Space oddities

Stars, like our Sun, are massive light-emitting spheres of intensely hot gas (plasma). And while understanding how stars work and exploring their inner structures are a few of my favorite things, their opaque surfaces make this a difficult task. The answer? Listening to the songs they have sung for (much more than) a thousand years. Like musical instruments, each star produces sound waves at specific frequencies. By observing these cosmic "notes" with telescopes let's unveils the hidden layers beneath stars' surface.

Earth’s got the fever, that is something you all know. Just as medical imaging allows us to "see" inside tissues in the body, onboard satellites image Earth indirectly and detect invisible changes across our planet. These data inform our weather prediction simulations and help scientists understand Earth's ecosystems. We will focus on two applications of such techniques: observing ocean currents and exposing invisible methane plumes from fossil fuel production.