Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures

Why Do We Exist: The Nine Realms of the Universe that Make You Possible

May 20, 2026 Dr, Hakeem Oluseyi (CEO, Astronomical Society of the Pacific) n his new book, Why Do We Exist, Dr. Oluseyi suggests that the story of our existence can be

The NASA Psyche mission: First Journey to an Unknown World

Dr. Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, Apr. 8, 2026. The NASA Psyche mission is on its way to orbit a small but i

Pictures of Distant Worlds

A nontechnical talk by Dr. Bruce Macintosh (University of California Observatories) Mar. 11, 2026 In the past three decades, more than 6000 planets have been discovered

Dark Energy in the Universe and the Largest Telescope Ever

A nontechnical talk by Dr. Robert Kirshner, Jan 28, 2026. One hundred years ago, Edwin Hubble showed that the universe is expanding. In the 1990s, astronomers found that

The Search for Life on Saturn’s Intriguing Moon Enceladus

Dr. Alfonso Davila (NASA Ames Research Center) Nov. 24, 2025 In 2005, NASA's Cassini spacecraft made a groundbreaking discovery—it found massive plumes of ice and

The Amazing Vera Rubin Observatory and Its Movie of the Sky

A Nontechnical talk by Dr. Steven Kahn (University of California, Berkeley) Oct. 8, 2025 The amazing Vera Rubin Observatory is a unique astronomy facility just built in

Science at the Edge of the Solar System

A Talk by Dr. Oliver White (SETI Institute) May 28, 2025 Ten years ago, the New Horizons spacecraft flew by the Pluto system and revealed an unexpectedly diverse range

New Worlds: Analyzing the Atmospheres of Exoplanets with the James Webb Space Telescope

Non-technical Talk by Prof. Jonathan Fortney (U. of California, Santa Cruz)  Apr. 9, 2025 Over 6000 planets have now been found around other stars, but we only have info

Copernicus 4.0: How the Views of Earth's Importance and the Search for Life are Changing

 Mar. 5, 2025  Dr. Simon Steel (SETI Institute) Dr. Steel discusses the Copernican revolution and how it changed humanity's view of its place in the universe. He t

Human-Robotic Exploration from the Moon to Mars

Jan. 29, 2025 Dr. Darlene Lim (NASA Ames Research Center) NASA's Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) is a planned mission to go to the South Pol

Observing with the James Webb Space Telescope: Glimpsing the First Stars

Nov. 13, 2024 Dr. Dan Coe (Space Telescope Science Institute) The Webb Telescope was designed to look back in time, to study the first generation of stars, and reveal ou

Profound and Staggering: The Impact on Religion of the Discovery of Life around Other Stars

Recorded Oct. 9, 2024 Astronomers have now discovered thousands of planets in orbit around other stars. Dr. Weintraub discusses those discoveries, and predicts the progre

The Copernicus Complex: Are We Special in the Cosmos

With Prof. Caleb Scharf (Columbia University) Is humanity on Earth special or unexceptional?  Extraordinary discoveries in astronomy and biology have revealed a universe

Black Widow Pulsars: The Vengeful Corpses of Stars

With Dr. Roger Romani (Stanford University): NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has revealed a violent high-energy universe full of stellar explosions, black hol

Europa Clipper: Exploring Jupiter's Ocean World

Presenter is the Project Scientist, Dr. Robert Pappalardo (JPL) May 22, 2024 Jupiter's moon Europa may be a habitable world, containing the “ingredients” necessary

The Allure of the Multiverse (with Dr. Paul Halpern)

Apr. 17, 2024 In this talk, physicist and popular author Paul Halpern (St. Joseph's College) examines the history of the concept of a multiverse in science, and disc

The Black Hole Wars: My Battle with Stephen Hawking

With Dr. Leonard Susskind (Stanford University) Black holes, the collapsed remnants of the largest stars, provide a remarkable laboratory where the frontier concepts of o

Black Holes and the Technology to Find Them

A Non-technical Talk by Dr. Jessica Lu (University of California, Berkeley) on March 13, 2024 The population of black holes, objects left over from dead stars,  is almos

Exploring the Gravitational Wave Universe

Speaker: Dr. Brian Lantz (Stanford University) Feb. 7, 2024 Measuring gravitational waves is a revolutionary new way to do astronomy.  They were predicted by Einstein, bu

Water Above, Water Below: The Many Roles of Water in Making Planets Habitable

Dr. Laura Schaefer (Stanford University): Water is everywhere. Its atoms, hydrogen and oxygen, are the first and fifth most abundant elements in the universe. Water is fo