8. Michelle Kunimoto – Discovering Exoplanets and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life
This Amazing Story
English - June 08, 2020 11:05 - 1 hour - 70.3 MBSociety & Culture Homepage Download Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episode 8 – Michelle Kunimoto – Discovering Exoplanets and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life
The question, “Are we alone in the universe?”, has inspired philosophers and scientists since time immemorial. When we look up at the starry sky, one almost can’t help but wonder, is there anybody out there?
Michelle Kunimoto isn’t just asking that question, she is busy doing her small part in the search for the answer. And she is this week’s guest on This Amazing Story.
Michelle Kunimoto discovered 17 exoplanets by scouring over the data from the Kepler Space Telescope as part of her grad project at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Previously, she had found four other exoplanets as an undergrad, an achievement that landed her on the Forbes 30 Under 30 List for Science at the age of only 23.
Inspired at an early age to pursue astronomy when her Dad introduced her to the original Star Trek TV Series, Michelle has now completed her PhD in Astronomy at UBC, and will soon be travelling to MIT in Boston where she will be fulfilling a childhood dream of working with NASA.
In this episode Michelle tells us what it takes to find exoplanets, how she became interested in studying exoplanets in the first place, how you too can become an exoplanet researcher right from the comfort of your own home, what the future might hold for space exploration, and much more.
This episode is a great chance to learn a bit about astronomy, and Michelle does an amazing job of putting some complicated ideas into simple language that anybody can understand.
SOME RELEVANT LINKS
CBC Article on Michelle Kunimoto, March 1, 2020
Global News Story, Feb 28, 2020
Global News Story, Jan 7, 2017
https://globalnews.ca/video/3167384/ubc-grad-michelle-kunimoto-named-to-forbes-30-under-30-list
Forbes 30 Under 30, 2017
https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30-2017/science/#1160533827fa
Vancouver Sun Article on the first 4 planets discovered by Kunimoto, Jan 15, 2020
Global News Story on the first four exoplanets, May 30, 2016
Planet Hunters TESS
https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/nora-dot-eisner/planet-hunters-tess/about/research
Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes
UBC Department of Physics and Astronomy
Jaymie Matthews at UBC
https://www.phas.ubc.ca/users/jaymie-matthews
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"Michelle Kunimoto – Discovering Exoplanets and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life" was produced by Malcolm McMillan for This Amazing Story. ©2020