Matt Russo has managed to combine his two passions, astrophysics and music, into a career. A physics lecturer at the University of Toronto by trade, Matt has developed a system of turning planetary motions into music, System Sounds. We discuss Matt’s early struggle between the arty and scientist sides of his personality and how he combines them both in his teaching. We learn about the Trappist-1 system that changed Matt’s life: a series of seven Earth-like planets arranged in a system that seems so perfect it might just be an alien experiment (and they sound like a radiohead song in Matt’s system). Since we have an astrophysicist in, we also nerd out over one of the defining scientific moments of this decade: the first image of a black hole that was published earlier this year, and the stories behind that historic moment. Plus, we take another look at yet another wild idea Elon Musk is brewing: Starlink. And Pietro asks Matt other big questions. Like what his favourite planet is.

This episode was recorded and produced by David Angell at Giant Sound Toronto.

Listen to the Sound of the Solar System Matt’s been creating.

And buy tickets to his planetarium show, Our Musical Universe, in Toronto.

Watch Matt’s TEDx Talk.

Follow Matt on twitter.

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