meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science

Watching the Births of Solar Systems

Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science

The Planetary Society

Science, Technology

4.81.4K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2019

⏱️ 41 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Radio telescopes are delivering stunning images that, in some cases, current optical telescopes can’t equal. Witness the 20 beautiful protoplanetary disks imaged by the DSHARP team using the ALMA radio telescope in Chile. The diversity of these proto-solar systems is astounding. Principal investigator Sean Andrews will tell us how the pictures were created, and why they are surprising and delighting astronomers. Senior editor Emily Lakdawalla is literally looking back on objects around our own solar system. She tells us how backlit images reveal their secrets. The rubber asteroids have returned! You can win one in this week’s space trivia contest. Learn more about this week’s guest and topics at:  http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/planetary-radio/show/2019/0213-2019-sean-andrews-dsharp-protoplanetary.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Watching the Birth of Solar Systems this week on planetary radio.

0:07.0

Welcome, I'm at Kaplan of the Planetary Society with more of the human adventure across our solar system and beyond.

0:17.0

Happy World Radio Day.

0:19.0

Sure you may be listening to this on an un-Radio, but our heritage is clear, and there's still

0:25.4

lots of people who hear Plan Rad over the air, and then there are scientists who are using

0:29.9

radio to reveal the Cosmos.

0:32.2

Sean Andrews is one of them.

0:34.0

He leads a project that has shown us in gorgeous detail

0:37.0

an array of protoplanetary discs revolving around young stars.

0:42.0

I'll be talking with Sean and minutes right after we say

0:45.0

hello again to senior editor Emily Lochuwala. Stick around for this week's

0:49.7

what's up as we finally bring back one of the most popular space trivia

0:54.0

contest prizes ever. Emily, the immortal satchel page said,

0:58.0

don't look back. Something may be gaining on you, but that seems to be bad advice for explorers of our solar system.

1:05.0

Well, it's always a good idea to look at things from every possible angle because you just never quite know what you'll see when you have the light glancing almost sideways across a planetary

1:15.1

surface.

1:16.1

Tell us about how this gave us a new view of 2014 MU69, which of course to many is known unofficially as Ultimatoulli.

1:26.6

Well, when you do a fly-by mission, you see things from the front for a while, from the perspective of the sun you see it fully lit you can see features on the surface

1:37.6

but then when you fly past it you get this view with sunlight picking out little

1:42.4

topographic features and the the crescent shape and so you get a second chance to view the geometry of an object.

1:50.0

And with 2014 and you 69 we were able to see these what it's actually a

1:54.8

bylobed crescent looks like a letter b it's got two curves intersecting at the

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Planetary Society, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Planetary Society and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.