Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures
Listen to exciting, non-technical talks on some of the most interesting developments in astronomy and space science. Founded in 1999, the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures are presented on six Wednesday evenings during each school year at Foothill College, in the heart of California's Silicon Valley. Speakers include a wide range of noted scientists, explaining astronomical developments in everyday language. The series is organized and moderated by Foothill's astronomy instructor emeritus Andrew Fraknoi and jointly sponsored by the Foothill College Physical Science, Math, and Engineering Division, the SETI Institute, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and the University of California Observatories (including the Lick Observatory.)
Podcasting since 2021 • 59 episodes
Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures
Latest Episodes
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 immensely ancient world in our asteroid belt: A metallic object, ...
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Season 26
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Episode 5
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1:16:09
Pictures of Distant Worlds
A nontechnical talk by Dr. Bruce Macintosh (University of California Observatories)Mar. 11, 2026In the past three decades, more than 6000 planets have been discovered orbiting other stars. Advances in technology have allowed...
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Season 26
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Episode 4
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1:02:55
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 expansion is not slowing down, as expected, but speeding up. Thi...
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Season 26
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Episode 3
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1:11:39
The Search for Life on Saturn’s Intriguing Moon Enceladus
Dr. Alfonso Davila (NASA Ames Research Center)Nov. 24, 2025In 2005, NASA's Cassini spacecraft made a groundbreaking discovery—it found massive plumes of ice and gas erupting from the south pole of Enceladus, a small but geological...
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Season 26
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Episode 2
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1:14:09
The Amazing Vera Rubin Observatory and Its Movie of the Sky
A Nontechnical talk by Dr. Steven Kahn (University of California, Berkeley)Oct. 8, 2025The amazing Vera Rubin Observatory is a unique astronomy facility just built in Chile, with the largest digital camera in the world, designed t...
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Season 26
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Episode 1
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1:26:05