SETI Live – Details, episodes & analysis

Scientists now can work out what the atmospheres of worlds outside our solar system are made of. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, we have seen water, carbon dioxide, methane, and other gases. Could we, from this distance, know how those gases formed? Possibly. Looking for planets with signs of being intentionally changed - terraforming - would give us proof of an advanced civilization, and a new paper explores just how the investigation process would work. Senior astronomer Franck Marchis talks with authors Edward W. Schwieterman and Daniel Angerhausen about what these gases would be and why they would work as evidence of life. (Recorded 28 August 2024.)

A super-Earth in a distant star system may explain what Mars, Venus, and Earth were like billions of years ago -- incredibly hot and covered in magma oceans. Those oceans may have supplied the planets with early atmospheres full of gases needed for life. While Venus's atmosphere became thick and heavy and Mars couldn't hold on to its atmosphere, Earth became a truly habitable world where life thrives. What can 55 Cancri e, over 40 light years away, teach us about our early solar system? Planetary scientist Beth Johnson asks Renyu Hu (NASA JPL) about his recent paper that uses JWST to examine the distant world's atmosphere. (Recorded 22 August 2024.)

Scientists have used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to map the weather on the hot gas-giant exoplanet, WASP-43 b. Through precise measurements of mid-infrared light and advanced 3D climate models, they've discovered some fascinating details: thick, high clouds cover the nightside; clear skies dominate the dayside; and equatorial winds race at speeds up to 8,000 kilometers per hour, mixing atmospheric gases around the planet. This breakthrough showcases JWST's incredible ability to measure temperature variations and detect atmospheric gases from trillions of miles away, marking a significant step forward in exoplanet science. Join communications specialist Beth Johnson for a chat with lead author and researcher Taylor Bell from the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute as they discuss these amazing findings and what they mean in the search for habitable worlds. (Recorded 30 May 2024.)

The INVADER project researches ways to improve life detection in ocean worlds by studying alien worlds in Earth's deep ocean. We seek to understand how we can detect life in the deep ocean here on Earth with flight-ready instruments (e.g., can go on a space flight mission). The deep ocean is a testing ground to help us validate what data collected by these instruments could tell us about life if we deployed them to the seafloor of an ocean world. To this end, in 2021, Laura Rodriguez (LPI) and Pablo Sobron (SETI Institute) traveled to Axial Seamount in the Pacific Ocean to place some microbial traps at low temperature (~23 C) vents. These traps contained substrates and minerals relevant to materials we might find in ocean worlds to see which minerals are most attractive to life under hydrothermal conditions and whether we could reliably detect that life with our instruments. Postdoctoral Fellow Bonnie Teece went on a research cruise in 2023, collected these samples, and brought them back to the laboratory to find out what these data can tell us about life and rocks deep in our ocean world and apply that to what we might find on other ocean worlds. Join communications specialist Beth Johnson as she chats with Dr. Teece about her initial analysis of the microbial traps and what they could mean for our search for life beyond Earth, especially involving ocean worlds like Europa and Enceladus. (Recorded 23 May 2024.)

The SETI Institute is pleased to announce that Dr. Andrew Siemion will be honored with the prestigious 2024 Drake Award for his exceptional and pioneering contributions to SETI and radio astronomy and his leadership in the field. Siemion's distinguished career includes his role as the Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI at the SETI Institute, Principal Investigator for the Breakthrough Listen Initiative at the University of Oxford, along with holding an Honorary Professorship at the University of Manchester, an Adjunct Appointment at the University of Malta, and directing the Berkeley SETI Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley. His dedication to SETI science and funding has been crucial in advocating for the scientific validity and importance of the field. Ahead of the awards reception, communications specialist Beth Johnson talks with Dr. Siemion about his career so far, receiving the Drake Award, and his vision for the future of SETI research. (Recorded 16 May 2024.)

T Coronae Borealis, or T CrB, is a well-studied nova system in the constellation Corona Borealis. In fact, T CrB produces a recurring nova — one of only five known in our galaxy — that erupts approximately every 80 years, making this a once-in-a-lifetime event. Astronomers predict that the star will explode again within the coming year, likely before this September. When it does erupt, the rather dim T CrB could become as bright as our North Star. Observers with the SETI/Unistellar Network have been watching this star system since last summer and now monitor it daily through the Cosmic Cataclysms citizen science program.

Join communications specialist Beth Johnson as she talks to Dr. Tom Esposito, SETI researcher and Lead of the Cosmic Cataclysms program, about this exciting nova and the efforts to catch it! (Recorded 9 May 2024.)

In a groundbreaking discovery, astronomers have identified an Earth-sized planet closer and younger than any previously known. Positioned remarkably close to both our planet (73 light-years away) and a Sun-like star, this newly found world offers a unique opportunity for scientists to study the evolution of planets. Catalogued as HD 63433 d, this hot exoplanet orbits its star in 4.2 days, making it one of the closest orbiting Earth-sized worlds. With its young age and proximity, HD 63433 d promises invaluable insights into planetary formation and evolution, unlocking mysteries about the processes shaping worlds beyond our own. A paper detailing the planet and its discovery was recently published in The Astronomical Journal.

Communications specialist Beth Johnson speaks with lead authors Melinda Soares-Furtado and Benjamin Capistrant about this amazing discovery and the implications for planetary formation studies. (Recorded 25 April 2024.)

The documentary short "Deep Sky" takes viewers on a breathtaking journey through space and time, showcasing stunning imagery captured by NASA's Webb Telescope on the giant IMAX® screen. Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn and narrated by Michelle Williams, the film delves into the monumental effort behind the telescope's construction and launch, set to orbit a million miles from Earth. As it explores never-before-seen cosmic landscapes and newly discovered exoplanets, "Deep Sky" prompts timeless questions about our origins and the vastness of the universe. With Kahn's track record of award-winning documentaries, including "The Hunt for Planet B" and "My Architect," "Deep Sky" promises to immerse audiences in the beauty and mystery of space in a truly unforgettable cinematic experience.

Join communications specialist Beth Johnson in a special conversation with director Nathaniel Kahn about the telescope, the filmmaking process, and how we share science with the world.

A deeply eroded giant volcano, active from ancient through recent times and with possible remnants of glacier ice near its base, had been hiding near Mars' equator in plain sight. Its discovery points to an exciting new place to search for life, and a potential destination for future robotic and human exploration.

"We were examining the geology of an area where we had found the remains of a glacier last year when we realized we were inside a huge and deeply eroded volcano," said Dr. Pascal Lee, planetary scientist with the SETI Institute and the Mars Institute based at NASA Ames Research Center, and the lead author of the study announced at the 55th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference held in The Woodlands, Texas. Sourabh Shubham, a graduate student in the Department of Geology at the University of Maryland, is co-author of the discovery. 

Join Dr. Lee as he talks with communications specialist Beth Johnson about the recent discovery and its potential impact on the search for life beyond Earth. (Recorded 11 April 2024.) 

Press release: https://www.seti.org/press-release/giant-volcano-discovered-mars

A potential future space mission known as the Large Interferometer for Exoplanets (LIFE) could study terrestrial worlds in their stars' habitable zones (where water can be liquid) using spectral emissions in the mid-infrared. With only one known example of a world with life - Earth - scientists recently examined whether or not such a mission could determine if a planet was habitable. Published in The Astrophysical Journal, the results of a recent study concluded that yes, LIFE could find "signatures of crucial atmospheric species and [detect] the planet's temperate climate as well as surface conditions allowing for liquid water."

Co-author Björn S. Konrad joins senior planetary astronomer Franck Marchis from ETH Zurich for an engaging SETI Live on how they used remote sensing data to draw their conclusions and what the results mean for the search for life beyond Earth. (Recorded 4 April 2024.)

Press release: https://www.phys.ethz.ch/news-and-events/d-phys-news/2024/02/if-earth-were-an-exoplanet.html

Paper: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ad198b