Astrophysics for All

Professor Robert Simcoe is the Director of the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, and one of the world's leading astrophysicists on spectroscopy and the early universe. In this episode of  Astrophysics for All , Rob explains how astronomers use light to study the first stars and galaxies that formed after the Big Bang. He shares why he likes to say that "if a picture...

How do you study something you can't see? In this episode, Yale astronomy PhD candidate Isabel Medlock explains how astronomers use powerful computer simulations and mysterious fast radio bursts to investigate the invisible universe. We discuss the cosmic web, the search for the universe's missing matter, and how scientists can effectively "rebuild" the cosmos inside a computer to understand how i...

Are galaxies truly eternal, or do they have lifecycles just like living things? In this episode of  Astrophysics for All , I speak with Dr Jesse van de Sande, astrophysicist and lecturer at UNSW, about how galaxies form, evolve, and eventually stop producing new stars. We explore the idea of "zombie galaxies," the future collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda, and how astronomers...

Professor Sara Seager is one of the world's leading exoplanet scientists and a professor of planetary science and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research has helped shape the modern search for planets beyond our Solar System and the quest to discover life elsewhere in the universe. In this episode of Astrophysics for All , Professor Seager discusses how astronomers u...

In this episode of  Astrophysics for All , I’m joined by Professor Marla Geha, Professor of Astronomy and Physics at Yale University and an award-winning educator whose research focuses on dwarf galaxies and dark matter. We explore how some of the faintest and smallest galaxies in the universe could help answer some of cosmology’s biggest questions. Professor Geha explains how astronomers detect i...

Astronomy has long captivated human curiosity, but how can it reshape our lives and communities? Dr. Emma Cain Louden is a passionate astrophysicist with a PhD from Yale University, and serves as the president of Slooh, a platform that democratises access to astronomy by allowing people around the world to use remotely operated telescopes. Her work bridges the gap between complex scientific concep...

In this episode of  Astrophysics for All , I’m joined by Professor Céline Bœhm, an astroparticle physicist and Professor of Particle Physics at the University of Sydney, whose research focuses on dark matter and the fundamental structure of the universe. Although we can’t see dark matter directly, it makes up most of the matter in the universe. So how do we know it exists — and why has it been so...

Dr Ben Montet is a Scientia Associate Professor at UNSW Sydney. He completed his PhD in astrophysics at Caltech and was a Carl Sagan Fellow at the University of Chicago. Dr Montet is a leading exoplanet researcher who uses data from missions like NASA’s Kepler and TESS to discover and study planets beyond our Solar System, uncovering the diversity of planetary systems across our galaxy. In our con...

In this episode of  Astrophysics for All , I speak with Dr Caroline Foster, an observational astronomer at UNSW Sydney who studies how galaxies form, grow, and evolve over billions of years. We explore how astronomers use light to measure the motions and chemistry of stars, how galaxies grow through mergers and star formation, and why some galaxies gradually stop rotating as they age. Dr Foster al...

What if everything we can see in the universe—stars, planets, galaxies, and even ourselves—makes up less than 5% of reality? In this episode of  Astrophysics for All , I sit down with Professor Geraint Lewis, a cosmologist at the Sydney Institute for Astronomy, to explore the invisible universe. Originally from Wales, Professor Lewis completed his undergraduate degree at the University of London a...

In this episode of  Astrophysics for All , I'm joined by Professor Sarah Brough, Head of the School of Physics at University of New South Wales and an observational astronomer studying how galaxies grow and evolve over billions of years. Professor Brough explores some of the faintest and most elusive structures in the Universe: tidal features and intracluster light. She explains how these deli...

How is Antarctica's unique environment revolutionising the way astronomers observe the universe? In this episode, Professor Michael Ashley shares the advantages, challenges, and groundbreaking discoveries made from the icy continent. Professor Ashley is an astrophysicist at the University of New South Wales, specialising in astronomical instrumentation and observational astronomy. He completed his...

Clouds might look soft and harmless, but they play one of the biggest roles in deciding Earth’s future climate. In this episode of  Astrophysics for All , I'm speaking with Professor Steven Sherwood, a leading climate scientist at UNSW Sydney, about how physics, computer models, and satellite data help us understand the atmosphere. Professor Sherwood holds a physics degree from MIT, a master’s in...

In this episode of  Astrophysics for All , I’m joined by Dr. Rosanna Ruggeri, a cosmologist and honorary research fellow at the University of Queensland. We explore how scientists map the large-scale structure of the universe, what dark energy is, and why understanding it is key to predicting the universe’s ultimate fate. Dr. Ruggeri shares her journey working with cutting-edge instruments like DE...

In this episode of  Astrophysics for All , I’m joined by Dr Laura Driessen, a radio astronomer and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Sydney’s Sydney Institute for Astrophysics. We explore what radio astronomy actually is, how scientists study stars and cosmic events using signals we can’t see, and why some of the universe’s biggest discoveries come from its quietest signals. Dr Driessen...

"We only know life as we know it." In this episode, we chat with Dr. Jerome de Leon, an astrophysicist who has helped discover dozens of exoplanets using telescopes like Kepler, TESS, and Subaru. He is a Project Assistant Professor at the University of Tokyo and an astronomer–data scientist leading international teams on new exoplanet discoveries. In this episode, we explore how scientists detect...

Curious about how to  really  learn astronomy? In this episode, Taweewat (Champ) Somboonpanyakul, an astrophysicist with roots at Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Chicago, and now Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, walks us through the hands-on experiences that shaped his career, from childhood stargazing to using world-class telescopes. You’ll gain insig...

In this episode, alongside Leah Kalimeris from the International Centre from Radio Astronomy Research, we explore the invisible part of the universe—radio waves! Learn what radio waves really are, how they’re different from visible light, and why radio astronomy is essential for discovering things like black holes, pulsars, and the early universe. We’ll break it all down in simple terms and show y...