Where is everyone?
Professor Kathy Campbell and Mark Sainsbury comment on Professor Brian Cox’s new article on the Fermi paradox
Rosetta
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) 12-year mission finally came to an end last week when the probe landed on the comet it made friends with over a decade ago. Astrobiologist Haritina Mogosanu joined Paul Henry to discuss Rosetta mission.
Europa in the news
Europa has been in the news lately, with NASA announcing a press conference way in advance to spark our interest about Jupiter’s moon, Europa.
Listen here to Kathy Campbell’s comments about life and Europa, while she is giving a great account on the possibilities of alien life.
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SOFIA in New Zealand
SOFIA, the mighty space telescope, the most wonderful machine ever invented by humankind is back in New Zealand for it’s 2015 deployment.
Flying at 13.7 km, SOFIA Looks at the Universe, our Milky Way galaxy, young stars, star-forming regions and supernova remnants in the southern Milky Way, the Magellanic Clouds, and several nearby galaxies. Surprisingly, this year it also looks at Pluto!
Before Full Moon, New Moon or Blue Moon there was Groovy Moon
Professor Kathy Campbell was invited to talk with Alison Mau on the Paul Henry Show about the impact on humanity of the Moon landing 47 years ago, and to discuss Peter Schultz’s latest paper on the origins of the Moon as we know it.
A first encounter with SOFIA
I cannot perceive the scale of the universe, but I can perceive the scale of a jumbo jet as I stand beneath it. I’m on the tarmac, surrounded by fuel trucks, wearing a high-vis vest and Aviation Security Service identification tag that says “escort required”. I want to touch something, perhaps a wheel, but I don’t think I should.
Abiogenesis for #AstrobiologyNZ
Richard loves to talk about space and the word astrobiology is no foreign to him. I really hope that there are many more movies like this one to come. Watching the movie’s planetary landscape sent me into a familiar but strange and beautifully compiled world. Food for thought!
Marcelo Gleiser
New Zealand has all it needs to become a leading centre for astrobiology research: good universities, excellent scientists, an interest from younger students and, last but not least, spectacular natural resources that can be used as laboratories for investigating the extreme conditions prevalent in early Earth and, possibly, elsewhere in this solar system and others. It was a pleasure to be part of this initiative, hopefully the gateway for much more to come.
Exoplanet atmospheres and the possibilities of finding life.
We’re getting good at finding exoplanets, but trying to find evidence of life is a little bit more complicated than I thought. It fabulously integrates the different sciences; bringing together people with various expertise to scratch their heads collectively as they try and figure out how to solve the next step in this massive conundrum. […]
Why imagination is more important than knowledge
My daughter asked me why imagination is more important than knowledge… Whilst I have, at the time, tried to explain to her the concept using the “Star Trek” doors (initially pulled by people so they look like they open by themselves), last night, after hearing that David Bowie changed back into stardust we both watched […]