There is a mystery. The surface of the Sun is at 6000 degrees. But when you farther away from it, some of the gas is at temperatures reaching a million degrees. What heats up this gas? Astronomers may be getting close to the answer and it may have something to do with the newly discovered nanoflares, nicknamed "campfires". Please join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in exploring some of these mysteries of our nearest star. 

You can watch the episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/IIBkiUJY9WE

We have a great opportunity to see Comet Neowise in the evening skies these days. It is rare to see a comet with the naked eye. But what are comets and where do they come from? Join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in exploring the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud regions of our Solar system. 
Here are a few useful links: 
For Comet Neowise simulations: 
https://spacein3d.com/asteroid/neowise
https://theskylive.com/3dsolarsystem?obj=c2020f3

For apps that can tell you its exact location in the evening sky: 
Stellarium (also see my video on how to use it: https://youtu.be/lcLA0WGv0nw
Sky Safari
Star Walk

Dark Matter is one of the biggest mysteries in science today. It makes up 80% of all matter and yet it is nothing like us, our planet or our Sun. It does not emit or absorb light. If we cannot see it, then how do we know it exists? And ultimately, what do we think dark matter is made up of? To think about these questions, please join astrophysicist, Salman Hameed, in this episode of Kainaati Gup Shup.

Black Holes Collide. But up until now, we had never seen any signs of their mergers in visible light. Now in a mind-boggling scenario, astronomers have detected a merger of two black holes in the material surrounding a supermassive black hole in a galaxy far far far away (about 4 billion light years away)!! Join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in exploring this amazing discovery!

Are there alien civilizations out there in our Galaxy? This is one of humanity's biggest questions. It is also one of the hardest as we know of only one example so far. Us. However,  a new study published in a journal recently has claimed that our Galaxy possibly holds 36 communicating alien civilizations!! They have used a modified form of the famous Drake Equation to come up with this estimate. But what kind of assumptions did they make in their calculations? Are those assumptions reasonable? Please join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in exploring the Drake Equation and in analyzing the results of this paper.

Also, please watch Are We Alone in the Universe?
https://youtu.be/qVvSeKi-8rE

Referenced paper:
The Astrobiological Copernican Weak and Strong Limits for Intelligent Life
Tom Westby & Christopher J. Conselice, The Astrophysical Journal, 896:58 (18pp), 2020.
https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2004/2004.03968.pdf

We are currently facing a pandemic caused by COVID-19 virus. This is on Earth. But humans can contaminate other places in the Solar system with microbes from Earth. This is called Forward Contamination and is worrisome for places where there might already be life, like Europe, Enceladus, or Mars. The threat comes not only from human exploration, but also from robotic explorers on the surface. So while we deal with a pandemic on Earth, it is a good time to think about the dangers of our own microbes to other worlds as well. 

Astronomers have been puzzled by the existence of more lithium than expected? Now we may have the answer and it may be tied to explosions on the surface of white dwarfs. Please join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in figuring out how astronomers solved this puzzle. 

Reference: 
Carbon-Oxygen Classical Novae are Galactic 7Li Producers as well as Potential Supernova Ia Progenitors
Starrfield et al.
Carbon-Oxygen Classical Novae are Galactic 7Li Producers as well as Potential Supernova Ia Progenitors

Has NASA found a parallel universe? There is a lot of chatter about this on the internet and in some newspapers. Every few weeks we also hear about an asteroid hitting the Earth. We are surrounded by misinformation. So how can we distinguish between good and bad news story? While disappointing in some ways, this news of parallel universe allows us to talk about ways to find accurate information - at least about astronomy. But we also talk about the results that prompted the parallel universe headline. Please join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in this episode of Kainaati Gup Shup - at least in this universe.

This is a big question! But what does this question mean? Who is "We"? What does "Alone" mean? These are all questions worthy of exploration. Please join astrophysicist, Salman Hameed in this episode of Kainaati Samosay to discuss and explore the meaning of this vital question: Are We Alone in the Universe?

Do we finally have evidence of aliens? US Navy has officially releases three UFO videos. They are intriguing. Do these video show evidence of alien spacecrafts? How do we think about these videos and the evidence for extraterrestrial intelligence? Please join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in this episode of Kainaati Samosay.