In this episode, Cormac, Shashank and Cole dig deep into Galactic Archaeology as we look into the past of our Milky Way. Cole brings us a catastrophic computational collision, while Shashank gives us the low-down on low-metallicity, and we see just how the (Gaia) sausage gets made. We also discuss the rights, wrongs and funnies of Astronomers trying to name things, and the diverse design philosophies behind some of our favourite observational facilities.

Astrobites:

https://astrobites.org/2023/07/27/colossal_collisions_and_the_milky_way/

https://astrobites.org/2024/08/03/pigs-sagittarius/

Space sound:

https://www.aip.de/en/news/exploring-the-history-of-the-early-milky-way-with-sound/

DOOFAS Acronyms website:

https://lweb.cfa.harvard.edu/~gpetitpas/Links/Astroacro.html

In this episode, Shashank, Cole and Lucia bend time in their debut podcast together as we talk about the various ways astronomy is like time travel. Lucia gives us a peek into the past with the storied supernova Cas A, while Cole brings us on a nostalgic quest into gravitational wave memory. We hope you enjoy time traveling with us!

Astrobites:

https://astrobites.org/2024/08/26/cas_a_jwst/

https://astrobites.org/2024/08/28/gwmem/

Space sound:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9vGpkQurfc

JWST Cas A images:

https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2023/149/01HGGZ4TPD8XFNPCBTZ2QYM0ZM

https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2023/121/01GWQBBY77MHGFV3M3N63KDCEJ

This episode marks Kiersten’s last astro[sound]bites episode (and also side note – we’re posting this on her birthday!). To recognize Kiersten for her incredible time as a co-host, we take a journey through her academic paper trail by discussing her papers on how magma and metallicities affect how we think about exoplanetary formation and observations. Then we take a deep dive into Kiersten’s time as a co-host and graduate student including her stance on “publish or perish” and what she’s most excited about starting her NASA Sagan Postdoctoral Fellowship this fall.

Kiersten’s Papers:

1. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2307.13726
2. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2407.13821