Receding Horizons South Texas Astronomical Society

Episode Notes
On today's episode we have Emmanuel Zamora, or Alex, as his friends call him. Alex is currently an electrical engineer working at NASA's Johnson Space Center. He was born and raised in the great city of Brownsville, Texas, graduated from Hanna High School, and received a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at San Antonio. His experience as an electrical engineer includes an internship at the Brownsville Public Utilities Board, a job at CPS Energy, and then landing an opportunity as a sub-contractor for NASA on the International Space Station program, where he provided engineering support for the space station's electrical power system, or EPS. More specifically, for the Spartan Controller at Mission Control at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Alex recently stepped into his new role as a NASA civil servant in January of this year 2021, where he oversees and implements policies over numerous programs. His long-term goal is to become a flight director.

Recorded on 2 April 2021.

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:14 - Space travel

00:04:33 - Interstellar

00:09:06 - Star Wars and movie technology

00:14:15 - NASA film restoration

00:17:28 - Excerpt from Scott Kelly's "Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery"

00:25:48 - Emmanuel Alex Zamora

00:28:52 - The Star Wars Expanded Universe

00:32:09 - Path to NASA

00:45:30 - PHOENIX, SPARTAN Flight Controller, ISS ATCS/EPS

00:59:19 - Spacesuits and EVA

01:05:21 - Building 9

01:08:28 - Astronaut safety and daily lives

01:13:11 - ISS electrical power system and solar arrays

01:19:10 - Yeet

01:21:30 - Orbital speed and microgravity

01:28:04 - Spotting the ISS

01:31:25 - Expeditions into space

01:36:15 - SpaceX

01:43:56 - Exploration of the unknown

01:50:59 - A one-way ticket to Mars?

01:56:16 - Mission control and Gene Kranz

01:59:11 - Tungsten Flight

02:01:48 - Meeting astronauts

02:07:07 - Artemis, Orion, and Gateway

02:15:57 - Space station occultations and observing

02:21:56 - Imaging technology

02:27:41 - Martian pyramids and extremophiles

02:37:33 - Rocket launches

02:41:40 - Future plans

02:47:14 - Outro

Episode Notes
Our guest this episode is our collaborator, colleague, and friend, Moises Castillo. A Brownsville and Los Fresnos native, Moises attended university and earned a bachelor of science in physics from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, during which he also worked as lab manager in the Physics Department. Moises earned a masters of science in physics from UTRGV in 2019. He's been the assistant director of the Cristina Torres Memorial Observatory, where he observed and studied eclipsing binary star systems, as well as a researcher for the Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy at UTRGV working under Mario Diaz. Currently he's stepping into his role as the Event Coordinator for the Space and Science Team of the South Texas Astronomical Society. He's a curious explorer of the world, a talented engineer and astronomer, the authoritative MC voice, and a great travel partner and friend.

Recorded on 12 March 2021.

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:14 - Mate

00:12:42 - Excerpt from Sean Carroll's "The Big Picture"

00:15:52 - Moises Castillo

00:33:33 - Like a swimming duck

00:42:02 - Moises Castillo

00:46:00 - Nompuewenu

00:56:37 - Farming telescopes

01:09:01 - A new way of teaching astronomy

01:21:23 - CTMO

01:32:30 - Spectrographs and lasers

01:46:30 - Greek mythology

01:48:42 - Eclipsing binary light curves

01:54:04 - Sharing an observatory

01:59:18 - Astronomical protocols and platforms

02:13:37 - Can stars change colors?

02:31:57 - What is space?

02:49:57 - Cool space facts

02:54:20 - Wrapping it up with Texas

02:56:32 - Outro

Related material:

Mate, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_(drink)

S. Carroll, "The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself", Dutton (2016), https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26150770-the-big-picture

M. Castillo, "Pipeline for Variable Star Detection and Eclipsing Binary Characterization", Master Thesis, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (2019)

Southmost Library Observatory, https://starsocietyrgv.org/projects/southmostobservatory/

Burke-Gaffney Observatory, http://www.ap.smu.ca/pr/bgo

Raspberry Pi, https://www.raspberrypi.org/

KStars, INDI, and Ekos, https://www.indilib.org/

The AStronomy Common Object Model (ASCOM), https://ascom-standards.org/

J. Bell, "The Interstellar Age: Inside the Forty-Year Voyager Mission", Dutton (2015), https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22571516-the-interstellar-age

Episode Notes
This is Receding Horizons, Episode 2, where we talk about the exciting era of gravitational wave observations and multi-messenger astronomy.

Brina Martinez is an undergraduate studying physics and computer science at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She is currently a research assistant at the Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy and in the Time Domain Astronomy Group operating the Cristina Torres Memorial Observatory, both under the mentorship of Dr. Mario Díaz. Brina is a published scientist. Her research focuses on characterizing noise sources intrinsic to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO. She has participated in a research experience for undergraduates at Louisiana State University under Dr. Guillermo Valdes and Dr. Gabriela González, and was a LIGO undergraduate fellow at Caltech under Dr. Derek Davis. Brina is a board member and resident astrophysicist at the South Texas Astronomical Society, as well as a board member and secretary at the Brownsville Chapter of the Society of Physics Students. She was the recipient of several awards including a scholarship from the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science, and a Victor M. Blanco Fellowship from the LIGO Lab and National Society of Hispanic Physicists. She is a gifted public speaker, and I've had the privilege to work with her (and make a lot of memories) during my time in Brownsville.

Recorded on 26 February 2021.

00:00:00​ - Introduction

00:01:14​ - Excerpt from "Black Hole Blues"

00:02:48​ - Brina Martinez

00:15:53​ - LIGO

00:32:41​ - Gravitational wave events

00:44:06​ - Lacking belief and scientific leakage

00:52:37​ - Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy

01:02:35​ - Multi-messenger observations

01:13:27​ - Scientific discovery

01:20:43​ - Daily life at Livingston

01:24:10​ - Analyzing thunderstorm noise

01:29:15​ - Black holes

01:32:49​ - Primordial gravitational waves

01:35:22​ - Unification

01:38:02​ - Singularities and horizons

01:45:03​ - Distorting spacetime

02:00:20​ - LISA

02:11:40​ - Future plans

02:14:38​ - Outro

Related material:

J. Levin, "Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space", Bodley Head (2016), https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27430326-black-hole-blues-and-other-songs-from-outer-space

Gravitational Waves Summer School, L’École de Physique des Houches (2018), https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLo9ufcrEqwWG7TrsxBN5f4L5eX_ZxEhka

P. R. Saulson, "Fundamentals of Interferometric Gravitational Wave Detectors", World Scientific (1994), https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11764374-fundamentals-of-interferometric-gravitational-wave-detectors

G. González, "Gravitational Wave Astronomy", TDAG Astrophysics Seminar (2019), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vCTNuINq6o&t=4040s&ab_channel=CTMObservatory

PyCBC, Free and open software to study gravitational waves, https://pycbc.org/​

K. Mack, "The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking)", Scribner (2020), https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52767659-the-end-of-everything

B. Allen and J. D. Romano, "Detecting a Stochastic Background of Gravitational Radiation: Signal Processing Strategies and Sensitivities", Physical Review D 59, 102001 (1997), https://arxiv.org/pdf/gr-qc/9710117.pdf​

J. D. Romano and N. J. Cornish, "Detection Methods for Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Backgrounds: A Unified Treatment", Living Reviews in Relativity, 20:2 (2017), https://arxiv.org/pdf/1608.06889.pdf​

J. Baker, B. Brugmann, M. Campanelli, and C. O. Lousto, "Gravitational Waves from Black Hole Collisions via an Eclectic Approach", Classical and Quantum Gravity, Vol. 17, Number 20, L149 (2000), https://arxiv.org/pdf/gr-qc/0003027.pdf​

J. Baker, B. Brugmann, M. Campanelli, C. O. Lousto, and R. Takahashi, "Plunge Waveforms from Inspiralling Binary Black Holes", Physical Review Letters 87, 121103 (2001), https://arxiv.org/pdf/gr-qc/0102037.

Episode Notes
This is Receding Horizons, Episode 1, where we talk about biology, the science of life, both on Earth and in the realm of the cosmos. We also talk about dinosaurs.

Our guest in this episode is Andrew Maurer. Andrew has a bachelor of science in biology from the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, received in 2016. His research interests span comparative herpetological phylogenetics and paleobiological studies, as well as genomic mapping and comprehensive studies in Aves, Lissamphibia, and Squamata. He is currently a data entry worker at MicroGenDX in Lubbock, TX. Previously, he's been a shift lead and veterinary assistant at Banfield Pet Hospital in North Wales, Pennslyvania, and was an intern at the Harleysville Veterinary Clinic.

Recorded on 8 February 2021.

00:00:00 - Introduction
00:01:13 - Andrew Maurer
00:04:22 - Paleobiological detective work
00:12:04 - What's your favorite dinosaur?
00:14:42 - How do you determine past behavior?
00:17:14 - Paleontology and astronomy
00:18:40 - Dinosaur constellations
00:19:53 - Oldest surviving DNA
00:22:26 - Extraterrestrial reptiles
00:23:39 - Yoshi
00:24:45 - The definition of life
00:31:26 - A Prime Directive for humanity
00:37:06 - Why carbon?
00:44:51 - Life on moons
00:47:14 - A forum of scientific discussion
00:51:21 - Memetics
00:57:16 - Replicators
00:59:18 - Not the climax of creation
01:02:53 - Fermi paradox
01:05:52 - Earliest life on Earth
01:08:50 - Photosynthesis
01:10:51 - Nucleosynthesis
01:13:51 - The biomass distribution on Earth
01:21:01 - Extraterrestrial plants
01:27:44 - Cosmological natural selection
01:30:01 - Consciousness and anxiety
01:36:33 - Cosmological metal bands
01:39:15 - The frontiers of science
01:42:27 - Closing remarks
01:46:48 - Outro

Sources:

00:07:51 - Spinosaurus (Credit: M. Bowler, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...)

00:08:06 - Spinosaurus (Credit: M. Witton, https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Spi...)

00:10:39 - Theropoda (Credit: ABelov2014, C. Homler, E. Willoughby, D. Bogdanov, R. Nicholls, N. Tamura, and K. Rex, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...)

00:11:00 - "Figure 2. Biogenesis and transport of melanosomes in mammalian epidermal melanocytes" (Credit: M. Fukuda, "Organizational Cell Biology", Encyclopedia of Cell Biology, 2016, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/...)

00:13:01 - Allosaurus (Credit: F. Wierum, http://www.dinochecker.com/gallery/al...)

00:38:32 - The elements of life (Credit: Dana Berry/SkyWorks Digital Inc.; SDSS Collaboration, https://phys.org/news/2017-01-element...)

Check out these awesome paleoartists and wildlife photographers:


ABelov2014, https://www.deviantart.com/abelov2014
Dmitry Bodganov, https://www.deviantart.com/dibgd
Julius T. Csotonyi, https://csotonyi.com/
Michael DiGiorgio, https://www.mdigiorgio.com/
Daniel Eskridge, https://daniel-eskridge.pixels.com/
Robert Nicholls, http://paleocreations.com/
Nobu Tamura, http://spinops.blogspot.com/
Frederic Wierum, https://fredthedinosaurman.artstation...
Emily Willoughby, https://www.emilywilloughby.com/
Mark Witton, http://www.markwitton.com/

Related papers and books:

H. C. Betts, M. N. Puttick, J. W. Clark, T. A. Williams, P. C. J. Donoghue, D. Pisani, "Integrated Genomic and Fossil Evidence Illuminates Life's Early Evolution and Eukaryote Origin", Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2, 1556-1562 (2018), https://www.nature.com/articles/s4155...

J. H. Jiang, A. J. Zhai, J. Herman, C. Zhai, R. Hu, H. Su, V. Natraj, J. Li, F. Xu, and Y. L. Yung, "Using Deep Space Climate Observatory Measurements to Study the Earth as an Exoplanet", The Astronomical Journal, 156:26, 1-17 (2018), https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/aac6e2

D. Lambert, "The Kingfisher Young People's Book of the Universe", Kingfisher, (2001), https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

Q. Li, K.-Q. Gao, J. Vinther, M. D. Shawkey, J.A. Clarke, L. D'Alba, Q. Meng, D. E. G. Briggs, R. O. Prum, "Plumage Color Patterns of an Extinct Dinosaur", Science, Volume 327, Issue 5

Episode Notes
This pilot episode is hosted by Richard Camuccio and Victor De Los Santos, both co-founders and board members of the South Texas Astronomical Society (STARS). Richard is an astronomer earning a doctorate in physics at Texas Tech University. He recently graduated with a masters in physics from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Victor is the president and CEO of STARS. He has a business degree from Texas A&M University, and a background in project and software development.

Recorded on 15 January 2021.

00:00:00 - Introduction
00:01:15 - Excerpt from Edwin Hubble's "Realm of the Nebulae"
00:04:21 - Introductions
00:12:27 - What is STARS?
00:14:05 - Star Parties
00:15:40 - The Climate of the Rio Grande Valley
00:21:08 - Gateway to the Cosmos
00:22:18 - Gravitational Waves and the Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy
00:27:08 - Cristina Torres Memorial Observatory
00:33:00 - Southmost Library Observatory
00:36:55 - Super Blood Wolf Moon of 2019
00:38:51 - The STARS on Tap Trilogy
00:43:00 - Brownsville: Crossroads and Space City
00:47:30 - Texas Southmost College Solar System Walk
00:52:26 - Brownsville Space and Science Museum
01:01:40 - Dark Sky Initiative
01:06:27 - SpaceX and United Launch Alliance
01:08:25 - NASA Downlink
01:09:19 - Space Tech Companies
01:12:52 - STARS Website
01:13:47 - Perseverance
01:15:00 - Conclusion
01:15:42 - Outro

YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7jcH54d1-U&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=STARSocietyRGV