For more info on the podcast, please see our About page.

Celebrating 100 Episodes with you at The Star Spot

Thank you for joining us here at The Star Spot for our special 100th episode. I want to take a moment to thank the 100 absolutely stellar guests that have joined us on the show over the last 4 years. You have educated and inspired people of all ages with your insight and enthusiasm. Thank you to our listeners for helping us grow our production and for your thoughtful suggestions and terrific online discussion. And of course, a very special thank you to the amazing team of volunteers who make our project possible. It has been a great experience working with each of you and I look forward to what the next 4 years will bring.

Feature Guest: Feryal Özel

As we speak astronomers are busy building the world’s biggest telescope. And when it becomes operational one year from now the globe-spanning Event Horizon Telescope will be aimed at the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy, taking the first ever portrait of this hungry beast lying at the very core of the Milky Way. To help us understand how studying the shadow of supermassive black holes will provide the most rigorous test yet in our understanding of gravity, today we’re joined at The Star Spot by The Event Horizon Telescope’s Professor Feryal Ozel

LISTEN NOW OR DOWNLOAD

The Star Spot is now on the Radio!

The The Star Spot podcast is now The Star Spot podcast and radio show. That’s right. Your favourite astronomy program is now travelling through space, specifically the 1280AM frequency. Our broadcaster, CJRU The Scope at Ryerson, is now available on the radio dial, which means you can join us at The Star Spot at 1280AM every Sunday 8PM and Tuesday 6PM Eastern Time.

Visit http://www.thescopeatryerson.ca/ to learn more about our partner radio station.

Current in Space

Science fiction fans are familiar with a cloaking device that hides alien ships from an enemy. Now Tony explains how a real life cloaking device could help us hide our entire civilization from prying eyes. And Anuj wonders if Saturn’s moons may be younger than we thought – and what that means for our exploration of the solar system.

About Our Guest

Feryal Özel is Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Arizona. She received her Masters from the Niels Borh Institute and her PhD from Harvard University, before working as a NASA Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. Her research focuses on neutron stars and black holes, and the relationship of black holes and galaxies in the early universe. Professor Özel is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a member of the Science Academy of Turkey.

Links

The Event Horizon Telescope

Peering Into a Black Hole (New York Times)

Feryal Özel’s website

How to Listen to the Show

* LISTEN NOW OR DOWNLOAD
* Subscribe for free with itunes
* Use feedburner in your browser

The Star Spot is also broadcast on The Scope at Ryerson. The show airs every Sunday at 8:00PM and Tuesday at 6:00PM Eastern Time. Listen live here

If you have interesting news and story ideas, as well as topics or potential interview guest, please send them to info@thestarspot.ca

For more info on the podcast, please see our About page.

Feature Guest: Ingrid Stairs

In February scientists announced the first ever discovery of gravitational waves, tiny distortions in the fabric of space-time predicted by Einstein exactly 100 years ago. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, made the historic detection by studying two colliding black holes, but singularities aren’t the only source of gravitational waves.

Here to tell us how pulsars, the lighthouses of the galaxy, can be used to study gravitational waves and help us understand the forces of our universe, today we’re joined at The Star Spot by pulsar authority Ingrid Stairs

LISTEN NOW OR DOWNLOAD

The Star Spot is now on the Radio!

The The Star Spot podcast is now The Star Spot podcast and radio show. That’s right. Your favourite astronomy program is now travelling through space, specifically the 1280AM frequency. Our broadcaster, CJRU The Scope at Ryerson, is now available on the radio dial, which means you can join us at The Star Spot at 1280AM every Sunday 8PM and Tuesday 6PM Eastern Time.

Visit http://www.thescopeatryerson.ca/ to learn more about our partner radio station.

Current in Space

We know the late heavy bombardment period was critical to the eventual emergence of life on Earth. But since Earth wasn’t the only planet that went through such an ordeal, Anuj explains what that implies for life in the solar system. And Dave shares new evidence of the effect of ancient supernova explosions on our planet.

About Our Guest

Ingrid Stairs is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of British Columbia. She received her doctoral degree from Princeton university before undertaking her postdoctral fellowship at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK. Professor Stairs received the NSERC University FAculty Award as well as Princeton’s Joseph Henry Award. She is a world authority on pulsars, the energetic remnants of massive dead stars.

Links

Warped space-time tips pulsar out of view (BBC)

Ingrid Stairs UBC Website 

How to Listen to the Show

* LISTEN NOW OR DOWNLOAD
* Subscribe for free with itunes
* Use feedburner in your browser

The Star Spot is also broadcast on The Scope at Ryerson. The show airs every Sunday at 8:00PM and Tuesday at 6:00PM Eastern Time. Listen live here

If you have interesting news and story ideas, as well as topics or potential interview guest, please send them to info@thestarspot.ca

For more info on the podcast, please see our About page.

Feature Guest: Brian Trent

Here’s the ultimate challenge for science fiction. How do you describe the appearance and behaviour of an intelligent alien species when we have no example to go on but us? How can we ever know our portrayal is truly alien and not a projection of our own expectations, hopes and fears? Or has the job of science fiction all along been to hold up a mirror to ourselves? Today we’re joined at The Star Spot by Brian Trent, an award-winning science fiction author who manages to blend shockingly unfamiliar alien beings within stories of profound humanity.

Today’s episode of The Star Spot is the third in a three part series featuring interviews with the keynote speakers at the 13th annual Expanding Canada’s Frontier’s symposium, this year on the topic Astronomyths: Science or Fiction?, looking at cosmology and alien life, hosted at the University of Toronto this past January.

LISTEN NOW OR DOWNLOAD

The Star Spot is now on the Radio!

The The Star Spot podcast is now The Star Spot podcast and radio show. That’s right. Your favourite astronomy program is now travelling through space, specifically the 1280AM frequency. Our broadcaster, CJRU The Scope at Ryerson, is now available on the radio dial, which means you can join us at The Star Spot at 1280AM every Sunday 8PM and Tuesday 6PM Eastern Time.

Visit http://www.thescopeatryerson.ca/ to learn more about our partner radio station.

Current in Space

Did the Large Hadron Collider just discover a new heavy particle beyond the Standard Model of particular physics? Anuj reports. Then Dave explains how astronomers captured for the first time the very beginning of a supernova explosion. And Tony reveals how space rocks arriving on Earth from before the formation of the solar system show chemicals produced in long dead stars.

About Our Guest

Brian Trent is a journalist and science-fiction writer. His work appears regularly in major publications like AE – The Canadian Science Fiction Review, ANALOG, Fantasy & Science Fiction, COSMOS, Nature, Galaxy’s Edge and Daily Science Fiction.  In 2013 his story “War Hero” was a winner in the Writers of the Future Contest. His most recently published Novel, Rahotep, came out in December.

Brian Trent describes himself as “a futurist with an interest in the past.” He studies how technology has affected our world in order to speculate on where we are headed. His  writings on artificial intelligence, longevity research and the search for life in the universe, among other topics, lead him towards a picture of what the future looks like for our society and our species. His ideas have appeared in UTNE, The Humanist, Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld and other publications.

Links

Brian Trent’s website

* LISTEN NOW OR DOWNLOAD
* Subscribe for free with itunes
* Use feedburner in your browser

The Star Spot is also broadcast on The Scope at Ryerson. The show airs every Sunday at 8:00PM and Tuesday at 6:00PM Eastern Time. Listen live here

If you have interesting news and story ideas, as well as topics or potential interview guest, please send them to info@thestarspot.ca

For more info on the podcast, please see our About page.

Feature Guest: Lynn Rothschild

Are we alone in the universe? Think about it. Whatever the answer, it is one of the most profound and enduring questions humans have ever asked. The fact that we are on the cusp of being able to answer it is incredible. But the challenge is still immense, for we’re not even sure exactly how to define life.

And yet there’s no one better equipped to tackle this mystery then an astrobiologist who is presenting working to recreate life in the lab. Today we’re joined at The Star Spot by senior NASA astrobiology Professor Lynn Rothschild who will update us on our search for life in space and our new efforts to build synthetic biology here on Earth.

Today’s episode of The Star Spot is the second in a three part series featuring interviews with the keynote speakers at the 13th annual Expanding Canada’s Frontier’s symposium, this year on the topic Astronomyths: Science or Fiction?, looking at cosmology and alien life, hosted at the University of Toronto this past January. In our next episode we will speak with Brian Trent, award-winning science fiction author and futurist.

LISTEN NOW OR DOWNLOAD

The Star Spot Hits the Airwaves!

Coming soon, your favourite astronomy program will be travelling through space… well through the airwaves at least. The Star Spot, broadcast on CJRU, The Scope at Ryerson, will be on the air at 1280AM on the radio dial starting in April. You’ll be able to catch the latest episode every Sunday at 8PM and Tuesday at 6PM Eastern Time.

Visit http://www.thescopeatryerson.ca/ to learn more about our partner radio station.

Current in Space

Anuj asks how today’s stromatolites can tell us about the habitability of the ancient Earth. And Tony bring news of cutting edge technology that promises advances in the imaging of planets beyond our solar system.

About Our Guest

Professor Lynn J. Rothschild is senior scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center and Adjunct Professor at Brown University and the University of California Santa Cruz.

Professor Rothschild is a world authority in the field of astrobiology. She founded and ran the first three Astrobiology Science Conferences, was the founding co-editor of the International Journal of Astrobiology, and is the former director of the Astrobiology Strategic Analysis and Support Office for NASA.

A well rounded astrobiologist, Dr. Rothschild works on various models for the origin of life, studies the interaction of environment on biology, explores life in extreme environments and looks for signs of life on other worlds.

Recently she has been pioneering the new field of synthetic biology. Her award-winning iGem team is investigating the use of synthetic biology to accomplish space exploration missions, including the future human settlement of Mars.

Professor Rothschild has received the Isaac Asimov Award from the American Humanist Association and the Horace Mann Award from Brown University. She is a fellow of the Linnean Society of London, The California Academy of Sciences and the Explorer’s Club.

Links

Scientists Search for Signatures of Alien Life Hidden in Gas (Wired)

Lynn J. Rothschild (Brown University webpage)

* LISTEN NOW OR DOWNLOAD
* Subscribe for free with itunes
* Use feedburner in your browser

The Star Spot is also broadcast on The Scope at Ryerson. The show airs every Sunday at 8:00PM and Tuesday at 6:00PM Eastern Time. Listen live here

If you have interesting news and story ideas, as well as topics or potential interview guest, please send them to info@thestarspot.ca

For more info on the podcast, please see our About page.

Feature Guest: Fred Adams

Could the very first moments of our universe hold the secret to the eventual emergence of life billions of years later? And can life exist in the unimaginably far future, or does the life of the universe effectively die? From the deep past to the infinite future, today we’re joined at The Star Spot by Professor Fred Adams to discuss the intersection of cosmology and life.

LISTEN NOW OR DOWNLOAD

The Star Spot Hits the Airwaves!

Coming soon, your favourite astronomy program will be travelling through space… well through the airwaves at least. The Star Spot, broadcast on CJRU, The Scope at Ryerson, will be on the air at 1280AM on the radio dial starting in April. You’ll be able to catch the latest episode every Sunday at 8PM and Tuesday at 6PM Eastern Time. Visithttp://www.thescopeatryerson.ca/ to learn more about our partner radio station.

Thinking of moving to Mars?

Then you better attend the upcoming panel discussion, March 16th at the University of Toronto. The event will feature six amazing panelists from the fields of physics, astronomy, philosophy, commerce, environmental science, planetary protection and political science, all brought together to explore the possibilities and implications of Martian settlement. Come join me as I moderate this exciting and unique debate, and meet up with members of The Star Spot and the U of T Astronomy and Space Exploration Society. More information here.

About Our Guest

Today’s episode of The Star Spot is the first in a three part series featuring interviews with the keynote speakers at the 13th annual Expanding Canada’s Frontier’s symposium, this year on the topic Astronomyths: Science or Fiction?, looking at cosmology and alien life, hosted at the University of Toronto this past January. In our subsequent two episodes we will speak with Professor Lynn Rothschild, senior scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, and then Brian Trent, award-winning science fiction author and futurist.

Today I’m excited to be joined by Professor Fred Adams. Professor Adams served as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics before joining the Physics Department at the University of Michigan, where he is now Full Professor. Professor Adams has won many awards, including the the Helen B. Warner Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation, and the Excellence in Education Award from the University of Michigan. In 2014, we was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society.

Professor Adams has an interest in how things form, whether we’re talking the formation of stars, of planetary systems or of the universe itself. Recently he has turned his focus to how things end, with cosmological work that is considering the long term evolution and fate of our universe.   Professor Adams is an author of several astronomy books for the public, including The Five Ages of the Universe: Inside the Physics of Eternity and Origins of Existence: How Life Emerged in the Universe.

Links

* LISTEN NOW OR DOWNLOAD
* Subscribe for free with itunes
* Use feedburner in your browser

The Star Spot is also broadcast on The Scope at Ryerson. The show airs every Sunday at 8:00PM and Tuesday at 6:00PM Eastern Time. Listen live here

If you have interesting news and story ideas, as well as topics or potential interview guest, please send them to info@thestarspot.ca

For more info on the podcast, please see our About page.

Feature Guest: Gil Holder
Have you heard of the Great Attractor or the Great Wall? The universe evolved from a hot dense not quite perfectly uniform state to now contain galaxies in sheet-like structures separated by huge voids. These clusters and superclusters of galaxies make up the largest scale structure in the observable universe. How exactly did they emerge, what role does dark matter and dark energy play in the evolution of structure and just where is our universe headed? To help us answer those questions today we’re joined at The Star Spot by cosmologist Gil Holder.

LISTEN NOW OR DOWNLOAD

Current in Space

With the building of the James Webb Space Telescope coming along quickly, Anuj explains how the successor to Hubble will open a new window on the universe? And following the recent 49th anniversary of the Apollo 1 disaster, Tony reflect on three major tragedies in the history of space exploration and reflects on why it’s still worth the risk. Finally Dave reports on the groundbreaking discovery of gravitational waves via one of the most powerful phenomena in the universe: binary black hole mergers. 

About Our Guest

* LISTEN NOW OR DOWNLOAD
* Subscribe for free with itunes
* Use feedburner in your browser

The Star Spot is also broadcast on The Scope at Ryerson. The show airs every Sunday at 6:00PM and Tuesday at 8:00PM Eastern Time. Listen live here

If you have interesting news and story ideas, as well as topics or potential interview guest, please send them to info@thestarspot.ca