QUO Fast Radio Bursts
38 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 2 years ago -It is our mission to bring exciting space news hot off the telescope into your ears. In one way or another, the Queen’s Observatory has continued its practice of sharing the wonders of the universe since 1857, thank you for joining us in this long running tradition. Here at Fast Radio Bursts we will answer your questions, interview astronomers, and dive deep into breaking research. From low Earth orbit to the clouds of Venus, from Betelgeuse to colliding black holes It’s a big universe to talk about, so let’s get started.
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Episodes
Abyssinia Observatory
May 02, 2022 14:00 - 1 hour - 46.6 MBAs our last podcast episode, Connor and Nik interview each other. We summarize the highlight of the observatory program and our scientific works.
A Universal Chronicle E2: The Dark Ages
April 25, 2022 14:00 - 29 minutes - 20.2 MBWhy the Dark Age? There is certainly plenty of light to go around but there is no new light being made. We won't see any new light until the stars start to form. Hence the dark ages. Where we left off, about 300,000 years after the big bang the universe is a balmy 3,500 degrees celsius. More or less the entire universe looks like the area just above the surface of the sun. At this point something subtle begins to happen. During the early stages of the universe (inflation) tiny quantum fl...
A Universal Chronical E1: In the Beginning
April 11, 2022 14:00 - 31 minutes - 21.7 MBThe Beginning of the Universe: Age of the Universe: 13.8 billion year It is just as easy to say “the universe was 1 second old” as it is to say “the universe was 10 billion degrees celsius” It’s called the “Big Bang” for a reason, this would have been the most cataclysmic explosion ever. The earliest moment: A Planck Epoch At about a billion billion billion billionth of a second in, the three primary forces (electromagnetic, strong and weak nuclear force) of the standard model would be ...
Living Universe E3: Finding Life
March 28, 2022 14:00 - 36 minutes - 25 MBLooking for Extraterrestrial life: The Arecebo message: The numbers one to ten The atomic numbers of the elements hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphorus, which make up deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) The formulas for the chemical compounds that make up the nucleotides of DNA The estimated number of DNA nucleotides in the human genome, and a graphic of the double helix structure of DNA The dimension (physical height) of an average man, a graphic figure of a human being, and ...
Machine Learning ft. Mike Smith
March 14, 2022 14:00 - 53 minutes - 36.6 MBWe interview Mike Smith, a PhD student, at University of Hertfordshire, in the United Kingdom. Hertfordshire in the UK He has also spent time in Kingston at Queen’s University, working with our group. He is also associated with the Alan Turing Institute in the UK as well. Links to Science Outreach Material: McDonald Institute Royal Astronomical Society Astronomy on Tap Special thanks to Colin Vendromin for the music, also thanks to Zac Kenny for the logo!
Living Universe E2: The Great Filters
February 28, 2022 15:00 - 37 minutes - 26 MBIntroduction: Plan today is to try and solve the paradox from Living Universe E1. If life should be everywhere and we don’t see it, then what happened? The Fermi paradox: Why don't we see life everywhere? Simple Solutions: The “Rare Earth” solution just means that in some way, Earth-like planets are very rare. Maybe there is some mechanism that stops rocky planets from forming in the habitable zone. The “Rare Chemistry” solution means that maybe Earth got lucky in having just the right ...
Cupid's Arrow Hits a Black Hole ft. Charles Woordford
February 14, 2022 15:00 - 55 minutes - 38.2 MBWe interview Dr. Charles Joseph Woodford, a knowledge translation specialist at Arthur B. McDonald Institute at Queen’s University. Recently moved to Kingston to work at Queen’s University with the McDonald Institute. From Newfoundland; Bachelor in Physics and Applied Mathematics. With also a minor in Russian studies from Memorial University of Newfoundland PhD. in Theoretical and Numerical Astrophysics from University of Toronto. Binary Black holes: Black holes are essentially dead sta...
Living Universe E1: The Paradox
January 31, 2022 15:00 - 37 minutes - 26 MBIntroduction: What is life? Life is considered a characteristic of something that preserves, furthers or reinforces its existence in the given environment This characteristic exhibits all or most of the following traits: Homeostasis, Organization, Metabolism, Growth, Adaptation, Response to Stimuli, Reproduction. It is important as well to specify what kind of life we are looking for. One may search for intelligent life by looking for radio signals, but bacteria may just change the chemis...
Living Universe: The Paradox
January 31, 2022 15:00 - 37 minutes - 26 MBIntroduction: What is life? Life is considered a characteristic of something that preserves, furthers or reinforces its existence in the given environment This characteristic exhibits all or most of the following traits: Homeostasis, Organization, Metabolism, Growth, Adaptation, Response to Stimuli, Reproduction. It is important as well to specify what kind of life we are looking for. One may search for intelligent life by looking for radio signals, but bacteria may just change the chemis...
Our Lonely Galaxy ft. Nathan Deg
January 17, 2022 15:00 - 1 hour - 44.8 MBWe interview Dr. Nathan Deg, a Software developer for the Canadian Institute for Radio Astronomy: Resides at Queen’s University and comes from Nova Scotia but was born in Kingston focuses on numerical simulations of isolated and interacting pairs of galaxies Achieved a bachelor’s from Saint Mary’s University and Astrophysics And then a Masters and PhD in simulations of galaxies here at Queen’s Left Canada for a little while and worked in University of Cape Town in South Africa Parts of...
Dangerous Universe E4: Cosmic Calamity
January 03, 2022 15:00 - 37 minutes - 25.5 MBIntroduction: Last episode in the “Dangerous Universe” series, Cosmic Calamity today Next series Living Universe Content Warning: this episode can get a bit depressing, if that’s not something you need in your life right now, please feel free to skip this episode. Overview: What is the Cosmos or Universe? Currently, one part matter, five parts dark matter, and 14 parts dark energy The universe is our word for everything. When we talk about it expanding, it is expanding into itself (...
A Planet is Born ft. Arnaud Michel
December 20, 2021 15:00 - 1 hour - 42.8 MBIntroduction: We have Arnaud Michel, a master’s student in Astrophysics at Queen’s He focuses on formation of planets in our galaxy Hails from Fribourg, Switzerland. Completed his bachelor degree in Physics at Quest University in Sqamish, BC. Has worked as a research assistant at UVic and University of Bern in Switzerland. Leading cutting edge research using telescopes like ALMA and JCMT. Research: To study how proptoplanetary disks evolve around young stars. Focuses on the evolutio...
Dangerous Universe E3: Galaxy Guillotine
December 06, 2021 15:00 - 37 minutes - 26 MBIntroduction What is a Galaxy? Mostly a ball of dark matter, but really a whole bunch more Gas, dust, stars, black holes and other dead stars As a very rough gauge it’s dark matter, 1/10th stars, 1/100th gas, 1/1000th dust Often galaxies travel together, with one or a few big galaxies and lots of smaller ones swirling around. What does it mean to kill a galaxy? We think of galaxies as being active/alive if they are forming new stars. However the biggest galaxies grow mostly by eating...
Makings of a Universe ft. Mark Richardson
November 22, 2021 15:00 - 1 hour - 48.4 MBIntroduction: Dr. Mark Richardson is the Educational and Outreach Officer at the Arthur B. McDonald Canadian Astroparticle Physics Research Institute. Got his start at St. Mary’s University with an honours in Astrophysics, and Masters and Ph.D. at Arizona State University. Expertise in modelling galaxy formation and evolution using cosmological simulations. A big advocate for Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity in Physics (or STEM in general) Research: To study the evolution of galaxies in ...
Dangerous Universe E2: Star Slaying
November 08, 2021 15:00 - 36 minutes - 25 MBOverview: What is a star? Ball of hydrogen Balance of fusion and gravity (talk by Connor Stone on elements in the universe) Radiation transfer, convection, radiation From very small (a tenth of the mass of our sun) to very large (thousand times the mass of our sun) What methods are there to destroy a star? Most straightforward, just wait. It’ll turn into a planetary nebula, or go supernova Have a nearby white dwarf pull off material Fall into a black hole Wait for it: Small stars...
Dangerous Universe E1: Earth Extermination
September 13, 2021 16:00 - 38 minutes - 26.6 MBAsteroids: Asteroids are failed planets. During the formation of our solar system, there was a lot of dust cooling down and coming together due to gravity, called protoplanets. In these objects, heavy metals sank to the center, and lighter elements (carbon & silicates) remained on the surface. Some of these objects became planets, others became asteroids. There are two kinds: rubble piles (small rocks held together with gravity) and solid metal cores. Most of the asteroids live in stable...
How to Inflate a Universe ft. Simran Nerval
August 23, 2021 14:00 - 1 hour - 48.4 MBIntroduction: Simran Nerval recently received her Masters Degree at Queen's University She is very active in science outreach as a coordinator for Let's Talk Science, GEMINI-P, and the IDEAS initiative. She has given several public talks including one for the Queen's Observatory, Astronomy on Tap, and the Sunshine Coast Astronomy Club She studies observational signatures of cosmic inflation Cosmic inflation is a hypothesized early stage in the universe where it would have expanded very r...
Future Missions E5: Eyes on Dragonfly
August 09, 2021 14:00 - 36 minutes - 25 MBIntroduction: NASA Dragonfly mission is an 8-blade drone on the Saturn’s largest moon Titan. Pencilled to launch in 2027 and arrive in 2035. Dragonfly will sample and examine dozens of promising sites around Titan and search for the building blocks of life. Dragonfly’s main aim is going to be to study the building block of life. So, answer questions like “what happened in the past that made life possible on Earth?” Titan is hard to study from Earth because it has methane clouds Howeve...
Future Missions E4: A Telescope for the Past (Pt.2)
July 26, 2021 13:00 - 30 minutes - 21.2 MBIntroduction: In the last episode (it has been a while, go back and listen to it), we talk about the science goals of the JWST mission. Today, we will talk about the technologies in the JWST mission. Launch: JWST is currently scheduled to be launched in Nov 2021. The James Webb Space Telescope will be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket. The launch vehicle is part of the European contribution to the mission. Webb will be launched from Arianespace's ELA-3 launch complex at European Spacepor...
Future Missions E3: A Telescope for the Past (Pt.1)
May 03, 2021 13:00 - 32 minutes - 22.4 MBIntroduction - A telescope for the past: JWST (James Webb Space Telescope) is an orbiting infrared observatory that is a successor to HST. Using the infrared wavelength. JWST will be able to look at the start of galaxies, stars, planetary systems. In the universe, the further away you look the further back in time you are looking. JWST is designed to look at the beginning of the universe, going back 13 billion years in the past. A Successor to Hubble: Hubble: Optical and UV, JWST: Infr...
To The Moon, Artemis
April 20, 2021 13:00 - 33 minutes - 23.2 MBIntroduction: Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo in Greek Mythology Includes “Lunar Gateway” space station that will orbit the moon instead of Earth. Canadarm 3 will help construct the Lunar Gateway Landers will shuttle between the Lunar Gateway and the moon surface. Likely Shackleton Crater in the South Pole New space suits are being designed for landing on the moon, which will provide more mobility while on the surface. SLS (space launch system), will take astronauts to the moon. ...
Future Missions E2: To The Moon, Artemis
April 20, 2021 13:00 - 33 minutes - 23.2 MBIntroduction: Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo in Greek Mythology Includes “Lunar Gateway” space station that will orbit the moon instead of Earth. Canadarm 3 will help construct the Lunar Gateway Landers will shuttle between the Lunar Gateway and the moon surface. Likely Shackleton Crater in the South Pole New space suits are being designed for landing on the moon, which will provide more mobility while on the surface. SLS (space launch system), will take astronauts to the moon. ...
Future Mission E1: Ingenuity
March 31, 2021 13:00 - 37 minutes - 25.9 MBThe Ingenuity drone is a part of the Perseverance mission which landed on Mars in the middle of February 2021. The Mars Helicopter, Ingenuity, is a technology demonstration to test powered flight on another world for the first time. This is very important for bringing samples back from Mars and thinking about round trips to Mars. Ingenuity will perform a series of test flights over a 30-Martian-day experimental window beginning in early April. The key obstacle is that Mars has a much thi...
Future Missions E1: Ingenuity
March 31, 2021 13:00 - 37 minutes - 25.9 MBThe Ingenuity drone is a part of the Perseverance mission which landed on Mars in the middle of February 2021. The Mars Helicopter, Ingenuity, is a technology demonstration to test powered flight on another world for the first time. This is very important for bringing samples back from Mars and thinking about round trips to Mars. Ingenuity will perform a series of test flights over a 30-Martian-day experimental window beginning in early April. The key obstacle is that Mars has a much thi...
CHANG-ES Make It So ft. Judith Irwin
March 08, 2021 14:00 - 57 minutes - 39.3 MBIntroduction: Prof. Judith Irwin is a professor at Queen's University Judith Irwin is the Principle Investigator (leader) of the CHANG-ES collaboration Her team studies edge on spiral galaxies and their magnetic fields The magnetic fields can be seen in the halo of these galaxies. CHANG-ES has created award winning photos of these magnetic fields To detect magnetic fields there must also be cosmic rays The CHANG-ES Collaboration: CHANG-ES stands for: Continuum Halos in Nearby Galaxies...
A Star Is Born ft. Sarah Sadavoy
February 15, 2021 15:00 - 59 minutes - 40.9 MBIntroduction: Prof. Sarah Sadavoy is an Assistant Professor at Queen's University She studies star forming regions and the dust within them Star forming regions are large clouds of gas that compress under their own gravity. The gas collects tor form stars and disks of material around the stars Dust in astronomy refers mostly to silicate and carbon particles, unlike the dust you find around the house protoplanetary disks are disks of dust and gas that form around new stars It is easier ...
Percy goes to Mars: Pt. 3
February 08, 2021 15:00 - 30 minutes - 21 MBNotes: Perseverance (aka Percy) launched on July 30th, 2020, and is scheduled to arrive on Mars on February 18th, 2021. It was named by Alexander Mather, a 13-year-old student from Virginia who wrote "Curiosity, Insight, Spirit, Opportunity. If you think about it, all of these names of past Mars rovers are qualities we possess as humans. But if rovers are to be the qualities of us as a race, we missed the most important thing: Perseverance." On Feb 18th, around 3:30 pm EST, Percy will beg...
Percy goes to Mars: Pt. 2
February 01, 2021 15:00 - 33 minutes - 23.3 MBNotes: The most recent expeditions to Mars has been NASA's Mars Exploration Series which started with the Spirit and Opportunity rovers in 2004 Here are some highlights of their findings: Opportunity found Hematite which typically forms in water. The opportunity found showed to have an acidic nature. Spirit, on the other hand, found chemicals that indicate that Mars had a warm, wet history with a thicker carbon dioxide atmosphere where it landed. It also found signs of near-neutral water...
Percy goes to Mars: Pt.1
January 25, 2021 14:00 - 31 minutes - 21.5 MBUltra-Fast Radio Burst: Perseverance and Mars Explorations. Some Basic Facts about Mars: 4th Planet in the solar system It takes about 687 days for one orbit around the sun with a martian day being 24hr 37 mins. Fun fact: if you weigh 100kgs on Earth, you only weigh 38 kgs on Mars because of the low gravity. Most of the atmosphere (which is very little) consists of CO2 and water vapor Avg. temperature -62 degrees Celsius max on 35C The Red color because of metallic rust Tallest Mount...
The CFH Telescope on Maunakea ft Mary Beth
January 11, 2021 14:00 - 1 hour - 49.5 MBIntroduction: Mary Beth Laychak is the Director of Strategic Communications for the Canada France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) The Canada France Hawaii Telescope is 4m in diameter and can see in optical/infrared wavelengths The CFHT resides on Maunakea in Hawaii This is one of the best locations on Earth for astronomy From on top of the mountain, they also create mesmerizing time-lapse videos! Science with the CFHT: There are 5 primary instruments that the CFHT takes photos with: MegaCam ...
E07: Arecibo, a Tribute
December 25, 2020 14:00 - 47 minutes - 32.8 MBIn Space News: The Chinese Chang'e 5 lunar mission returned to Earth from the Moon on Dec 17 bringing back near 2kg of lunar material for examination. Read more about it here. Space X's starship SN8 exploded in a test on Dec 10th. In the 'great conjunction', Jupiter, Saturn, and Earth aligned visibly for the first time in 800 years. On to the Arecibo observatory: The construction of Arecibo observatory in a natural sinkhole in Puerto Rico in 1960. It was proposed by physicist Willam E G...
E06: Ultra Diffuse Galaxies ft. Ananthan
December 14, 2020 15:00 - 59 minutes - 40.6 MBIntroduction: Low Surface Brightness galaxies are a class of hard to find galaxies because they are so faint Ultra Diffuse Galaxies (UDGs) are a sub-category that are also very large These are very hard to find, but you can look for them in surveys like the DESI-Legacy-Imaging-Survey The Green Bank Telescope is what Ananthan Karunakaran used to make radio measurements of a whole sample of UDGs From this radio data he could see the HI emission line to learn more about these fascinating...
E05: The Dimming Stellar Giant
November 30, 2020 14:00 - 45 minutes - 31.3 MBIn Space News: It is was recently decided that the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico is being decommissioned. Read more about it here. Space X crew launched a 6 month manned mission to the ISS. Now on to the main topic; "The Dimming Stellar Giant -- Betelgeuse." Introduction Betelgeuse is a red supergiant about 550 light-years away from us. It is about 18 times more massive, 760 times wider, and 100,000 brighter than our Sun. Surface temperature is a cool 3600K compared to Sun 5800...
E04: Dark Matter, Destroyer of Worlds ft. Alan
November 16, 2020 15:00 - 59 minutes - 41.2 MBIntroduction: Dark matter appears to be everywhere in the universe, yet we don't know what it is One idea that many scientists think dark matter could be is a WIMP but there are many other ideas Asymmetric dark matter is a concept for dark matter that wouldn't have an anti-particle. While this doesn't seem far fetched at first, it is surprising to a lot of physicists. How to destroy a world with dark matter: If dark matter can collide with regular matter it may sink to the center of the...
E03: Record Breaking Black Hole Collision
November 02, 2020 14:00 - 1 hour - 41.2 MBINTRODUCTION Black holes are essentially dead stars. There can be three kinds of BH; stellar black holes, intermediate-mass black holes, and supermassive black holes. You go up the mass axis via eating other stars or merging with other black holes. Black holes can be seen eating gas through observations of X-ray radiation. They can also be seen merging via gravitational wave detections. Laser Interferometry Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) first saw a black hole collision/merger in S...
E02: Crab Pulsar ft. Akanksha
October 14, 2020 16:00 - 49 minutes - 34.2 MBIntroduction: The Algonquin Radio Observatory (ARO) is located in Algonquin Park and has been operating since the 1960s. Pulsars are a type of Neutron star that act like cosmic lighthouses, with spinning beams of radio waves. The Crab Nebula has a pulsar at its center which rotates very quickly and is connected with a supernova that could be seen from Earth in the year 1054. Giant Pulses: Sometimes a pulse from a pulsar is far brighter than normal, we call these giant pulses. The reaso...
E01: Phosphine on Venus, could it be life?
September 29, 2020 13:00 - 37 minutes - 25.7 MBIntroduction: Phosphine gas, a simple bio-indicator molecule consisting of 1 phosphorus atom and 3 hydrogen atoms, has been found in the atmosphere of Venus. Venus is the second planet in the solar system and is considered a sister planet to Earth. Its orbit is 2/3rds of the way between the sun and Earth (225 Earth days per Venus year), with surface temperatures of 450C. Venus also has a very dense atmosphere, where the pressure of the surface is about 93 bar which is equivalent to being ...
E00: Welcome to Fast Radio Bursts
September 28, 2020 00:00 - 22 minutes - 15.7 MBWelcome to Queen’s Observatory’s Fast Radio Bursts! In this podcast series, we will explore exciting topics about the Universe. This is our introductory episode that walks through the mission of the Queen’s Observatory and this podcast series. We will have another podcast soon! For the time being check us out on the following platforms: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Website Special thanks to Colin Vendromin for the music also thanks to Zac Kenny for the logo!