep Astronomy, LLC Podcasts (2024)

1
Epsilon Indi Ab: A Twin of Jupiter 5:05

2M ago5:05

5:05

An international team of astronomers has directly imaged this exoplanet, one of the coldest ever seen. The team observed Epsilon Indi Ab using the coronagraph on Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument. Only a few tens of exoplanets have ever been directly imaged by space- and ground-based observatories. These observations are ushering in a completely new e…

1
The Rogue Planets of JWST 4:47

2M ago4:47

4:47

The Orion Nebula, M42, is the largest stellar nursery close to Earth. Within this massive complex some 1300 light years away, the James Webb Space Telescope has unveiled hundreds of Jupiter-sized rogue planets roaming freely here. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/discoveries/rogue-planets-jwst/.…

1
How Far Are the Closest Exoplanets with Life? 4:48

1y ago4:48

4:48

To increase our chances of finding life on other planets, a systematic approach needs to be adopted, one that applies reasonable assumptions that maximize our success. So, an important question becomes, where should we point our telescopes? Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/science/closest-exoplanets-with-life/.…

1
How Long Will Life on Earth Last? 4:32

1y ago4:32

4:32

Nothing lasts forever, stars live and die over the course of hundreds of millions to billions, and in the case of red dwarf stars, trillions of years. Planets are born from the remnants of their parent stars and die over a shorter timescale. Life on those planets, if it exists, is presumed to be shorter still, governed entirely by the environments …

1
Exoplanet Temperatures from Secondary Eclipses 4:19

1y ago4:19

4:19

Over the course of this show, we’ve talked many many times about the Transit Method for detecting exoplanets. It is simply the measure of a star's decrease in brightness as the star passes through our line of sight. This once difficult measurement has now become commonplace and can even be done with advanced amateur astronomy equipment under a reas…

1
TOI 1853 b: A Baffling Planet That Defies Explanation 4:48

1y ago4:48

4:48

Meet TOI-1853 b, one of the weirdest exoplanets ever discovered! It's about the size of Neptune, but four times more massive. It orbits its star so closely that it completes a full orbit in just 1.24 days. This makes it very hot, and it's located in a region of space known as the 'hot Neptune desert', where astronomers have been looking for Hot Nep…

1
Biosignatures: The Search for Life Beyond Earth 4:56

1y ago4:56

4:56

In recent years, scientists have made great strides in the search for extraterrestrial life. They have discovered thousands of exoplanets. And some of them are located in the habitable zone of their star, which means that liquid water could exist on their surface and is essential for life as we know it. The search for life however, is a little more…

1
The First Hycean World? JWST's Discovery of K2-18 b 4:53

1y ago4:53

4:53

The James Webb Space Telescope has completed observations of an exoplanet that may contain an ocean-covered surface underneath a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. This discovery provides a fascinating glimpse into a planet unlike anything in our Solar System, and raises interesting prospects about potentially habitable worlds elsewhere in the Universe. Sho…

1
Osiris: The Exoplanet That Changed Everything 4:40

1y ago4:40

4:40

On September 9, 1999, a team of astronomers from the High Altitude Observatory made a groundbreaking discovery. Using the radial velocity method, they detected a massive, Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a Sun-like star HD 209458. This was the first exoplanet to be discovered using this method, and since that fateful day, this system has become a cham…

1
A Glimpse into the Early Stages of Planetary Evolution 3:52

1y ago3:52

3:52

Deep in the cosmos, NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered four new worlds orbiting a pair of young stars. These planets are providing scientists with a glimpse into a little-understood stage of planetary evolution - the time when atmospheres are being formed. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/science/gl…

1
TRAPPIST-1e: The Most Habitable Exoplanet? 4:00

1y ago4:00

4:00

TRAPPIST-1e is a rocky, close-to-Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone around the ultra-cool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 approximately 40 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Aquarius. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/exoplanets/trappist-1e-most-habitable-exoplanet/.…

1
Tidally Locked Worlds: Life in the Twilight Zone 4:48

1y ago4:48

4:48

Based on our experience here on Earth, we know life here to be tenacious and ubiquitous. Even in the harshest climates, if we look hard enough, we can usually find some sort of life there. We are hoping the same is true on worlds around other stars, and recent research has begun looking into the question of whether life on other worlds could exist …

1
What is the Habitable Worlds Observatory? 4:00

1y ago4:00

4:00

Finding habitable worlds has been a driving passion since we first learned there were other planets out there, and to find them, we are going to need a dedicated instrument that does nothing else but tries to locate and characterize them. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/science/habitable-worlds-observatory/.…

1
TESS's Breakthrough Discovery of Long-Period Exoplanets TOI 4600 b and c 4:40

1y ago4:40

4:40

Human beings have discovered over five thousand five hundred exoplanets. Over 80 percent of them have orbits shorter than 50 days which would place them at over twice as close to their star as Mercury is to the Sun. Some are even closer. Recent observations from TESS however have found one with an orbit of 82 days and another measured in hundreds o…

1
Astronomers Confirm Proxima Centauri b is Not a Transiting Exoplanet 5:00

1y ago5:00

5:00

We know surprisingly little about Proxima Centauri b, but astronomers have just confirmed that it is not a transiting exoplanet. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/discoveries/proxima-centauri-b-not-transiting-exoplanet/.By Tony Darnell

1
The Many Earth-Sized Worlds of TOI-700 5:00

1y ago5:00

5:00

Move over TRAPPIST-1, there a new system that is just as exciting. TOI-700 is a system of four rocky, Earth-sized worlds and some might be habitable Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/exoplanets/many-worlds-toi-700/.By Tony Darnell

1
Meet TrES-2b: The Planet That Reflects Almost No Light 4:00

1y ago4:00

4:00

Here is a planet that is so dark that it reflects less than one percent of the sunlight falling on it. How can a planet be so black? What makes it glow like a burning ember? And what kind of weather does it have? Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/exoplanets/tres2b-planet-reflects-no-light/.…

1
How Starshades Can Help Us Find New Worlds 4:00

1y ago4:00

4:00

Most of the 5000 exoplanets discovered so far have been found using methods that don’t actually see the planet at all. Brightness dimmings and star wobbles only get us so far. They limit our ability to study them in detail and astronomers are working on gigantic starshades to resolve planets directly Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.c…

1
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will Revolutionize our Understanding of Exoplanets 4:00

1y ago4:00

4:00

The next big milestone in our study of exoplanets is a telescope that can see beyond the limits of our eyes, beyond the boundaries of our solar system, beyond the frontiers of our knowledge. A telescope that can reveal the secrets of the stars and the mysteries of the planets. A telescope that can take us closer to finding another home in the cosmo…

1
Is TRAPPIST-1 c Habitable? New Webb Telescope Observations Suggest Not 4:00

1y ago4:00

4:00

A team of astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to study the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 c, which is one of seven rocky planets orbiting an ultracool red dwarf star 40 light-years from Earth. The team found that the planet's atmosphere, if it exists at all, is extremely thin Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/discoveries/jwst-tra…

1
Trillions of Worlds Without Stars 4:00

1y ago4:00

4:00

The nine year survey recently completed by astronomers found one Earth-sized rogue planet and the second discovery of its kind. The study also analyzed the survey data and concluded that rogue planets are more abundant than all other planets in our galaxy. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/discoveries/trillions-of-worlds-without-st…

1
How Common are Habitable Exoplanets? 4:00

1y ago4:00

4:00

One of the big questions we are trying to answer in exoplanet astronomy is: Just how common are habitable planets? We already know that exoplanets themselves are extremely common: Astronomers tell us there are on average 1.6 planets for every star in our galaxy, so there are more planets than stars out there. But what about life? Habitable exoplane…

1
KELT-9b: The Hottest Known Exoplanet 4:00

1y ago4:00

4:00

Kelt-9b is a gas giant planet that orbits a star 670 light-years from Earth. It is so close to its star that its dayside temperature is 7,800 degrees Fahrenheit (4,300 degrees Celsius), hotter than some stars. This heat is so intense that it rips apart the molecules in the planet's atmosphere, including hydrogen gas. Show Notes Available at https:/…

1
HAT-P-67 b: The Largest Exoplanet Known 4:00

1y ago4:00

4:00

HAT-P-67-b seems to fit the bill. It is 1,200 light years from Earth and has a radius that is a little over twice that of Jupiters’. It orbits its host star very closely, only 10 million kilometers away and has a year that is almost 5 days long. The star itself, HAT-P-67, is an F-type star that is one and a half times the mass of the Sun and about …

1
JWST Takes First Direct Image of an Exoplanet 4:07

1y ago4:07

4:07

The launch and deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope in July 2022, marked the beginning of a new era in exoplanet science. Never before had humanity launched a more powerful and technologically advanced instrument into orbit that had the capabilities that JWST does. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/discoveries/jwst-takes-fi…

1
TRAPPIST-1d: A World on the Edge of Life 4:07

1y ago4:07

4:07

Tucked inside a quiet solar system, in the area of sky outlined by the constellation Aquarius, orbits a planet named TRAPPIST-1d, the third of seven planets in a system positioned 41 light years from our vantage point. TRAPPIST-1d is a rocky, Earth-like planet, meaning that it is roughly the same size and mass as our home. Show Notes Available at h…

1
Finding Exoplanets with Direct Imaging 3:48

1y ago3:48

3:48

So far, we have discovered over 5000 exoplanets, using transit, radial velocity and microlensing methods. But there is another way to find exoplanets that has only recently been possible: by directly seeing them with our eyes. This is unimaginatively called the direct imaging method, and has revealed some amazing results. Show Notes Available at ht…

1
James Webb Space Telescope Observes New Type of Brown Dwarf 4:30

1y ago4:30

4:30

Imagine a planet that is so far away from us that it takes 40 years for its light to reach us. Now imagine that this planet has not one, but two stars that it orbits around. And finally, imagine that this planet has clouds made of sand particles that change the brightness of its atmosphere wildly as they move in the air. Show Notes Available at htt…

1
Life in the Dark: How Moons of Rogue Planets Could Harbor Life 4:00

1y ago4:00

4:00

In our galaxy, there are many planets that wander alone in the dark, without a star to orbit. These rogue planets could have formed from the same material that makes stars, or they could have been kicked out of their original star systems by gravitational interactions. Some of these rogue planets could have moons which remain in tow, and these moon…

1
How Long Would it Take to Travel to Proxima Centauri b? 4:33

1y ago4:33

4:33

Many people feel that it’s very important for humanity’s long term survival that we become a multiplanet species. Traveling to and possibly even inhabiting other planets in our solar system is not only possible with our current levels of technology, but compared to going to the stars, it’s downright easy. But what about traveling to exoplanets? Can…

1
A Giant Planet Found Orbiting a Small Star 3:33

1y ago3:33

3:33

A massive, Jupiter-sized exoplanet has been discovered orbiting a small, low-mass star and this discovery is challenging theories on how planets form around their stars. The planet, called TOI-4860 b, is about the same size as Jupiter and orbits its star once every 1.5 Earth days, classifying it as a warm Jupiter. This is unusual because planets th…

1
The First Exoplanets: The Discovery That Forever Changed Us 3:46

1+ y ago3:46

3:46

Our galaxy likely holds hundreds of billions of planets around other stars but when and how did we begin finding them? What was the first exoplanet detected? It turns out that the first discovery wasn’t one, but two planets in the same system. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/discoveries/the-first-exoplanets/.…

1
Finding Exoplanets 4:01

1+ y ago4:01

4:01

Finding exoplanets is not an easy endeavor, but it is nonetheless very important. Finding planets around other stars is vital for humanity to understand its place in the cosmos. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/science/finding-exoplanets/.By Tony Darnell

1
WASP-39b: A Hot, Jupiter-sized World 3:10

1+ y ago3:10

3:10

WASP-39 b is a hot and puffy planet with a mass roughly one-quarter that of Jupiter and a diameter 1.3 times greater than Jupiter Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/exoplanets/wasp39b-hot-jupiter/.By Tony Darnell

1
TRAPPIST-1: A System Full of Hope 3:33

1+ y ago3:33

3:33

Aside from our own solar system, one of the most studied stellar systems lies about 40 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Aquarius. Using ground and space based telescopes like Spitzer, Kepler, Hubble, and, now, the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers are looking hard at the seven rocky exoplanets orbiting the TRAPPIST-1 sta…

1
Exoplanet Detected in Another Galaxy? 4:02

1+ y ago4:02

4:02

Astronomers have found evidence of a possible planet outside of our Milky Way galaxy. If confirmed, this is the first time that a planet has been detected in another galaxy. It is located in the spiral galaxy Messier 51, also called the Whirlpool Galaxy Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/discoveries/exoplanet-detected-another-galaxy…

1
The First Exoplanet of JWST 3:38

1+ y ago3:38

3:38

The Webb Space Telescope observed this planet as it passed between the telescope and the host star, LHS 475. By watching the spectra of that star over two orbits, astronomers were able to measure the diameter of LHS 475b and get an idea of its density. This is the first exoplanet confirmed by the James Webb space telescope. Show Notes Available at …

1
An Exoplanet That Shouldn't Exist 3:19

1+ y ago3:19

3:19

Astronomers have found a planet around a red giant star that should have been destroyed, yet it still exists, leaving astronomers to wonder why the planet is still there. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/exoplanets/an-exoplanet-that-shouldnt-exist/.By Tony Darnell

1
Proxima Centauri-b: The Closest Exoplanet to Earth 2:37

1+ y ago2:37

2:37

Proxima Centauri-b is only 4.5 light years away and may be a good candidate for life. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/exoplanets/Proxima-Centauri-b/.By Tony Darnell

1
How Many Exoplanets Are There? 3:58

1+ y ago3:58

3:58

Astronomers estimate there are more planets in our galaxy than there are stars. Just how many is that? Are we likely to travel to them? Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/science/how-many-exoplanets/.By Tony Darnell

1
JWST Measures Temperature of TRAPPIST-1b 3:18

1+ y ago3:18

3:18

JWST has turned its Instruments of the fascinating TRAPPIST-1 system and made its first set of observations by measuring the surface temperature of TRAPPIST-1b Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/discoveries/jwst-measures-trappist-1b-temp/.By Tony Darnell

1
Exoplanets are Everywhere 2:33

1+ y ago2:33

2:33

We have only known there are planets around other stars for about 25 years. Now we know they are everywhere. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/science/exoplanets-are-everywhere/.By Tony Darnell

1
Kepler-22b: A Planet with a lot of Promise 3:55

1+ y ago3:55

3:55

Kepler-22b was the first exoplanet confirmed by the Kepler Space Telescope. It may also harbor life Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/exoplanets/kepler-22b/.By Tony Darnell

1
Rogue Planets: Not All Exoplanets Orbit Stars 2:37

1+ y ago2:37

2:37

Amazingly, astronomers have found planets in space that do not have a host star. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/discoveries/not-all-stars-have-exoplanets/.By Tony Darnell

1
What is an Exoplanet? 3:45

1+ y ago3:45

3:45

Welcome to the first episode of Exoplanet Radio! Let's get started by defining what an exoplanet is. What types are there? Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/science/what-is-an-exoplanet/.By Tony Darnell