Geoff Bower is a professional astronomer who works on top of the mountain Maunakea on Hawai'i. He is an project scientist at the Event Horizon Telescope and played an important role in the creation of the first image of a black hole. In this episode we talk about what it means to be an astronomer on Hawai'i, both in terms of daily operations as well as concrete projects such as imaging a black hole. We also discuss the controversial impact that the telescopes have had on Maunakea and how the naming of the black hole at the centre of the galaxy M87 with a phrase from the Hawaiian language paid tribute to the Hawaiian legacy.

The episode was recorded as part of a research trip to Hawai'i that I made for a book about black holes. The book is now published as Facing Infinity: Black holes and our place on Earth. It is available to order from facinginfinity.com.

Music credit: Jean Anguis.

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Marcia Bartusiak is an accomplished popular science writer who has written several prize-winning books, as well as being Professor of the Practice Emeritus of the Graduate Program in Science Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In this episode I ask Marcia Bartusiak to share her insights into the craft of science writing and recount some key moments in her career as a writer.

Bartusiak's homepage: https://www.marciabartusiak.com/

Music credit: Jean Anguis.

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How do we make sense of the universe with the help of astronomical images? My guest for this episode is Luis Calçada, who is a data visualisation artist at the European Southern Observatory, also known as ESO. This organisation builds and runs some of the most powerful telescopes in the world, and it’s Luis job to make sure that the data collected by these telescopes is presented in an visually appealing and educational way to the general public. We discuss how astronomical images are created, what an artistic illustration is and what the role astronomical visualisations play for our understand of the universe.

Luis homepage: https://luiscalcada.com/

WASP-76b: https://luiscalcada.com/exoplanet-where-it-rains-iron

Pluto: https://luiscalcada.com/pluto

ESO image database: https://www.eso.org/public/images/

Music credit: Jean Anguis.

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In 2014 and 2015, protests against the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Maunakea, Hawaii, showed how the choice of where to build a telescope is entangled with social and political issues. In this episode, I talk with Ann C. Thresher from Stanford University about the relationship between astronomy and colonialism, and the ethical dimensions of telescope sitings. Thresher is a leader of the Responsible siting group within the Next Generation Event Horizon Telescope, and is actively involved in reaching out to local communities in the early stages of new telescope projects.

Learn more:

Ann. C. Thresher's homepage

History Philosophy Culture working group of the ng-EHT

Decolonising Science Reading List

Music credit: Jean Anguis.

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The 2017 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to the discovery by the LIGO observatory of a gravitational wave signal created by two colliding black holes. But what has happened since then? What have the gravitational wave hunters learned about not only black holes, but also neutron stars and even the expansion of the universe? In this episode, associate professor Salvatore Vitale from MIT and the LIGO collaboration will answer these questions, and also describe what we can expect from the future of gravitational wave astronomy.

Salvatore Vitale's homepage.

Music credit: Jean Anguis.

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