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 serendipitous observation of a transiting long-period mini Neptune around the naked-eye star nu2 Lupi
• And finally, Hannah talks about more cloud developments, this time experimental results on the evolution of haze in temperate exoplanet atmospheres (and you can listen to our interview with Sarah Hörst for more)

If you enjoy the show and want to help support us, you can donate just a few dollars at buymeacoffee.com/exocast You can also support the show and get yourself some exocast merchandise at the same time from exocast.threadless.com

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 why we should all have contact forms on our websites. Elizabeth also shares some thoughts on teaching, how to convince someone to hire you for a job they have not advertised and the amazing array of JAXA missions she now gets to talk about.

In our Adopt a Planet section Elizabeth welcomes GJ 832 c to the Exocast Adopted Planets list and fills us in on the personal and professional reasons for her choice! Listen to the show for more details.

You can find links to all of Elizabeths videos, books, and research at elizabethtasker.com you can also follow her on Twitter @girlandKat (with a K).

In Exocast-52c Hugh, Andrew, and Hannah take us through three reviews of papers that have been recently published in the planetary/exoplanet literature.

Hugh takes us through the two papers published by the California Legacy Survey I & II:
I. A Catalog of 177 Planets from Precision Radial Velocity Monitoring of 719 Nearby Stars over Three Decades
II. Occurrence of Giant Planets Beyond the Ice line
We also acknowledge the detrimental affect that a particular name on the author list for these papers, a known sexual harasser in the field, had on the community and call to have better policies in place for this to not re-traumatize far too many people in our field.

Andrew talks about The Effect Of Core Formation On Surface Composition And Planetary Habitability

and
Hannah discussed the paper: A diffuse core in Saturn revealed by ring seismology

If you enjoy the show and want to help support us, you can donate just a few dollars at buymeacoffee.com/exocast You can also support the show and get yourself some exocast merchandise at the same time from exocast.threadless.com

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 lack of plate tectonics, and of course its recently-detected potential biosignatures – all of which link to questions we will soon be asking of terrestrial planets outside our own solar system…

For more discussion of Venus you can check out our interview with Stephen Kane in Exocast-42b, and Exocast-48c where Andrew covers the detection of Phosphine in Venus’ atmosphere.

And remember you can join in the discussion in the comments below, and find us on Twitter. If you want to support the Exocast Podcast then you can Buy us a Coffee, or get your own merchandise at exocast.threadless.com

In this episode the Exocast gang are privileged to be 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.

We also welcome back our Adopt a Planet segment with our guest picking a returning favourite, 51 Eri b. Listen to the segment at the end of the show to hear Mark’s reasons for picking this fascinating planet. Will being adopted twice help 51 Eri b’s chances in the Exocup this year…?

Mark Markley is a Research Scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA. who earned his PhD in Planetary Science from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) at the University of Arizona in 1990. After a postdoc studying planetary atmospheres at NASA Ames he began a faculty position in Astronomy at New Mexico State University in 1993, before returning to Ames in 2000 as a civil servant scientist. Mark will return to the University of Arizona to take up leadership of the LPL and Department of Planetary Sciences in mid-May 2021. He tweets from @astromarkmarley, and you can find more info about his work at his NASA webpage and ADS publication list.

Remember you can join in the discussion in the comments below, and find us on Twitter. If you want to support the Exocast Podcast then you can Buy us a Coffee, or get your own merchandise at exocast.threadless.com

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 Laura Schaefer.

We would also like to give another big thanks to Steve Hungsberg and Elsie Lee who loaded us up with some coffee money to support the show, and a massive thank you to Anton who donated a whopping $100!

If you also enjoy the show and want to help support us, you can donate just a few dollars at buymeacoffee.com/exocast You can also support the show and get yourself some exocast merchandise at the same time from exocast.threadless.com

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, better infrared detectors and advanced observations. Ultimately, should all of the things we do have an economic benefit? We don’t think so. “Blue skies” research asks the big broad question that are seemingly unimportant; why is the sky blue? but are fundamental to life here on Earth and our curiosity about our origin and universe.

This month we are giving a big shoutout to Steve Hungsberg and Graham Lee who loaded us up with some coffee money to support the show, and a massive thank you to Anton who donated a whopping $100!

If you also enjoy the show and want to help support us, you can donate just a few dollars at buymeacoffee.com/exocast You can also support the show and get yourself some exocast merchandise at the same time from exocast.threadless.com

For the second news segment of 2021 Hannah, Hugh, and Andrew take on three papers that came out in Jan/Feb 2021

Hannah covers The Physics of Falling Raindrops in Diverse Planetary Atmospheres by Loftus & Wordsworth

Hugh talks about Multi-Wavelength Photometry Derived from Monochromatic Kepler Data by Hedges, et al.

Andrew looks through Chance played a role in determining whether Earth stayed habitable by Tyrrell

Remember you can join in the discussion in the comments below, and find us on Twitter. If you want to support the Exocast Podcast then you can Buy us a Coffee, or get your own merchandise at exocast.threadless.com

On this months Exocast the team talks with cloud expert Diana Powell about her work studying the dust in protoplanetary disks through theoretical models of the micro-physics and applying that to clouds in the atmospheres of hot Jupiters. We also chat about her journey into astro, the year of Covid, and her amazing work on mentoring at UCSC.

This month we also welcome back out Adopt a Planet segment with our special guest picking the dust embedded planet CI Tau b in the super young protostellar system.

Diana Powell is a graduate student and Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellow in the Astronomy & Astrophysics Department at UC Santa Cruz. You can find her on Twitter @DianaPowell8 and more information on her website as well as and up-to-date list of all her publications

Remember you can join in the discussion in the comments below, and find us on Twitter. If you want to support the Exocast Podcast then you can Buy us a Coffee, or get your own merchandise at exocast.threadless.com

For the first news segment of 2021 Hugh, Hannah, and Andrew talk through three papers from exoplanet science:

Hugh covers the Direct confirmation of the radial-velocity planet β Pictoris c

Hannah discusses 3D simulations of photochemical haze in the atmosphere of the hot Jupiter HD189733b

And Andrew takes us through the science and drama of Phosphine gas in the cloud decks of Venus

Remember you can join in the discussion in the comments below, and find us on Twitter. If you want to support the Exocast Podcast then you can Buy us a Coffee, or get your own merchandise at exocast.threadless.com