Episode 39 - Sofia Sheik and The Nine Axes

Released: 29 September 2019
Duration: 49 minutes, 52 seconds

Download the .mp3 audio file

Download Sofia's paper here: https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.02683

A conversation with SETI researcher Sofia Sheikh about how we should evaluate technosignature search strategies. We cover three examples of technosignature searches and their relative advantages.

Sofia Sheikh is a third-year graduate student at the Pennsylvania State University working with Dr. Jason Wright. She did her undergraduate work at the University of California, Berkeley, where she became involved with the Breakthrough Listen Initiative. Her work incorporates both theoretical approaches to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and observational radio searches for technosignatures. She intends to be the first woman to complete a SETI PhD thesis.

Links

The Nine Axes of Merit
Sofia Sheik's Twitter Page
Andrew Siemion on SETI at the SKA
Breakthrough Listen
The Truth about Alien Megastructures
Sonar Calling GJ273B

Credits

Host and Producer: Paul Carr
Announcer: Erin Carr
Music: DJ Spooky, Erika Lloyd, Jason Robinson
Hardware: Shure, Audio Technica, Pro Art, Behringer, Focusrite, Apple.
Software: Skype, Loopback, Reaper, Auphonic Desktop
Hosting: Libsyn

Burst 20 - The Gaia Data Release 1 and the WTF Star

Recorded: 14 September 2016
Released: 14 September 2016
Duration:22 minutes, 22 seconds

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Astronomer Tabetha "Tabby" Boyajian joined Paul Carr, Roger Wehbe, and Rusty Schweikart in a
Google Hangout to talk about the implications of the Gaia Data Release 1 for a better understanding of KIC 8462852, aka the "WTF star."

Links: 

Gaia Data Release 1
A.G.A. Brown, et. al., Gaia Data Release 1: Summary of the astrometric, photometric, and survey properties

Standard Error for the Gaia DR1 parallax vs. position in the sky

Earlier interview with Tabetha Boyajian
Interview with Ben Montet
Gaia Parallax for KIC 8462852 is 2.554887 mas
Jason Wright: What Could be Going on with Boyajian's Star? Part X: Wrap-up and Gaia's Promise
Wright and Siggurdson: Families of Plausible Solutions to the Puzzle of Boyajian's Star
Almost Certainly Wrong: an Alien Megastructure speculation about KIC 8462852

Credits:

Producer and Host: Paul Carr
Music: Jason Robinson

Burst 16 - Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, Part 2.

Released: 31 March 2016
Duration: 13 minutes, 21 seconds

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Paul Carr continues with our series explaining just what is so puzzling about Tabby's Star, aka KIC 8462852. In this part we talk about some of the candidate explanations, including alien megastructures,with a Dyson Swarm being one such megastructure. It turns out there is a problem with the naive Dyson Swarm.

We briefly discuss the possible long-term dimming of Tabby's Star put forth by Bradley Schaefer, and its effect on the family of megastructures hypotheses.

Links

Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, Part 1
The Slow and Fast Dimming of Tabby's Star
AstroWright

Credits:

Written, Produced, and Voiced by Paul Carr
Music: Jason Robinson

The spoken portion of the Wow! Signal Podcast is Distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike license. All music is either Creative Commons, or is used with permission of the artists.

The Dream of the Open Channel is Also Covering Tabby's Star

It's not complete yet, but I would appreciate both people who are knowledgable in astronomy and those who aren't to have a look at this latest post (which I may split into two parts). Astronomers should help me fact check, and non astronomers - please tell me how understandable it is. I am trying to make it as jargon free as I can and rely on only the most basic knowledge of astronomy that you also should have had in middle school. What is not clear to you?

When done, it will probably be edited down into a Burst.