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Since 2002, Planetary Radio has visited with a scientist, engineer, project manager, advocate, or writer who provides a unique perspective on the quest for knowledge about our Solar System and beyond. The full show archive is available for free.
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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.
Principal Investigator and physicist Bruce Macintosh joins astronomer Franck Marchis to celebrate first light from the most powerful instrument for imaging exoplanets.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
The 221st meeting of the American Astronomical Society was a great place to learn about the James Webb Space Telescope from Jason Kalirai and Dean C. Hines.
Planetary Society experts review the challenges and triumphs of 2012 and look forward to a new and exciting year. You’ll hear Bill Nye the Science Guy, Emily Lakdawalla on new missions, Casey Dreier on “Saving our Science,” and Bruce Betts’ review of great projects, as well as a musical rendition of “Random Space Fact.”
Xavier Dumusque is the young astronomer who was lead author for the announcement of the first exoplanet found in the Alpha Centauri system, just 4.3 light years from Earth. It's also the first Earth-sized world found outside our own system.
The 44th Annual Meeting of the AAS Division of Planetary Sciences hosted hundreds of researchers and revealed volumes of scientific results. Join us at the conference.
Yale exoplanet hunter Debra Fischer is about to begin looking for worlds in the star system that is nearest to Earth. She'll tell us about new technology enabling this effort, and how you can join the search.
James Webb Space Telescope Status Report from Deputy Program Director Eric Smith
Multidisciplinary scientist Laurance Doyle led the team that has announced discovery of the first extrasolar planet circling two stars. He also talks about his plan to analyze communication by and among other species.
Opportunity reaches Endeavour Crater, Emily Lakdawalla visits a New Horizons science meeting about Pluto, Bill Nye discusses a planet made of diamond, and Bruce Betts and Mat Kaplan celebrate the award of a Parsec award to Planetary Radio.
Debra Fischer, Discoverer of Worlds
Kepler Discovers Hundreds of Extrasolar Planets!
Tasting a Super-Earth's Atmosphere
Kepler Discovers Hundreds of Exoplanets