The first episode of Season Two of "Ojai: Talk of the Town" is our first on-location podcast. So how fitting that's it's at Thacher School's Observatory with Jon Swift, Ph.D., who has helped the school build its astrophysics study and rebuilt its historic 28-inch telescope.

In the five ensuing years, he's taught these fortunate students to shoot for the stars. Thacher School is now a respected partner with leading researchers around the globe, especially in the study of exoplanets, of which more are being discovered and studied all the time. His students have had their names published on many scientific studies.

Another fascinating area of study at the observatory  are Type 1a Supernovae, led by Dr. Ryan Foley at UC Santa Cruz. These explosive stars all blow up at the same luminosity, then collapse into this weird effect, "electron degeneracy pressure." This quantum effect of these white dwarves allows electrons to share the same space. It was a random meeting at UC Santa Cruz after a surfing trip that led to this innovative partnerships. It's another interesting intersection of Dr. Swift's pursuits, which besides surfing include music, camping and asking questions.  his lifelong love of the cosmos was fostered during camping trips with his parents to Anza Borrego desert where the absence of light pollution  brings the vastness of space into sharp relief. We talked about the ocean's rhythms, building boats and William Finnegan's "Barbarian Days."

We did not talk about the Maillard process, northern pike or the Southern Cross.

Check out Dr. Swift's original music on Spotify below ... along with links to research and articles about him and his program.

https://www.thacherobservatory.org/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3LxE8S2NahkijyF6mbronT

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jonathan_Swift

http://blogs.thacher.org/deepdives/2015/11/12/music-of-the-spheres/

https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/search/fq=%7B!type=aqp%20v=$fq_database%7D&fq_database=database:%20astronomy&q=pubdate:%5B1998-01%20TO%202020-12%5D%20author:(%22%5ESwift,%20J.%20J.%22)&sort=date%20desc,%20bibcode%20desc&p_=0