Beth is joined by Mike Simmons, the founder of Astronomy for Equity, an Affiliate Research Scientist at the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, and a member of the Board of Directors for the International Dark-Sky Association. Mike is here to talk with us about a new crowdfunding campaign to bring telescopes to astronomy outreach students in Libya.

Asteroseismologists are combining data from TESS, Kepler, and eventually JWST to study stellar oscillations in ‘infant’ stars, with the goal of creating new models for how such young stars form and evolve over time. Plus, JWST images Mars, Hubble images stars, and SpaceX manages to launch another Starlink mission in spite of weather delays.

Using computer simulations, researchers have pieced together a possible scenario where Titan caused another of Saturn’s moons to break up and become the beautiful ring system we see today. Plus, organic molecules on Mars, the death of the dinosaurs, and a review of Lightyear on Disney+.

Data and images from NASA’s Curiosity rover found evidence that wind played a key role in erosional processes on the red planet, despite the lower atmospheric volume. Plus, astrophysics and cosmology news, a baby exoplanet, and this week in space history, we look back at an uncrewed lunar mission from Japan.

Listen to the full-length interview with Jian-Yang Li from our September 13th episode. 

Using pockets of gas found in tiny crystals, scientists have created a timeline for the formation and eruption of four supervolcano events in northern Chile more than twenty million years ago. Plus, rocket launches, gorgeous new space images, and an interview with Jian-Yang Li about the upcoming DART mission’s impact.

A population study of 43 exoplanets orbiting M-dwarf stars used both the transit method and radial velocity method to find the densities of the worlds and a surprising pattern emerged. The planets are less dense than expected, suggesting they are not purely rock but half-rock and maybe half-water. Plus, star factories in the Milky Way, glaciers on ancient Mars, and This Week in Space History.

As global temperatures rise, Earth observations show that glaciers are retreating and ice sheets are melting everywhere from Greenland to Antarctica while regions of the Arctic are getting greener. Plus, collaborations lead to new Mars and exoplanet discoveries, several rockets launched, and this week’s What’s Up involves Dr. Brian May of Queen.

As we return from our summer hiatus, we are back with a rundown of some of the stories that came out during the break. On the planetary front, JWST has been taking amazing images and learning about exoplanets. On the astrophysics front, we’ve got stories on dark matter and Betelgeuse. And there were thirty orbital launches, including a whole lot of Starlinks… but not including Artemis.

With the release of JWST’s first science images behind us, we now catch up on all the rocket launches of the past few days. Meanwhile, Bennu continues to be a favorite research topic and is the subject of three new papers released this week. Plus, pulsar-orbiting planets, and this week in rocket history, we look back at GEOTAIL.