We know today that our universe is huge and that it contains more than a hundred billion galaxies! But this view of the universe is only a hundred years old. What is fascinating is that a particular type of star, called Cepheids, is primarily responsible for the change of our view. In this episode of Kainaati Gup Shup, astrophysicist Salman Hameed discuss why Cepheids played such a central role in this episode of Kainaati Gup Shup. 

When large stars die, they end up as a blackhole. We know this as one of the ways to form a blackhole. But there has been a puzzle. How do you form supermassive blackholes that exist at the center of almost all galaxies? Now, theoretical models and observations from James Webb Space Telescope strongly hit at a different way to to form blackholes - this time without the involvement of stars! Please join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in discussing this mechanism in this episode of Kainaati Gup Shup. 

Are we on the verge of discovering new physics or is this a modest debate within cosmology that is hyped up by headlines? The issue at the center is the expansion rate of the universe. Two different methods give two different answers. There should just be one answer. This is called "Hubble Tension". Please join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in this episode of Kainaati Gup Shup to discuss this and how to think about it? 

The ozone layer is crucial for life. Its formation allowed life to evolve from oceans to live on land, resulting in complex lifeforms such as mammals. But we know that the ozone layer is also fragile. Some of the ozone layer was damaged by chemicals used by humans. But in a fascinating study, now we know that a star that exploded almost 2 billion light years away, also briefly damaged the ozone in our atmosphere. Please join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in this episode of Kainaati Gup Shup to talk about this supernova and the resulting gamma ray burst that impacted the ozone layer.

We know that the Moon formed when a Mars-sized protoplanet, Theia, slammed into Earth about 4.5 billion years ago. But what happened to Theia? A new study published in the journal Nature suggests that the remnants of Theia are inside the Earth. Please join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in this episode of Kainaati Gup Shup to talk about Theia and the origins of our Moon. 

Astronomers have discovered thousands of planets around other stars. But now, for the first time, they have discovered binary planets. These were discovered by James Webb Space Telescope in the Orion nebula. We still don't know how they were formed, but this may point to the existence of many planets in between stars. Join astrophysicist Salman Hameed for a conversation about this discovery in this episode of Kainaati Gup Shup.

NASA's Osiris Rex mission brought samples from asteroid Bennu. Japanese mission Hayabusa 2 brought back samples from asteroid Ryugu. Why are these samples important? What do we learn from them? Please join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in exploring these and more questions in this episode of Kainaati Gup Shup. 
Video Link: https://youtu.be/RMhgG5ColZI

Can we see the very first galaxies in the universe? Maybe. Because the speed of light is finite, the farther away you see, the longer the light takes to get to us. This way, astronomy allows us to see a universe that is younger. James Webb Space Telescope has identified some galaxies that are so far away that their light has taken billions of years to get to us. Please join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in taking a journey to Maisie's Galaxy, the farthest galaxy in the universe. The light from this galaxy started its journey when the the universe was only 390 million years old. 
Video Link: https://youtu.be/oNCnGFzSAeg

India's Chandrayaan-3 mission landed in the south-polar region of the Moon. We are also going to see a flurry of space missions to the same area in the coming months, including the Chinese Change' 6 mission, and NASA's Artemis. What is going on? Please join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in exploring the reasons for this interest in the lunar south pole. 
Video Link: https://youtu.be/_RjLpcp284E

The first images of James Webb Telescope images were released just over a year ago. To celebrate this anniversary, here we talk about two images that highlight not only its science, but also its beauty and wonder. Please join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in looking at the star forming region, Rho Ophiuchi and the grand design spiral, M74,  in this podcast. Oh, and we also talk about the mysterious "?" in one of the new James Webb images! 
Video Link: https://youtu.be/jDKDaVW9vc0