Topic
Astrophysics
Episodes and research papers from From First Principles that help explain Astrophysics from the ground up.
Episodes
Conversations and explainers connected to Astrophysics.
Dr. Michael Blanton on Open Data, Galaxy Surveys, and the Future of Astronomy
Dr. Michael Blanton joins us to talk SDSS, open data, Rubin, Carnegie, and the mystery of why the universe’s biggest galaxies stop forming stars.
How Scientists Actually Study Dark Matter
A first principles interview with astrophysicist Dan Gilman on what dark matter is, why strong gravitational lensing matters, and how the next generation of surveys could reveal the universe’s hidden structure.
Can We Stop an Asteroid? The Physics Behind NASA’s DART Mission
How NASA’s DART mission proved we can nudge an asteroid—and maybe save Earth.
Dark Galaxies, Fuzzy Dark Matter, and an Alzheimer’s Breakthrough
A candidate “dark galaxy”, plus the exercise may protect against Alzheimer’s.
New Supernova, Virus+Bacteria vs Cancer, Electron Spin, Bee Superfood
Supernova, cancer microbes, spintronics, and bee superfood.
Research
Papers and studies featured by the show.
Little red dots as young supermassive black holes in dense ionized cocoons
Imagine you see a blurry, red light in a thick fog. You might guess it's a giant bonfire. But what if it's actually a much smaller, intensely bright spotlight, and the fog is just scattering its light, making it look bigger and fuzzier? Scientists using the James Webb Space Telescope found these 'little red dots' in the early universe. At first, they looked like evidence for already-massive black holes. This study proposes they are actually smaller, 'toddler' black holes furiously eating gas inside a super-dense cocoon of cosmic fog. This fog not only makes their light look 'blurry' but also hides them from X-ray and radio telescopes, explaining why they've been so hard to find until now.