Episode list

Launch Pad Astronomy

The Solar Gravitational Lens will Map Exoplanets. Seriously.
Slava Turyshev and his team have developed a plan to use our sun as a gravitational lens to view the surfaces of exoplanets and determine the composition of their atmospheres and NASA is taking it very seriously. In about thirty five years they think it will be possible to resolve the surface of exoplanets to 25 km per pixel.
0 /10
Oumuamua's mystery is finally solved!
Astronomers think they have narrowed down what the interstellar object Oumuamua is. Based on its behavior as it interacted with the Sun it is probably a fragment of nitrogen ice ejected from its home stellar system. Such fragments are thought to be common as a result of collisions and interactions with giant planets in the outer reaches of stellar systems such as the Sun's Oort Cloud.
0 /10
Rare Double Quasars Found in the Early Universe
A team of astronomers lead by Yue Shen have developed an arduous but successful method for locating extremely rare double quasars which are indicative of galaxy mergers in the early universe. Their process started with sky surveys to identify candidate quasars, screening the candidates by looking for telltale flickers then observing the best candidates with the world's most powerful telescopes to resolve the pairs of objects.
0 /10
How James Webb's Instruments Work - and What They'll Show Us!
If launching a massive telescope that orbits a Lagrange point and operates near absolute zero is a technological marvel, then the capabilities of the instruments on board are mind boggling. Here is an explanation of the James Webb telescope's four instrument including how they work and what they will see.
0 /10

Edit Focus

The Dream of Shahrazad

The Dream of Shahrazad

THE DREAM OF SHAHRAZAD is a feature-length documentary film that brings together the famous story collection THE 1001 (or "ARABIAN") NIGHTS with recent political events in Egypt, Turkey and Lebanon... Description The "Arab Spring" of early 2011 was a momentous global event, raising great hopes for anyone interested in the forward march of humanity. No one, however, is yet sure about the meaning or consequences of these events... THE DREAM OF SHAHRAZAD is a feature-length documentary film which locates the Egyptian revolution - and also recent political changes in Turkey and Lebanon - within a broader historical and cultural framework: that of storytelling and music. More particularly, it looks at the legacy of the famous collection of stories known as THE 1001 (or "ARABIAN") NIGHTS. Weaving together a web of music, politics and storytelling, the film follows a series of unforgettable characters, all of whom draw their inspiration from the NIGHTS and whom, like Shahrazad - the storytelling princess in the NIGHTS who saves lives by telling stories - puts creativity to new political use... A young female Turkish violinist travels to Istanbul, where a charismatic conductor uses Rimsky-Korsakov's SCHEHERAZADE suite as a tool for political education, leading up to a final performance at Istanbul's Topkapi Palace. A young Lebanese woman makes peace with her past by learning the art of storytelling in Egypt. An older visual artist who is obsessed with THE NIGHTS finds his "dream of Shahrazad" manifesting through the appearance of a beautiful young storyteller. Members of a Cairo theatre troupe meet with the mothers of martyrs of the January 25 Revolution and turn their testimonies into new storytelling performances... This richly kaleidoscopic film is at once observational documentary, concert film, political essay and visual translation of an ever-popular symphonic and literary classic. It is a documentary homage to THE NIGHTS, to the SCHEHERAZADE suite, and to the role of a rich historical and creative legacy within huge current political change.

All Filters