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Our Island UniverseEpisodes
Episodes of Our Island Universe
Mark All
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Reviewing her data collected from the previous night, a young PhD student found a puzzling source. She discovered a repeating signal of pulses that consistenlty arrived 1 and third second apart, just like clockwork! Annoyed that perhaps aliens
On a dark, moonless night, far away from city lights, you can look up to see thousands of stars glittering against the blackness of space. How did we ever figure out how far away the stars are? Harvard “computer” Henrietta Swan Leavitt solved t
Wood. Oil. Gas. Maybe fire is a fundamental element of nature as the Greeks thought? When did we finally figure out what stars are actually made up of and who made that ground-breaking discovery? Celia Payne’s 1925 doctoral thesis at Harvard pr
Setting foot on the Moon was an enormous engineering & scientific accomplishment. We’d finally dip our toes in the ocean of space that awaits us to explore. How we got there involves many #HiddenFigures who were instrumental to this story. One
Who was the first African-American woman in space? Dancer. Chemical engineer. Medical doctor. Dr. Mae Jemison became the 1st African-American woman in space when the space shuttle Endeavour launched on September 12, 1992.
Nichelle Nichols played Lt. Uhura for 6 years on Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek. While not a scientist or engineer in real life, she did play one on TV and her impact was no less profound.
On February 14, 1990, at the suggestion of Dr. Carl Sagan, Voyager 1 turned its camera backwards and snapped a “family portrait”. As Voyager 1 raced outwards to the fringes of the Solar System and then beyond, c aught in the center of scattered
February 2nd is Groundhog day. It derives from an old European superstition that if a groundhog emerges from its burrow and see its shadow, winter will last another 6 weeks. Groundhog Day is really an important astronomical holiday, and whether
2019 was the second-hottest year on record. In fact, every decade since the 1960s has been warmer than the one before. Is there any “debate” within the scientific community about #climatechange? What’s the evidence that our planet’s climate is
Betelgeuse, the bright orange/red star in the armpit of Orion the Hunter, is going to explode any time now. Betelgeuse this winter is only half as bright as it was last winter. Has it already exploded? What does that mean for us here on Earth?
Galileo, using a brand new, technological invention, made a series of startling discoveries in January 1610 that ushered in a scientific revolution that reverberates to this day. His reward? Sentenced to house arrest by the Pope. #OurIslandUniv
Traveling at some 70,000 mph, spaceship Earth will make its closest approach to our star on January 4th. We will be nearly 3 and a half million miles closer to the Sun then we will be on July 4. Still think distance is the reason for the season
On December 25, a long time ago, a young boy was born that made an enormous contribution to our understanding of the world around us. His discoveries revolutionized how we view the heavens above and also here on Earth. #OurIslandUniverse
December 21 is the date of the winter’s solstice. For those of us located north of the equator, its the longest night of the year. Virtually every culture had celebrations at this time of the year as they celebrated the lighter days to come and
Adorned atop many a Christmas tree this year will be a star. What was the Star of Bethlehem that led wise men to a newborn baby in a manger? How do we even begin to figure it out?! #OurIslandUniverse
Many Americans will conclude their festive Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday with a slice of homemade pie. Maybe its a recipe that has been passed down the generations. But, if you really wanted to make a pie from scratch, you must first invent t
What’s Kentucky’s BIGGEST export? Maybe you think its horses or bourbon? Maybe coal or tobacco? Nope. It’s aerospace. And at $14 Billion per year and growing, there is only 1 other state in the US that does more than we do. #OurIslandUniverse
Science is not a collection of facts & formulae you memorize. It is a human endeavor driven by our innate curiosity to understand why the world is the way it is and not some other way. One of science's greatest ambassadors, and one of my scient
How big is the Solar System? You can figure out the absolute size and scale using simple high school geometry. On the morning of Monday, November 11, 2019, tiny planet Mercury will cross the solar disk. Our predecessors figured out that by usin
October 31 is known as Halloween in much of the western world. Its roots, however, lie in astronomy. What is the connection between Halloween and the stars? #OurIslandUniverse
A year is how long it takes the Earth to orbit the Sun. A day is how long it takes the Earth to spin once on its axis. Why are there 7 days in a week?! #OurIslandUniverse
Imagine waking up tomorrow and finding out that the calendar date is now 10 days later then when you went to bed! Sound likes a movie right? Truth is stranger than fiction. On this episode of #OurIslandUniverse, we go back to 1582, when the mon
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