SETI Live

There was a total solar eclipse in Australia on Thursday, April 20 (which was Wednesday, April 19 here in California). Join SETI Institute CEO Bill Diamond with Madhulika (Lika) Guhathkurta, PhD Senior Advisor for New Initiatives, GSFC/HPD Program Scientist/Heliophysics, NASA HQ. Lika is in Australia for the eclipse and will talk to us about what we can learn from this phenomenon and why eclipses are so special. Recorded 18 April 2023.

A new NASA mission to Saturn's giant moon, Titan, is due to launch in 2027. When it arrives in the mid-2030s, it will begin a journey of discovery that could bring about a new understanding of the development of life in the universe. This mission, called Dragonfly, will carry an instrument called the Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer (DraMS), designed to help scientists hone in on the chemistry at work on Titan. It may also shed light on the kinds of chemical steps that occurred on Earth that ultimately led to the formation of life, called prebiotic chemistry. Join Dragonfly Deputy PI and DRaMS instrument lead Melissa Trainer in a conversation with communications specialist Beth Johnson, as they discuss this upcoming mission and the potential science discoveries DRaMS could bring. Recorded on 13 April 2023. More information: https://www.nasa.gov/dragonfly

As research teams around the world prepare for the launch of two separate missions to our 'sister planet' Venus, other scientists are spending their time looking through the data already collected by previous missions. Take, for example, the Magellan spacecraft, which mapped the surface of Venus from September 1990 through October 1994 using synthetic aperture radar. Last month, Science published a new paper detailing how scientists compared two radar images space eight months apart and discovered a volcanic vent that had grown and changed shape in that time period. Join co-author Robert Herrick from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and communications specialist Beth Johnson as they discuss how the discovery was made, how it changes what we know of Venus, and what the new information could mean for future Venus missions. (Recorded live on 6 April 2023. Paper: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm7735

Author and book designer Rebecca Demarest will be featured on this episode of SETI Live, along with astronomer and SETI Research Scientist Paul Dalba. The two will delve into the upcoming Exotopia expedition, an experimental sci-fi narrative that invites participants to embark on imaginary journeys to study extraterrestrial life on actual exoplanets within our galaxy. The forthcoming voyage will transport us to TOI-1452 b, a super-Earth exoplanet situated roughly 100 lightyears from Earth. TOI-1452 b orbits a red dwarf star within its Habitable Zone, an area where there is a possibility of liquid water on the planet's surface, given the presence of a protective atmosphere. Although scientists have some understanding of TOI-1452 b's characteristics, there is still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding this newly discovered world. The Exotopia expedition will explore this enigma and offer travelers the opportunity to illustrate their own adventure using AI-generated art. Join us as we discuss the unique confluence of astronomy, art, sci-fi, and AI technology related to this distinctive storytelling experience.

When pondering the probability of discovering technologically advanced extraterrestrial life, the question that often arises is, "if they're out there, why haven't we found them yet?" And often, the response is that we have only searched a tiny portion of the galaxy. Further, algorithms developed decades ago for the earliest digital computers can be outdated and inefficient when applied to modern petabyte-scale datasets. Now, research published in Nature Astronomy and led by an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, Peter Ma, along with researchers from the SETI Institute, Breakthrough Listen and scientific research institutions around the world, has applied a deep learning technique to a previously studied dataset of nearby stars and uncovered eight previously unidentified signals of interest. Join Senior Scientist Franck Marchis in conversation with lead author Peter Ma, co-author Leandro Rizk, and their supervisor, SETI Institute astronomer Cherry Ng, as they discuss the usefulness of machine learning, their recent findings, and the potential for the future of SETI. (Recorded live 23 March 2023.) Paper: https://seti.berkeley.edu/ml_gbt/overview.html

Astronomers learn about the universe by looking up, but the closest, most fascinating and most important (to us) astronomical object is below our feet. As we discover more and more planets in our galaxy, the importance of understanding and protecting our own "pale blue dot" becomes ever more critical. Join Professor Adrienne Cool, astrophysicist at San Francisco State University and founder of Astronomers for Planet Earth and Jessica Agnos, co-founder, in a conversation about the universe, the Earth and why astronomers have a unique perspective on one very special planet. Recorded live on 8 March 2023.

The NASA DART mission impacted Dimorphos, the moon of near-Earth asteroid Didymos, on September 26, 2022, reducing its orbit by 33 minutes. Citizen astronomers around the world contributed crucial observations to quantify the impact's effects and understand our ability to alter an asteroid's path for planetary defense. Learn more from SETI Postdoctoral Fellow Ariel Graykowski on the implications for the future of planetary defense. Nature paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05852-9

The Juno spacecraft launched on August 5, 2011, and arrived at Jupiter in 2016, where the mission began collecting data on the gas giant. In January 2021, NASA announced that the spacecraft's mission had been extended to September 2025. The extended mission's science campaigns expand on discoveries Juno has already made about Jupiter's interior structure, internal magnetic field, atmosphere (including polar cyclones, deep atmosphere, and auroras), and magnetosphere. Juno's extended mission also includes flybys of the moons Ganymede, Europa, and Io. Join Dr. Scott Bolton, Director of the Space Science and Engineering Division at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and Principal Investigator of Juno, as he chats with communications specialist Beth Johnson about this important mission, what we have learned, and what comes next. More information: https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/ Recorded live 16 February 2023.

New research suggests that a lack of a stable asteroid belt around these common, small, and cool stars may make their exoplanets less habitable for life. Join us in conversation with lead researcher Anna C. Childs to explore the implications of this research and the future of the search for alien life. Learn more about the most common type of star in our galaxy and the potential challenges in finding habitable exoplanets orbiting M dwarfs. Paper: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ac9052 Recorded live on stream on 9 February 2023.

A new comet, C/2022 E3 (ZTF), is making a rare visit to Earth, coming closer than it has in over 50,000 years. Stargazers around the world have admired its eerie green glow and bright tail of dust. Join SETI Institute Senior Planetary Astronomer, Dr. Franck Marchis, and Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Ariel Graykowski, as they discuss the significance of this comet and its impact on the search for life in space. Learn about comets and the night sky in this once-in-a-lifetime event. Recorded live on 2 February 2023.

SETI Institute's Artist-in-Residence, Felipe Pérez Santiago, discusses the ambitious Earthling Project. Launched in 2020, the project collects songs from people around the world to create musical compositions representing humanity. These compositions will be sent into space with the help of the Arch Mission Foundation, a nonprofit preserving human knowledge for future generations. Tune in to hear from Santiago and SETI AIR Director Bettina Forget, and listen to the world sing in harmony on the Earthling Project - Songs for Outer Space. Recorded live on stream 26 January 2023.

Using data from NASA's Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes, researchers at the University of Montreal found evidence that two exoplanets orbiting a star 218 light-years away are "water worlds," where water makes up a large fraction of the entire planet. These planets are unlike planets in our solar system -- they were previously believed to be rocky Earth-like planets but instead are really water worlds. Listen to Franck Marchis in conversation with lead researcher Caroline Piaulet to learn about these new findings. Press release: https://exoplanetes.umontreal.ca/en/universite-de-montreal-astronomers-find-that-two-exoplanets-may-be-mostly-water/ This episode was recorded live on 19 January 2023. If you like science, support the SETI Institute! We're a non-profit research institution whose focus is understanding the nature and origins of life in the universe. Donate here: https://seti.org/donate Learn more about the SETI Institute and stay up-to-date on awesome science: Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/SETIInstitute/ Watch our streams over on Twitch at https://www.twitch.tv/setiinstitute Listen to our other podcast, Big Picture Science http://www.bigpicturescience.org/ Subscribe to our newsletter https://seti.org/signup Buy merchandise from Chop Shop https://www.chopshopstore.com/collections/seti-institute/SETI SETI Live is a weekly production of the SETI Institute and is recorded live on stream with viewers on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Twitch. Guests include astronomers, planetary scientists, cosmologists, and more, working on current scientific research. Founded in 1984, the SETI Institute is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary research and education organization whose mission is to lead humanity's quest to understand the origins and prevalence of life and intelligence in the Universe and to share that knowledge with the world.

We have to admit that 2022 was an impressive year for space science, what with JWST starting to collect science data and even releasing early results, the launch and return of the Artemis 1 mission, the DART mission, a NASA Juno flyby of Europa, and the end of the NASA InSight lander mission. And that was just NASA's part of the activity! China, Japan, and South Korea all launched missions, while commercial launches and space tourism continued to increase. 2023 is definitely shaping up to match. There are more potential mission launches for NASA, ESA, China, India, and Japan; a total solar eclipse; a sample return; more Juno flybys; and even a comet or two that can be seen with the unaided eye. Join SETI Institute senior scientist Franck Marchis and communications specialist Beth Johnson as they take a look at what's in store for the new year. Recorded live 4 January 2023.