PODCAST · science
NASA Blueshift
by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Welcome to Blueshift, produced by the Astrophysics Science Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Since 2007, Blueshift has been your "backstage pass" to science, missions and personnel here at Goddard, with a focus on the Universe beyond the solar system. We'll fill you in on groundbreaking discoveries, innovative technology, new missions, and other exciting stories. Visit us online at http://universe.nasa.gov/blueshift/ or follow us on Twitter or Facebook as NASABlueshift!
Episodes
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Blueshift - October 6, 2015: Spontaneous Complexity
Jasmin Evans is an undergraduate student in astronomy and physics at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK. She shadowed us for the week and while she was here, she interviewed Nobel Laureate Dr. John Mather for our podcast. She talked to him about what lead him to science, what advice…
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Blueshift - September 26, 2013: Finding Herschel
In July, we featured a guest post on our blog from astronomer Nick Howes about how he was able to image the Herschel observatory, which sat a million miles away from the Earth at the 2nd Lagrange point (and is now being moved into a graveyard orbit). For this podcast, we interviewed him about the...
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Blueshift - September 9, 2013: "How We Learn," Part 4 of our interview with Dr. Phil Plait
This is the last part of our interview with Dr. Phil Plait, the so-called "Bad Astronomer." Phil is a scientist who now writes about science for the public, with a large focus on debunking bad science and astronomy. In this podcast, we talk with Phil about how science works, and how we learn.
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Blueshift - June 26, 2013: "Go outside and look up!," Part 3 of our interview with Dr. Phil Plait
This is part three of four of our interview with Dr. Phil Plait, the so-called "Bad Astronomer." Phil is a scientist, writer, and specializes in debunking bad science. In part 1, we learned how he got started, and in part 2, we talked about science in entertainment. In part 3, we discuss how he...
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Blueshift - May 29, 2013: Ring around the Exoplanet
A college friend of Maggie's, Dr. Eric Mamajek, discovered a cool potential exoplanet system that might also have a ring system - we reported on it last January after the American Astronomical Society conference. We checked with Eric a year later to talk more about his discovery, any updates, and...
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Blueshift - May 15, 2013: The Art of Space, Part 2
This is the second episode of our two-part interview with space artist Ron Miller. In this episode, Ron talks specifically about how he illustrates exoplanets, and we discuss specific pieces of his art. To listen to the first part of this interview, and to see examples of Ron's art, visit our...
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Blueshift - May 6, 2013: The Art of Space, Part 1
Blueshift recently interviewed space artist Ron Miller. Not only is he an amazingly talented illustrator, but he’s also the author, consultant, and former art director for the National Air and Space Museum's Albert Einstein planetarium. He's written and illustrated many books, one of which, "Out…
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Blueshift - April 25, 2013: Studying Simulated Stardust
Dust - on Earth, it's a nuisance. But in space, it's a valuable natural resource, a raw material essential to the formation of nearly any object imaginable. NASA Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Christina Richey studies interstellar dust grains through laboratory-created analogs, comparing the properties…
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Blueshift - December 20, 2012: Hubble's Scientific Successor
As you might imagine, the James Webb Space Telescope is a pretty big deal here at NASA Goddard, because much of it is being assembled here. As a companion to all our tech coverage of Webb, we thought it would be nice to talk about the science it will do and how it is the scientific successor to,...
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Blueshift - December 4, 2012: Science in a Nutshell, Part 2 of our interview with Dr. Phil Plait
As science educators, encouraging critical thinking and skepticism is something we think is really important. We interviewed the "Bad Astronomer," Dr. Phil Plait, to get his thoughts on the subject. He is a trained scientist who used to work at NASA Goddard... but now he works full-time as a...
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Blueshift - October 12, 2012: NuStar: NASA's Newest X-Ray Eyes
It's an exciting experience for any space geek to watch a new satellite launch into orbit. Earlier in 2012, we were excited about the launch of NuSTAR, a small explorer X-ray mission collaboratively created by teams at Caltech, NASA, and over a dozen other institutions around the world. NuSTAR...
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Blueshift - September 10, 2012: Keeping Skepticism Alive, Part 1 of our interview with Dr. Phil Plait
At its heart, science is about asking questions - looking at the universe around us and asking, "How? Why?" Science takes our natural curiosity and adds structure and rigor, examining things methodically to answer our questions and ask the next ones. It's not just a field of study, it's a…
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Blueshift - May 21, 2012: Astrophysicist to the Stars, Dr. David Saltzberg
In a follow-up to our previous interviews with co-creator of "The Big Bang Theory," Bill Prady, we interviewed Dr. David Saltzberg, the show's resident astrophysicist and science consultant. Find out more about his research, adventures in astrophysics, and how he keeps the science of the show...
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Blueshift - November 15, 2010: When Science Inspires Comedy
One of the bonuses of our set visit to The Big Bang Theory was that we got the chance to talk to co-creator and executive producer Bill Prady about how the show came to be, and how they get the science right in every episode. Since much of what we do is about communicating science to the public…
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Blueshift - May 20, 2010: In the AstroZone
Wouldn't it be exciting to do astronomy in the Amazon, surrounded by the wild plants and animals of the rainforest? In January, visitors to the AstroZone event in Washington, DC, got to do something like that - they met dozens of astronomy professionals at the National Zoo's Amazonia exhibit!...
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Blueshift - April 30, 2010: At the Edge of Space
When you were a kid, dreaming of the future, did you expect to have a flying car someday? Or to live on the Moon? Traveling into space has fueled the dreams of many people, but the reality is that space flight is difficult and expensive. Though escaping Earth's gravity to reach orbit is a real...
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Blueshift - March 1, 2010: First Light, Last Paycheck?
Working at NASA can provide unique and exciting job opportunities. It can be the chance of a lifetime to work on a satellite and see the products of your hard work launched into space. The flip side is that many projects only span a few years, so your dream job may not last forever. Many of us...
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Blueshift - January 31, 2010: A Meeting of the Minds
Professional meetings are a part of the lives of most scientists - but what actually goes on at one of these? It's not just sitting in meetings and listening to talks! These meetings offer an opportunity to share exciting results, catch up with old friends, and pick up some goodies in the exhibit...
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Blueshift - January 19, 2010: Science at the End of the Earth, Part II
A remote research outpost like McMurdo Station in Antarctica draws many different kinds of people - scientists, engineers, writers, artists, and more. The station provides many of the comforts of home, and it's difficult to get bored with the opportunities presented during a visit. Whether it's...
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Blueshift - December 31, 2009: Science at the End of the Earth, Part I
Hunting for antimatter requires a serious expedition. Scientists aren't looking for run-of-the-mill particles - they're collecting cosmic radiation that could be the signature of primordial black holes or other forms of dark matter. With instruments suspended from enormous scientific balloons,...
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Blueshift - December 16, 2009: Looking Back to the Future
We're looking to the future here at NASA Goddard, with the construction of our new Exploration Sciences Building. To celebrate the occasion, we're preparing to seal a time capsule that won't be opened until the year 2059. In this episode of Blueshift, we talked to Dr. Michelle Thaller to find out...
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Blueshift - November 30, 2009: The Music of Science
The evening of November 2, 2009 was the world premiere of "Cosmic Reflection," an orchestral composition inspired by one of NASA's satellites, in Washington, DC. This opus began as a simple prelude inspired by (and performed by a brass quintet at) the launch of the GLAST mission. To celebrate the...
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Blueshift - November 17, 2009: Dust in the Interstellar Wind
The makings of new planets lie in dusty, debris-filled disks rotating around stars, held in place and shaped by the influence of their host stars. But the dust, ice, and small bodies in these planet-forming disks also feel the effects of a system's motion through space - and interaction with...
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Blueshift - October 31, 2009: Astrophysical Activity: The Building 2 Chronicle
Welcome to a special Halloween episode of Blueshift! It's a time of transition here at Goddard Space Flight Center - a new Exploration Sciences Building has just been completed and the Blueshift team is on the move. For the past 50 years, Goddard's Building 2 has been the home of cutting-edge...
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Blueshift - October 15, 2009: And the Award Goes to...
For scientists, winning the Nobel Prize is a lot like winning an Oscar. Winning one comes with prestige and recognition, both from inside and outside of the science community. There are many other prizes and awards in science that are very prestigious, but you may never have heard of them.…
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Blueshift - September 30, 2009: John Grunsfeld: Astronaut and Astronomer
This summer, the world was watching as seven astronauts visited the Hubble Space Telescope and did the first ever on-orbit repairs in space. This fifth and final Shuttle mission to service Hubble has equipped the telescope with cutting-edge technology and extended its mission lifespan for several...
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Blueshift - September 16, 2009: Swift Sees Andromeda in a New Light
Scientist Dr. Stefan Immler was part of a team that captured a new and unique view of one of our closest galactic neighbors with the Swift satellite, which has the ability to detect ultraviolet light. The Andromeda Galaxy, or M31, is a beautiful "nearby" spiral galaxy that is actually visible to...
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Blueshift - August 31, 2009: The Science of Pretty Pictures
Earlier this summer, Nobel Laureate Dr. John Mather told us that data are beautiful when they have meaning. Astronomical images communicate information about the way the universe works and how we know what we know. But can a pretty picture be just as lovely even if you don't know what it's about?...
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Blueshift - August 14, 2009: Making Hubble's Great Orion Mosaic
The Hubble Space Telescope is famous for its beautiful images of celestial objects - from planets in our own Solar System to far away galaxies. The Orion Nebula (known to astronomers as Messier object 42, or M42) is a cloud of dust, gas, and stars. It's actually visible with the naked eye…
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Blueshift - July 31, 2009: Summer's Scientists
How have you spent your summer vacation? An internship at NASA may not be the most relaxing way to spend these summer months, but for hundreds of high school and college students, it's an opportunity to gain valuable experience. The offices and labs here at Goddard Space Flight Center overflow...
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Blueshift - July 17, 2009: Blueshift Goes to the Movies
It's summertime, which means that Hollywood is releasing a bunch of long-awaited, big-budget blockbusters! You can cool off in the theater with action, adventure, and... astronomy? Space science has been written into a variety of films - from the predictable genre of science fiction to romance,...
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Blueshift - June 30, 2009: Astronomical Data's Long Road Home
It's easy to think of a satellite as a fancy digital camera - just point, shoot, and look at the pretty picture that emerges. But it's not that simple. Astronomical data has a far longer journey to make it from the satellite to end users. Bounced between satellites, sent to Earth, processed,...
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Blueshift - June 18, 2009: Making Data Beautiful
To kick off our special summer series about data, we interviewed 2006 Nobel Laureate John Mather about the importance of imagery in communicating science and sharing data with the public. More than just "pretty pictures," data can be used to tell a story and explain the mysteries of the cosmos.…
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Blueshift - May 31, 2009: A Tale of Three Telescopes
The telescope on everyone's mind during this month's Space Shuttle flight was certainly the Hubble Space Telescope, as astronauts inspected, repaired, and upgraded the satellite for years of additional scientific observations. But two additional telescopes were aboard Atlantis for this historic...
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Blueshift - May 18, 2009: The C.O.L.B.E.R.T. Episode
NASA is famous for its acronyms and technical jargon. If you've ever watched a rocket launch or a spacewalk, you've heard some of them. Blueshift is produced by the ASD EPO team at NASA GSFC - that is, the Astrophysics Science Division Education and Public Outreach team at NASA Goddard Space…
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Blueshift - April 30, 2009: Stroll the Solar System
Join Blueshift for a unique tour of the solar system, as we walk the B and A Trail's Planet Walk in Maryland and talk to scientists along the way. Armed with hiking boots and a portable recorder, Francis Reddy brings you the sounds of the solar system and a factoid about each planet along the…
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Blueshift - April 17, 2009: Professional Tinkering
In astrophysics, the development of innovative technology is crucial to answering scientific questions about the Universe around us. The types of technology invented are determined, at least in part, by the answers we are seeking. At the heart of this science-technology cycle are "professional...
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Blueshift - March 18, 2009: 400 Years, 100 Hours
2009 has been chosen as the International Year of Astronomy because it marks the 400th anniversary of a big event in astronomical history - the first recorded observations of the night sky with a telescope. Galileo Galilei pointed his telescope at the Moon, the stars, and Jupiter, and changed our...
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Blueshift - March 3, 2009: There's No Place Like Home... Yet
HD 80606b would not be a fun place to live, with its high winds, intense storms, and temperatures thousands of degrees hotter than any region on Earth. This exoplanet goes on a wild ride around its host star, with an orbit that takes it extremely close - and then extremely far away. This sends…
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Blueshift - February 17, 2009: Zooming Through the Universe
Have you ever wondered where Google Sky gets the data that lets you pan and zoom your way around the cosmos? Much of it comes from NASA's SkyView Virtual Observatory, a database of astronomy data from a variety of different sources. Google Sky and WorldWide Telescope are two sites that access the...
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Blueshift - January 29, 2009: Confounding Cosmic Questions
This episode features a strange signal from deep space, which could be a plot straight out of a Hollywood film. But this radio signal was detected by a NASA mission called ARCADE, which flew above the atmosphere suspected from a balloon to capture light from the first stars and galaxies that…
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Blueshift - January 14, 2009: We're Back!
After taking some time off to seek listener feedback and consider the future direction of our podcast, Blueshift is back with a new episode to kick off 2009! For our re-launch, we've focused our first episode on another recently launched NASA project - the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope - and…
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Blueshift Episode 6: A NASA New Year!
Welcome to the December 2007 episode of Blueshift, from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. We're celebrating the new year with a look at the typical life cycle of NASA missions and the typical day of our science staff. We'll start with a look back at the FUSE mission, which ceased operations…
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Blueshift Episode 5: The Podcast Strikes Back
Welcome to the November 2007 episode of Blueshift, from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. This month, find out what it's like to spend a summer vacation at NASA in interviews with some of our 2007 interns. Also, join us for a birthday party that's out of this world... happy 10th birthday, ACE!…
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Blueshift Episode 4.5: Up Close with John Mather
Welcome to a special episode of Blueshift! As we approach another year of Nobel Prizes, we are releasing our full-length interview with NASA's own Nobel Laureate, John Mather (an edited version appeared in Episode 4). Learn more about cosmology, Dr. Mather's new position at NASA Headquarters, the...
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Blueshift Episode 4: Cool Science for Hot Times
Welcome to the July 2007 episode of Blueshift, from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Catch up on the latest astronomy headlines, and listen to our audio scrapbook from the American Astronomical Society meeting in Hawaii. For this episode, we interviewed Dr. John Mather, co-winner of the 2006…
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Blueshift Episode 3: X-ray Vision
Welcome to the June 2007 episode of Blueshift, from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. We're featuring X-ray astronomy this episode - listening to black holes and learning about what it takes to build an X-ray telescope. We interviewed Jerry Bonnell, co-curator of the Astronomy Picture of the Day,...
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Blueshift Episode 2: Life and Death
Welcome to the May 2007 episode of Blueshift, from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. We'll discuss our search for Earth-like planets outside of our own Solar System. We'll also look into gamma ray bursts, and how the Swift satellite team is working to solve their mysteries. This episode includes…
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Blueshift Episode 1: Why So Blue?
Welcome to the first episode of Blueshift, from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. This episode will tell you a little about what we do here, and features the inventions and innovations of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Welcome to Blueshift, produced by the Astrophysics Science Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Since 2007, Blueshift has been your "backstage pass" to science, missions and personnel here at Goddard, with a focus on the Universe beyond the solar system. We'll fill you in on groundbreaking discoveries, innovative technology, new missions, and other exciting stories. Visit us online at http://universe.nasa.gov/blueshift/ or follow us on Twitter or Facebook as NASABlueshift!
HOSTED BY
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does NASA Blueshift have?
NASA Blueshift currently has 49 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is NASA Blueshift about?
Welcome to Blueshift, produced by the Astrophysics Science Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Since 2007, Blueshift has been your "backstage pass" to science, missions and personnel here at Goddard, with a focus on the Universe beyond the solar system. We'll fill you in on...
How often does NASA Blueshift release new episodes?
NASA Blueshift has 49 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to NASA Blueshift?
You can listen to NASA Blueshift on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts NASA Blueshift?
NASA Blueshift is created and hosted by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
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