syzygy

According to one survey, around one-third of Australians think aliens not only exist, but have actually visited Earth. That's ... a bit fraction. In this final episode of season 2, we ask how we'd even find out if life exists around other stars. Emily introduces the Habitable Worlds Observatory, an incredible new space telescope that's just in the early design phase and not due for years yet, with lots of technical and scientific holes to plug. Whether we can find life on other planets, who knows ... but maybe we've just found season three of Syzygy! On the web: syzygy.fm [http://syzygy.fm/] Help us make Syzygy even better! Tell your friends and give us a review [https://www.imore.com/how-rate-or-review-podcast-your-iphone-or-ipad], or show your support on Patreon: patreon.com/syzygypod [https://patreon.com/syzygypod] Syzygy is produced by Chris Stewart [http://kipstewart.com/] and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden [http://www.york.ac.uk/physics/people/brunsden/] from the Department of Physics at the University of York. Some of the things we talk about in this episode: • Habitable Worlds Observatory [https://www.greatobservatories.org/hwo] • Square Kilometre Array [https://www.skao.int/en] • SETI [https://www.seti.org] and Jill Tarter [https://www.seti.org/jill-tarter-0] • Jocelyn Bell Burnell [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jocelyn_Bell_Burnell] and the first pulsar [https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/journeysofdiscovery-pulsars] • Roman Space Telescope [https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/] • Designs for the HWO [https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20395] • Exoplanet biosignatures [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosignature]

Exo-planets, sure. Exo-moons and -comets? Fine. But exo ... telescopes?! Emily is going out on a limb in this episode, expanding the definition of telescope to include things that measure stuff in space, and we're here for it! Which means we really do have a few telescopes out there beyond the Solar System, in the shape of Voyagers 1 and 2, with a few more waiting in the wings. On the web: syzygy.fm [http://syzygy.fm/] Help us make Syzygy even better! Tell your friends and give us a review [https://www.imore.com/how-rate-or-review-podcast-your-iphone-or-ipad], or show your support on Patreon: patreon.com/syzygypod [https://patreon.com/syzygypod] Syzygy is produced by Chris Stewart [http://kipstewart.com/] and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden [http://www.york.ac.uk/physics/people/brunsden/] from the Department of Physics at the University of York. Some of the things we talk about in this episode: • The Voyager Missions [https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager]: Voyager 1 [https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/voyager-1/] and Voyager 2 [https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/voyager-2/] • Where are the Voyager spacecraft now? [https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/where-are-voyager-1-and-voyager-2-now/] • The Heliosphere, where the Solar System ends [https://science.nasa.gov/heliophysics/focus-areas/heliosphere/]  • The Voyager Golden Record [https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/voyager-golden-record-overview/] • NASA relieved to get a call from Voyager 1 [https://blogs.nasa.gov/voyager/2024/11/26/nasas-voyager-1-resumes-regular-operations-after-communications-pause/] • Syzygy Episode 42 [https://syzygy.fm/podcast/episode42]: Life, the Universe, and Everything • Syzygy Episode 79 [https://syzygy.fm/podcast/episode79]: Voyager Hears a Hum • Voyager 2 turns of last scientific instrument [https://blogs.nasa.gov/voyager/2024/10/01/nasa-turns-off-science-instrument-to-save-voyager-2-power/] • Uranus mystery finally solved! [https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/mining-old-data-from-nasas-voyager-2-solves-several-uranus-mysteries/] • The Kuiper Belt [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuiper_belt] and the Oort Cloud [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oort_cloud] • The Pioneer Program [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_program], esp. Pioneer 10 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_10] and Pioneer 11 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_11] • The Pioneer Plaque [https://www.planetary.org/articles/0120-the-pioneer-plaque-science-as-a-universal-language] • The New Horizons mission [https://science.nasa.gov/mission/new-horizons/] and the Pluto Heart image • New Horizons visits Ultima Thule [https://www.nasa.gov/missions/new-horizons-spacecraft-returns-its-sharpest-views-of-ultima-thule/] (Arrokoth [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/486958_Arrokoth])

We know, we know — we did exoplanets last time. But that was the current state-of-play and a 2024 exoplanets wrapped update. In this episode, Emily looks to the future! She does a deep dive into the promise of the just wonderful JWST, as it prods exoplanets in ways they’ve never been prodded before. On the web: syzygy.fm [http://syzygy.fm/] Help us make Syzygy even better! Tell your friends and give us a review [https://www.imore.com/how-rate-or-review-podcast-your-iphone-or-ipad], or show your support on Patreon: patreon.com/syzygypod [https://patreon.com/syzygypod] Syzygy is produced by Chris Stewart [http://kipstewart.com/] and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden [http://www.york.ac.uk/physics/people/brunsden/] from the Department of Physics at the University of York. Some of the things we talk about in this episode: • The JWST mission [https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/] • The Transit me [https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/]th [https://science.nasa.gov/exoplanets/whats-a-transit/]od [https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/] • Exoplane [https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/]t Phase Curves [https://science.nasa.gov/exoplanets/whats-a-transit/] • Exopl [https://science.nasa.gov/exoplanets/whats-a-transit/]anet GJ1214b [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GJ_1214_b] and the phase curve paper [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06159-5] • Transmission spectroscopy [https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2023/03/Transmission_spectroscopy] • Exoplanet WASP 39b [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WASP-39b] • Direct imaging [https://www.universetoday.com/140341/what-is-direct-imaging/] of exoplanets • Exoplanet HIP65426b [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIP_65426_b] • The JWST first release images [https://www.sciencenews.org/article/james-webb-space-telescope-first-image-nasa] • The WASP 96-b “dodgy graph [https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2022/032/01G72VSFW756JW5SXWV1HYMQK4]” (see Brundsen, 2025) • Exoplanet WASP 43b’s day and night [https://wasp-planets.net/2024/05/06/jwst-maps-the-weather-on-exoplanet-wasp-43b/] (and the Nature paper [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02230-x]) • The Trappist 1 [https://www.space.com/35806-trappist-1-facts.html] system

It couldn't be a season of exo-stuff without taking a good hard look at the current state of exoplanets, the OG exo-thing. Emily sums up the state of exoplanet research in 2024 — her Exoplanets 2024 Wrapped, if you like — then lines up her top three exoplanets of the year, and considers what's coming up next in this exo-ploding field. On the web: syzygy.fm [http://syzygy.fm/] Help us make Syzygy even better! Tell your friends and give us a review [https://www.imore.com/how-rate-or-review-podcast-your-iphone-or-ipad], or show your support on Patreon: patreon.com/syzygypod [https://patreon.com/syzygypod] Syzygy is produced by Chris Stewart [http://kipstewart.com/] and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden [http://www.york.ac.uk/physics/people/brunsden/] from the Department of Physics at the University of York. Some of the things we talk about in this episode: • Exoplanets found in 2024 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_exoplanets_discovered_in_2024] • The Roche Limit [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roche_limit] • Paper about Gliese 4256b [https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ad5a7d] and a nice article [https://phys.org/news/2024-08-good-earth-sized-planet-destroyed.html] • Comet Shoemaker Levy smashes into Jupiter! [https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/comets/p-shoemaker-levy-9/] • Brand-new IRAS 04125+2902 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRAS_04125%2B2902_b]: paper [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08123-3] and article [https://www.sciencealert.com/baby-planet-is-one-of-the-youngest-ever-detected-astronomers-say] • Retrograde hot Jupiter TIC 241249530 b: paper [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07688-3] and article [https://news.mit.edu/2024/astronomers-spot-highly-eccentric-planet-becoming-hot-jupiter-0717]

Exoplanets, sure. Exo-moons too, apparently. But exo ... comets?! Yes indeed, they're a real thing, and we've known about them for ages! How do you spot something so tiny around another star, so far away? Emily has the insider knowledge, because it's something she's genuinely investigating in her job as an actual, real-life astronomer. On the web: syzygy.fm [http://syzygy.fm/] Help us make Syzygy even better! Tell your friends and give us a review [https://www.imore.com/how-rate-or-review-podcast-your-iphone-or-ipad], or show your support on Patreon: patreon.com/syzygypod [https://patreon.com/syzygypod] Syzygy is produced by Chris Stewart [http://kipstewart.com/] and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden [http://www.york.ac.uk/physics/people/brunsden/] from the Department of Physics at the University of York. Some of the things we talk about in this episode: • Comets [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet]: dirty snowballs • Exocomets [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exocomet] • Famous [https://www.astronomy.com/science/15-greatest-comets-of-our-time/] comets • Shoemaker-Levy’s Jovian rendezvous [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Shoemaker%E2%80%93Levy_9] • Beta Pictoris [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_Pictoris], HyperMegaMall of astrophysics • Exocomets around Beta Pic [https://science.nasa.gov/universe/exoplanets/discovery-alert-30-exocomets-orbit-a-familiar-star/] • TESS [https://science.nasa.gov/mission/tess/], everyone’s favourite exo-hunter