http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-929552.mp3
Albany, NY – ASTRONOMERS FIND NEW PLANET THAT COULD SUPPORT LIFE
ASTROBIOLOGY RESEARCH AND EDUCATION SERIES
"MIPSGAL SURVEY AND THE DISCOVERY OF DEBRIS DISK CANDIDATES" -
Our first story is ripped right out of today's headlines.
You may have heard that astronomers unveiled a new candidate in their search for an Earth-like planet outside our solar system in the so-called "habitable zone." That's an area with conditions that could support life, like where Earth resides in its orbit.
Study co-leader, Steven Vogt, is from the University of California-Santa Cruz. Based on star surveys and similar discoveries of multiple planet solar systems nearby, Dr. Vogt estimates that 20 to 40 billion worlds orbit the habitable zones of their stars in our own Milky Way.
And that's where our research story is headed to the Milky Way. It's titled, "MIPSGAL Survey and the Discovery of Debris Disk Candidates." MIPSGAL (which stands for Multi-Band Imaging Photometer for Spitzer) is and extensive infrared survey of the galactic plane of the Milky Way, our galaxy, using the Spitzer Space Telescope.
Astronomers use infrared light (light we cannot see) to look at objects cooler than stars, and view more distant regions, such as the center of our galaxy.
To help us understand this, we spoke with Dr. Sachindev Shenoy, an astronomer and NASA postdoctoral fellow at the NASA Ames Research Center in California.
Glenn Busby reports. (12:52)
The preceding was made possible by the NASA Astrobiology Institute, through support of the New York Center for Astrobiology, located at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - in partnership with the University at Albany, the University of Arizona, and Syracuse University.
**(For additional information about this story, or any of the other more than 160 stories featured in this current exclusive Astrobiology series and our past Origins of Life radio series, or if you would like to hear them again via your computer, the website given at the conclusion of the above segment is: www.origins.rpi.edu.)**
INTERNATIONAL SPACE CONFERENCE
"SPACE FOR HUMAN BENEFIT AND EXPLORATION" -
Space, the final frontier, continues to capture the imagination of both individuals and governments.
More than 2-thousand astronauts, engineers, and scientists from around the world gathered this fall in Prague.
They were in that city for the 61st Annual International Astronautical Congress, where participants discussed subject such as the future of the International Space Station, and whether (just like in our previous story) there's life elsewhere in the universe.
Radio Netherlands, Rob Cameron, reports from Prague. (3:20)
THE ACADEMIC MINUTE
"EVOLUTION AND INTELLIGENT DESIGN" -
This week's episode features Dr. Stan Sessions, a professor in the Department of Biology at Hartwick College. He discusses the modern-day theory of evolution.
The Academic Minute is hosted by Dr. Lynn Pasquerella, a celebrated philosopher and medical ethicist, and President of Mount Holyoke College. (2:30)