astro[sound]bites

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

In this episode, we hear about Kiersten and Will’s epic adventures in both hemispheres! Both Kiersten and Will watched the eclipse that passed through North America on April 8, 2024 and are still buzzing with excitement. Kiersten tells us about a recent paper that explores why planets might act so indecisive about sitting between being a super-Earth or mini-Neptune. Will’s astrobite describes a similarly chaotic exoplanetary tale about a very slow moving planet which “came in like a wrecking ball” and “never hit habitability so hard” (everything in quotations must be sung in Miley Cyrus’ singing voice). All in all, we all share a laugh and an emotionally charged episode!

Kiersten’s astrobite: https://astrobites.org/2024/03/28/template-post-22/

Will’s astrobite: https://astrobites.org/2024/03/06/exoplanet-hr-5183-b/

Eclipse XKCD: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2914:_Eclipse_Coolness

Eclipse Astronomy Photo of the Day: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240409.html

Sonification: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8al9FRz-VKY

Sonification description: https://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/listen-eclipse

Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My2FRPA3Gf8

In celebration of the a-bit-over-a-week after St. Patrick’s (definitely not Patty’s) Day, we bring you another Ireland-related episode. Due to historically unsupported stereotypes about the Irish being lucky, we bring you two astrobites busting with cosmic coincidences and a dash of luck. Kiersten tells about a plucky planet that avoided a hangry host star,  while Will brings us yet another binary black hole bonanza. Cormac shares a bit of an infamous Irish space sound that you could call cosmic comic relief.  In the spirit of luck, we talk about the role of luck in our own journeys to space and in the field of astronomy as a whole.

This week’s “space sound” - https://www.tiktok.com/@ladbibleireland/video/7278649311334780192?lang=en

In celebration of St. Patrick’s (not Patty’s) Day, we share a super short sneak peek at next week’s episode, featuring fun Irish astronomical facts. We’re calling it the Shamrock Shake-up! In addition to the astronomical facts, Will takes us on a journey to the past with some wild Irish lore of his own! We hope you enjoy what might be our first “Beyond the beyond” episode, and Lá Fhéile Pádraig faoi mhaise daoibh go léir!

Intro music excerpt: “Granny hold the candle while I shave the chicken’s lip” - Bodega

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz4IxFy27dw