exocast: Recent Episodes
exocast
For this episode the Exocast team are joined by Dr Megan Weiner Mansfield from the University of Maryland, USA. Megan’s work focuses on the measurement of exoplanet atmospheres with a particular look at the eclipse as the planet passes behind the star and we can measure the thermal dayside of tidally locked giants. We talk about the paradigm shift that JWST has brought to the field and some really cool techniques that can be used to dive into the atmospheres of these alien worlds more.
In addition, as always we ask our guest to adopt an exoplanet into our Exocast family with Megan choosing GJ 486b – listen in to find out why!
Megan completed a PhD at the University of Chicago in Geophysical Science before being awarded a NASA Sagan Fellowship which she took to the University of Arizona and later awarded a 51 Pegasi Fellowship at Arizona State University. She is now faculty at the University of Maryland where her group works on methods of measuring exoplanet atmospheres from observations and theory.
Do you have a question we didn’t ask? Join in the discussion in the comments below, and find us on bluesky. 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) and is supported by listener donations at buymeacoffee.com/exocast. We cannot make the show without your support and it is very much appreciated.
For this episode the Exocast team are joined by Dr Matthew Kenworthy from the University of Leiden, The Netherlands. Matt’s work focuses on strange transit events and the search for new ways to better process data. Matt started his career in the instrumentation lab and we dive into that transition to more remote hands-off research. We talk about his work with the assassin, sorry ASASSN, network and the search for weird dips, and then what the future of instrumentation holds for our search for planets in the universe.
In addition, as always we ask our guest to adopt an exoplanet into our Exocast family with Matt choosing PSR 1829-10 – listen in to find out why and if it exists at all!?
Matt is a British astronomer who did his PhD at the University of Cambridge after an undergrad at Oxford, he then held postdocs at Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona, and then at the University of Cincinnati then back at Steward as an instrument scientist, however he has been working and living in the Netherlands for the over a decade as a professor at the Leiden Observatory.
Do you have a question we didn’t ask? Join in the discussion in the comments below, and find us on bluesky. 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) and is supported by listener donations at buymeacoffee.com/exocast. We cannot make the show without your support and it is very much appreciated.
We sat around our virtual studio to chat with Queensland-based astronomer Jonti Horner, who works on planetary dynamics – both within our own solar system, and around others. As well as discovering the impact of giant planet dynamics on habitable planets like earth, we also discussed the importance of aboriginal astronomy in Australia, his various media appearances, and Jonti’s namesake asteroid. Finally, Jonti adopts a special planet into our hall-of-fame list. Listen to find out more!
Do you have a question we didn’t ask? Join in the discussion in the comments below, and find us on bluesky. 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) and is supported by listener donations at buymeacoffee.com/exocast. We cannot make the show without your support and it is very much appreciated.
Join the Exocast team as they chat with Dr Malena Rice an expert on planetary and exoplanetary dynamics through both theory and observation. Malena tells us about her journey into professional astronomy. Malena grew up and attended college in California before moving to the east coast for grad school in the Yale Department of Astronomy, only taking a quick one years’ break as 51 Peg fellow at MIT before returning to Yale as an Assistant Professor in 2023. We ask what the first year as a faculty member is like and how she approaches her research and outreach.
This month the gang sit in with Dr Eamonn Kerins, expert in gravitational microlensing from the University of Manchester. He tells us how astronomers can find extremely distant exoplanets through the warping effect their mass has on light itself; and takes us through the past, present and future of one of the more obscure exoplanet detection methods. This includes how ESA’s Euclid mission could contribute to NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman campaign to find hundreds of new planets in the galactic bulge. We also hear about his journey through astronomy, and outreach projects including as a Green Alien at Jodrell Bank.
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 Exocast family with Ben choosing K2-110b which holds a special significance for him and one of our Exocast hosts – listen to find out more!
Ben completed a PhD in the UK at Oxford before being awarded a NASA Sagan Fellowship which he took to NYU in the USA. He is now faculty at the University of Queensland where his group works on methods of directly imaging exoplanets.
Do you have a question we didn’t ask? Join in the discussion in the comments below, and find us on Twitter, bluesky, and mastodon. 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) and is supported by listener donations at buymeacoffee.com/exocast. We cannot make the show without your support and it is very much appreciated.
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 Life. Caroline outlines what we can learn about the interior structure of rocky exoplanets from mass and radius measurements, as well as how these planets may form and evolve over time and whether plate tectonics is necessary for sustaining an atmosphere and for habitability. As always, Caroline also adds another interesting exoplanet to our growing list of Adopted Planets.
Do you have a question we didn’t ask? Join in the discussion in the comments below, and find us on Twitter, bluesky, and mastodon. 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) and is supported by listener donations at buymeacoffee.com/exocast. We cannot make the show without your support and it is very much appreciated.
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 ground-based transit surveys including the now-ended WASP survey and NGTS. As is tradition, Louise also adds another interesting exoplanet to our growing list of Adopted Planets. Danish speakers should check out her astronomy podcast Stjerneklart.
Do you have a question we didn’t ask? Join in the discussion in the comments below, and find us on Twitter, bluesky, and mastodon. 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) and is supported by listener donations at buymeacoffee.com/exocast. We cannot make the show without your support and it is very much appreciated.
The Exocast team are joined on this show by Dr. Nestor Espinoza from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, USA. Nestor 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 Nestor 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, Nestor also adds an exoplanet to our growing list of Adopted Planets; this one may be familiar to regular listeners…!
Do you have a question we didn’t ask? Join in the discussion in the comments below, and find us on Twitter, bluesky, and mastodon. 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) and is supported by listener donations at buymeacoffee.com/exocast. We cannot make the show without your support and it is very much appreciated.
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 time…
Do you have a question we didn’t ask? Join in the discussion in the comments below, and find us on Twitter, bluesky, and mastodon. 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) and is supported by listener donations at buymeacoffee.com/exocast. We cannot make the show without your support and it is very much appreciated.
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 question we didn’t ask? Join in the discussion in the comments below, and find us on Twitter, bluesky, and mastodon. 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) and is supported by listener donations at buymeacoffee.com/exocast. We cannot make the show without your support and it is very much appreciated.
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 going to be the “star” of the show with stellar contamination dominating the data. But we remain optimistic! 5 more planets await their observations and there is much to learn about this small cool star.
Andrew covers a paper that discusses the feasibility of detecting some biosignatures from TRAPPIST-1 d and e using JWST. This “experimental sandbox” for astrobiology makes TRAPPIST the perfect place to start. The theoretical studies uses a climate model to ask the question: what could we see if it was there? The model looks for methane, carbon dioxide, oxygen, ozone, methyl chloride, and methyl mercaptan; with methane and carbon dioxide pair being the best combo to suggest something out of equilibrium possibly caused by life. But is the question we should be asking, is this the right system to look for life at all? – what do you think?
Hugh then takes us back to formation in a dramatic fashion with an astronomical mystery. A young star has been dimming and almost disappeared for over a year with variations in the starlight over nearly 1000 days. The question simply is: What is going on? It is almost always something to do with dust. This can be seen over different wavelengths showing the dust interacting with the light. But in this case the exciting new result is that about 3 years before the dimming happened, a bright event was seen in the system. What the team found through simulations suggest that there was a giant collision of planets in that system that created the bright event and then the debris field blocking the light. Space is really remarkable!
100 episodes is a huge milestone and as always Hugh, Hannah, and Andrew could not do this show without you! Thank you for listening.
Exocast is edited by Fergus Hall. You can help support Exocast and the team at BuyMeACoffee.com/exocast, and get yourself some Exocast merch at exocast.threadless.com
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 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) and is supported by listener donations at buymeacoffee.com/exocast. Each coffee costs $4 and donations over $15 get a shout-out on the show. We cannot make the show without your support and it is very much appreciated.
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 support the claim) to the press and how extraordinary claims require extraordinary care.
Hugh highlights a new discovery of “A close-in giant planet escapes engulfment by its star” by Hon et al.
And finally, Andrew explores “Planetary Scale Information Transmission in the Biosphere and Technosphere: Limits and Evolution” by Lingham et al.
Exocast is edited by Fergus Hall. Image credit: Artistic ilustration of planet K2-18b, its star K2-18 and the second planet K2-18. Credit: Alex Boersma
You can help support Exocast and the team at BuyMeACoffee.com/exocast, and get yourself some Exocast merch at exocast.threadless.com
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 Twitter, bluesky, and mastodon. 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) and is supported by listener donations at buymeacoffee.com/exocast. Each coffee costs $4 and donations over $15 get a shout out on the show. We cannot make the show without your support and it is very much appreciated.
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 IV 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 theirRead more
Hugh, Hannah, & Andrew discuss a handful of interesting recent exoplanet papers from the past few months. We chat all things Exoclimes VI held in Exeter in June 2023, new discoveries, exciting atmospheres, and haze formation. Hugh highlights a new discovery of “A temperate Earth-sized planet [LP 791-18 d] with tidal heating transiting an M6 star” by Peterson et al. Hannah dives into an escaping atmosphere covering “Giant Tidal Tails of Helium Escaping the HotRead more
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.
Hugh, Hannah, & Andrew discuss a handful of interesting recent exoplanet papers from the past few months.
Andrew delves into technosignatures and a study which looked at whether nearby extraterrestrial civilisations could detect our current levels of radio leakage, and exactly what they might be able to learn.
Hannah condenses the most recent JWST exoplanet paper, on the nearby transiting mini-Neptune GJ436b. The beautiful spectra from JWST appear to show hints of water vapour, but is it in the planetary atmosphere or the activity on the surface of the star?
And finally, Hugh covers a trio of papers which all used a combination of Hipparcos & Gaia astrometry as well as high-contrast imaging from some of the world’s largest telescopes to confirm a new giant planet orbiting the young star AF Lep.
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) and is supported by listener donations at buymeacoffee.com/exocast. Each coffee costs $4 and donations over $15 get a shout out on the show. We cannot make the show without your support and it is very much appreciated.
A huge thank you to mraroid for their ongoing donations to the show!
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 JWST transmission spectrum of a nearby Earth-sized exoplanet (arxiv pre-print, submitted to Nature Astro)
- Hannah’s papers:
- A JWST NIRSpec Phase Curve for WASP-121b: Dayside Emission Strongest Eastward of the Substellar Point and Nightside Conditions Conducive to Cloud Formation
- A First Look at the JWST MIRI/LRS Phase Curve of WASP-43b (arxiv pre-print)
- Andrew’s papers:
- Diverse geochemical conditions for prebiotic chemistry in shallow-sea alkaline hydrothermal vents
- Deep-branching acetogens in serpentinized subsurface fluids of Oman
- Microbial biosignature preservation in carbonated serpentine from the Samail Ophiolite, Oman
Exocast is edited by Fergus Hall, you can find more of his work www.fergushallmusic.com.
If you would like to support the show consider donating on our buymeacoffee.com/exocast page, all donations matter and help keep Exocast going. You can also get your hands on Exocast merchandise at exocast.threadless.com
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 chooses, but it is definitely worth it for the personal and cultural connection to a distant world…
George also mentions a great exoplanet resource pack for teachers, made by the IOP for children aged 11-14, which can be found here: https://spark.iop.org/collections/teaching-exoplanets
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) and is supported by listener donations at buymeacoffee.com/exocast. Each coffee costs $4 and donations over $15 get a shout out on the show. We cannot make the show without your support and it is very much appreciated. A big thank you to Rick Schwarz, Brian Krelle, and @moylecroft for donations of coffee over the past couple of months
It’s everyone’s favourite time of year. No, not because of halloween, leaf-peeping or mulled wine – because it’s #ExoCup season! Yes, for the sixth time, Hannah, Hugh & Andrew will use the power to twitter polls to let the public decide which single exoplanet deserves to wear the crown as the people’s champion for 2022. In this special episode, we reveal the planets chosen for the 2022 edition – including 24 from the exoplanet literature,Read more
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.
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 excessive use of the word "Uranus" we dive into the science of what a mission to the planet could help us reveal and what makes the Ice Giants so unique.
We cover this month’s most exciting exoplanetary (and solar system) news: Andrew tells us about details of the proposed “Venus Life Finder” mission which would go beyond ESA & NASA’s selected Venus missions to directly sample for organic molecules in the temperate regions of Venus’ atmosphere using an interplanetary balloon! Hugh talks about how analysis of the multi-planet systems found by Kepler is still revealing new insights, in this case how chains of planets appearRead more
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 ableRead more
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 andRead more
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 PandoraRead more
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 literatureRead more
Hugh, Hannah & Andrew pick sides to debate astronomy’s deepest divide. Are you with Hugh on the side of the observers, who insist that it is only with new telescopes, instruments and data that we can reveal physical properties of exoplanets and develop our understanding of the universe. Or are you, like Andrew, on the side of the theorists, who ensure that we can deeply understand the physical properties of exoplanets by doing experiments andRead more
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 inRead more
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 thatRead more
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,Read more
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 toRead more
In this months News episode Hugh, Hannah, and Andrew each discuss a paper from the past month of the latest exoplanet research including, JWST test data analysis, Oxidative Earth, and multi-star systems.
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 our planets formation history. Meg also inducts PH-1b into the Exocast Adopted Planets family.
In this episode the Exocast team take us through three of the latests studies in exoplanet research touching on biosignatures, planet formation and disruption, and the effects of space weather on close-in exoplanets. Join them to learn the latest in exoplanet science!
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,Read more
In this episode the Exocast gang chat with Dr Mark McCaughrean, who is a Senior Advisor for Science & Exploration at the European Space Agency (ESA), as well as a James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Science Working Group Interdisciplinary Scientist, about the recent launch, deployment and commissioning of JWST. Mark shares scientific and personal highlights of his long involvement with the telescope, his experience of JWST’s launch from French Guiana on Christmas Day 2021, andRead more
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 aRead more
The exocast team covers the latest news in Exoplanets including a critical look at the so called "Hycean" worlds recently proposed to be the best places to look for life, a detailed run-down of the Elements magazine issue on "Geoscience beyond the solar system", and some new and refined exoplanet measurements and discoveries.
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 roomRead more
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 serendipitousRead more
In this episode the Exocast crew are excited to talk with expert science communicator, JAXA space scientist, and master of computer simulations, Professor Elizabeth Tasker. During the hour long discussion we talk about how Elizabeth transitioned into planetary research from a degree and PhD in galactic simulations, the journey from the UK to the US, Canada and now in Japan. Where the idea for her popular science book The Planet Factory came from and whyRead more
In Exocast-52c Hugh, Andrew, and Hannah take us through three reviews of papers that have been recently published in the planetary/exoplanet literature.
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 lackRead more
In this episode the Exocast gang are 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.
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 LauraRead more
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,Read more
For the second exocast news for 2021 Hannah talks about the physics of raindrops in planetary atmospheres, Hugh explores the color possibilities of the Kepler Photometric data, and Andrew discusses the role of chance in the habitability of the Earth as an exoplanet
The exocast team interview cloud and dust expert Diana Powell (UC:Santa Cruz) about her work on protoplanetary disks and clouds in exoplanet atmospheres. The team also welcome CI Tau b to their adopted planets.
For the first Exocast News of 2021, Hugh talks about the Direct confirmation of Beta Pic c, Hannah discusses simulating the photochemical haze of hot Jupiter HD189733b, and Andrew takes us through the science and drama surrounding the detection of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus
In this months episode Exocasters Hugh Osborn, Hannah Wakeford, and Andrew Rushby attempt to answer the question they posed last year: What is the point of the Habitable Zone?
The Exocast team tackle the goings on of the #ExoCup2020 twitter competition to crown the exoplanet champion of 2020.
In this special episode after a long summer break, the Exocast team performs the draw for the upcoming Exocup – the foremost exoplanetary competition in which 32 twitter polls will comprehensively and uncontroversially* decide on the world’s favourite exoplanet. * This may be wishful thinking
This month Hugh, Andrew, and Hannah talk to astrophysicist, folklorist, and science communicator Moiya McTier. Moiya is an NSF graduate researcher at Columbia University in New York City and works to understand exoplanets from a galactic perspective. The Exocast team talks to Moiya about work from measuring the topography on an exoplanet by the effect that mountains and other features have in transit, all the way up to how the stars in the Milky WayRead more
This month Hannah, Hugh, and Andrew go through the slew of exoplanet papers from discoveries, characterisation, and astrobiology
In this episode, the team sits down to ponder the question how many exoplanets are there? At first, this might seem like a relatively straightforward question that can be answered by NASA’s Exoplanet Archive, but it becomes more daunting when considering, for example, the biases and limitations of our instruments that affect our ability to even detect and characterise many planets, how we define a ‘planet’, and whether or not we have surveyed enough starsRead more
This month Andrew, Hannah, and Hugh chat with Dr Batiste Journaux (Research Associate in the Department of Earth and Space Science at the University of Washington) about all things icy and the role of different ices in our Solar System and exoplanets.
On Exocast-45d we bring you the news from across exoplanet research this month with new discoveries, characterisations, habitability and formation papers. In America, WFIRST has been renamed the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in honour to the pioneering “Mother Hubble”, while in Europe the LIFE mission kicked off. We have lots of new exoplanets being discovered (from TESS, NGTS, WASP and RVs), and un-discovered, as was the case for Fomalhaut b. Characterisation studies have alsoRead more
On this episode we ask the question: Can we ever image the surface of an exoplanet? Once we get all the definitions out of the way, like ‘what do we mean by map?’ and ‘what do we mean by surface?’, we take a deep dive into the realm of instrumentation to discuss the possibilities and limitations of our upcoming and near-future exoplanet imaging technologies. We touch on some of the avenues that astronomers & engineersRead more
In this round-up of the month’s notable exoplanetary exploits, we cover all the headlines including: Proxima c (not) being directly imaged with Sphere – WASP-4b’s accelerating orbit – two new but very different sub-Saturn-mass planets – windspeed measurements on Brown Dwarfs – plus the influence of Gin & Vampires on exoplanets (from a couple of results very early this month). Also this month, check out our chat with Dr Sarah Casewell; and a discussion ofRead more
This month Hannah, Hugh, and Andrew chat with Dr Sarah Casewell about her work on irradiated brown dwarfs. Sarah is an Earnest Rutherford Fellow at the University of Leicester where she has spent her career since undergrad. We chat all things brown dwarfs and what makes the irradiated ones so special to study. Sarah also shares her journey in academia from PhD, to postdoc, manager, and now fellow, all while becoming a mum (twice). WeRead more
In the final of three mini-exocasts we will release this month, we cover some of the notable happenings in exoplanet science over the past month. On this episode we cover new planets from the TESS mission, a novel technique for detecting exoplanets using radio emission, and the end of the very productive KELT survey after 17 years. We also revisit K2-18b, which hit the exoplanet headlines last year after water vapour was definitively detected inRead more
Our final bite-size episode for this month features Andrew, Hannah, and Hugh chatting with Dr Stephen Kane, Associate Professor of Planetary Astrophysics in the Departments of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Riverside. Stephen tells us a little about his need to use all exoplanet detection techniques, his love for our hot and cloudy next-door neighbour Venus, and he tries to sneak two planets into our adopted exoplanet list, before settling on oneRead more
In the second of three mini-casts this month, Hannah, Hugh, and Andrew gather around the virtual table to discuss that weird and wonderful molecule: H2O! The importance of water to our lives is undeniable, but in this show we chat about what makes water so chemically unusual and important in the study of astrophysics, exoplanet astronomy, and astrobiology.
In the first of three mini-casts this month, we discuss all the recent exoplanet news from December 2019 & January 2020. That includes a temperate world around TOI-700d; Proxima Centauri c; three new planetary systems losing their atmospheres found with RVs; Circumbinary planets in Kepler and TESS; Iron in WASP-121b; Two different phase curves from TESS; and the atmosphere of Beta Pic b in glorious detail.
In Exocast-41b we talk to Dr Erin May about all things from observing to theoretical GCMs, Hugh discusses Strange transit signals, we review #ExoCup2019 and go through the months Exoplanet news.
Hugh chats with his colleague at the University of Bern Dr. Brett Morris about starspots and their effect on exoplanet detection and characterisation, his experience with an astrobiology mission right here on Earth, and he recounts an exciting day in Bern earlier this year. Andrew discusses the labels we apply to the worlds we find, and the gang debates the usefulness of the terms for exoplanet science. And Hannah reads ADS so you don’t haveRead more
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 NobelRead more
Exocast-38b: Exoclimes V voxbox, NASA's Flagship mission concepts, and exoplanet news including water in the atmosphere of K2-18b
Quizmaster Hugh takes to the conference hall at the 1st TESS Science Conference (TESSCon) to test the attendees’ exoplanet knowledge! Andrew compiles a (not very) top secret report-out on planetary protection. And Hannah covers this month’s news including the detection of an exoplanet magnetic field, new planets from TESS, a Kepler-load of 350 new candidates, as well as advances in exoplanet population statistics and atmospheric characterization.
Exocast-35b: Special guest Tom Haworth, Planet formation in extreme environments, ALMA observations, News, PDS-70b
Exocast-32b: featuring special guest Dr Jo Barstow, plus detecting the solar system from Trappist-1
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 scientistsRead more
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.Read more
On 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 adoptedRead more
Exocast-28b: Special guest Daniel Angerhausen, SOFIA, technosignatures, news, HD 209458b
Exocast-27b: special guest Michael Gully-Santiago, K2, Exoplanet meetings, news, HAT-P-11b
In the 26th episode of Exocast: Natasha Batalha joins Hannah for a chat about PandExo (the Exoplanet ETC for HST and JWST) and her work on Martian climate modelling. Hugh discusses all things radial velocity: history, current, and future prospects. Andrew covers all of June’s exoplanet news; And Natasha adds “Hannah’s special planet” HAT-P-26b to our gang of Adopted Planets
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.
Exocast-24b: Special guest Rus Belikov, direct imaging, Alpha Can, Titan, news, Ross-128b
In 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 outRead more
In 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.Read more
In the 14th episode of Exocast Hannah takes us back to basics and introduce the composition and chemistry of exoplanet atmospheres. Andrew covers some recent updates from astrobiology, the field of study that aims to figure out if there’s life on any the exoplanets we’ve discovered, or on some of the worlds closer to home. Hugh takes us through the latest in exoplanetary news, including the newest discoveries, investigations, and notable events in exoplanets this month.Read more
In the 13th episode of Exocast Hugh talks about planets in binary systems – are two stars better than one? Hannah discussed the importance of brown dwarfs as the intermediary between planets and stars. Andrew takes us through the latest in exoplanetary news, including the newest discoveries, investigations, and notable events in exoplanets this month. and Hannah adopts WASP-12b with it’s ruby clouds into our extreme family of exoplanets.
In 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.
In the eleventh episode, Exocast-11b: Hannah covers all the incredible news about the Trappist-1 system, talking us through the discovery of seven new earth-sized worlds around this nearby ultra-cool dwarf. Andrew talks about the philosophy of exoplanets, from the ancients, through the dark ages, and into the modern era. And Hugh sits in at the exocast newsdesk to cover the release of 60,000 HIRES RVs, new transit-hunting surveys MASCARA and BRing, the star HAT-P-2 beating to the rhythm ofRead more
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.
In Exocast-9b we take a special look at SETI and the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence with expert guest Dr Duncan Forgan from the University of St Andrews. Hugh takes a VOXBOX of students at the University of Warwick looking at the Drake Equation which was the progenitor to SETI. Hannah dives into the science fiction realm to look at SETI’s influence in pop culture. Andrew has a look to the future of SETI andRead more
Exocast-8b In the eighth Exocast episode: • Andrew turns his attention to the weird and wonderful worlds bringing science fiction and fact a little closer together; • Hugh covers the latest developments in the case of the enigmatic Boyajian’s Star; • Hannah reports on the month’s news in exoplanet research; • And we adopt Latham’s Planet (HD 114762 b), arguably the first exoplanet discovered, into our planet family.
Exocast-7b In the seventh exocast episode: • Hannah answers a range of questions posed to us on social media; • Andrew explores the the climate of an unexplored and (temporally) distant world: the early Earth; • Hugh discusses recent news and exoplanetary weather; • And we adopt the Kepler-138/KOI-314 system into our growing family of planets.
Exocast-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.
Exocast-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 reportingRead more
Exocast-4 b In the fourth exocast episode: Hannah take us on a whirlwind tour of the planets in our own familiar solar system. Andrew covers how we can use the Mass and Radius of exoplanet to tell us about their interiors. Hugh looks at the news including observations of Trappist-1 b & c, and 136 new planets. And Andrew adopts the Earth-like planet Kepler-186 f to our growing family.
Exocast-3 b In the third exocast episode: • Hugh looks at a ghostly bunch of controversial, redacted or “killed” exoplanets that have come and gone. • Hannah talks about how we can study the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets, and adds another exoplanet oddity to our growing adopted family. • Andrew covers all news exoplanetary, including a new young planet, a (not so) habitable giant Tatooine and a planet spinning up its star.
Exocast-2b In the second exocast episode: • Andrew looks to future world-finding missions. • Hugh latches onto a planet spinning backwards, and adds another bizarre world (or what’s left of it anyway) to our adopted family to keep Kepler-10 b company. • Hannah covers all news exoplanetary from the last month, and there was quite a lot of it!
Exocast-1 b In the inaugural exocast episode: • Hannah time travels through the history of exoplanets from the ancient greeks to the future; • Andrew takes a critical look at the habitable zone concept; • Hugh discusses recent news including the potential detection of a magma ocean on the super-Earth 55-Cancri e; • and Andrew adopts Kepler-10 b, the first definitively rocky exoplanet found by Kepler, as our planet of the month.