The Vera Rubin Observatory

The history of astronomy has many stories of trying to understand our universe, and those stories are connected by a common thread: looking at the sky, whether with our eyes or with increasingly powerful telescopes.  The newest entry in this telescopic journey is the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Located in Chile, this observatory has an audacious goal: to repeatedly observe the entire sky visible from its location every few nights, with a project called the Legacy Survey of Space and Time.

To talk about the Vera Rubin observatory and its science goals, our guest today is Dr. Tony Tyson, Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Tyson’s research focuses on experimental physics and cosmology, and he is the Observatory’s Chief Scientist.

Host: Joel Parker
Show Producer/Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Additional Contributions: Beth Bennett

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The Last Stargazers, Part 2

We feature an interview with astronomer and author Dr. Emily Levesque about her book, The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy’s Vanishing Explorers.  In today’s episode, we talk with Dr. Levesque about the history and future of astronomy.  We hear about how astronomical observing at some of the premier telescopes in the world has changed over the decades, and we get a preview of what the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory has in store for the next generation of astronomers.

Host, Producer, Engineer: Joel Parker

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