SETI Live

What can a visitor from another star system teach us about our own cosmic neighborhood?

Join host Dr. Franck Marchis and guest Dr. Cecilia Tubiana (INAF) for a conversation about interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS and the surprising observations made by ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) during its rare close encounter with this ancient traveler.

In November 2025, Juice turned five of its instruments toward 3I/ATLAS, capturing a once-in-a-lifetime dataset as the comet passed through the Solar System. From massive water vapor outgassing to tails stretching millions of kilometers into space, the observations are helping scientists better understand what this object is made of, how it behaves near the Sun, and what it can tell us about planetary systems beyond our own.

We'll talk about: • how Juice managed to observe 3I/ATLAS while en route to Jupiter • what scientists learned about the comet's water, dust, and composition • why this interstellar object looks surprisingly familiar—and why that's exciting • how these observations support planetary defense and future spacecraft science • what 3I/ATLAS may reveal about the early history of the Milky Way

Press release: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Juice/Five_things_Juice_has_revealed_about_Comet_3I_ATLAS

In this episode of SETI Live, Jeremy Webb joins Moiya McTier to discuss Life is But a Stream: The Distribution of Planetary Systems Along Stellar Streams and Their Properties.

Stellar streams are elongated structures of stars moving through the Milky Way, often shaped by tidal interactions and the galaxy's gravity. Jeremy Webb's research explores how planetary systems are distributed along these streams and what their properties can reveal about planet formation and evolution in dynamic galactic environments.

Together, they'll dive into how astronomers trace stellar streams, how planetary systems survive and evolve within them, and what this research tells us about the broader history of our galaxy.

Read the paper: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae67fd

What happens when hundreds of thousands of volunteers team up with NASA to explore the sky? In the case of Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, thousands of new brown dwarfs.

NASA citizen scientists have helped discover more than 3,000 brown dwarfs, effectively doubling the known population of these mysterious objects over the past decade. These discoveries are helping astronomers better understand the boundary between planets and stars, revealing rare ultra-cool worlds, extreme T subdwarfs, and even brown dwarfs that may host aurorae.

Dr. Lauren Sgro and special guest Dr. Adam C. Schneider (United States Naval Observatory) discuss how citizen scientists made these discoveries, why brown dwarfs are so difficult to detect, and what this growing catalog is teaching us about our galactic neighborhood.

Press release: https://science.nasa.gov/get-involved/citizen-science/nasa-volunteers-double-known-population-of-brown-dwarfs/

Paper: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ae5b60

Backyard Worlds: Planet 9: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/marckuchner/backyard-worlds-planet-9

What does intelligence sound like?

For decades, scientists studying whales and dolphins have uncovered remarkable evidence of sophisticated communication, social complexity, self-awareness, and cognition in cetaceans. Today, a new generation of research tools and analytical methods is opening an even deeper window into the sounds and possible language structures of these extraordinary marine mammals.

Join SETI Institute President and CEO Bill Diamond for a fascinating conversation with 2026 Drake Award recipient Dr. Lori Marino as they explore the cutting edge of dolphin and whale communication research, what these discoveries reveal about intelligence on Earth, and how they connect to broader questions at the heart of SETI.

Together they'll discuss: 🔹 How scientists study whale and dolphin communication 🔹 New breakthroughs in cetacean cognition research 🔹 Whether dolphin and whale sounds may contain language-like structure 🔹 The ethical and philosophical implications of understanding non-human intelligence 🔹 What studying intelligence on Earth can teach us about detecting intelligence elsewhere in the universe

Dr. Lori Marino is a neuroscientist, expert in animal behavior and intelligence, and the 2026 recipient of the SETI Institute's Drake Award.

Read the announcement: https://www.seti.org/news/seti-institute-names-lori-marino-as-2026-drake-award-recipient/

How do you study volcanoes on a planet more than 200 light-years away?

Join us for SETI Live as host Moiya McTier talks with planetary scientist Claire Marie Guimond about the extreme lava world K2-141 b—a rocky exoplanet so hot that parts of its surface may be covered in oceans of molten rock.

Using advanced mantle convection models, Claire and her collaborators investigated how heat moves through the planet's interior and where volcanic hotspots may form—including on the planet's permanent nightside. Together, we'll explore what these models reveal about alien geology, how lava worlds compare to Earth, and what volcanism might mean for a planet's long-term evolution.

We'll also dive into how scientists can study volcanic activity on distant worlds, what makes lava planets important to planetary science, and what questions remain about one of the galaxy's most extreme exoplanets.

Paper: https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/547/3/stag390/8501203

(Recorded live 7 May 2026.)

A newly identified class of distant galaxies—nicknamed "little red dots"—may be doing something extraordinary: quietly creating the raw ingredients for life.

Join host Dr. Simon Steel as we explore groundbreaking new research from Dr. Remo Ruffini and Dr. Yu Wang from the International Center for Relativistic Astrophysics Network (ICRANet), suggesting that these compact, enigmatic galaxies could act as "molecular islands," forming complex organic molecules in environments surprisingly calm compared to the chaotic early universe.

- What makes these galaxies so special? - How can such small, distant objects produce life's building blocks? - And what does this mean for the possibility that life's chemistry is widespread across the cosmos?

We'll break down the science behind these "galactic oases," how they were discovered, and why they may reshape how we think about the origins of life in the universe.

Press release (pdf): https://www.icranet.org/LRDs-Molecular-Islands-Press-Release.pdf

Paper: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ae3a76

(Recorded live 30 April 2026.)

Where should we actually be looking for life beyond Earth?

Astronomers have identified 45 Earth-like worlds that could be among the most promising places to search for biosignatures—chemical signs of life in distant atmospheres. Inspired by the idea of a real-life "Project Hail Mary," this research helps narrow the search for habitable planets and guides future telescopes toward the most compelling targets.

Join SETI Institute planetary astronomer Dr. Franck Marchis and guests Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger and Abigail Bohl from Cornell University as they explore:

- How scientists define an "Earth-like" world - What makes a planet a strong candidate for life - How these 45 planets were selected - What telescopes, like the James Webb Space Telescope, can (and can't) detect - What this means for the future of SETI and exoplanet exploration

Are we closer than ever to finding life—or just getting better at knowing where to look?

Press release: https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/research-highlights/best-places-look-alien-life-scientists-identify-45-earth-worlds

Paper: https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/547/3/stag028/8526432

(Recorded live 17 April 2026.)

Join us for a special episode of SETI Live as host Lauren Sgro sits down with astronomer and entrepreneur Franck Marchis to explore the newly launched SkyMapper platform—now open to the public.

SkyMapper is a global, decentralized network of telescopes and all-sky sensors that connects professional observatories, citizen scientists, and classrooms around the world. In this live, interactive session, Lauren and Franck will go beyond the basics and show how SkyMapper works in real time—from navigating the interface and accessing live sky data to triggering observations and joining active discoveries.

We'll talk about what this launch means for the future of astronomy, how people are already using the platform, and why a continuously connected view of the sky could transform research, education, and public participation in science. We'll also highlight the SETI Institute's role in building this new global observing network.

✨ Ready to explore the universe yourself? This is your chance to see SkyMapper in action—and learn how to get involved.

📚 Learn more: www.skymapper.io

👋 Join the community: https://t.me/skymapper_community

(Recorded live 13 April 2026.)

Astronomers may have just witnessed the aftermath of a massive planetary collision in another star system—offering a rare glimpse into how worlds are destroyed… and possibly reborn.

Join host Dr. Moiya McTier and guest Anastasios Tzanidakis (University of Washington) as they break down new evidence suggesting that two large planetary bodies recently crashed into each other. What does this tell us about how planets form and evolve? How common are these catastrophic events? And could collisions like this help explain the chaotic early history of our own solar system?

From cosmic debris clouds to planetary recycling, we'll explore one of the most dramatic processes shaping worlds across the galaxy.

Press release: https://www.washington.edu/news/2026/03/11/uw-astronomers-spot-planet-collision-evidence/

Paper: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ae3ddc

(Recorded live 2 April 2026.)

As NASA prepares to return humans to the Moon with Artemis II, what does it really take to live and work on the lunar surface?

Join host Simon Steel and planetary scientist Pascal Lee as they explore the science and strategy behind humanity's next giant leap. From cutting-edge spacesuit design and testing to the challenge of choosing where astronauts will land, this conversation dives into what comes next for lunar exploration.

We'll also explore:

- The mystery and importance of permanently shadowed regions - Evidence for water ice on the Moon—and why it matters - How Artemis is paving the way for future missions from the Moon to Mars

Artemis II is more than a mission—it's a proving ground for the future of human exploration.

Haughton Mars Project: https://www.marsinstitute.no/hmp

(Recorded live 26 March 2026.)