Feature Guest: Xinyu Dai
Last month astronomers announced the first ever discovery of extrasolar planets… in another galaxy! We’ve already confirmed almost 4000 planets beyond our solar system, but these have all been in a single galaxy, the Milky Way. But then last month a serendipitous discovery opened the door to a galaxy 3.8 billion light years away and it turns out it’s home to thousands upon thousands of planets. Today we're joined here at The Star Spot by co-discoverer Xinyu Dai to describe the unplanned discovery and whether this is the beginning of a new era in extrasolar extragalactic planetary astronomy.
Current in Space
The Andromeda Galaxy has tried hard to hide its past, but Dave exposes its dirty secrets. Then Maya numbers our minds with the discovery of the most distant supernova yet. And when psychologists studied the likely ramifications of first contact Tony found the results surprising.
About Our Guest
Xinyu Dai is assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma Department of Physics and Astronomy. He performed undergraduate studies at Beijing University before receiving his PhD from Penn State. He is an expert in gravitational lensing, galaxy clusters, active galactic nuclei and gamma-ray bursts.
Episode 185: Did a Supernova Cause a Mass Extinction?, with Brian Fields
Episode 184: The Milky Way's First Fast Radio Burst, with Sandro Mereghetti
Episode 183: COVID-19 Meets the NASA Space Apps Challenge, with James Slifierz
Episode 182: Planet Nine or Black Hole One, with Jakub Scholtz
Episode 181: Reports of Betelgeuse’s Death Are Greatly Exaggerated, with Emily Levesque
Episode 180: Wormholes through Space and Time, with John Cramer
Episode 179: Dreams of Floating Cities, with Geoffrey Landis
Episode 178 Sibling Rivalry at the Centre of the Galaxy, with Smadar Naoz
Episode 177: The Case of the Missing Dark Matter, with Guo Chi
Episode 176: Second Genesis, with Jay Melosh
Episode 175: The Truth is Out There (at the University of Manitoba)
Episode 174: Fuzzy Dark Matter, with Lachlan Lancaster
Episode 173: Discovering an Ancient Oasis, with William Rapin
Episode 172: The Hubble Not-So Constant
Episode 171: Ploonets: When Moons Go Rogue, with Jorge Zuluaga
Episode 170: The Mystery of Fast Radio Bursts, with Vikram Ravi
Episode 169: Science at the Limits (Part 2)
Episode 168: Celebrating Apollo + Science at the Limits (Part 1)
Episode 167: Current in Space + The Best of The Star Spot: Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt
Episode 166: Nanodiamonds are Forever, with Jane Greaves
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