2010 Podcasts

(July 22, 2010) Dr. John Johnson, of the California Institute of Technology, presents “The Exploration of Other Worlds.” He discusses astronomers’ study of planets beyond our Solar System and the hunt for distant worlds resembling Earth.

(June 10, 2010) Dr. Constance Rockosi, of the University of California, Santa Cruz, presents “The Galaxy’s First Stars.” She discusses her research at Keck to study the oldest stars in the Milky Way and determine what conditions were like in the early Universe, when the Galaxy first formed.

(April 8, 2010) In his lecture, “Cosmic Dawn: The Quest for the First Galaxies,” Dr. Richard Ellis, Steele Professor of Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, discusses his record-breaking discoveries of the most distant objects in the Universe and how his observations shape our understanding of the earliest stars and galaxies.

(March 16, 2010) Dr. Michael Mumma of NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center presents “Methane on Mars: Current Knowledge, Earth Analogues and Principal Issues” as part of the 2010 Evenings with Astronomers lecture series held at the Fairmont Orchid. Mumma presents the ground breaking research on the first definitive detection of methane in the atmosphere of Mars. He then describes how his team will continue to apply the W. M. Keck Observatory, particularly its world leading adaptive optics system and NIRSPEC instrument, to more precisely identify the location of the planet’s methane emissions and ultimately to determine whether they come from a biological or geological source.

(March 11, 2010) In his lecture, “When a Star Winks at You,” Professor Herbst of Wesleyan University will describe the star known as KH 15D, which set off a search with the Keck telescopes to uncover the cause of its mysterious blinking.

(February 9, 2010) Dr. Sandra Faber of the University of California, Santa Cruz presents “Probing Galaxy Evolution with Keck” as part of the 2010 Evenings with Astronomers lecture series held at the Fairmont Orchid. Listen as Dr. Faber describes the important role the Keck telescopes and their world leading adaptive optics systems play in exploring galaxies and how these objects grow and evolve over cosmic time.

In his lecture, “Galaxy Halos: Here Be Dragons,” Dr. Forbes describes the nearly invisible halo that confines a galaxy’s outer edge and how the Keck telescopes are helping to illuminate astronomers’ understanding of these elusive halos and their role in galaxy formation.

(January 12, 2010) Dr. Michael Liu, of the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawai’i, presents “Seeing the Invisible: A Clearer Look at Cool, Failed Stars” as part of the 2010 Evenings with Astronomers lecture series held at the Fairmont Orchid. Listen as Dr. Liu describes the important role the Keck telescopes and their world leading adaptive optics systems play in studying brown dwarfs, the Sun’s tiny, “hidden neighbors” and other celestial mysteries.