astro[sound]bites

In this episode, Cormac, Shashank and Cole dig deep into Galactic Archaeology as we look into the past of our Milky Way. Cole brings us a catastrophic computational collision, while Shashank gives us the low-down on low-metallicity, and we see just how the (Gaia) sausage gets made. We also discuss the rights, wrongs and funnies of Astronomers trying to name things, and the diverse design philosophies behind some of our favourite observational facilities.

Astrobites: 

https://astrobites.org/2023/07/27/colossal_collisions_and_the_milky_way/

https://astrobites.org/2024/08/03/pigs-sagittarius/

Space sound:

https://www.aip.de/en/news/exploring-the-history-of-the-early-milky-way-with-sound/

DOOFAS Acronyms website:

https://lweb.cfa.harvard.edu/~gpetitpas/Links/Astroacro.html

In this episode, Shashank, Cole and Lucia bend time in their debut podcast together as we talk about the various ways astronomy is like time travel. Lucia gives us a peek into the past with the storied supernova Cas A, while Cole brings us on a nostalgic quest into gravitational wave memory. We hope you enjoy time traveling with us!

Astrobites: 

https://astrobites.org/2024/08/26/cas_a_jwst/

https://astrobites.org/2024/08/28/gwmem/

Space sound:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9vGpkQurfc

JWST Cas A images:

https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2023/149/01HGGZ4TPD8XFNPCBTZ2QYM0ZM

https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2023/121/01GWQBBY77MHGFV3M3N63KDCEJ

This episode marks Kiersten’s last astro[sound]bites episode (and also side note – we’re posting this on her birthday!). To recognize Kiersten for her incredible time as a co-host, we take a journey through her academic paper trail by discussing her papers on how magma and metallicities affect how we think about exoplanetary formation and observations. Then we take a deep dive into Kiersten’s time as a co-host and graduate student including her stance on “publish or perish” and what she’s most excited about starting her NASA Sagan Postdoctoral Fellowship this fall.

Kiersten’s Papers: 

1. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2307.13726

In this week's episode, we take you on a two-part journey to Europe! First, Lucia and Cormac guide you through the differences of graduate programs in Europe and the US. Then, we jump into a series of mini-interviews with fellow PhD students about their research. We journey through a wide range of topics, including black holes big and smalls, the powerful winds of massive stars, and much more. If you would like to learn more about any of these topics, check out the links below! The mini-interviews were conducted as part of the IMPRS-Astro Hackathon, an unconference organised by Cormac and a few colleges, which brought together students from Heidelberg and Munich.

IMPRS-Astro Hackathon

Statistics on physics students in Germany (unfortunately in German)

Mini-Interviews

The circumgalactic medium - Joanne's personal website

Past episodes relating to topics that came up in the mini-interviews

Episode 93: Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Primordial Black Hole Machiney

Episode 72: A Trip to the Optometrist

Episode 71: Galaxies Say Halo

Episode 70: Astronomy 10 Years into the Future Part II

Episode 49: A Fine Dining Experience

Episode 3: 6 Unbelievable Facts about Black Holes

Credit for the jingle (transition to the mini-interviews): SergeQuadrado on freesound.org

Was the floor in your childhood home ever lava? If so, you may have been training to visit these spicy magma-filled exoplanets! In this episode, we're turning up the heat and investigating what makes magma/lava so important for potential extraterrestrial life. Sabrina takes us to the poster child of strange lava worlds and finally gives exoplanteers an answer to the long debate of whether it has an atmosphere or if its star blew it away. Then, Cormac tells us all about how water can play well with magma. Kiersten is convinced that these lava worlds might just be the perfect place for a hot summer vacation.

Astrobites:

https://astrobites.org/2024/06/19/template-post-17/

https://astrobites.org/2023/09/21/magma-oceans-and-surface-water/

Kiersten’s paper: 

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/acea85/pdf

Space sound:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3clDSXN26N9lQtCwJgMb2tR/sonification

In this week’s episode, we take a look at the hottest trend in dark matter candidates - Primordial Black Holes. They’re like black holes, only smaller (in some cases)! Join us as we see what all the fuss is about. Kiersten shares a story of a black hole playing video games inside a star and glitching out of the mainframe, while Shashank makes his a[s]b debut with an explosive transient conundrum that *might* explain the mystery of dark matter once and for all. We round off with a discussion about our favourite pet dark matter theories and the merits of direct experimental searches.

Astrobites:

https://astrobites.org/2024/05/31/are-pbhs-detonating-white-dwarfs/

Astrobite Paper with Pretty Orbits: 

Space Sound:

We've reached a pivotal moment for astro[sound]bites: the podcast era where each of the original co-hosts has been replaced. Just like the Ship of Theseus, we ask: Is astro[sound]bites still the same show, even though all its original components have been replaced? We believe it is, and we’re excited about its continued evolution.

In this episode, we’re thrilled to introduce the three new astro[sound]bites co-hosts: Shashank, Cole, and Lucia. They'll be joining us in the next few months, and we’ll discuss what each is excited about for the future of the show. Stay tuned for an exciting new chapter as the new co-hosts take over steering the ship!

Episode 92: Beyond- Astronomy is a little Mental

Astronomy is hard! And in ways that extend far beyond the science we do every day. In this Beyond episode, Kiersten and Cormac talk all about mental health in astronomy and the structural issues that may be contributing to things like burnout and anxiety. It’s not all doom and gloom though. There are a few things that studies suggest that can help. We also chat about strategies that have helped us when we were struggling in hopes that they may be useful to you too. We round off with Cormac’s Hai-cool poetic riff for our one sentence summary. 

Papers discussed:

https://arxiv.org/abs/2202.01768

https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.4089

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048733317300422?via=ihub

https://comm.wayne.edu/files/keashly_spectra2015.pdf

Cormac’s shameless plug for the Early Career Astronomers’ session at the European Astronomical Society’s meeting:

https://eas.unige.ch/EAS2024/session.jsp?id=SS23

Crisis hotlines and remote support:

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (US): +1-800-273-8255 (live chat also available on website; hearing-impaired TTY users can also dial 800-799-4889)

National Crisis Text Line: text/SMS HOME to 741741 for US; to 686868 for Canada; to 85258 for the UK

Crisis Services Canada: +1-833-456-4566 (text/SMS and live chat also available on website)

Samaritans (UK and Ireland): +44 116 123 (email also available on website)

The Trevor Project (US): +1-866-488-7386 (text/SMS and live chat also available on website; the lifeline will talk with any individual regardless of sexuality or gender)

Trans Lifeline: US: +1-877-565-8860; Canada: +1-877-330-6366

TelefonSeelSorge (Germany): 0800 / 111 0 111 or https://online.telefonseelsorge.de/index.php

91 is the atomic number of protactinium. Speaking of protracted, it’s finally time to say FareWill to Dr astroSaundbites himself, after five years of co-hosting our wonderful podcast. We begin with a deep dive into his Uranian adventures that might offer the key to our next mission there. We then reflect on his time in grad school, share some sage wisdom and explore what the future holds as he transitions to a not-postdoc at NASA. 

Will’s first paper: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021AJ....161..280S/abstract

Will’s career resource links:

Websites to help you discover lots of careers you can pursue with your PhD and how to get there:

A great webinar on career transitions for astronomers:

Great books:

How fast is the universe expanding? It turns out this important value, the Hubble constant (H0), is under constant debate. The two main teams have numbers that disagree by over 5 standard deviations! Today on a[s]b, we resolve the Hubble tension once and for all, as Cormac and Kiersten square off in the Great H0 Debate. Cormac comes in with feist and facts while Kiersten engages with rebuttal and reason. In the end, there can only be 1 winner, and that’s for you to decide! Vote here for the winner of the debate, what the true value of H0 should be, and what we got wrong in the episode (we tried our best!). https://forms.gle/3dybtrhysS9Lvia37

Timeline of the Hubble tension: https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1400/format:webp/1*oekTYTkZQmw7DxzUaLqDVw.png

Astrobites used for this episode: 

https://astrobites.org/2016/04/20/conflicts-between-expansion-history-of-the-local-and-distant-universe/

https://astrobites.org/2020/05/12/magnets-and-hubble/

https://astrobites.org/2021/04/01/south-polarization/

https://astrobites.org/2021/04/27/bursting-the-hubble-trouble-bubble-measuring-h0-with-fast-radio-bursts/

https://astrobites.org/2023/03/29/multi-messenger-constraints-on-the-hubble-constant/

https://astrobites.org/2023/10/04/holy-cow-is-our-journey-through-the-universe-the-reason-for-the-hubble-tension/

https://astrobites.org/2024/04/16/sn_h0pe/

Space sound: https://www.system-sounds.com/earth-day/. Credit: SYSTEM Sounds/Matt Russo/Andrew Santaguida

Article by Subir Sarkhar: https://inference-review.com/article/heart-of-darkness

Cool Wikipedia page Will references: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numeral_prefix

Chart Kiersten references: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_distance_ladder#/media/File:Extragalactic_Distance_Ladder_en.svg