astro[sound]bites

Episode 47: Gracefully Aging Galaxies

In today’s episode, we learn all about the clues that Kevin has benevolently placed within the Universe to teach us about the graceful and multifaceted field of galaxy evolution. Alex describes how much the galaxies of today can learn from their wise, high-redshift ancestors through Lyman-alpha emission, while Will segues into the mysterious properties of one of the most nearby aged galaxies. Malena shares a snazzy sonification of a hidden neighbor, as well as her school bus seating habits.

Astrobites:

astrobites.org/2021/01/22

astrobites.org/2021/10/13

 

Space sound: https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2021/sonify4/ 

(Chandra sonification of  M87)

Episode 46: Brown Dwarfs in Unusual Places

Ever misplace a brown dwarf? If re-tracing your astrophysical steps doesn’t help, it’s probably where you least expect to find it. In this episode, Alex and Malena bring us some brown dwarfs discovered in truly unusual locations. Alex sees the glass half full when he tells us how brown dwarfs could explain long secondary periods in red giants, solving a longstanding mystery. Malena guides us to a brown dwarf oasis in the phase space desert and manages to still talk about planets.

 

(Listen to the outro to hear Alex’s impersonation of an asteroid.)

 

Astrobites:

https://astrobites.org/2021/05/13/red-giants-and-brown-dwarfs-an-unusual-friendship/

https://astrobites.org/2021/04/05/template-post-4/

Space sound: https://youtu.be/o0UOguMeaAE

(Ruben Garcia-Benito and CosMonic project)

CosMonic: http://rgb.iaa.es/cosmonic/#1559689666254-6a21da11-a004

Astronomy Beyond the Common Senses: https://accefyn.com/microsites/nodos/astroco/ii-workshop-on-astronomy-beyond-the-common-senses-for-accessibility-and-inclusion/

Episode 45: Jamming with the GBT

It’s time to talk radio on the radio! In this episode, we explore some of the research beaming out of the world's largest fully steerable radio dish -- the Green Bank Telescope (GBT)! We hear from Brenne Gregory, a Scientific Data Analyst at GBT, about her trek from the rolling hills of Scotland to the heart of the Allegheny Mountains. Will keeps his finger on the pulse of a pair of neutron stars, and Alex listens for a lawn mower at the heart of the Crab Nebula.

 

Astrobite: 

https://astrobites.org/2021/08/21/double-neutron-star-trouble/

 

Space Sound:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5BQV3WX80E

 

Green Bank REU and Internship page:

http://greenbankobservatory.org/about/careers/

Episode 44: Fast and Slow

All speeds are relative—especially in astrophysics. In today’s episode, we learn about the timescales of different transients and explore what the fastest and slowest events can teach us. Alex describes the fastest koala in the universe, Will shares the slowest rotating lighthouse known to date, and Malena tosses in a magnetic curveball to bring us home.

 

Astrobites: 

https://astrobites.org/2019/05/20/radio-pulsars-how-slow-do-they-go/

https://astrobites.org/2020/04/20/a-fast-blue-koala-shines-bright-in-a-distant-galaxy/ 

 

Space sound: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Sounds_from_space

Randall Munroe’s mole of moles calculation: https://what-if.xkcd.com/4/

Episode 43: Welcome to the World of Science Communication

Do you enjoy reading and listening to science communication? Are you ready to get involved with it yourself? From chatting with friends to podcasting, blogging to writing magazine stories, the world of SciComm is more accessible and more diverse than you may have thought.

We share some personal stories about how we got started in scicomm and hear from 2 SciCommers who made the leap from being PhD students to full-time communicators. Kerry shares her experience pitching magazine articles and discusses her new job as a Communications Specialist for the American Astronomical Society. Stephanie tells us how she discovered her passion for public outreach and how it led to her dream job as the head of the social media campaign for the Vera Rubin Observatory.

 

Kerry’s article on the Green Bank Observatory: highland-outdoors.com/green-bank-observatory-wild-wonderful-radio-quiet/

 

SciComm Resources:

• ComSciCon: comscicon.com/
• The Open Notebook: theopennotebook.com/
• NPR Scicommers: npr.org/2017/08/24/537735624/friends-of-joes-big-idea-fojbis
• Stephanie’s list of resources: spacescisteph.com/scicomm-resources
• Astrobite with SciComm advice: astrobites.org/2018/03/16/beyond-communicating-science-like-a-boss/

Space Sound: youtu.be/kM2_Zq7DqUo (Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida))

Episode 42: Where Sci-Fi Meets Reality

This is Episode #42, so it might just contain the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. Today we set our phasers to stun and dig into some astrophysics research that brings science fiction one step closer to becoming science fact! Will teaches us what it takes to become a class II civilization on the Kardashev scale, and Malena gently reminds us that we can’t stop the change, any more than we can stop the suns from setting. Plus, Alex has a space sound that’ll leave you all starry-eared.

 

Astrobites:

https://astrobites.org/2021/09/15

https://astrobites.org/2021/01/26

 

Space Sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESz8Cvirh00&t=41s

Episode 41: Weighing the Universe

How do we figure out the masses of astronomical objects far too large to fit on any human-made scale? In this episode, Alex tracks the paths of planets to figure out which ones are winning a gravitational game of tug-of-war, while Will describes a mysterious little galaxy that seems to be missing a key component. And, you won’t want to miss our spectacular sonification contest runner-up from Tharindu Jayasinghe, who brought to sound the most extreme heartbeat star known to date!

 

Astrobites:

https://astrobites.org/2021/08/17

https://astrobites.org/2021/07/07 

 

HR 8799 gif: https://jasonwang.space/orbits.html 

ASAS-SN variable star sonifications: https://asas-sn.osu.edu/atlas

Episode 40: Space Summer Surprise

We’re back from vacation! We play 2 truths and a lie about what we did this summer and learn that the truth might be subjective. Alex brings a BBQ-themed Astrobite about the brightest galaxies, teaching us that “astronomical Hot DOG” is a state of being. Malena discusses how planets vacation to the outer solar system (spoiler: they never return home). 

 

For this week’s space sound, we speak with the winner of the 2021 Sonification Competition, Misty Bentz. Listen to and view her winning sonification, Fantasy on Active Galaxies: https://astrosoundbites.com/2021/09/11/episode-40-space-summer-surprise/

 

Astrobites:

https://astrobites.org/2021/07/21/cosmic-bbq-hot-dogs/

https://astrobites.org/2021/06/26/super-jupiters-be-like-im-getting-outta-here-the-disk-is-too-eccentric/

Episode 39: Polarizing Protostars

Billions of years before Van Gogh put paint to canvas and immortalized them forever, the stars in the sky were nothing more than an intricate tangle of magnetic fields and swirling gas. Turn the clock back with us as we learn about the physics of these protostellar systems! Northwestern/CIERA postdoctoral associate Erin G. Cox teaches us about the polarization patterns of Class 0 and Class I systems, and Will gets all turbulated as he discovers how HII regions might drive star formation.

 

Astrobites:

https://astrobites.org/2021/05/05/inflating-hii-regions-cause-star-formation-to-pop/

https://astrobites.org/2020/08/05/protostar-polarization/

 

Erin’s website: 

https://sites.northwestern.edu/eringcox/

 

Space sound: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8qdJsLqR7w

Credit: System Sounds (M. Russo & A. Santaguida) and NASA/CXC/SAO/K. Arcand 

Episode 38: Keep Your Head in the Clouds

Tired of vacations being ruined by cloudy weather? Alex the travel agent can book your next trip to brown dwarf binary 1416B, where it’s always a balmy 2000 degrees and never cloudy. Or maybe a sojourn to a hot Jupiter is more your style? Malena the meteorologist has you covered with your 10-million year forecast: cloudy and lopsided.

In recognition of Juneteenth and the start of #BlackInAstro week, both papers featured in this episode were led by Black astronomers. 

 

Read our new Astrobite about sonification: astrobites.org/2021/06/17/getting-started-in-sonification

Submit for the competition: astrosoundbites.com/sonification-competition-2021

Astrobites:

astrobites.org/2020/08/18/inhomogeneous-clouds/

astrobites.org/2020/10/14/brown-dwarf-weather-forecast/

Space sound: nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/Parker-Discovers-Natural-Radio-Emission-in-Venus-Atmosphere. (Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio/Mark SubbaRao/Glyn Collinson)