Episode 44 - The Night Watch

Released: 22 January 2020
Live recording: 20 January 2020
Duration:  66 minutes 45 seconds
Thread: Astronomy and Astrophysics

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Host Paul Carr, along with Daniela De Paulis and Ciro Villa welcome astronomer Stella Kafka, director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). We talk about the recent and possibly unprecedented dimming of Betelgeuse, among many other astronomy topics.

This was our very first Wow! Signal Live recording. We hope to get listener questions in as part of the live experience, but we have a lot to learn about how too encourage this. Your feedback will help.

Recent light curve from AAVSO for the Red Supergiant Betelgeuse

Links:

Stella Kafka's previous (2016) appearance on this podcast
Simbad page for Betelgeuse
Astronomical Magnitude System
Yes, Aboriginal Australians Can and Did Discover the Variability of Betelgeuse

Wow! Signal Team

Credits:

Host and Producer: Paul Carr
Panelists: Daniela De Paulis, Ciro Villa
Music: Claudio Nuñes, Felipe Sarro (playing Ravel)
Software: Zoom, OBS, Auphonic, Reaper, OS X Mojave
Hardware: Apple, Shure, Focusrite, Cloud, Elgato, Logitech

Burst 29 - Caral Supe and Evangeline

Released: 23 April 2018
Duration:12 minutes, 21 seconds

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Los Cumbres light curve from www.wherestheflux.com

Paul Carr reviews what has been happening over the Winter and early Spring with respect to Boyajian's Star. We review the Winter observations, the Castelaz and Barker paper, and the two surprise March dips, Caral-Supe and Evangeline. We also talk about the upcoming Gaia Data Release 2 and what it might mean.

Links

Burst 24 and Burst 25
KIC 8462852: Maria Mitchell Observatory Photographic Photometry 1922 to 1991
Where's The Flux?
Bruce Gary's Boyajian's Star Page
Boyajian's R
Gaia DR2

Credits

Host and Producer: Paul Carr
Music: Jason Robinson

Episode 30 - Not a Glimmer of an Idea

Released: 27 May 2016
Duration: 67 minutes, 16 seconds

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We interview LSU astronomer Bradley Schaefer about why he s sticking to his guns about the century-long dimming of Tabby's Star (KIC 8462952), why some popular explanations fail, and what can be done to further explore the reason that this star's behavior is so weird. In particular, Brad wants to encourage us to contribute to Tabetha Boyajian's kickstarter to buy telescope time to monitor the star.

Links:

The Fast and Slow Dimming of Tabby's Star
Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, Part 1
The Most Mysterious Star in the Universe
Interview with Tabetha Boyajian
Brad Schaefer: KIC 8462852 Faded at an Average Rate of 0.165+-0.013 Magnitudes Per Century From 1890 To 1989
Brad Schaefer on Centauri Dreams: Further Thoughts on the Dimming of KIC 8462852

Credits:

Host and Producer: Paul Carr
Announcer: Erin Carr
Music: DJ Spooky, George Hrab

The Wow! Signal is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Episode 29 - Catching Tabby's Star in the Act

Released: 3 May 2016
Duration: 35 minutes, 43 seconds

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Stella Kafka, director of the American Association of VariableStar Observers (AAVSO) tells us about

Stella Kafka

how her organization observes variable stars and how they hope to catch Tabby's Star (KIC 8462852) in the act of dimming. Also, a brief update on BradleySchaefer's work

• Intro music: Dark Skies by DJ Spooky
• Intro announcement
• Welcome and quick summary
• Brief update on Bradley Schaefer's updated preprint
• Stella Kafka bio
• Interview with Stella Kafka
• Wrap up on AAVSO
• Nagging, begging, pleading
• Consider participating in the Unseen Podcast
• Thanking Patrons
• Outro music: Ockham's Shaving Kit by George Hrab

Links

AAVSO.org
Donate to the AAVSO

Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, part 1
The Fast and Slow Dimming of Tabby's Star
Interview with Tabetha Boyajian
Script for this episode

Support us on Patreon

Credits:

Host and Producer: Paul Carr
Music: DJ Spooky, Jason Robinson, Erika Lloyd, George Hrab
Announcer: Erin Carr
Hardware: Shure, Pro Art, Focusrite, Apple
Software: Skype, Reaper, Loopback, OS X Yosemite
Postprocessing: Auphonic.com
Hosting: Libsyn.com