Isabel Rebollido, Space Telescope Science Institute

Comets, asteroids, and other minor bodies in the solar system are thought to have played an important role in the formation of planets. They may even affect the appearance of life on Earth. Although we can’t directly observe these small bodies in other planetary systems, we can infer their
presence through various techniques. Studies into exocomets have been pursued for decades, with recent advances in the exoplanetary field bringing them into the limelight. In particular, comets trace chemical and dynamical information that could eventually be key to determine the habitability of new planetary systems.

Host: Brandon Lawton, Space Telescope Science Institute
Webcast live on Tuesday, August 3, 2021 at 6:30 PM EDT (UTC-4)
More information: www.stsci.edu/public-lectures

Quyen Hart, Space Telescope Science Institute

Pull up a chair, get comfortable, and look all around you. Can you spot some familiar objects or common phenomena that can be connected to a topic in astrophysics? Some of your everyday experiences can be explained using some basic physics concepts and some of our cosmic observations have analogs in what we see around us.

Join us to explore the physics of familiar phenomena and learn where the same physics is working “out there” in the cosmos. Discover what you and the universe have in common. Armchairs are not required, but highly recommended.

Host: Frank Summers, Space Telescope Science Institute
Recorded live on Tuesday, July 6, 2021
More information: www.stsci.edu/public-lectures

Emily Rickman, European Space Agency/Space Telescope Science Institute

Since the discovery of the first planet orbiting a Sun-like star in 1995, more than 4,000 exoplanets have been found. These widespread planetary systems confirm that our solar system is just one of many in our Milky Way galaxy. The discovery of such systems provided intriguing insights, challenging our perspectives about how planetary systems form and evolve. But how do astronomers search for these exoplanets and what can we find out about them? Join Dr. Rickman as she describes the scientific hunt for these distant worlds.

Host: Frank Summers, Space Telescope Science Institute
Recorded live on Tuesday, June 1, 2021
More information: www.stsci.edu/public-lectures

The Consonance Collective and the Bergamot Quartet, Peabody Institute

Presenting “Hearing Stars,” a visual album of string quartets depicting the life cycles of stars produced by the Consonance Collective with support from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). The album follows the stars through five stages: 1) protostar (Celeste Forma), 2) star system (Iridescence), 3) supernova (SN 1054), 4) black hole (Beyond the Horizon), and 5) dark matter (Dark Mysteries).

Created over the last year, the composers of the collective wrote original pieces for the Bergamot Quartet based on these stellar life stages, with STScI providing images, visualizations, and access to scientists. We hope you enjoy the results of this special collaboration!

Videos may be viewed on the STScI YouTube channel in the “Hearing Stars – Consonance Collective” playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLm0MBdI3VlBUbDQhZewZQC6Q8lzTxGnJP

Celeste Forma (Protostar) – Bobby Ge: https://youtu.be/lPeLZWZyhfM
Iridescence (Star System) – Zach Gulaboff Davis: https://youtu.be/T-mikiFLQ40
SN 1054 (Supernova) – Seo Yoon Kim: https://youtu.be/m2wY434QVRw
Beyond the Horizon (Black Hole) – Gu Wei: https://youtu.be/iRCx4nAGgCE
Dark Mysteries (Dark Matter) – Daniel Despins: https://youtu.be/prS_IIWkkK4

This project was made possible by funding from the Maryland State Arts Council, the Jersey City Arts Council, and the Awesome Foundation.

Host: Frank Summers, Space Telescope Science Institute
Recorded live on Tuesday, May 4, 2021
More information: www.stsci.edu/public-lectures

This visualization starts with a wide-view of the Carina constellation and zooms down to the Hubble Space Telescope view of the massive star, AG Carinae. One of the brightest stars in our galaxy, AG Carinae undergoes eruptions that have ejected a small nebula of gas and dust. The emission from ionized gas glows red, while the dust reflects the light of the star and appears bluish-white.

Credits: NASA, ESA, A. Pagan (STScI)

This visualization starts with the Hubble Space Telescope view of the massive star, AG Carinae. One of the brightest stars in our galaxy, AG Carinae undergoes eruptions that have ejected a small nebula of gas and dust. The sequence flies into a 3D model that shows the structure of the surrounding nebula. The 3D model is based upon Hubble images and spectroscopic data of the nebula’s motion. The emission from ionized gas glows red, while the dust reflects the light of the star and appears bluish-white.

Visualization: NASA, ESA, STScI, L. Hustak, F. Summers, A. Pagan, J. DePasquale, and G. Bacon (STScI)

This visualization starts with a wide-field view of the Carina constellation and zooms down to the Hubble Space Telescope view of the massive star, AG Carinae. One of the brightest stars in our galaxy, AG Carinae undergoes eruptions that have ejected a small nebula of gas and dust.

The sequence then transitions from the 2D Hubble image to a 3D model that shows the structure of the surrounding nebula. The 3D model is based on Hubble images and spectroscopic data of the nebula’s motion. The emission from ionized gas glows red, while the dust reflects the light of the star and appears bluish-white.

CREDITS:
VIDEO: NASA, ESA, Leah Hustak, Frank Summers, Alyssa Pagan, Joseph DePasquale and Greg Bacon (STScI)
MUSIC: “Luminous Beings” by Joseph DePasquale (STScI) CC BY 4.0

Christopher Wanjek

More than 50 years after the Apollo 11 moon landing, why is there so little human presence in space? Will we ever reach Mars? What will it take to become a multi-planet species, colonizing the Solar System and traveling to other stars?

This lecture meets these questions head on with a discourse of what we can expect in the next 30 years based not simply on what is possible, but rather on what is practical and thus plausible when considering the biological, economic, and philosophical concerns that adjoin the engineering challenges of space habitation and travel.

We will be returning to the Moon and exploring Mars in the coming decades, given the potential scientific and commercial bonanza. Private industry already is taking a leading role and earning profits from human space activity. This can be a sustainable venture and a natural extension of Earth-bound science, business, and leisure.

Join us as the noted author discusses plans for factories and hotels in low-Earth orbit, as well as science, mining, and tourism on the Moon modeled on activities in Antarctica. In addition, explore a vision of slow, steady development of science bases on Mars, to be followed by settlements if Martian gravity will permit reproduction and healthy child development.

Host: Frank Summers, Space Telescope Science Institute
Recorded live on Tuesday, April 6, 2021
More information: www.stsci.edu/public-lectures

This simulation shows the brilliant, flickering light from a pair of quasars. Astronomers in a recent study deduced that the blinking light is a telltale sign of the presence of two quasars and not a single object.

Quasars reside at the hearts of galaxies. They are ignited by monster black holes voraciously feeding on infalling matter, unleashing a torrent of radiation. A quasar’s light fluctuates in brightness based on how much material its black hole is gobbling up at the time.

This quasar pair is pouring out light because their galaxies are in the process of merging, which provides plenty of fuel for their hungry black holes. The quasars appear close together because they, too, are in the process of merging, along with their galaxies.

The quasars were first identified by the European Space Agency’s Gaia spacecraft, which measures small changes in the brightness of stars. The quasar pair is too far away for Gaia to resolve. Instead, the pair looks like a single bright object. However, Gaia also measured an apparent “jiggle” in the light. The “jiggle” is a signal of the independent flickering light between two separate quasars, similar to a pair of alternating lights on a railroad-crossing signal. The Hubble Space Telescope is sharp enough to resolve the quasar pair, which astronomers had suspected from the Gaia data.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Olmsted (STScI)