Shows
exocastExocast-77b
For this episode the Exocast team are joined by Dr Benjamin (Ben) Pope from the University of Queensland, Brisbane. Ben has worked on everything from transit light curve modelling, to direct imaging instrumentation, to using tree rings to study solar activity and we try desperately to cover it all in the episode. Ben shares with us what excites him the most about the search for exoplanets and how instrumentation developments drive or understanding of these worlds and more importantly (to some) their stars.
In addition, as always we ask our guest to adopt an exoplanet into our...
2025-01-1640 minexocastExocast-76b: Exoplanet Interiors with Professor Caroline Dorn
The Exocast team are joined on this episode by exoplanetary interior investigator Professor Caroline Dorn. Caroline started her career in Earth sciences and geophysics, studying for her PhD aquifer systems at the University of Lausanne, before switching her focus to the interiors of more distant worlds in 2013 with postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Bern and Zurich. As of April 2023, Caroline is an Assistant Professor for exoplanet science at ETH Zürich, and her newly established interdisciplinary exoplanet research group at the Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics is also part of the Center of Origin and Prevalence of L...
2024-11-0841 minexocastExocast-75b: Radial Velocity Surveys of Young Planets with Dr. Louise Nielsen
The Exocast team are joined on this episode by Dr. Louise Nielsen, a Danish astronomer who, after a batchelor’s degree at Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, moved to the Geneva Observatory for a PhD focussing on radial velocity (RV) observations of exoplanets. Louise then completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Oxford and the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Garching, before joining the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich as a staff astronomer in 2023. Louise discusses RV of young planets, follow-up of candidates found by TESS, the future of RV surveys, and she also outlines her early work with gro...
2024-10-2140 minexocastExocast-74b: Exoplanet Characterisation and HST/JWST Mission Support with Dr. Néstor Espinoza
The Exocast team are joined on this show by Dr. Néstor Espinoza from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, USA. Néstor is an Assistant Astronomer and Mission Scientist for Hubble and JWST at STScI, where he focusses on transiting exoplanets and their stars. He also provides support for HST and JWST as Mission Scientist for Exoplanet Science in the Instrument Division, and Néstor speaks to the Exocast gang about balancing these distinct roles, as well as his interest in developing open-source modelling and analysis tools for exoplanet science. As always, Néstor also adds an e...
2024-09-0546 minexocastExocast-73b: Using Adaptive Optics to Find Exoplanets with Jules Fowler
The Exocast team are joined on this show by Jules Fowler, a NSF Graduate Research Fellow at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where they work to improve extreme adaptive optics technologies and seek the signatures of exoplanets in polarized light. Jules also shares insights gleaned from four years working as an analyst and science software engineer at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), where they had the pleasure of collaborating with Exocast’s own Hannah Wakeford to discover transiting exoplanets. As always, listen to the show to find out which ‘planet’ (hint) Jules has adopted into our hall-of-fame this t...
2024-08-0541 minexocastExocast-72b: Directly Imaging Exoplanetary Motion with Dr Jason Wang
The Exocast team return from a short hiatus to be joined on this show by Dr Jason Wang from Northwestern University in Illinois. Jason is a direct imager, and gives us a quick overview of how we are able to find and characterise planets through direct imaging, as well as discussing the Gemini Planet Imager, 51 Eridani b, KPIC, VLT’s Gravity, and the making of the well-known, jaw-dropping animation of the planetary system around HR 8799. Listen to the show to find out which planet Jason has adopted into our hall-of-fame as Exocast’s ‘Adopt-a-planet’ returns.
Do you have a q...
2024-07-0840 minexocastExocast-71c: exoplanet news and the 100th episode
In this most excellent 100th episode of Exocast from the team we bring you the latest in exoplanet research and news.
Hannah and Andrew cover news from the TRAPPIST system. Hannah will dive into the JWST results that have come out about this very famous system of seven Earth-sized rocky planets. Two papers look to the mid-infrared to measure the light directly from the planets b and c in emission – finding that they likely do not have an atmosphere possibly stripped by their stars radiation. The first spectroscopic measurements of TRAPPIST show that the star itself is go...
2023-12-0632 minexocastExocast-71c: exoplanet news and the 100th episode
In this most excellent 100th episode of Exocast from the team we bring you the latest in exoplanet research and news.
Hannah and Andrew cover news from the TRAPPIST system. Hannah will dive into the JWST results that have come out about this very famous system of seven Earth-sized rocky planets. Two papers look to the mid-infrared to measure the light directly from the planets b and c in emission – finding that they likely do not have an atmosphere possibly stripped by their stars radiation. The first spectroscopic measurements of TRAPPIST show that the star itself is go...
2023-12-0632 minexocastExocast-71b: Do All Planets Orbit Stars?
In this episode, Hannah, Hugh, and Andrew ask the question: Do all planets orbit stars?
Even though the vast majority of planets found so far are bound to a star, there have been detections of planetary-mass objects floating alone through space. Are these planets? How do these objects form, and how can we detect them? Is it possible that these free-floating objects could be considered ‘habitable’? The exocast gang tackle these tricky topics and other nomenclature-related debate surrounding this seemingly simple but deceptively complex question.
Do you have a question we didn’t ask? Join in the d...
2023-11-1336 minexocastExocast-71b: Do All Planets Orbit Stars?
In this episode, Hannah, Hugh, and Andrew ask the question: Do all planets orbit stars?
Even though the vast majority of planets found so far are bound to a star, there have been detections of planetary-mass objects floating alone through space. Are these planets? How do these objects form, and how can we detect them? Is it possible that these free-floating objects could be considered ‘habitable’? The exocast gang tackle these tricky topics and other nomenclature-related debate surrounding this seemingly simple but deceptively complex question.
Do you have a question we didn’t ask? Join in the d...
2023-11-1336 minexocastExocast-70c: Exoplanet news
Hugh, Hannah, & Andrew discuss a handful of interesting recent exoplanet papers from the past few months. We chat about the news coverage of K2-18b and the claims of biomarkers in that atmosphere, new discoveries, exciting atmospheres, and haze formation.
Hannah dives into the controversy of K2-18b and the announcement of DMS (a biomarker on Earth) detection amongst a methane dominated spectrum “Carbon-bearing Molecules in a Possible Hycean Atmosphere” by Madhusudhan et al.. The team discuss the responsibility we have as scientists to portray the statistics (in this case the lack of evidence to supp...
2023-10-1541 minexocastExocast-70c: Exoplanet news
Hugh, Hannah, & Andrew discuss a handful of interesting recent exoplanet papers from the past few months. We chat about the news coverage of K2-18b and the claims of biomarkers in that atmosphere, new discoveries, exciting atmospheres, and haze formation.
Hannah dives into the controversy of K2-18b and the announcement of DMS (a biomarker on Earth) detection amongst a methane dominated spectrum “Carbon-bearing Molecules in a Possible Hycean Atmosphere” by Madhusudhan et al.. The team discuss the responsibility we have as scientists to portray the statistics (in this case the lack of evidence to supp...
2023-10-1541 minexocastExocast-70b: Dr. Max Günther discusses transit detection, chemistry in zero-g & ESA CHEOPS
This month the exocast team chat to exoplanetary astronomer Dr Maximillian Guenther. We talk about finding transiting exoplanets with TESS & NGTS, open-source transit modelling, flares from M-dwarf stars, the role of UV in prebiotic chemistry, chemical mixing experiments in zero-g aboard the vomit comet, connections between science and art, and his role as project scientist of the ESA CHEOPS mission. And, of course, hear which important and personally connected planetary system Max has adopted into our hall-of-fame.
Do you have a question we didn’t ask? Join in the discussion in the comments below, and find us on ...
2023-10-0248 minexocastExocast-70b: Dr. Max Günther discusses transit detection, chemistry in zero-g & ESA CHEOPS
This month the exocast team chat to exoplanetary astronomer Dr Maximillian Guenther. We talk about finding transiting exoplanets with TESS & NGTS, open-source transit modelling, flares from M-dwarf stars, the role of UV in prebiotic chemistry, chemical mixing experiments in zero-g aboard the vomit comet, connections between science and art, and his role as project scientist of the ESA CHEOPS mission. And, of course, hear which important and personally connected planetary system Max has adopted into our hall-of-fame.
Do you have a question we didn’t ask? Join in the discussion in the comments below, and find us on ...
2023-10-0248 minexocastExocast-69b: Surviving Scientific Conferences
In this episode Andrew, Hannah, and Hugh discuss the art and science of organising, and attending, scientific conferences, with a particular focus on the recent Exoclimes VI meeting held in Exeter, UK, organised by Hannah and others in the exoplanet community. These meetings are crucial for the dissemination and communication of new results among the community and further afield, but they can be daunting to attend, and very stressful to organise. The team share their personal experiences with conference attendence and organising and consider the changing role and format of the science conference in modern academia.
Do...
2023-08-1646 minexocastExocast-69b: Surviving Scientific Conferences
In this episode Andrew, Hannah, and Hugh discuss the art and science of organising, and attending, scientific conferences, with a particular focus on the recent Exoclimes VI meeting held in Exeter, UK, organised by Hannah and others in the exoplanet community. These meetings are crucial for the dissemination and communication of new results among the community and further afield, but they can be daunting to attend, and very stressful to organise. The team share their personal experiences with conference attendence and organising and consider the changing role and format of the science conference in modern academia.
Do...
2023-08-1646 minexocastExocast-68b: Interview with Nikole Lewis
The Exocast team are back and this time joined by the esteemed Nikole Lewis, Professor and Deputy director of the Carl Sagan institute at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, USA. We chat all things career, JWST, the future of exoplanet characterisation with the Roman Space Telescope and Nikole add her favourite Neptune mass exoplanet GJ 436b to the Exocast Adopted Planets archive.
Before Nikole moved to Cornell in 2018 she was at the Space Telescope Science Institute for 4 years where she served as a member of the JWST NIRISS Instrument team, was the JWST Transiting Exoplanet Group Lead...
2023-06-2738 minexocastExocast-68b: Interview with Nikole Lewis
The Exocast team are back and this time joined by the esteemed Nikole Lewis, Professor and Deputy director of the Carl Sagan institute at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, USA. We chat all things career, JWST, the future of exoplanet characterisation with the Roman Space Telescope and Nikole add her favourite Neptune mass exoplanet GJ 436b to the Exocast Adopted Planets archive.
Before Nikole moved to Cornell in 2018 she was at the Space Telescope Science Institute for 4 years where she served as a member of the JWST NIRISS Instrument team, was the JWST Transiting Exoplanet Group Lead...
2023-06-2738 minexocastExocast-67b: Catching up with the Exocast team
In this episode Andrew, Hannah, and Hugh reflect on where their careers and research in exoplanet science have led over the past few years as a chance to (re)introduce ourselves to new and regular listeners alike! We hope you’ll appreciate a slightly different format for this show.
Do you have a question we didn’t ask? Join in the discussion in the comments below, and find us on Twitter. You can also get your hands on Exocast merchandise at exocast.threadless.com
Exocast is edited by musician/composer Fergus Hall (https://www.fergushallmusic.com) a...
2023-05-1654 minexocastExocast-67b: Catching up with the Exocast team
In this episode Andrew, Hannah, and Hugh reflect on where their careers and research in exoplanet science have led over the past few years as a chance to (re)introduce ourselves to new and regular listeners alike! We hope you’ll appreciate a slightly different format for this show.
Do you have a question we didn’t ask? Join in the discussion in the comments below, and find us on Twitter. You can also get your hands on Exocast merchandise at exocast.threadless.com
Exocast is edited by musician/composer Fergus Hall (https://www.fergushallmusic.com) a...
2023-05-1654 minexocastExocast-66c: Exoplanet News
In this episode the team cover some of the latest exoplanet news stories. This month Hugh covers the first JWST’s transmission spectrum of a small planet, validating and characterising the exoplanet LHS 475b. Hannah discusses some preliminary work from JWST, including phase curves from WASP-121b and WASP-43b, that reveal the capabilities and quirks of the instruments onboard. Andrew breaks the rules by discussing three papers, 2 of which are closely connected, on the general topic of the potential for serpentinization as a possible source of energy for microbial metabolisms around hydrothermal vent systems.
Hugh’s paper: A JW...
2023-03-2129 minexocastExocast-66c: Exoplanet News
In this episode the team cover some of the latest exoplanet news stories. This month Hugh covers the first JWST’s transmission spectrum of a small planet, validating and characterising the exoplanet LHS 475b. Hannah discusses some preliminary work from JWST, including phase curves from WASP-121b and WASP-43b, that reveal the capabilities and quirks of the instruments onboard. Andrew breaks the rules by discussing three papers, 2 of which are closely connected, on the general topic of the potential for serpentinization as a possible source of energy for microbial metabolisms around hydrothermal vent systems.
Hugh’s paper: A JW...
2023-03-2129 minexocastExocast-66b: Interview with Georgina Dransfield
Back on the airwaves after a short hiatus, the Exocast team are delighted to be joined by Georgina (George) Dransfield, a PhD student at the University of Birmingham in the UK, who works on finding new exoplanets using the transit method. George uses data from ground-based surveys like SPECULOOS and space-based surveys like TESS and is also is somewhat unique in observing from Antarctica, specifically using and helping to run the ASTEP pipeline. Of course, George also adds a new planet to our adopted exoplanet family. You’ll have to listen to the show to find out which one she...
2023-03-0342 minexocastExocast-66b: Interview with Georgina Dransfield
Back on the airwaves after a short hiatus, the Exocast team are delighted to be joined by Georgina (George) Dransfield, a PhD student at the University of Birmingham in the UK, who works on finding new exoplanets using the transit method. George uses data from ground-based surveys like SPECULOOS and space-based surveys like TESS and is also is somewhat unique in observing from Antarctica, specifically using and helping to run the ASTEP pipeline. Of course, George also adds a new planet to our adopted exoplanet family. You’ll have to listen to the show to find out which one she...
2023-03-0342 minexocastExocast-64c: Exoplanet News
In this episode the team cover some of the latest exoplanet news stories. This month Hannah summarises the most recent exoplanetary science coming out of JWST’s early release science programs; Andrew tells us a bit about the habitability of Enceladus’s subsurface ocean, and Hugh talks about a new observation of compositional differences for planets around M-dwarfs.
JWST Early Release Science results are starting to come out from both the Direct Imaging community and from the Transiting community. Hannah talks through the first three papers of results and give a few hints of what is yet to c...
2022-10-1932 minexocastExocast-64c: Exoplanet News
In this episode the team cover some of the latest exoplanet news stories. This month Hannah summarises the most recent exoplanetary science coming out of JWST’s early release science programs; Andrew tells us a bit about the habitability of Enceladus’s subsurface ocean, and Hugh talks about a new observation of compositional differences for planets around M-dwarfs.
JWST Early Release Science results are starting to come out from both the Direct Imaging community and from the Transiting community. Hannah talks through the first three papers of results and give a few hints of what is yet to c...
2022-10-1932 minexocastExocast-64b: Interview with Dr Naomi Rowe-Gurney
This month Hannah, Andrew, and Hugh are joined in the virtual Exocast studio by planetary scientist Dr Naomi Rowe-Gurney. Naomi is a postdoctoral fellow at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and Howard University in the USA where she works on all things Ice Giants (Uranus and Neptune) in particular looking at them with JWST. The perfectly timed episode follows on from newly released images of Neptune taken with JWST that Naomi had been working on and we discuss the future of Ice Giant science with JWST and a mission to Uranus. After a health giggle session over an ex...
2022-10-1143 minexocastExocast-64b: Interview with Dr Naomi Rowe-Gurney
This month Hannah, Andrew, and Hugh are joined in the virtual Exocast studio by planetary scientist Dr Naomi Rowe-Gurney. Naomi is a postdoctoral fellow at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and Howard University in the USA where she works on all things Ice Giants (Uranus and Neptune) in particular looking at them with JWST. The perfectly timed episode follows on from newly released images of Neptune taken with JWST that Naomi had been working on and we discuss the future of Ice Giant science with JWST and a mission to Uranus. After a health giggle session over an ex...
2022-10-1143 minexocastExocast-63b: How do planets form?
Hugh, Hannah & Andrew turn their attention to a simple question with a very complicated answer: our favourite!
This month we are pondering how planets form. What do we know about planet formation from the Earth, observations from our Solar System, and of distant exoplanetary systems? Where are the gaps in our understanding of the processes involved? Do the theories and models of planet formation hold up to observational scrutiny? We might not be able to answer all (or any) of these questions definitively, and arguably we ended the discussion with more questions than when we started, but...
2022-09-0850 minexocastExocast-63b: How do planets form?
Hugh, Hannah & Andrew turn their attention to a simple question with a very complicated answer: our favourite!
This month we are pondering how planets form. What do we know about planet formation from the Earth, observations from our Solar System, and of distant exoplanetary systems? Where are the gaps in our understanding of the processes involved? Do the theories and models of planet formation hold up to observational scrutiny? We might not be able to answer all (or any) of these questions definitively, and arguably we ended the discussion with more questions than when we started, but...
2022-09-0850 minexocastexocast 62c
The latest news hot off the Exocast news desk for July/August 2022, another exciting month for exoplanet science:
Andrew takes some time to discuss the life and influence of Dr James Lovelock, the co-originator the Gaia Hypothesis, who died recently. His news this month takes the form of two independent but neatly connected papers on the topic of ‘chirality’: ‘The Chiral Puzzle of Life’ by Globus and Blandford, and ‘Directional Aspects of Vegetation Linear and Circular Polarization Biosignatures‘ by Patty et al. Hannah summarises ‘Chemical Abundances for 25 JWST Exoplanet Host Stars with KeckSpec’ by Polanski et al. in anticipation of t...
2022-08-2638 minexocastexocast 62c
The latest news hot off the Exocast news desk for July/August 2022, another exciting month for exoplanet science:
Andrew takes some time to discuss the life and influence of Dr James Lovelock, the co-originator the Gaia Hypothesis, who died recently. His news this month takes the form of two independent but neatly connected papers on the topic of ‘chirality’: ‘The Chiral Puzzle of Life’ by Globus and Blandford, and ‘Directional Aspects of Vegetation Linear and Circular Polarization Biosignatures‘ by Patty et al. Hannah summarises ‘Chemical Abundances for 25 JWST Exoplanet Host Stars with KeckSpec’ by Polanski et al. in anticipation of t...
2022-08-2638 minexocastExocast-62 b: Interview with Dr. Knicole Colón
This month Hannah, Andrew & Hugh are joined by NASA Goddard’s space telescope expert, Dr. Knicole Colón. Fresh from her NASA TV appearance unveiling JWST’s first exoplanet spectrum to the world, the JWST Deputy Project Scientist for Exoplanet Science gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the big day, as well as how the team got JWST ready for science. She also discusses the ongoing TESS mission searching for new planets, as well as the Pandora small-sat designed to look at exoplanet atmospheres on a budget, both of which Knicole is also managing. And we hear about her origi...
2022-08-1148 minexocastExocast-62 b: Interview with Dr. Knicole Colón
This month Hannah, Andrew & Hugh are joined by NASA Goddard’s space telescope expert, Dr. Knicole Colón. Fresh from her NASA TV appearance unveiling JWST’s first exoplanet spectrum to the world, the JWST Deputy Project Scientist for Exoplanet Science gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the big day, as well as how the team got JWST ready for science. She also discusses the ongoing TESS mission searching for new planets, as well as the Pandora small-sat designed to look at exoplanet atmospheres on a budget, both of which Knicole is also managing. And we hear about her origi...
2022-08-1148 minexocastExocast-61c: Exoplanet News
The latest news hot off the Exocast news desk for June/July 2022, a very exciting month for exoplanet science:
Hannah gives us a run-down of some of the long-awaited first images from JWST, including a spectrum from the atmosphere of WASP-96b from the NIRISS instrument showing clear water features. The team try (and fail) to contain their giddiness at the prospect of entering a new era of exoplanet astrophysics.Andrew takes to the theory literature to hightlight a paper by Mol Lous et al. in this months’ Nature Astronomy that explores ‘Potential long-term habitable conditions on planets with...
2022-07-2053 minexocastExocast-61c: Exoplanet News
The latest news hot off the Exocast news desk for June/July 2022, a very exciting month for exoplanet science:
Hannah gives us a run-down of some of the long-awaited first images from JWST, including a spectrum from the atmosphere of WASP-96b from the NIRISS instrument showing clear water features. The team try (and fail) to contain their giddiness at the prospect of entering a new era of exoplanet astrophysics.Andrew takes to the theory literature to hightlight a paper by Mol Lous et al. in this months’ Nature Astronomy that explores ‘Potential long-term habitable conditions on planets with...
2022-07-2053 minexocastExocast-60c: News (June 2022)
The latest exoplanet news hot off the Exocast news desk:
Hannah gives us a run-down of the Exoplanets IV conference held recently in Las Vegas, at which both her and Hugh were in attendence, including summaries of interesting sessions and presentations.Hugh presents a great new paper from Panahi et al. 2022 entitled “The Detection of Transiting Exoplanets by Gaia” that demonstates the Gaia spacecraft’s ability to contribute to exoplanet detection.Andrew keeps things in the up in the air when discussing “Can Carbon Fractionation Provide Evidence for Aerial Biospheres in the Atmospheres of Temperate Sub-Neptunes?“ by Glidden et al. 202...
2022-06-2141 minexocastExocast-60c: News (June 2022)
The latest exoplanet news hot off the Exocast news desk:
Hannah gives us a run-down of the Exoplanets IV conference held recently in Las Vegas, at which both her and Hugh were in attendence, including summaries of interesting sessions and presentations.Hugh presents a great new paper from Panahi et al. 2022 entitled “The Detection of Transiting Exoplanets by Gaia” that demonstates the Gaia spacecraft’s ability to contribute to exoplanet detection.Andrew keeps things in the up in the air when discussing “Can Carbon Fractionation Provide Evidence for Aerial Biospheres in the Atmospheres of Temperate Sub-Neptunes?“ by Glidden et al. 202...
2022-06-2141 minexocastExocast-60b: Interview with Dr Jennifer Burt
In this episode of Exocast the team are fortunate to be joined in the virtual studio by Dr Jennifer Burt, NASA/JPL’s Extreme Precision Radial Velocity Investigation Scientist, for an extreme discussion of the radial velocity technique for finding and characterising exoplanets. Jenn gives us a comprehensive and enthusiastic rundown of the method, US and European RV surveys, supporting current and future photometric missions with RV follow-up, and an update on new technology and instruments that are pushing the limits of radial velocities for exoplanet detection to extremely high precision, including automated planet-finding telescopes.
Of course, Je...
2022-06-0747 minexocastExocast-60b: Interview with Dr Jennifer Burt
In this episode of Exocast the team are fortunate to be joined in the virtual studio by Dr Jennifer Burt, NASA/JPL’s Extreme Precision Radial Velocity Investigation Scientist, for an extreme discussion of the radial velocity technique for finding and characterising exoplanets. Jenn gives us a comprehensive and enthusiastic rundown of the method, US and European RV surveys, supporting current and future photometric missions with RV follow-up, and an update on new technology and instruments that are pushing the limits of radial velocities for exoplanet detection to extremely high precision, including automated planet-finding telescopes.
Of course, Je...
2022-06-0747 minexocastExocast-59c: Exoplanet News
Join us for this months news episode where the Exocast team delve into new discoveries, characterisation, and astrobiology investigations to learn all about the latest research being published in exoplanets.
Andrew takes us through some new astrobiology work “Metabolically diverse primordial microbial communities in Earth’s oldest seafloor-hydrothermal jasper“ from Papineau et al. 2022
Hannah covers the latest in characterisation with “A New Analysis of 8 Spitzer Phase Curves and Hot Jupiter Population Trends: Qatar-1b, Qatar-2b, WASP-52b, WASP-34b, and WASP-140b” from May et al. 2022
Hugh looks into some new discoveries from “TESS Hunt for Young and Maturing...
2022-05-2437 minexocastExocast-59c: Exoplanet News
Join us for this months news episode where the Exocast team delve into new discoveries, characterisation, and astrobiology investigations to learn all about the latest research being published in exoplanets.
Andrew takes us through some new astrobiology work “Metabolically diverse primordial microbial communities in Earth’s oldest seafloor-hydrothermal jasper“ from Papineau et al. 2022
Hannah covers the latest in characterisation with “A New Analysis of 8 Spitzer Phase Curves and Hot Jupiter Population Trends: Qatar-1b, Qatar-2b, WASP-52b, WASP-34b, and WASP-140b” from May et al. 2022
Hugh looks into some new discoveries from “TESS Hunt for Young and Maturing...
2022-05-2437 minexocastExocast-59b: What are planetary atmospheres made of?
This month Hugh, Hannah, and Andrew go back to basics to discuss the diversity and complexity inherent in the study of planetary atmospheres. Exocast-59b touches on how we define an atmosphere and takes a sojourn through the varied and beautiful atmospheres of the Solar System, as well as a journey back through time to consider the long evolution of the atmosphere of our planet. How does an atmosphere form and change over time, cling to objects ranging in size from the Moon to Jupiter and beyond, and can it be lost forever to space? Extending beyond the Solar...
2022-05-0651 minexocastExocast-59b: What are planetary atmospheres made of?
This month Hugh, Hannah, and Andrew go back to basics to discuss the diversity and complexity inherent in the study of planetary atmospheres. Exocast-59b touches on how we define an atmosphere and takes a sojourn through the varied and beautiful atmospheres of the Solar System, as well as a journey back through time to consider the long evolution of the atmosphere of our planet. How does an atmosphere form and change over time, cling to objects ranging in size from the Moon to Jupiter and beyond, and can it be lost forever to space? Extending beyond the Solar...
2022-05-0651 minexocastExocast-58c: Exoplanet News
In this month’s news episode Hugh, Hannah, and Andrew each discuss a paper(s) from the past month of exoplanet research including: JWST test data analysis, the oxidation of the Earth, and updates from the study of multi-star systems.
Hannah talks us through one of the first JWST time series papers: Analysis of a JWST NIRSpec Lab Time Series: Characterizing Systematics, Recovering Exoplanet Transit Spectroscopy, and Constraining a Noise Floor by Z. Rustamkulov et al. detailing the methods required behind the exciting science results we too often jump to when talking about science.
Andrew pr...
2022-04-2241 minexocastExocast-58c: Exoplanet News
In this month’s news episode Hugh, Hannah, and Andrew each discuss a paper(s) from the past month of exoplanet research including: JWST test data analysis, the oxidation of the Earth, and updates from the study of multi-star systems.
Hannah talks us through one of the first JWST time series papers: Analysis of a JWST NIRSpec Lab Time Series: Characterizing Systematics, Recovering Exoplanet Transit Spectroscopy, and Constraining a Noise Floor by Z. Rustamkulov et al. detailing the methods required behind the exciting science results we too often jump to when talking about science.
Andrew pr...
2022-04-2241 minexocastExocast-58b: Interview with Dr Megan Schwamb
In this episode the Exocast team talk with Dr Megan (Meg) Schwamb about her work from the solar system to distant exoplanets and citizen science. The show is jam packed with exciting science and enough ice cream analogies to build an Exocast Parlour. We discuss in detail the process of going from a strange looking light curve posted in PlanetHunters Kepler to publication and bonafide planet, how you can track ice formation at Mars’ poles, and take a look to the farthest reaches of our solar system to ask what is out there and what does that mean for ou...
2022-04-1250 minexocastExocast-58b: Interview with Dr Megan Schwamb
In this episode the Exocast team talk with Dr Megan (Meg) Schwamb about her work from the solar system to distant exoplanets and citizen science. The show is jam packed with exciting science and enough ice cream analogies to build an Exocast Parlour. We discuss in detail the process of going from a strange looking light curve posted in PlanetHunters Kepler to publication and bonafide planet, how you can track ice formation at Mars’ poles, and take a look to the farthest reaches of our solar system to ask what is out there and what does that mean for ou...
2022-04-1250 minexocastExocast-57b: Exoplanet news
In this episode the Exocast team take a look at three new studies presented in the exoplanet literature:
Andrew introduces us to a new Nature Astronomy paper “Assessing planetary complexity and potential agnostic biosignatures using epsilon machines” – Bartlett et al. 2022. As Hugh points out you may only recognise a few words in that title, but Andrew does a fantastic job breaking down the study so have a listen and let us know what you think. Hugh then takes us through a second Nature Astronomy paper this time looking at the famous (but generally unsuccessful ExoCup contestant) TRAPPIST – “An upper limi...
2022-03-1548 minexocastExocast-57b: Exoplanet news
In this episode the Exocast team take a look at three new studies presented in the exoplanet literature:
Andrew introduces us to a new Nature Astronomy paper “Assessing planetary complexity and potential agnostic biosignatures using epsilon machines” – Bartlett et al. 2022. As Hugh points out you may only recognise a few words in that title, but Andrew does a fantastic job breaking down the study so have a listen and let us know what you think. Hugh then takes us through a second Nature Astronomy paper this time looking at the famous (but generally unsuccessful ExoCup contestant) TRAPPIST – “An upper limi...
2022-03-1548 minexocastExocast-57b: How big can an exoplanet be?
This month Hugh, Hannah and Andrew discuss a deceptively simple question about the limits of planetary size… Exocast-57b takes you from measurements of exoplanet radius and mass, the difficulty with the IAU definition of planets, to the formation of brown dwarfs and stars. They even dive into the importance of size on habitability, the size limits of a rocky world compared to a gaseous world, some of the stand out candidates for the “biggest” exoplanet, and whether a planet can ever be bigger than a star (spoiler: yes, but never in mass).
How would you define the bi...
2022-03-0345 minexocastExocast-57b: How big can an exoplanet be?
This month Hugh, Hannah and Andrew discuss a deceptively simple question about the limits of planetary size… Exocast-57b takes you from measurements of exoplanet radius and mass, the difficulty with the IAU definition of planets, to the formation of brown dwarfs and stars. They even dive into the importance of size on habitability, the size limits of a rocky world compared to a gaseous world, some of the stand out candidates for the “biggest” exoplanet, and whether a planet can ever be bigger than a star (spoiler: yes, but never in mass).
How would you define the bi...
2022-03-0345 minexocastExocast-55b: ExoCup2021
That’s right it is that time of year again where the Exocast team pit planet against planet in the Twitter poll show-down: ExoCup!
In this episode Andrew, Hugh, and Hannah look at the rundown of exoplanets that were mentioned the most in the past year of research publications and the top 23 join last years ExoCup2020 winner WD-1856b to fill out the first 24 exoplanets in Pots 1, 2, and 3. They then take a look at what is missing – what worlds did not get represented, what methods should we highlight, and what the we want to see in the Cup...
2021-10-2753 minexocastExocast-55b: ExoCup2021
That’s right it is that time of year again where the Exocast team pit planet against planet in the Twitter poll show-down: ExoCup!
In this episode Andrew, Hugh, and Hannah look at the rundown of exoplanets that were mentioned the most in the past year of research publications and the top 23 join last years ExoCup2020 winner WD-1856b to fill out the first 24 exoplanets in Pots 1, 2, and 3. They then take a look at what is missing – what worlds did not get represented, what methods should we highlight, and what the we want to see in the Cup...
2021-10-2753 minexocastExocast-54c
As always, the exocast team covers a few extraordinary recent exoplanetary papers in Exocast-54 c
And excitingly we have hit 10,000! exoplanet candidates on the archive. That is a lot of potential planets to consider.
Andrew introduces the term “Hycean” to the exocast team presenting Habitability and Biosignatures of Hycean Worlds — Madhusudan et al. 2021; sparking a juicy discussion with a not so positive outlook for this word-smash of “hydrogen” and “ocean” from Hannah and Hugh. The paper got heavily covered by the press, and stretches the limits on what models can tell us. Seriously have a listen and make up yo...
2021-10-0848 minexocastExocast-54c
As always, the exocast team covers a few extraordinary recent exoplanetary papers in Exocast-54 c
And excitingly we have hit 10,000! exoplanet candidates on the archive. That is a lot of potential planets to consider.
Andrew introduces the term “Hycean” to the exocast team presenting Habitability and Biosignatures of Hycean Worlds — Madhusudan et al. 2021; sparking a juicy discussion with a not so positive outlook for this word-smash of “hydrogen” and “ocean” from Hannah and Hugh. The paper got heavily covered by the press, and stretches the limits on what models can tell us. Seriously have a listen and make up yo...
2021-10-0848 minexocastExocast-54b
In this episode the exocast team discuss how we observe exoplanets from the ground, how different it is from space, where we put the telescopes and why.
The team start by sharing their journeys to telescopes around the world to make observations, and discuss the different bands in the atmosphere that we observe in. The main difference between ground- and space-based observatories is their size, the instruments on some of the ground-based observatories are room sized beasts with precise thermal and pressure conditions maintained over year timescales. Some of the biggest mirrors in the world are found...
2021-09-2956 minexocastExocast-54b
In this episode the exocast team discuss how we observe exoplanets from the ground, how different it is from space, where we put the telescopes and why.
The team start by sharing their journeys to telescopes around the world to make observations, and discuss the different bands in the atmosphere that we observe in. The main difference between ground- and space-based observatories is their size, the instruments on some of the ground-based observatories are room sized beasts with precise thermal and pressure conditions maintained over year timescales. Some of the biggest mirrors in the world are found...
2021-09-2956 minexocastExocast-53 c
As always, the exocast team covers a few extraordinary recent exoplanetary results in Exocast-53 c:
First off, Hannah briefly describes the problem with (and solution to) NASA Hubble’s elderly on-board computer Andrew details a few interesting results that emerged from the 2021 Goldschmidt conference, including updates on the bombardment of the early Earth, ancient methanogenic fossils, gasses trapped in diamonds, and new constraints on snowball earth.Hugh describes the ESA CHEOPS mission, and its serendipitous observation of a transiting long-period mini Neptune around the naked-eye star nu2 LupiAnd finally, Hannah talks about more cloud developments, this time experimental re...
2021-08-0540 minexocastExocast-53 c
As always, the exocast team covers a few extraordinary recent exoplanetary results in Exocast-53 c:
First off, Hannah briefly describes the problem with (and solution to) NASA Hubble’s elderly on-board computer Andrew details a few interesting results that emerged from the 2021 Goldschmidt conference, including updates on the bombardment of the early Earth, ancient methanogenic fossils, gasses trapped in diamonds, and new constraints on snowball earth.Hugh describes the ESA CHEOPS mission, and its serendipitous observation of a transiting long-period mini Neptune around the naked-eye star nu2 LupiAnd finally, Hannah talks about more cloud developments, this time experimental re...
2021-08-0540 minexocastExocast-52c
In Exocast-52c Hugh, Andrew, and Hannah take us through three reviews of papers that have been recently published in the planetary/exoplanet literature.
Hugh takes us through the two papers published by the California Legacy Survey I & II: I. A Catalog of 177 Planets from Precision Radial Velocity Monitoring of 719 Nearby Stars over Three DecadesII. Occurrence of Giant Planets Beyond the Ice lineWe also acknowledge the detrimental affect that a particular name on the author list for these papers, a known sexual harasser in the field, had on the community and call...
2021-06-2838 minexocastExocast-52c
In Exocast-52c Hugh, Andrew, and Hannah take us through three reviews of papers that have been recently published in the planetary/exoplanet literature.
Hugh takes us through the two papers published by the California Legacy Survey I & II: I. A Catalog of 177 Planets from Precision Radial Velocity Monitoring of 719 Nearby Stars over Three DecadesII. Occurrence of Giant Planets Beyond the Ice lineWe also acknowledge the detrimental affect that a particular name on the author list for these papers, a known sexual harasser in the field, had on the community and call...
2021-06-2838 minexocastExocast-52b: Why is Venus important for exoplanets?
In this episode the Exocast team discuss Earth’s twin planet, Venus, and its link to exoplanetary science.
We start with an overview of the past, present and future of Venusian exploration, from the first Soviet probes to the three newly-selected missions (DAVINCI+, VERITAS and EnVision) which will explore the atmosphere and surface of Venus more thoroughly than ever before. Then we turn to the open questions about Venus – its potential ancient habitability, the lack of plate tectonics, and of course its recently-detected potential biosignatures – all of which link to questions we will soon be asking of terres...
2021-06-2150 minexocastExocast-52b: Why is Venus important for exoplanets?
In this episode the Exocast team discuss Earth’s twin planet, Venus, and its link to exoplanetary science.
We start with an overview of the past, present and future of Venusian exploration, from the first Soviet probes to the three newly-selected missions (DAVINCI+, VERITAS and EnVision) which will explore the atmosphere and surface of Venus more thoroughly than ever before. Then we turn to the open questions about Venus – its potential ancient habitability, the lack of plate tectonics, and of course its recently-detected potential biosignatures – all of which link to questions we will soon be asking of terres...
2021-06-2150 minexocastexocast-51b
In this episode the Exocast gang are privileged to be joined by veteran exoplaneteer Dr Mark Marley from NASA Ames. During a nearly hour-long discussion, we probe Mark’s experience of early exoplanet discovery and characterisation efforts in the 1990s, his work on clouds and atmospheric circulation models, ‘ice’ giants, brown dwarfs, his leadership role with the LUVOIR space telescope concept, as well as his cheerleading efforts during the Exocup.
We also welcome back our Adopt a Planet segment with our guest picking a returning favourite, 51 Eri b. Listen to the segment at the end of the show t...
2021-05-0452 minexocastexocast-51b
In this episode the Exocast gang are privileged to be joined by veteran exoplaneteer Dr Mark Marley from NASA Ames. During a nearly hour-long discussion, we probe Mark’s experience of early exoplanet discovery and characterisation efforts in the 1990s, his work on clouds and atmospheric circulation models, ‘ice’ giants, brown dwarfs, his leadership role with the LUVOIR space telescope concept, as well as his cheerleading efforts during the Exocup.
We also welcome back our Adopt a Planet segment with our guest picking a returning favourite, 51 Eri b. Listen to the segment at the end of the show t...
2021-05-0452 minexocastExocast-50c: Monthly Exoplanet News
In this month’s news rundown Hugh, Hannah, and Andrew provide a summary of three interesting papers that appeared on their radar during February/March 2021:
Hugh takes a look at The Chemical link between stars and their rocky planets by Vardan Adibekyan and others.Andrew summarises Lithologic Controls on Silicate Weathering Regimes of Temperate Planets by Kaustubh Hakim and team.Hannah dons a thermal raincoat to cover Water on hot rocky exoplanets by Edwin Kite and Laura Schaefer.
We would also like to give another big thanks to Steve Hungsberg and Els...
2021-04-1843 minexocastExocast-50c: Monthly Exoplanet News
In this month’s news rundown Hugh, Hannah, and Andrew provide a summary of three interesting papers that appeared on their radar during February/March 2021:
Hugh takes a look at The Chemical link between stars and their rocky planets by Vardan Adibekyan and others.Andrew summarises Lithologic Controls on Silicate Weathering Regimes of Temperate Planets by Kaustubh Hakim and team.Hannah dons a thermal raincoat to cover Water on hot rocky exoplanets by Edwin Kite and Laura Schaefer.
We would also like to give another big thanks to Steve Hungsberg and Els...
2021-04-1843 minexocastExocast-50b: Why do we study exoplanets?
In this months discussion Hugh, Hannah, and Andrew discuss the question: Why do we study exoplanets?
The team take a look at their own personal motivation and how they each came study exoplanets, as well as diving into the technological applications of astronomy, and the philosophy behind the big questions in astronomy. Astronomy has been at the root of huge technological advances, from the X-ray machines at the airport, to the development of computer languages, better infrared detectors and advanced observations. Ultimately, should all of the things we do have an economic benefit? We don’t think so...
2021-04-0548 minexocastExocast-50b: Why do we study exoplanets?
In this months discussion Hugh, Hannah, and Andrew discuss the question: Why do we study exoplanets?
The team take a look at their own personal motivation and how they each came study exoplanets, as well as diving into the technological applications of astronomy, and the philosophy behind the big questions in astronomy. Astronomy has been at the root of huge technological advances, from the X-ray machines at the airport, to the development of computer languages, better infrared detectors and advanced observations. Ultimately, should all of the things we do have an economic benefit? We don’t think so...
2021-04-0548 minexocastExocast-49b
On this months Exocast the team talks with cloud expert Diana Powell about her work studying the dust in protoplanetary disks through theoretical models of the micro-physics and applying that to clouds in the atmospheres of hot Jupiters. We also chat about her journey into astro, the year of Covid, and her amazing work on mentoring at UCSC.
This month we also welcome back out Adopt a Planet segment with our special guest picking the dust embedded planet CI Tau b in the super young protostellar system.
Diana Powell is a graduate student and Ford...
2021-03-0542 minexocastExocast-49b
On this months Exocast the team talks with cloud expert Diana Powell about her work studying the dust in protoplanetary disks through theoretical models of the micro-physics and applying that to clouds in the atmospheres of hot Jupiters. We also chat about her journey into astro, the year of Covid, and her amazing work on mentoring at UCSC.
This month we also welcome back out Adopt a Planet segment with our special guest picking the dust embedded planet CI Tau b in the super young protostellar system.
Diana Powell is a graduate student and Ford...
2021-03-0542 minexocastExocast-39b: Paul Robertson talks RVs, the #ExoCup2019 live draw, plus the 2019 Nobel Prize
On the 39th episode of exocast:
Andrew chats with UC Irvine’s radial velocity expert (and occasional planet-killer) Dr Paul Robertson in the Exocast Studio.Hannah outlines how the 2019 ExoCup is going to play out, and Hugh performs the draw for the first round “live” on air.And Hugh reports from the Exocast news desk on arXiv’s wackiest exoplanet papers from the past month, plus we chat about Mayor & Queloz winning the 2019 Nobel prize for physics.Finally, our special guest Paul gives a personal plea to include Kepler-22b as an exocast Adopted planet.
2019-10-181h 06exocastExocast-39b: Paul Robertson talks RVs, the #ExoCup2019 live draw, plus the 2019 Nobel Prize
On the 39th episode of exocast:
Andrew chats with UC Irvine’s radial velocity expert (and occasional planet-killer) Dr Paul Robertson in the Exocast Studio.Hannah outlines how the 2019 ExoCup is going to play out, and Hugh performs the draw for the first round “live” on air.And Hugh reports from the Exocast news desk on arXiv’s wackiest exoplanet papers from the past month, plus we chat about Mayor & Queloz winning the 2019 Nobel prize for physics.Finally, our special guest Paul gives a personal plea to include Kepler-22b as an exocast Adopted planet.
2019-10-181h 06exocastExocast-35b: Special guest Tom Haworth, plus Exoplanet Direct Imaging
On the 35th episode of exocast we welcome special guest Dr Thomas Haworth into the virtual Exocast Studio.
Hannah talks with special guest Dr Thomas Haworth about planet formation in extreme environments and the role the stars play in shaping their planets.Hugh covers the ins and outs of how exoplanets can be detected using Direct ImagingAndrew reports from the Exocast news desk on this months exoplanet papersAnd special guest elects PDS-70b into the Exocast Adopted planets family.
Correction: Where Hugh states “Epsilon Eridani b” was found by GPI/Sphere, he means “51 Eridani b”.
2019-05-281h 11exocastExocast-35b: Special guest Tom Haworth, plus Exoplanet Direct Imaging
On the 35th episode of exocast we welcome special guest Dr Thomas Haworth into the virtual Exocast Studio.
Hannah talks with special guest Dr Thomas Haworth about planet formation in extreme environments and the role the stars play in shaping their planets.Hugh covers the ins and outs of how exoplanets can be detected using Direct ImagingAndrew reports from the Exocast news desk on this months exoplanet papersAnd special guest elects PDS-70b into the Exocast Adopted planets family.
Correction: Where Hugh states “Epsilon Eridani b” was found by GPI/Sphere, he means “51 Eridani b”.
2019-05-281h 11exocastExocast-34b: with special guest Raphaëlle Haywood, plus Isotope Geochronometers
On the 34th episode of Exocast:
Hugh is joined by Dr.Raphaëlle Haywood, Sagan Fellow at Harvard College Observatory, and expert in disentangling the signal of planets and their host stars in radial velocity surveys;Andrew explores the depths of time, taking a virtual trip back to the formation of the planet and solar system using radioactive isotope abundances;Hannah takes a look at some hot-off-the-press exoplanet discoveries from April 2019;And Raphaëlle adopts the super hot, super interesting, Super Earth COROT-7b into the Exocast Adopted Planets family.
2019-05-071h 07exocastExocast-33b: with special guest Jessie Dotson, plus Ice Giants
On the 33rd episode of Exocast:
Andrew is joined by NASA Ames’ Dr. Jessie Dotson – K2 project scientist, former head of Kepler’s Guest Observer office, and planetary defence specialist;Hannah tours our solar system’s Ice Giants and looks for comparisons in the world of exoplanets;Hugh takes a look at some hot-off-the-press exoplanet discoveries from March 2019;And Jessie adopts the newly-confirmed Kepler-1658b into the Exocast Adopted planets, which 9 years ago was the first Kepler planet candidate (as KOI-4).
2019-04-031h 07exocastExocast-32b: featuring special guest Dr Jo Barstow, plus detecting the solar system from TRAPPIST-1
On the 32nd episode of Exocast:
Hannah is joined by Dr Joanna Barstow, UCL’s exoplanetary atmosphere expert, recent astro-mum, and huge fan of “JWST: The Musical”*.Hugh transfers the podcast to TRAPPIST-1 and asks the question: “How many of the Solar System’s planets would we detect?”Andrew covers the enormous hit that was Kepler-107c’s density, new TESS planets, the NASA Archive’s 4000th exoplanet, plus dearly departed NASA missions.And Joanna adopts Venusian analogue GJ 1132b into the Exocast Adopted planets family.
*This is neither true nor, in fact, exists. Yet.
2019-02-2657 minexocastExocast-31b: with special guest Lee Billings, plus Waterworlds and exoplanet news
On the 31th episode of Exocast:
Hugh is joined in the virtual exocast studio by Science Journalist Lee Billings a writer for Scientific American and author of “5 billion years of Solitude”. Andrew dives into waterworlds inside and outside of our solar system and what we can learn about habitability. Hannah takes a look at what exoplanet news had been released over the past months and highlights the great work done by furloughed US scientists who keep the Hubble Space Telescope alive and healthy.And Lee, adopts the newly discovered Barnard’s Star b into the Exocast Adopted Planets family...
2019-01-251h 00exocastExocast-31b: with special guest Lee Billings, plus Waterworlds and exoplanet news
On the 31th episode of Exocast:
Hugh is joined in the virtual exocast studio by Science Journalist Lee Billings a writer for Scientific American and author of “5 billion years of Solitude”. Andrew dives into waterworlds inside and outside of our solar system and what we can learn about habitability. Hannah takes a look at what exoplanet news had been released over the past months and highlights the great work done by furloughed US scientists who keep the Hubble Space Telescope alive and healthy.And Lee, adopts the newly discovered Barnard’s Star b into the Exocast Adopted Planets family...
2019-01-251h 00exocastExocast-30b: with special guest Jessie Christiansen, plus ExoCup2018 analysis
On the 30th episode of Exocast:
Andrew is joined in the virtual exocast studio by Dr Jessie Christiansen from Caltech/NExSci to talk a little about her work on exoplanet demographics, catalogs, public outreach, and citizen science.Hannah provides an overview of last month’s #exocup, giving us a run down on the stats, the winners, losers, surprises and lessons learned.Hugh takes a look at what other exoplanet news had been released over the past month.And Jessie, to the chagrin of some and the appreciation of others, chose ‘the Next Planet’ as her adopted world – find out why...
2018-12-1356 minexocastExocast-29b: with special guest Sarah Hörst, Exomoons, News, and Exocup2018On the 29th episode of Exocast:
Hannah is joined by Professor Sarah Hörst from Johns Hopkins University to talk about her lab and working on haze production for solar system planets and beyond.
Hugh discusses the concept of Exomoons following the recent potential discovery.
Andrew takes a look at the exoplanet news for the past month, and introduces the new format for the Exocup2018!
And Sarah adds the not extra-solar, not planet, Titan to the exocast adopted exoplanet family.
Also, did we mention the EXOCUP is back!
2018-10-281h 07exocastExocast-25b: Exoplanetary Helium (with guest Jess Spake), plus the “Shadow Biosphere”In the 25th episode of Exocast:
Jessica Spake joins us to chat about the first detection of exoplanetary Helium – around the planet Wasp-107b
Andrew covers whether alien biology could exist in a Shadow Biosphere here on Earth.
Hannah covers all of May’s exoplanet news;
And Jess invites an old friend to the exocast adopted planets – 51 Pegasi b, the first exoplanet detected around a sun-like star.
2018-05-2857 minexocastExocast-24b: Special guest Rus Belikov, direct imaging, Alpha Can, Titan, news, Ross-128bIn the 24th episode of Exocast:
Andrew chats with special guest Rus Belikov about direct imaging and Alpha Cen ;
Hannah dives into the lakes of Titan to take us on a scuba diving adventure through alien worlds;
And Hugh takes us through the latest in Exoplanet news;
Finally, as always, we adopt a planet into our exocast family. This week selected by our guest Rus who chose Ross-128b, welcome to the family.
2018-04-301h 08exocastExocast-23b: special guest Jayne Birkby, UKExoM, Gaia, news, WTS-2bIn the 23rd episode of Exocast:
Hannah and Hugh join us from the UK Exoplanet Meeting;
Hannah chats with special guest Dr Jayne Birkby about her work on high resolution spectroscopy;
Hugh talks about the Gaia mission and what it means for exoplanets;
Andrew covers all of this months exciting exoplanet news;
And we invite our guest to add to the exocast adopted planets, so welcome WTS-2b to the exocast family.
2018-04-0151 minexocastExocast-23b: special guest Jayne Birkby, UKExoM, Gaia, news, WTS-2bIn the 23rd episode of Exocast:
Hannah and Hugh join us from the UK Exoplanet Meeting;
Hannah chats with special guest Dr Jayne Birkby about her work on high resolution spectroscopy;
Hugh talks about the Gaia mission and what it means for exoplanets;
Andrew covers all of this months exciting exoplanet news;
And we invite our guest to add to the exocast adopted planets, so welcome WTS-2b to the exocast family.
2018-04-0151 minexocastExocast-22b: panspermia, exoplanet phases, news, Kepler-167eIn the 22nd episode of Exocast:
Andrew talks about the concept of panspermia;
Hugh discusses how astronomers can observe the changing phases of exoplanets;
And Hannah covers the exoplanetary news including discoveries from K2 and new open-source science for exoplanet spectroscopy.
And Hugh adds the cold transiting jupiter Kepler-167 e as the newest adopted Exocast planet.
2018-02-2847 minexocastExocast-21b: planet formation, habitability of eccentric planets, news, Kepler-21bIn the 21st episode of Exocast:
Hannah talks about planet formation;
Andrew discusses the potential habitability of planets on eccentric orbits;
Hugh disseminates a backlog of exciting exoplanet news from the past two months including discoveries, planet characterization, and community debate;
Andrew adds the eponymous Kepler-21b as the newest member of the Exocast adopted planets gang;
2018-01-3059 minexocastExocast-20b: The ExoCupIn the 20th episode of Exocast we discuss all things #ExoCup
What is the ExoCup? How was it conceived? What was the result? Why was it so stressful for the Exocast crew?
We take a voxbox from some members of the exoplanet community on their opinions of the ExoCup (inc. Dr. Jessie Christiansen, Dr. Nikole Lewis, Dr. Natalie Batalha, Dr. Abhi Rajan);
Andrew reports on the months interesting exoplanetary news that was still churning out planets during the cup;
Hannah adopts runner up GJ 1214b into the Exocast family to join winner Kepler-10b.
Big thank you...
2017-12-091h 00exocastExocast-20b: The ExoCupIn the 20th episode of Exocast we discuss all things #ExoCup
What is the ExoCup? How was it conceived? What was the result? Why was it so stressful for the Exocast crew?
We take a voxbox from some members of the exoplanet community on their opinions of the ExoCup (inc. Dr. Jessie Christiansen, Dr. Nikole Lewis, Dr. Natalie Batalha, Dr. Abhi Rajan);
Andrew reports on the months interesting exoplanetary news that was still churning out planets during the cup;
Hannah adopts runner up GJ 1214b into the Exocast family to join winner Kepler-10b.
Big thank you...
2017-12-091h 00exocastExocast-19b: origins of life part 2, software and machine learning, news, Proxima bIn the 19th episode of Exocast:
Andrew continues his 2-parter on research into the origins of life;
Hugh details all the numerous way that computers & software is used in astronomy, from Microsoft to MCMC to Machine Learning;
Hannah reports on two whole months worth of interesting exoplanetary news;
Hugh adopts Proxima Centauri b, the solar system’s closest cousin, into the Exocast family;
And we announce the start of the first Exocast #ExoCup!
2017-10-3056 minexocastExocast-19b: origins of life part 2, software and machine learning, news, Proxima bIn the 19th episode of Exocast:
Andrew continues his 2-parter on research into the origins of life;
Hugh details all the numerous way that computers & software is used in astronomy, from Microsoft to MCMC to Machine Learning;
Hannah reports on two whole months worth of interesting exoplanetary news;
Hugh adopts Proxima Centauri b, the solar system’s closest cousin, into the Exocast family;
And we announce the start of the first Exocast #ExoCup!
2017-10-3056 minexocastExocast-18b – Direct Imaging Special with special guest Sasha HinkleyIn the 18th episode of Exocast, we chat to Sasha Hinkley, a direct imaging expert at the University of Exeter:
“Spotlights & fireflies” – what it means to be able to directly image planets and how we do it.
Why direct imaging may not have the numbers compared to other detection techniques, but can give us so much more information on each planet
The future of direct imaging instruments, including JWST, WFIRST and the E-ELT.
And Sasha adopts the HR 8799 system as an Exocast adopted planet.
2017-10-0730 minexocastExocast-17b: origins of life part 1, global circulation models, news, GJ 667CcIn the 17th episode of Exocast:
Andrew introduces us to the origins of life studies in the first of a two-part segment.
Hannah talks about Global Circulation Models (GCMs) and why they matter for exoplanets.
Hugh reports on the latest exciting exoplanetary news, including alien stratospheres, new exoplanets from RV studies, and exo-comets.
Andrew adopts GJ 667Cc into the misfits that are the Exocast adopted planets.
2017-09-1657 minexocastExocast-12bIn the twelfth episode, Exocast-12b:
Andrew details highlights of the recent UK exoplanet meeting.
Hugh and Andrew play “Just an Arcminute” with UK exoplanet scientists.
Hannah sits in at the exocast newsdesk to cover news including new data on the Trappist-1 system, unusual clouds closer to home, and new brown dwarfs at the boundary of planets & stars.
And Hugh chooses Kepler-47ABc, a rare circum-binary planet, as our adopted planet of the month.
2017-04-0848 minexocastExocast-10b
http://www.exocast.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Exocast-10b_HRW_V1.mp3
For your listening pleasure in Exocast-10b, the first episode of 2017:
Hugh provides some perspective on what happens to planets after their stars die.
Hannah gives us a run down of Hubble’s new PanCET program.
Andrew takes to the Exocast news helicopter to deliver exoplanetary news from the last month.
Hannah adopts a nearby habitable world displaying clear evidence of atmospheric disequilibrium.
2017-01-2841 minexocastExocast-10b
http://www.exocast.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Exocast-10b_HRW_V1.mp3
For your listening pleasure in Exocast-10b, the first episode of 2017:
Hugh provides some perspective on what happens to planets after their stars die.
Hannah gives us a run down of Hubble’s new PanCET program.
Andrew takes to the Exocast news helicopter to deliver exoplanetary news from the last month.
Hannah adopts a nearby habitable world displaying clear evidence of atmospheric disequilibrium.
2017-01-2841 minexocastExocast-6bExocast-6 b
In the sixth exocast episode:
Hugh outlines the process of turning a potential detection into a confirmed planet.
Hannah gets dusty peering through atmospheric hazes, aerosols and clouds.
Andrew covers the big exoplanet news of the month: the discovery of a small, rocky exoplanet orbiting our nearest stellar neighbour Proxima Centauri.
Hannah adds the fascinatingly eccentric giant planet HD80606 to our motley crew of exoplanet misfits.
http://www.exocast.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/exocast_6b_v1.mp3
2016-09-3043 minexocastExocast-5bExocast-5 b
In the fifth exocast episode:
Andrew take us through what biosignatures it would take to tell if a planet is habitable/in-habited.
Hugh explores a quirk of Einsteinian physics which allows us to search for planets.
Hannah looks at the news including the inroduction of a new scientific method – astrochronology, phase curves of WASP-43, and a new cohort of planets. In addition, she shares a little rant on the impact of scientific reporting on public perception of exoplanet science.
And Hugh adopts the directly imaged world Beta Pic b to our exocast family po...
2016-08-2644 min