Cool Worlds

Cool Worlds

Space, astronomy, exoplanets, astroengineering and the search for extraterrestrial life & intelligence.The Cool Worlds Lab (http://coolworldslab.com), based at the Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, is a team of astronomers seeking to discover and understand alien worlds, particularly those where temperatures are cool enough for life, led by Professor David Kipping.Links:Subscribe!: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGHZpIpAWJQ-Jy_CeCdXhMA?sub_confirmation=1

  1. 4h ago

    Could 3I/ATLAS Be Technological?

    Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.Déjà vu? Professor Avi Loeb has sparked controversy by suggesting - again - that a recently detected interstellar body passing through the Solar System (3I/ATLAS) could be an alien spacecraft. Today, we dive into what he his claiming and whether it holds up - just the science.Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas. Special thanks to Jason Wright for fact checking.→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support→ Get merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/cool-worlds→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcastTHANK-YOU to D. Smith, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, J. Rockett, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Armstrong, B. Smith, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, N. Corwin, K. Howard, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, T. Edris, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, M. Czirr, I. Williams, B. Reese, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, P. Borisoff, H. Schiff, J. Cos, C. Hansen, R. Chaffee, A. Ortiz, B. McMillan, B. Cartmell, J. Bryant, J. Obioma, M. Zeiler, S. Murray, S. Patterson, C. Kennedy, G. Le Saint, W. Ruf, A. Kochkov, B. Langley, P. Stevenson, T. Ford, A. Laroye, I. Venzor, R. Raszka, B. Gaalen, J. Alley, D. Aron, G. Thomsen, S. Shardool, A. Phan Le, N. Offor, A. Huch, J. Morrison, C. Fitzsimmons, W. Smith, A. Twyman, B. Burgess, B. Bueche, D. Hoffman & J. Murph.REFERENCES► Avi Loeb's blog: https://avi-loeb.medium.com► Hibberd, Crowl & Loeb 2025, "Is the Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Alien Technology?": https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.12213► Loeb 2018, "Six Strange Facts About`Oumuamua": https://arxiv.org/abs/1811.08832► Amrhein et al. 2019, "Scientists rise up against statistical significance", Nature, 567, 305-307: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00857-9► Tonry et al. 2018: "ATLAS: A High-Cadence All-Sky Survey System", PASP, 130, 064505: https://arxiv.org/abs/1802.00879► Loeb, Hibberd & Crowl 2025: "Intercepting 3I/ATLAS at Closest Approach to Jupiter with the Juno spacecraft": https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.21402► Loeb & MacLeod 2024, "Interstellar meteors from the tidal disruption of rocky planetson eccentric orbits around M dwarfs", A&A, 686, A123: https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.09399► Hopkins et al. 2025, "From a Different Star: 3I/ATLAS in the context of the Ōtautahi-Oxford interstellar object population model", ApJL accepted: https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.05318► Belyakov et al. 2025, "Palomar and Apache Point Spectrophotometry of Interstellar Comet 3I/Atlas", RNAAS, 9, 149: https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.11720► Jewitt et al. 2025, "Hubble Space Telescope Observations of the Interstellar Interloper 3I/ATLAS": https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.02934► Dorman et al. 2013, "The Spatial Distribution of C2, C3 and NH in Comet 2P/Encke", ApJ, 778, 140: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/778/2/140/pdfMUSICLicensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.0:00 Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Two3:38 Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Three6:01 Triad - Reverence7:37 Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Four10:30 Jeremy Soule - Silent Footsteps13:15 Jeremy Soule - Dragonsreach15:40 Jeremy Soule - Under the Ancient Sun18:47 Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Five20:46 Hill - The MeekCHAPTERS0:00 Intro4:35 Trajectory6:04 Incogni7:37 Close Encounters10:50 Speed13:24 Size23:38 Outro#CoolWorlds #3IATLAS #Interstellar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Could 3I/ATLAS Be Technological?
  2. 5h ago

    Why Intelligent Life May Be Impossible Around Most Stars

    Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.New research from the Cool Worlds Lab leads a shocking conclusion - most stars might be incapable of developing intelligent life....Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas. Thumbnail by Pablo Carlos Budassi https://pablocarlosbudassi.com→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support→ Get merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/cool-worlds→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcastPAPER: https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.01215THANK-YOU to D. Smith, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, J. Rockett, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Armstrong, B. Smith, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, N. Corwin, K. Howard, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, T. Edris, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, M. Czirr, I. Williams, B. Reese, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, P. Borisoff, H. Schiff, J. Cos, C. Hansen, R. Chaffee, A. Ortiz, B. McMillan, B. Cartmell, J. Bryant, J. Obioma, M. Zeiler, S. Murray, S. Patterson, C. Kennedy, G. Le Saint, W. Ruf, A. Kochkov, B. Langley, P. Stevenson, T. Ford, A. Laroye, I. Venzor, R. Raszka, B. Gaalen, J. Alley, D. Aron, G. Thomsen, S. Shardool, A. Phan Le, N. Offor, A. Huch, J. Morrison, C. Fitzsimmons, W. Smith, A. Twyman, B. Burgess, B. Bueche, D. Hoffman, J. Murphy, J. Matters, R. Borbidge, A. Singh, S. Larter & M. Adler.MUSICLicensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.0:00 Ending: Agrippa - Mikko Tarmia2:41 Atlas - Waking Up3:20 Hill - World of Wonder5:11 Atlas - Waking Up7:35 Hill - Fragile Beings10:46 Hill - A Flickering Start13:50 Hill - A Thin Place18:51 Hill - Kingdom of the SkiesCHAPTERS0:00 Two Existential Puzzles3:20 Incogni5:11 Possible Explanations7:05 Bayesian Modeling9:50 Results12:05 No Luck13:52 Interpretation15:17 Lies & Statistics18:11 Final Thoughts20:09 Outro + Credits#CoolWorlds #AlienLife #Sun Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Why Intelligent Life May Be Impossible Around Most Stars
  3. 6h ago

    Could We Detect the Death Star?

    To celebrate the release of Star Wars Rogue One this weekend, let's ask the question - could we detect the Death Star with our current telescopes? Remarkably astronomers have been thinking about the detectability of alien megastructures, such as the Death Star, for many years and we can apply some scientific thinking to get to the answer.::More about this Video::► Companion video on Martin Archer's channel, "Is the Death Star a Star?": https://youtu.be/Q4CKSekJzxk► Kipping & Teachey 2016, "A Cloaking Device for Transiting Planets": https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.08928► Cool Worlds video by Alex Teachey about our laser cloaking system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1Pqqf_6J9w► Most recent results from exomoon hunting, Kipping et al. 2015, "The Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler (HEK): V. A Survey of 41 Planetary Candidates for Exomoons": https://arxiv.org/abs/1503.05555► Cool Worlds video update on the search for exomoons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3VQ0PdoR3M► Freeman Dyson's original paper on Dyson Spheres, "Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation": http://science.sciencemag.org/content/131/3414/1667► Cool Worlds video explaining "What is an Alien Megastructure?": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYHVCW3BkHU::Playlists For Channel::Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorldsCool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearchGuest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuestsQ&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQAScience of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies::Follow us::SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribeCool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.eduTwitter https://twitter.com/david_kippingInstagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worldsTHANKS FOR WATCHING!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Could We Detect the Death Star?
  4. 7h ago

    An Event So Deadly it Makes Parts of the Galaxy Inhospitable

    Space is a bleak, hostile environment. Asteroid strikes, supernovae and gamma ray bursts could wipe us out at any moment. But could certain parts of the galaxy be more dangerous than others? And could this explain why we live, when and where we live?Written and presented by Prof David Kipping, guest starring Jackson Kipping and edited by Jorge Casas.→ Support our research program: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support→ Get Stash here! https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-storeTHANK-YOU to our supporters D. Smith, M. Sloan, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, G. Canterbury, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, J. Alexander, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, M. Varenka, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer & T. Edris.::Music::Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist::References::► Spinelli & Ghirlanda, 2023, The Impact of GRBs on Exoplanetary Habitability, Universe, 9, 60: https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1997/9/2/60► Gehrels et al., 2003, Ozone Depletion from Nearby Supernovae, ApJ, 585, 1169: https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0211361► Thomas et al., 2006, Gamma-ray bursts and terrestrial planetary atmospheres, New. J. Phys., 8, 120: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1367-2630/8/7/120► Fisher & Valenti, 2005, The Planet-Metallicity Correlation, ApJ, 622, 1102: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/428383► Buchhave & Latham, 2005, The Metallicities of Stars with and without Transiting Planets, ApJ, 808, 4: https://arxiv.org/abs/1507.03557► Wang & Fisher, 2005, Revealing A Universal Planet-Metallicity Correlation For Planets of Different Sizes Around Solar-Type Stars, AJ, 149, 7: https://arxiv.org/abs/1310.7830::Music::► Chris Zabriskie - Music from Neptune Flux 0:00► Falls - Ripley 6:06► Chris Zabriskie - Music from Neptune Flux 9:32► Brad Hill - A Slowly Lifting Fog 13:53► Joachim Heinrich - Y 16:58::Chapters::00:00 Introduction02:28 Galactic Habitable Zone05:09 Supernovae10:26 GRBs15:31 Multi-Threats16:43 Planet formation18:53 Planet retention20:11 The Final Picture22:56 Outro & Credits#GalacticHabitableZone #Supernovae #GammaRayBursts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    An Event So Deadly it Makes Parts of the Galaxy Inhospitable
  5. 8h ago

    The First Exoplanet Claim: Captain William S Jacob

    In 1855, Captain William Stephen Jacob authored a paper in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society claiming that a planet likely existed in the binary star system 70 Ophiuchi. Although his claim ended being wrong, it's pretty remarkable that someone was even thinking about doing this with scientific methods at the time! Here we get into Jacob's claim, what went wrong, and what legacy this has left us with.::More about this Video::► Captain William S Jacob, "On Certain Anomalies Presented by the Binary Star 70 Ophiuchi": http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1855MNRAS..15..228J► Information compiled about Captain William Stephen Jacob and family by his living descendant, Kenneth Jacob: http://www.myjacobfamily.com/favershamjacobs/williamstephenjacob.htm► Thomas See, "Researches on the orbit of 70 Ophiuchi, and on a periodic perturbation in the motion of the system arising from the action of an unseen body": http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1896AJ.....16...17S► Forest Ray Moulton, "The limits of temporary stability of satellite motion, with an application to the question of the existence of an unseen body in the binary system 70 Ophiuchi": http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1899AJ.....20...33M► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk::Playlists For Channel::Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorldsCool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearchGuest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuestsQ&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQAScience of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies::Follow us::SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribeCool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.eduTwitter https://twitter.com/david_kippingInstagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worldsTHANKS FOR WATCHING!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    The First Exoplanet Claim: Captain William S Jacob
  6. 9h ago

    The “Crisis in Cosmology” EXPLAINED

    In the last few years, astronomers have witnessed a growing problem emerge. As measurement precision has increased, the hope was that this problem would abate, but instead it has only exacerbated. Welcome to "The Crisis in Cosmology". But what exactly is the fuss all about, and how much should be believe the sensationalism?Written and presented by Prof David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas.→ Support our research program: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support→ Get Stash here! https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-storeTHANK-YOU to our supporters D. Smith, M. Sloan, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, G. Canterbury, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, J. Alexander, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman & A. Phan Le.::Music::Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist► 00:00 Sid Acharya - Sky Sailing► 01:01 Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Four► 03:25 Hill - Loneliness [https://open.spotify.com/album/6vasPO2FKG0ddtkOiHmqBC?si=qWxcwquXSiaSXAeHFG6OMw]► 06:35 Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Five► 09:19 Hill - Detached [https://open.spotify.com/album/2RsyjpeBo63MBse1PL2HNr?si=gBFBSqYKQmK-yPJjBE7Udw]► 12:53 Hill - There Is but One Good [https://open.spotify.com/album/4pmiXcyRpPlFjWjb45pYLx?highlight=spotify:track:1vlxAsmQaHJo1HyvYJF770]► 19:08 Chris Zabriskie - Stories About the World That Once Was► 21:49 Joachim Heinrich - Y► 24:05 Indive - Halo Drive::Chapters::00:00 Introduction01:16 Hubble's Constant02:24 Using the CMB04:34 The Local Universe06:20 Cepheids08:24 The Distance Ladder10:38 The Hubble Tension11:29 New Physics?12:50 The Trouble with Cepheids15:50 Red Giant Saviors20:17 Giant Headaches21:04 No Crisis?22:37 Sensationalism24:05 Outro and credits#CrisisInCosmology #HubbleTension #JWST Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    The “Crisis in Cosmology” EXPLAINED
  7. 10h ago

    Is Time an Illusion? | Prof Sean Carroll

    We caught up with Prof Sean Carroll at a recent astronomy conference and got his thoughts about time. Time may seem like a fundamental property of the Universe, but actually there's nothing in quantum theory which requires this to be so. Prof Carroll explains how time being merely an illusion, an emergent property rather than a fundamental one, is actually compatible with our best understanding of nature. This is one of two videos we shot with Sean so look out for the second video later in the year!::More about this Video::► Sean Carroll: "From Eternity to Here" book available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Eternity-Here-Quest-Ultimate-Theory/dp/0452296544► Sean Carroll's blog "Preposterous Universe" at https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/► 229th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society: https://aas.org/meetings/aas229► Background music by Hans Zimmer, Interstellar OST::Playlists For Channel::Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorldsCool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearchGuest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuestsQ&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQAScience of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies::Follow us::SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribeCool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.eduTwitter https://twitter.com/david_kippingInstagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worldsTHANKS FOR WATCHING!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Is Time an Illusion? | Prof Sean Carroll

About

Space, astronomy, exoplanets, astroengineering and the search for extraterrestrial life & intelligence.The Cool Worlds Lab (http://coolworldslab.com), based at the Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, is a team of astronomers seeking to discover and understand alien worlds, particularly those where temperatures are cool enough for life, led by Professor David Kipping.Links:Subscribe!: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGHZpIpAWJQ-Jy_CeCdXhMA?sub_confirmation=1

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