Star Stuff

No Earth. His best friend is a cockroach. Can you guess the sci-fi movie? Play along on this episode of Star Stuff and see how many you can guess!

Cody and Hailey meet up with Dr. Catherine Clark and Dr. Lauren Biddle (two newly-minted PhD’s!) to discuss what inspires them, hurdles they’ve faced as women in STEM, what it takes to become a female scientist, and more.

Learn exactly it means for a planet to be in opposition, and what is so cool about Saturn and its moons. Don’t miss the Saturn Opposition on August 14, and enjoy Saturn at its biggest and brightest for a few weeks around its opposition!

Star Stuff sits down with fiber artist Arline Martens and the principal of Dark Sky Partners Chris Luginbuhl to talk about their experience with astronomical art, and discuss how closely the arts and astronomy are connected. Experience the NightVisions Art Exhibit at the Coconino Center for the Arts in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Star Stuff geeks out with poet Julie Swarstad Johnson, who recently served as Lowell Observatory’s Poet In Residence . Tune in to hear them discuss Julie’s work, how astronomy inspires her poetry, the works she has completed, and her recent publication, Beyond Earth’s Edge: The Poetry of Spaceflight.

In this very special episode of Star Stuff, our hosts sit down with NAU assistant professor Dr. Cristina Thomas to discuss the ways in which the James Webb Space Telescope will alter our perception of the cosmos forever. As a major contributor to the JWST mission, Dr. Thomas brings some insider insight to what we can look forward to in not just the JWST’s future, but in the future of space t...

In this episode of Star Stuff, we talk about what constellations are in the Northern Hemisphere’s night sky right now, how to find them, and their stories throughout ancient cultures. In this episode: Scorpius, The Summer Triangle, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Ophiuchus.

Star Stuff hangs out with public speaker, author, television host, and astronomer Dean Regas in the Clyde Tombaugh apartment, where they talk about distant worlds, burning controversies, and the delicate art of talking to grownups about Pluto. Check out Dean Regas’ new book, “How to Teach Grown-ups About Pluto,” and don’t miss his NPR podcast “Looking Up!”

The Star Stuff crew goes through the Lowell Iceberg, created and explained by Lowell educators Hannah Zigo and Jacob Irish. We go through each layer of our Lowell Iceberg, starting with the relatively known to the weird and obscure stories at Lowell Observatory. Join our Discord to see the Lowell Iceberg and to keep up-to-date on everything else happening on Mars Hill!

Star Stuff sits down with Lowell astronomer Dr. Larry Wasserman to hear about his amazing discovery of Uranus’ rings, and how running low on gas almost changed the course of his prolific career.

Star Stuff sits down with Alaina Levine, an award-winning professional speaker, STEM career coach, science writer, TEDX speaker, and entrepreneur. Hear directly from Alaina how you can create your perfect career in STEM — and it isn’t always through the traditional educational track. We have a direct and honest conversation about complicated and difficult-to-navigate educational enviro...

Star Stuff is joined by Nate Nise, Kevin White, and Dr. Scott Barrows of Lowell Observatory to talk about a few of our favorite sci-fi scores. To listen along with us, head to our discord where we have links to these scores, all of which are available on YouTube, and listen along with us!

Star Stuff chats with Lowell research scientists Dr. Joe Llama and Dr. Kyler Kuehn about how they got into astronomy, where their studies took them, and why they didn’t like math in school but majored in science. They also chat about how they got interested in their current studies: searching for exoplanets that could contain intelligent life and dark energy studies. Recorded on Mars Hill in...

In this episode of Star Stuff, Dr. Chip Shearer talks about his project with NASA to finally open a capsule of Moon rock collected in the early 1970s during the Apollo missions. We also discuss the “dark” side of the moon, what kind of rock makes up the Moon, and why NASA is interested in Moon core samples. Also, we decide the best way to pronounce the word “magma.”

Learn about how eclipses have been represented in history and in lore, and find out some fun facts about the moon. 

In this episode of Star Stuff, the crew talks all about planets with two of Lowell’s planetary scientists, Dr. Amanda Bosh and Dr. Jennifer Hanley. Learn about our solar system’s big gassy planets, which moons we are researching that have the potential to support human life, and other mind-bending space facts.

In this episode of Star Stuff, we talk to Grand Canyon “Dark Sky Ranger” Rader Lane about International Dark Sky Week (April 22 – 30) and how our neighbors at the Grand Canyon got their park named the first ever “International Dark Sky National Park.” Located just 80 miles north of Lowell Observatory, the Grand Canyon shares Flagstaff, Arizona’s enjoyment of incredible dark skies — but they...

A comet, an asteroid, and a centaur walk into a bar(red spiral galaxy)… If you want to be cool and get this joke, listen in on this episode of Star Stuff—we’ll let you know what these celestial objects are, what we consider to be the best sci-fi movie, and if organic life could live frozen on an interstellar comet.

Star Stuff joins Todd Gonzales (Lowell Education Manager) and Ed Finn of ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination to talk about what it means to imagine, and how we may imagine a better future for our species. Listen as we explore ideas about how imagining the future of space exploration may help change our future for the better. Ed Finn is the featured speaker for the April 16 special e...

Join the Star Stuff Crew as we talk about the basics of the James Webb Space Telescope, including what it will help us discover, why it took so long to launch, what happened when we accidentally dropped it, and why Wesley called it a “very expensive paper crane.” 

Star Stuff sits down with Lowell Astronomer Dr. Gerard van Belle to talk about the life cycle of stars. Find out why Gerard lovingly refers to our sun as a “lump of screaming plasma” and how a star can to turn into a black hole.

In this episode of Star Stuff, we talk about what constellations are in the Northern Hemisphere’s night sky right now, how to find them, and their stories throughout cultures around the world. In this episode: Ursa Major, Boötes, Virgo, Corvus, Leo, Coma Berenices, Cancer, and Gemini.

On this episode of Star Stuff, the crew and Lowell Cosmologist Dr. Kyler Kuehn sits down with Dr. Roedolph Opperman to talk about what life in outer space may look like — and what NASA is really looking for on Mars.

Hear from Lowell Observatory Cosmologist Dr. Kyler Kuehn about his project to capture Dark Energy “on camera.” We do a deep dive on what Dark Energy is and how it differs from Dark Matter. Also, find out what StarBugs are!

In this episode of Star Stuff, the crew talks to Dr. Dan Durda about his art, his research, and life on other planets. Dr. Dan Durda has a biography that is too long for our character count in this description, but in summary he is an astronomer, artist, and the 2015 recipient of the “Carl Sagan Medal” for excellence in public communication in planetary science. We talk about his interest in astro...