2007 Podcasts

(December 19, 2007) In 1977 Jerry Nelson was physicist at UC’s Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and he was asked to join a group to vision the future of US astronomy. For Nelson it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to design a major apparatus with “cosmic implications.” His work translated into the revolutionary twin 10-meter Keck telescopes. Decades later, Nelson’s gift for devising solutions to large technical challenges continues to make its mark in astronomical innovation.
Science Standards: How Information is Collected and Analyzed; How a Telescope Works

(September 10, 2007) Understanding the birth of planets has been a long-sought goal. It is the key to learning about Earth and the other types of planets orbiting stars other than our Sun. What are Mauna Kea Observatories telling us about our cosmic origins? What amazing discoveries are being made with the most technologically advanced telescopes in the world? Dr. Michael Liu helps us to find the answers.

Science Standards: Describe the nature of our solar system; discuss current scientific views about our solar system; describe how technology is being used to conduct scientific investigations.

(August 16, 2007) Star and planet formation is happening today in a molecular cloud near you! By observing objects of different ages we can develop an understanding of how the process works. Dr. Hillenbrand, from the California Institute of Technology, will highlight her observations made at the Keck Observatory to help tell this tale.

Science Standards: Describe the nature of our solar system; discuss current scientific views about our solar system; describe how technology is being used to conduct scientific investigations.

(July 22, 2007) UCLA astronomer Dr. James Larkin talks about research using OSIRIS. OSIRIS is the newest instrument at Keck and is designed to dissect small patches of the sky in unprecedented detail. It has already been applied to study the moons of the Jovian planets, the black hole at the center of our Galaxy, some of the most distant galaxies and many objects in between. This talk will describe how the instrument works and then describe many of the discoveries from its first year of science.

Science Standards: Describe how information is gathered and analyzed about the universe by using technology.

(June 22, 2007) From the “Evenings with Astronomers” series. Dr. Edward C. Stone, the David Morrisroe Professor of Physics at Caltech and one of the leading scientists of our time, has been the project scientist for the Voyager mission since 1972. As the two Voyager spacecraft flew by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, they revealed a Solar System with worlds of unimagined diversity. The Voyagers are now exploring the Solar System’s final frontier, its outermost region called the heliosphere, which, like a bubble, envelops our Sun and all the planets.

Science Standards: Describe the nature of our solar system; discuss current scientific views about our solar system; describe how technology is being used to conduct scientific investigations.

(May 22, 2007) From the “Evenings with Astronomers” Series. Dr. Charles Beichman of the Michelson Science Center at Caltech talks about the 21st century tools being used to answer one of the most ancient questions: “Are there other worlds like our own?” How are astronomers probing the birthplace of stars and planets? How will scientists know if a planet supports life? Dr. Beichman explains the modern search for answers.

Science Standards: Design and conduct investigations to answer questions; Use the problem-solving process to address current issues; Describe what constitutes the universe.

(May 8, 2007) Dr. Imke de Pater of the University of California at Berkely talks about how the giant planets in our Solar System are surrounded with ring systems, similar to the planetary disks around stars. Within these ring systems are narrow ringlets, broad dust sheets, wavy structures and small satellites. In the summer of 2007 Uranus’ rings appeared edge-on to observers on Earth, a marvelous opportunity to learn more about this system.

Science Standards: Earth in the Solar System (seasonal analogues to Uranus); Regular and Predictible Motion; Earth as one in a series of systems in the Solar System.

(March 27, 2007) From the “Evenings with Astronomers” series. In 2005, Dr. Michael Brown and his colleagues discovered 2003 UB313, now officially known as “Eris.” The discovery marked the first time in 75 years that an object larger than Pluto had been found in our Solar System. The discovery turned the astronomical world on its head. Scientists had to consider if size was the only metric by which to define a planet. The debate unleashed an avalanche of questions concerning planetary science and the role scientists play in defining the word “planet” for local and global communities.

Science Standards: Earth in the Solar System; Forces that Shape the Earth; Scientific Views of the Universe.

(March 13, 2007) Dr. Claire Max of the University of California at Santa Cruz helped pioneer the field of adaptive optics, a technology that compensates for the blurring of images by Earth’s atmosphere. As director of the Center for Adaptive Optics, Dr. Max helps develop and apply adaptive optics technology to large, ground-based telescopes. In this talk, Dr. Max explains how recent advancements in adaptive optics have increased our knowledge about active black holes and our own Solar System, particularly the planet Neptune and Saturn’s moon, Titan.

Science Standards: Electromagnetic Radiation; Energy, its Transformation and Matter; Forces of the Universe.

(February 27, 2007) Dr. Taft Armandroff of the W. M. Keck Observatory kicks off the second annual “Evenings with Astronomers” lecture series. In this talk, Dr. Armandroff charts the significant technological milestones in astronomical research and describes how new technology is being applied to answer profound questions about the cosmos.

Science Standards: Scientific Inquiry; Technological Impacts; Relating the Nature of Technology to Science.