http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/ en celeste.ecuyer@anu.edu.au Copyright 2009 2009-11-05T03:40:10+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/black_holes_and_galaxies/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/black_holes_and_galaxies/#When:00:21:32Z Evidence has been accumulating for several decades that many galaxies harbor central mass concentrations that may be in the form of black holes with masses between a few million to a few billion time the mass of the Sun. Professor Reinhard Genzel discussed measurements over the last two decades, employing high resolution infrared and radio imaging and spectroscopy on large ground-based telescopes that prove the existence of such a massive black hole in the Centre of our Milky Way, beyond any reasonable doubt. These data also provide key insights into its properties and environment. Future interferometric studies of the Galactics Centre black hole promise to be able to test gravity in its strong field limit. He also briefly summarised the cosmological evolution of massive black holes. Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2009-09-01T00:21:32+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/origin_elements_life/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/origin_elements_life/#When:02:36:39Z Human beings are, by nature, curious about their beginnings. Often, such questions of "how we came to be" are confined to the origins of modern society, or the development of human beings as a species. In this lecture, Professor Timothy Beers will endeavour to take the discussion all the way back to the VERY beginning, to the origin of the primary elements required to construct life as we know it -- carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and oxygen (O).Over the past few decades, astronomers and physicists have outlined plausible pathways for the astrophysical production of these elements (and others), from the explosive burning associated with massive stars and the slower contributions of lower-mass stars like the Sun over the history of the Universe. Professor Beers explains how the chemical signatures which can be read in the spectra of stars that are still shining today have provided the clues needed to reconstruct this remarkable story, and how future observations (many of which involve the work of Australian astronomers) will be used to fill out the rich detail of this map of creation.   Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2009-05-29T02:36:39+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/new_horizons_mission_pluto_kuiper_belt/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/new_horizons_mission_pluto_kuiper_belt/#When:03:50:50Z New Horizons is the first scientific investigation to obtain a close look at Pluto and its moon Charon. Scientists hope to find answers to basic questions about the surface properties, geology, interior makeup and atmospheres on these bodies, the last in our solar system to be visited by a spacecraft. The mission could also visit one or more Kuiper Belt objects.  New Horizons launched on January 19, 2006. It will swing past Jupiter for a gravity boost & scientific studies in early 2007 and reach Pluto in July 2015. Then, as part of an extended mission, the spacecraft would head deeper into the Kuiper Belt to study one or more of the icy mini-worlds in the region a billion miles beyond Neptune's orbit.   To get to Pluto, which is 3 billion miles from Earth, in just 9.5 years, the spacecraft will speed by the planet at a velocity of about 27,000 miles per hour. The instruments on New Horizons will start taking data on Pluto and Charon months before it arrives. About three months from the closest approach - when Pluto and Charon are about 65 million miles away - the instruments will take pictures and spectra measurements and begin to make the first maps.  This Toyota-ANU Public Lecture described the New Horizons mission and its progress since its launch on January 19 2006. Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2008-11-20T03:50:50+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_kepler_mission_searching_for_other_earths_in_the_cosmos/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_kepler_mission_searching_for_other_earths_in_the_cosmos/#When:01:44:19Z Dr Fanson speaks about the Kepler project, NASA's first mission capable of discovering Earth-size planets orbiting other stars in our galaxy. Scheduled for launch in early 2009, Kepler seeks to answer an age-old question: Are there other habitable worlds in the cosmos? The centuries-old quest for other worlds like our Earth has been rejuvenated by the intense excitement and popular interest surrounding the discovery of giant planets like Jupiter orbiting stars beyond our solar system. With the exception of the pulsar planets, all of the extrasolar planets detected so far are gas giants, approximately 150 as of 2005. The challenge now is to find terrestrial planets (habitable planets like Earth), which are 30 to 600 times less massive than Jupiter. The Kepler Mission, a NASA Discovery mission, is specifically designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to detect and characterize hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone. The habitable zone encompasses the distances from a star where liquid water can exist on a planet's surface. Results from this mission will allow us to place our solar system within the continuum of planetary systems in the Galaxy. Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU College of Science, Engineering and Information Technology 2008-09-24T01:44:19+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/mars_reconnaissance/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/mars_reconnaissance/#When:03:38:00Z NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was launched in 2005 to search for evidence that water persisted on the surface of Mars for a long period of time. While other Mars missions have shown that water flowed across the surface in Mars' history, it remains a mystery whether liquid water existed long enough to provide a habitat for life. After a year’s cruise and aerobraking to reach its science orbit in September 2006, the MRO has begun to study the history of water on Mars with a suite of high-resolution observing cameras, spectrometers and navigational instruments. In this lecture, the MRO team describe their initial findings. Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2007-05-07T03:38:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/brightest_explosions/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/brightest_explosions/#When:05:22:00Z The Earth is hit each day by the bright flash of gamma rays lasting from a fraction of a second to several minutes. These bursts originate in distant galaxies as stars collapse and form black holes. The most distant bursts yet observed are from stellar explosions that occurred over 13 billion years ago, when the universe was only a few hundred million years old. Professor Edward PJ van den Heuvel considers whether these bursts provide us with a glimpse of the first short-lived massive stars that formed during the ‘dark ages’ of the universe. He also discusses the potential dangers for life on Earth if a burst occurred nearby in our galaxy. Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2006-12-12T05:22:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/it_aint_necessarily_so_bro/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/it_aint_necessarily_so_bro/#When:05:45:01Z Dr Karl explodes our most common ‘mythconceptions’, including whether the daddy long legs is really the most venomous spider in the world and whether a frog will really sit in a pot of gently warming water, and unknowingly boil itself to death. Are virgin births possible? Would cockroaches survive a nuclear holocaust? Will a black hole suck you in? Is the most radioactive device in our homes the microwave? Dr Karl will discuss the answers to these and other fascinating science questions posed in his new book 'It Ain't Necessarily So...Bro'. Part of the ANU 2006 Meet the Author series. Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Biological Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Earth & Marine Sciences, Science Communication, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2006-11-10T05:45:01+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/earth_history/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/earth_history/#When:06:00:00Z Earth formed over 4.5 billion years ago with its initial condition greatly affected by the trauma of giant impacts. In this lecture, Professor David Stevenson discusses how this trauma affects the similarities and differences between Earth and Moon, the core, possible initial layering of the mantle and the conditions for the early evolution, including timing for the origin of life. This lecture was presented by The Research School of Earth Sciences, ANU College of Science. Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Biological Sciences, Earth & Marine Sciences, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2006-11-02T06:00:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/giant_magellan_telescope/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/giant_magellan_telescope/#When:04:32:00Z In the centuries-old quest to refine human understanding of the universe in which we live, the tools we use to throw light at the dim frontiers of knowledge are evolving rapidly. Australian astronomers, engineers, and technologists have just embarked an international partnership to design and build the most powerful extension to the human eye yet known – the Giant Magellan Telescope. Scheduled for completion in 2016, this telescope will be able to detect cosmic objects 75 times fainter than those seen with the Hubble Space Telescope, and produce images up to 10 times crisper. Using techniques currently being prototyped, this 'giant eye on the sky' will become the platform for unprecedented discovery and insight into the formation and evolution of planetary systems other than our own and the dark forces that shape the very fabric of the cosmos. This lecture was sponsored by the ANU College of Science as part of National Science Week 2006. Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2006-09-22T04:32:00+10:00