Cool Worlds

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 comp...

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 Et...

Would you like to help astronomers hunt for planets? Dr Marc Kuchner of NASA, principal investigator of the DiskDetective.org project, visited the Cool Worlds Lab and explains how you can become involved in a real planet hunting program online at DiskDetective.org.::More about this Video::► Disk Detective website: www.DiskDetective.org► Zooniverse website: https://www.zooniverse.org► 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/Coo...

Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.Intelligent design purports that the Universe was made by a creator - God. One of the arguments often invoked to make this case is that the physical constants of the Universe are (apparently) finely tuned to permit life. But cosmologist Denis Sciama presented a thought-provoking analysis of this line of thought and suggested it might be possible to even test intelligent design. Join us today as we explore this fascinating concept.Written & presented by David Kipping, edited by...

Is there a way to naturally classify the different types of planets in the Universe? Two of the most fundamental properties of any object are its mass and size and generally one expects size to increase as we add more mass. The relationship between size and mass itself changes though at certain points, and this offers a clear way to classify worlds. Graduate student Jingjing Chen of the Cool Worlds Lab discusses one component of her new paper which does just this, classifying planets based off their mass and size and concluding that just four broad categories of planets...

Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.The day has finally come! Today we share our results using JWST to look for exomoon around Kepler-167e... buckle in...Written & presented by David Kipping→ 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...

We've been overwhelmed by the huge numbers of views, likes and questions on our "Cloaking Device" video! Alex responds to a few of your questions, please keep commenting and sharing!::More about this Video::► "A Cloaking Device for Transiting Planets" Cool Worlds video: https://youtu.be/z1Pqqf_6J9w► Kipping & Teachey (2016): "A Cloaking Device for Transiting Planets" http://arxiv.org/abs/1603.08928► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk::Playlists For Channel::Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorldsCool Worlds R...

Have you ever wondered just how many planets there are in the Universe? So have we! We haven't surveyed the entire Universe (!) but based of the occurrence rate of planets in our local part of the cosmos, we can try to carefully extrapolate the total. In Part 1 of this mini-series, we focus on our galaxy, the Milky Way and explain why even here there is a great deal of uncertainty.::More about this Video::► Cassan et al. (2012), "One or more bound planets per Milky Way star from microlensing observations": https://arxiv.org/abs/1202.0903► Sumi et a...

For 72 hours, enjoy 15% OFF on all Hoverpens with code COOLWORLDS, or click on the link https://noviumdesign.shop/CoolWorlds - Free shipping to most countries. Also on Amazon: https://noviumdesign.shop/1HrMzsWhat is the most realistic way we'll detect an alien civilization? If the history of science and astronomy is any guide, there is a clear answer: The Eschatian Hypothesis.Written & presented by David Kipping→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support→ Get merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/cool-worlds→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcastTHANK...

Exciting new research from the Cool Worlds Lab has delved into the use of machine learning and artificial neural networks for astronomy. In new work from David Kipping & Chris Lam here at Columbia, we've shown how a machine can predict the presence of extra planets in known planetary systems using just a few pieces of information about the system. Chris Lam gives a neural network 101 and explains our implementation works.::More about this Video::► Kipping & Lam 2016, "Transit Clairvoyance: Enhancing TESS follow-up using artificial neural networks": https://arxiv.org/abs/1611.04904► Tamayo et al. (2016), "A Machine Lear...

NSF Graduate Fellow Alex Teachey of the Cool Worlds Lab explains our new paper which devises a method to cloak entire planets from extraterrestrial civilizations! This was a really fun little paper which started out from the idea of how to broadcast or signal our presence, but as we worked on it we realized it could also be used a cloaking device too. As always, ask us your questions in the comments below and we'll get back to you!::More about this Video::► Kipping & Teachey (2016): "A Cloaking Device for Transiting Planets" http://arxiv.org/abs/1603.08928<br...

Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.Today we discuss how three emerging technologies are poised to transform space telescopes forever.Written & presented by David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas.→ 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. Daniel...

Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.How do wormholes work? Are they actually possible? How could we make one? Join us today for a deep dive into the wormhole...Written & presented by David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas→ 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 M. Howard, M. Metts, M. Provost, S. Shardool, M. Bueche, M. Williams, M. Morrow, R. Borbid...

One branch of statistics, called Bayesian statistics, is becoming increasingly important in detecting new planets. Emily Sandford, a second-year graduate student with the Cool Worlds Lab at Columbia, explains our new paper and the concept of Bayesian priors, hopefully providing astronomers the tools we need to analyze new discoveries!::More about this Video::► Kipping & Sandford (2016), "Observational biases for transiting planets": http://arxiv.org/abs/1603.05662► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk::Playlists For Channel::Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorldsCool W...

An amazing experience I had to share with you all...Written & presented by David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas→ 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 M. Daniluk, M. Cartmell, E. Garland, M. Saint, M. Nimmerjahn, M. Daughaday, M. Morrow, M. Herman, M. Vystoropskyi, R. Borbidge, M. Williams, M. Lee, M. Edris, W. Ruf, M. Larter, M. Stewart, M. Schreiner, M. Schiff, M. Morrison, M. Brownlee, M. Canning, M. Smith, M. Borisoff, M. Huch...

Answers to your questions on our recent Earth Twins (https://youtu.be/1eJnZncyAyM) and Exomoons (https://youtu.be/S3VQ0PdoR3M) videos. Sorry for the poor sound on this one, new camera setup caused some issues but should be fixed next time!::More about this Video::► "Where are the Exomoons?" Cool Worlds video: https://youtu.be/S3VQ0PdoR3M► "How Unique is the Earth?" Cool Worlds video: https://youtu.be/1eJnZncyAyM► Kipping et al. (2015), "The Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler (HEK): V. A Survey of 41 Planetary Candidates for Exomoons": http://arxiv.org/ab...

For 72 hours, enjoy 15% OFF on all Hoverpens with code COOLWORLDS, or click on the link https://noviumdesign.shop/CoolWorlds - Free shipping to most countries. Also on Amazon: https://noviumdesign.shop/1HrMzsWe've all the heard headlines of scientists claiming evidence of alien life, but time and time again it turns up bust. Why does this keep happening? And will we ever be able to break out of this cycle? Our new research paper tackles this profound question, and outlines a possible way out...Written & presented by David Kipping→ Support our research: https://ww...

We recently announced the discovery of the first Jupiter-like planet seen to transit its star. Thanks to all of you who watched our last video (link below!). There were some great questions posted in the comments and elsewhere, so in this video the discovered, Prof Kipping, answers your questions directly!::More about this Video::► Our video announcing the discovery of Kepler-167e: https://youtu.be/ZTKVC2zBElA► Kipping et al. (2016), "A Transiting Jupiter Analog": https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.00042► Centauri Dreams blog article: http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=35135► Bryan et al. (2016), "Statistics of Long Per...

Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.Head to an exoplanet seminar or conference and you'll constantly hear astronomers talking about "the Cosmic Shoreline". But - what the heck is that? Why is it so important? And why is JWST dedicating a huge amount of telescope time to studying it?Written & presented by David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support→ Get merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/cool-worlds→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWo...

As regular watchers of the channel may remember, this summer astronomers announced the discovery of a potentially Earth-like planet orbiting our nearest star, Proxima Centauri. Sadly, research at the Cool Worlds Lab was unable to find any evidence that Proxima b transits its star, which is a blow for those hoping for near-term characterization of its atmosphere. But! Dr Jayne Birkby comes to the rescue and explains here how an alternative technique should work if we can wait a few years! Thanks to Jayne for visiting the lab and giving us all some hope for Proxima!::More...