Kainaati Gup Shup with Salman Hameed – Details, episodes & analysis

We know that black holes exist. One of the types of black holes is roughly on the scale of the mass of our Sun. They form when the large-scale ones die. Then there are supermassive black holes that exist at the centers of galaxies. These can have masses on the scale of millions or billions of times the mass of our Sun. Our Milky Way galaxy has a supermassive black hole that is 4 million times the mass of our Sun. But astronomers have been looking for medium size blackholes. And now, finally, there is evidence of one in a globular cluster in our galaxy. In this episode of Kainaati Gup Shup, astrophysicist Salman Hameed discusses how astronomers discovered this mid-size black hole.  

Mars continues to captivate scientists and space enthusiasts alike! While we've discovered over 5,000 exoplanets orbiting distant stars, the Red Planet remains one of the most intriguing within our solar system. Billions of years ago, Mars had vast oceans and a suitable climate for life. Today, it's a cold, barren desert, but NASA’s rovers, Curiosity and Perseverance, are unearthing fascinating clues about its ancient history. Could Mars have once harboured life? In this episode of Kainaati Gup Shup, astrophysicist Salman Hameed delves into three groundbreaking discoveries that offer new evidence about the possibility of life on Mars.

NASA's Osiris Rex mission brought samples from asteroid Bennu. Japanese mission Hayabusa 2 brought back samples from asteroid Ryugu. Why are these samples important? What do we learn from them? Please join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in exploring these and more questions in this episode of Kainaati Gup Shup. 
Video Link: https://youtu.be/RMhgG5ColZI

Can we see the very first galaxies in the universe? Maybe. Because the speed of light is finite, the farther away you see, the longer the light takes to get to us. This way, astronomy allows us to see a universe that is younger. James Webb Space Telescope has identified some galaxies that are so far away that their light has taken billions of years to get to us. Please join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in taking a journey to Maisie's Galaxy, the farthest galaxy in the universe. The light from this galaxy started its journey when the the universe was only 390 million years old. 
Video Link: https://youtu.be/oNCnGFzSAeg

India's Chandrayaan-3 mission landed in the south-polar region of the Moon. We are also going to see a flurry of space missions to the same area in the coming months, including the Chinese Change' 6 mission, and NASA's Artemis. What is going on? Please join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in exploring the reasons for this interest in the lunar south pole. 
Video Link: https://youtu.be/_RjLpcp284E

The first images of James Webb Telescope images were released just over a year ago. To celebrate this anniversary, here we talk about two images that highlight not only its science, but also its beauty and wonder. Please join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in looking at the star forming region, Rho Ophiuchi and the grand design spiral, M74,  in this podcast. Oh, and we also talk about the mysterious "?" in one of the new James Webb images! 
Video Link: https://youtu.be/jDKDaVW9vc0

In July, a former intelligence office, David Grusch, testified that the US is in possession of spacecrafts from other planets. In fact, he also said that some non-human "biologics" have also been recovered from the crashed alien spacecrafts. Now this was stated all under oath. So how do we think about such claims in the context of search for extraterrestrial intelligence? 
Video Link: https://youtu.be/mICov9M3uEM

Gravitational waves were predicted by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. They were first directly detected in 2015 with LIGO and those were mostly the result of the collision of two star-size black holes. But now in a fascinating way, astronomers have used pulsars (spinning neutron stars) to detect a background hum of gravitational waves, probably caused by supermassive black holes. Please join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in exploring the topic of gravitational waves and how astronomers used dead stars to make the new detection in this Urdu/Hindi audio. 

For full video: https://youtu.be/PTqG9ptEM1Q

For over fifty years, satellites and telescopes have been detecting short bursts of gamma ray bursts. Their origins remained one of the biggest mysteries of science. Now we know that they are from some of the strangest and biggest explosions in the universe. Please join astrophysicist Salman Hameed in discussing the origins of gamma ray bursts in this Urdu/Hindi documentary. 

For full video: https://youtu.be/iSHVjUp8gh8

This video on the challenge of increasing light pollution is a part of collaboration between International Astronomical Union's Office for Astronomy Research (IAU OAO) and Kainaat Studios. A companion essay for this video is available at: https://www.iau.org/public/themes/light_pollution/
Stars in the night sky have played a crucial role in the history of humans on this planet. They have not only helped us in providing appropriate times for planting crops and in finding directions in the middle of deserts and oceans, but our queries about their nature have also sparked some of the biggest revolutions in human perceptions of our place in the universe. But now the increasing glow from our light bulbs is threatening the existence of various species on the planet. A new study suggests that the night sky may be brightening at a rate of 7-10% each year! In this episode of Cosmic Gup Shup, astrophysicist Salman Hameed talks about the steps we can take to reduce light pollution and protect the night sky, which holds an important place in various cultures and societies. 
For full video: https://youtu.be/BZPkW9tEXqo