Episode 164: Jupiter's Ancient Odyssey, with Simona Pirani

The Star Spot

Feature Guest: Simona Pirani

The planet Jupiter occupies a position today that is far from its home 4.5 billion years ago, a destination resulting from a primeval migration that started way out around the current location of Uranus. Like the god for which it was named, Jupiter enjoys the company of thousands of followers, the so-called trojan asteroids, which have remained by its side all these years, and they now offer a window into the murky origins of the gas giant. Today we’re joined here at The Star Spot by Simona Pirani, lead author of a new study that provides the first ever proof that Jupiter - and perhaps most planets - undertake ancient odysseys around the solar system.

Current in Space

We have bad news and good news. Simon puts a bit of a damper on things, as the first manned mission to Mars will have to wait longer than initially projected. Then Amelia and Samantha explain a crazy new finding: a pulsar that seems to be speeding through space! And we save the good news for last, as Tony shares new research suggesting that Earth-like planets orbiting red dwarf stars, which have been deduced as unlikely to host life, may actually be habitable after all.

About Our Guest

Simona Pirani is a doctoral student in the Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics at Lund University in Sweden. She is the lead author on a major new study into ancient planetary migrations.