s2e5: Exotelescope Expeditions

According to one survey, around one-third of Australians think aliens not only exist, but have actually visited Earth. That's ... a bit fraction. In this final episode of season 2, we ask how we'd even find out if life exists around other stars. Emily introduces the Habitable Worlds Observatory, an incredible new space telescope that's just in the early design phase and not due for years yet, with lots of technical and scientific holes to plug. Whether we can find life on other planets, who knows ... but maybe we've just found season three of Syzygy!On the web: syzygy.fmHelp us make Syzygy even better! Tell your friends and give us a review, or show your support on Patreon: patreon.com/syzygypodSyzygy is produced by Chris Stewart and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden from the Department of Physics at the University of York.Some of the things we talk about in this episode:• Habitable Worlds Observatory• Square Kilometre Array• SETI and Jill Tarter• Jocelyn Bell Burnell and the first pulsar• Roman Space Telescope• Designs for the HWO• Exoplanet biosignatures

Exo-planets, sure. Exo-moons and -comets? Fine. But exo ... telescopes?! Emily is going out on a limb in this episode, expanding the definition of telescope to include things that measure stuff in space, and we're here for it! Which means we really do have a few telescopes out there beyond the Solar System, in the shape of Voyagers 1 and 2, with a few more waiting in the wings.On the web: syzygy.fmHelp us make Syzygy even better! Tell your friends and give us a review, or show your support on Patreon: patreon.com/syzygypodSyzygy is produced by Chris Stewart and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden from the Department of Physics at the University of York.Some of the things we talk about in this episode:• The Voyager Missions: Voyager 1 and Voyager 2• Where are the Voyager spacecraft now?• The Heliosphere, where the Solar System ends • The Voyager Golden Record• NASA relieved to get a call from Voyager 1• Syzygy Episode 42: Life, the Universe, and Everything• Syzygy Episode 79: Voyager Hears a Hum• Voyager 2 turns of last scientific instrument• Uranus mystery finally solved!• The Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud• The Pioneer Program, esp. Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11• The Pioneer Plaque• The New Horizons mission and the Pluto Heart image• New Horizons visits Ultima Thule (Arrokoth)

We know, we know — we did exoplanets last time. But that was the current state-of-play and a 2024 exoplanets wrapped update. In this episode, Emily looks to the future! She does a deep dive into the promise of the just wonderful JWST, as it prods exoplanets in ways they’ve never been prodded before.On the web: syzygy.fmHelp us make Syzygy even better! Tell your friends and give us a review, or show your support on Patreon: patreon.com/syzygypodSyzygy is produced by Chris Stewart and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden from the Department of Physics at the University of York.Some of the things we talk about in this episode:• The JWST mission• The Transit method• Exoplanet Phase Curves• Exoplanet GJ1214b and the phase curve paper• Transmission spectroscopy• Exoplanet WASP 39b• Direct imaging of exoplanets• Exoplanet HIP65426b• The JWST first release images• The WASP 96-b “dodgy graph” (see Brundsen, 2025)• Exoplanet WASP 43b’s day and night (and the Nature paper)• The Trappist 1 system

It couldn't be a season of exo-stuff without taking a good hard look at the current state of exoplanets, the OG exo-thing. Emily sums up the state of exoplanet research in 2024 — her Exoplanets 2024 Wrapped, if you like — then lines up her top three exoplanets of the year, and considers what's coming up next in this exo-ploding field.On the web: syzygy.fmHelp us make Syzygy even better! Tell your friends and give us a review, or show your support on Patreon: patreon.com/syzygypodSyzygy is produced by Chris Stewart and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden from the Department of Physics at the University of York.Some of the things we talk about in this episode:• Exoplanets found in 2024• The Roche Limit• Paper about Gliese 4256b and a nice article• Comet Shoemaker Levy smashes into Jupiter!• Brand-new IRAS 04125+2902: paper and article• Retrograde hot Jupiter TIC 241249530 b: paper and article

Exoplanets, sure. Exo-moons too, apparently. But exo ... comets?! Yes indeed, they're a real thing, and we've known about them for ages! How do you spot something so tiny around another star, so far away? Emily has the insider knowledge, because it's something she's genuinely investigating in her job as an actual, real-life astronomer.On the web: syzygy.fmHelp us make Syzygy even better! Tell your friends and give us a review, or show your support on Patreon: patreon.com/syzygypodSyzygy is produced by Chris Stewart and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden from the Department of Physics at the University of York.Some of the things we talk about in this episode:• Comets: dirty snowballs• Exocomets• Famous comets• Shoemaker-Levy’s Jovian rendezvous• Beta Pictoris, HyperMegaMall of astrophysics• Exocomets around Beta Pic• TESS, everyone’s favourite exo-hunter

Way, way back in the early epochs of Syzygy (ep 19 in Oct 2018 if you must know) we talked about the exciting prospect of spotting the first exomoon — a moon orbiting a planet orbiting a star that is not our own. It seemed reasonable to expect that six years later exomoons would be a thing we've discovered, and maybe even started a catalogue. But turns out, observing a minute signal on top of an already minute signal is hard. Emily outlines our best prospects for exomoon discovery.On the web: syzygy.fmHelp us make Syzygy even better! Tell your friends and give us a review, or show your support on Patreon: patreon.com/syzygypodSyzygy is produced by Chris Stewart and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden from the Department of Physics at the University of York.Some of the things we talk about in this episode:• Syzygy ep 19: Moons, Exomoons & Moonmoons• Does Kepler 1625b have an exomoon?• Seems Unlikely …• What about Kepler 167e?• Volcanic exomoon around Wasp 49b?!

A short announcement: Syzygy is now seasonal! From now on we're going to release the podcast in seasons, and we're excited to announce the imminent release of the first episode of Syzygy Season Two. Yep. Two. Season One is everything we've done so far. Trust us, it's easier this way. Season Two is all about Exo-Stuff — exo-planets, exo-moons, exo-comets ... are they a thing? Apparently, yes. So keep an eye out in the days ahead for the new season of Syzygy.Help us make Syzygy even better! Tell your friends and give us a review, or show your support on Patreon: patreon.com/syzygypodSyzygy is produced byChris Stewart and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden from the Department of Physics at the University of York.On the web:syzygy.fm | Instagram & Threads: @syzygypod

Live from York's Festival of Ideas*, in front of an audience of ... what, had to be a few hundred thousand people, right? ... Emily and Chris discuss some awesome astronomy that you can go outside and see with your own eyes. In particular, they go deep on the incredible May 2024 aurora, and show what the 2024 total eclipse across the USA looked like, with a preview of amazing eclipses to look forward to in the coming years. Chris finishes with a song, as he does. Watch on YouTube!(* Apologies for the audio quality, it was a big echo-ey space and it didn’t record as well as I’d hoped)Help us make Syzygy even better! Tell your friends and give us a review, or show your support on Patreon: patreon.com/syzygypodSyzygy is produced byChris Stewart and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden from the Department of Physics at the University of York.On the web:syzygy.fm | Instagram & Threads: @syzygypodSome of the things we talk about in this episode:• Watch this live show on YouTube• York Festival of Ideas• The May 2024 Aurora• Solar Cycle 25• The Solar Dynamics Observatory• timeanddate.com• The 2024 total solar eclipse• Upcoming eclipses

A huge team of astronomers — and their even-huger team of tiny, fibre-obtic-wielding robots — are zeroing in on one of the great questions of cosmology: just what the heck is going on with Dark Energy? We know the Universe is expanding. Apparently, it's expanding faster. But maybe it is expanding faster, slower? Tiny robots measuring breathtakingly-huge cosmic bubbles may give us an answer.Help us make Syzygy even better! Tell your friends and give us a review, or show your support on Patreon: patreon.com/syzygypodSyzygy is produced byChris Stewart and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden from the Department of Physics at the University of York.On the web:syzygy.fm | Instagram & Threads: @syzygypodSome of the things we talk about in this episode:• Announcement of the DESI results• A good video about the results• The DESI home page• Dark Energy• Heat Death or Big Rip• The 2011 Nobel Prize for Physics• BAO bubbles

This week, a new Black Hole Record (kinda), and with it a nice conundrum. the GAIA mission has found the biggest black hole ... of the stellar-mass variety ... in our galaxy. A lot of caveats there, but the fun thing is, it's just next door, which makes us wonder if that's coincidence or a harbinger of more big black holes to come in GAIA's data dumps! Plus, a riddle: why do we keep spotting black holes that are too big to make? Did we break physics? Emily has a few explanations.Help us make Syzygy even better! Tell your friends and give us a review, or show your support on Patreon: patreon.com/syzygypodSyzygy is produced by Chris Stewart and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden from the Department of Physics at the University of York.On the web: syzygy.fm | Instagram & Threads: @syzygypodSome of the things we talk about in this episode:• The Biggest (small) Black Hole (in our galaxy)• The rapid-release paper• The GAIA mission• GAIA’s data release schedule• Types of Black Hole• LIGO gravitational wave telescope• Quasi-stars• Syzygy Episode 116: Black Hole Sun