Feature Guest: Vikram Ravi
They come to us from deep space. They last a tiny fraction of a second. They contain as much energy as the sun’s total output in 80 years. Yet we still haven’t figured out what causes these so-called Fast Radio Bursts or FRBs. I don’t want to say it’s aliens, but... no, it’s probably not aliens. Today we’re joined here at The Star Spot by Professor Vikram Ravi whose team is quickly zeroing in on the origin of these bizarre FRBs.
Current in Space
Amelia and Tony explain new research stating that worlds with completely frozen oceans, fittingly known as snowball planets, may actually be habitable . . . on the surface! And while the peak of the prolific Perseid meteor shower may have already passed, Simon reminds us that it's still not entirely over, and to get out there and take a look while you still can. Finally, robots are on the International Space Station! Joseph and Tony explain the purpose of three artificial helpers floating in the orbiting laboratory, one of which arrived only in late July.
About Our Guest
Vikram Ravi is Assistant Professor of Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology. He received a PhD from the University of Melbourne, then worked as the Millikan Fellow in Astronomy at Caltech followed by the Clay Fellow at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard and Smithsonian. He describes his interest as exploring the “ephemeral, unseen universe,” studying phenomena that “vary on time-scales of nanoseconds to years.”
Episode 145: Can Sibling Rivalry Explain This Supernova?, with Stuart Ryder
Episode 144: A Rough Upbringing: The Discovery of Stars in the Galaxy’s Core, with Farhad Yusef-Zadeh
Episode 143: Planet Hunting Goes Extragalactic, with Xinyu Dai
Episode 142: Jupiter Transformed, with Scott Bolton
Episode 141: The Mysterious Origin of Superpowerful Radio Blasts, with Jason Hessels
Episode 140: How Humans Are Healing the Ozone Hole… and Might Just Solve Other Environmental Problems, with Susan Strahan
Episode 139: Can Alien Life Hitch a Ride on Space Dust?, with Arjun Berera
Episode 138: Making Contact, with Jill Tarter
Episode 137: An Alien Asteroid in Our Solar System, with Alan Stern
Episode 136: So You Want to Become an Astronaut?, with Cordell Grant
Episode 135: Studying Cosmic Alchemy with Gravitational Waves, with Michael Landry
Episode 134: Searching for Aliens All-Sky All-the-Time, with Bill Diamond
Episode 133: Discovering an Asteroid Family Unchanged Since the Birth of the Solar System, with Marco Delbo
Episode 132: Does Titan Harbour the Building Blocks of Life?, with Ravi Desai
Episode 131: Heavy Metal Explosion: The Rockstars of the Supernova World, with Matt Nicholl
Episode 130: There Are How Many More Comets!?, with James Bauer
Episode 129: Building on Gravitational Wave Astronomy, with Danny Steeghs
Episode 128: A Shocking Theory About the Multiverse, with Dan Falk
Episode 127: When Day Becomes Night, with Dan Falk
Episode 126: SpaceX: A New Paradigm for Space Exploration, with Chris Prophet
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