Planetary Radio
Planetary Radio
Each week, Planetary Radio visits with a scientist, engineer, project manager, astronaut, advocate or writer who provides a unique and exciting perspective on the exploration of our solar system and beyond. We also showcase regular features that raise your space IQ while they put a smile on your face. Host Mat Kaplan is joined by Planetary Society colleagues Bill Nye the Science Guy, Bruce Betts, and Emily Lakdawalla. We hit the road now and then to produce a Planetary Radio Live show in front of an audience. Drop us a line or enter the weekly space trivia contest at planetaryradio@planetary.org.
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Recent Shows
A Second Earth, and OSIRIS REx is Go for Asteroid Bennu
04/22/2014 | 28:50
Guests
- Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx Principal Investigator, University of Arizona
- Elisa Quintana, Kepler Mission Research Scientist, SETI Institute
Finally found: an Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone. You’ll hear lead scientist Elisa Quintana make the announcement. Then OSIRIS REx mission Principal Investigator Dante Lauretta will tell us how the spacecraft will return a sample of material from the birth of the solar system.
Exploring Black Holes and Supernovae With NuSTAR
03/11/2014 | 35:00
Guests
- Fiona Harrison, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Caltech
Principal Investigator Fiona Harrison provides an X-ray tour of some of the universe's most fascinating objects, Casey Dreier has analysis of NASA's 2015 budget plans, and Bill Nye sees the inherent optimism of science in the verification of another 715 exoplanets.
Verified: More Than 700 New Worlds
03/04/2014 | 28:50
Guests
- Jason Rowe, Research Scientist, SETI Institute
SETI Institute researcher and member of the Kepler team Jason Rowe helps us dig into the latest big announcement about hundreds of planets in solar systems like our own.
The Gemini Planet Imager: Worlds Made Visible
01/13/2014 | 31:19
Guests
- Bruce Macintosh, Gemini Planet Imager Principal Investigator, Lawrence Livermore National Labs and Stanford University
- Franck Marchis, Senior Planetary Astronomer, Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute
Principal Investigator and physicist Bruce Macintosh joins astronomer Franck Marchis to celebrate first light from the most powerful instrument for imaging exoplanets.
Saving Science Education With Pamela Gay AND Creating the Blackest Black
06/10/2013 | 35:12
Guests
- David Carnahan, President and Co-Founder, NanoLab
- Pamela Gay, Astronomer, Astronomy Cast Co-host and CosmoQuest Principal, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
A Planetary Radio double header includes a visit with CosmoQuest’s Pamela Gay. She and colleagues are working to replace vital federal funds for science education and citizen science programs. We also go to the dark side with David Carnahan of NanoLab, developer of carbon nanotubes that may help us discover Earth-like planets.
Tasting the Air of Distant Worlds
06/03/2013 | 31:50
Guests
- Ben R. Oppenheimer, Associate Curator/Astrophysics Department Chair, American Museum of Natural History, Division of Physical Sciences
There will soon be one thousand confirmed exoplanets, but how do we learn more about such distant worlds? We talk to the leader of a team that has recently developed technology capable of revealing the spectra of these planets, which allows us to tease apart their composition. Emily Lakdawalla invites you to find the next “face” on Mars, while Bill Nye says another asteroid flyby is good news. Our special What’s Up space trivia contest prize will put your picture in orbit!
More of Our ALMA Adventure in Chile's Atacama Desert
03/25/2013 | 28:50
Guests
- Denis Barkats, Sysem Astronomer, ALMA
- Stuartt Corder, Commissioning and Science Verification Project Scientist, ALMA
- Pierre Cox, Director, ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
Our special coverage of the ALMA Observatory inauguration continues, with the President of Chile, the incoming ALMA Director, and much more from the Atacama Desert.
03/18/2013 | 28:50
Guests
- Ewine van Dishoeck, Radio Astronomer, University of Leiden & Former ALMA Board Member
- Al Wooten, North American Project Scientist and head of the North American ALMA Science Center, National Radio Astronomy Observatory
- Alison Peck, Former ALMA Commissioning Scientists Team Leader, National Radio Astronomy Observatory
- Gianni Marconi, Commissioning Scientist, ALMA
The first of two shows about Mat Kaplan's journey to Chile's Atacama Desert for the inauguration of the Atacama Large Millimeter small millimter Array, the most ambitious, Earth-based astronomy project in history.
Debra Fischer Hunts for a Second Earth at Alpha Centauri
01/28/2013 | 28:53
Guests
- Debra Fischer, Astronomer
Yale Professor of Astronomy Debra Fischer is one of our planet’s most successful discoverers of exoplanets. She has set her sights on Alpha Centauri, where she hopes to find a Earth-sized world in the habitable zone: not too hot, not too cold for life.
The Gigantic ALMA Radio Telescope in Chile
01/21/2013 | 28:50
Guests
- Alison Peck, Former ALMA Commissioning Scientists Team Leader, National Radio Astronomy Observatory
- Al Wooten, North American Project Scientist and head of the North American ALMA Science Center, National Radio Astronomy Observatory
ALMA will make sharper images than the Hubble Space Telescope, yet it’s a radio telescope! ALMA scientists Alison Peck and Al Wooten tell us about this array of 66 huge dishes in Chile’s Atacama desert.
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