John Dailey explains how he uses his software engineering skills to discover asteroids at IPAC/Caltech. He helps solve problems inherent to working with astronomical data, such as the challenge of reading in and out huge volumes of data from hard drives.

Dr. Ingrid Daubar stops by to talk about HiRISE, a camera on a Mars-orbiting spacecraft that takes amazing images of the Martian surface. She explains how she uses these images to search for fresh craters, and how you (yes you!) suggest areas of the planet for this camera to image. (Correction to episode: Mars’ atmosphere is 0.6% that of  Earth, not 6%)

Marta Bryan shares her new results on exoplanets! She explains how she tested a theory of hot jupiter formation, and how she figured out that planet rotation rates are likely set early on in the planet’s lifetime.

Dr. Rahul Patel describes his search for undiscovered disks of dust around other stars. He explains how looking for fainter and fainter debris disks may bring us closer to discovering a planetary system similar to our own.

Dr. Ivy Curren talks about Mars’ moon Phobos, and how grooves on its surface indicate that the interior may be fractured. This small, mysterious moon is covered in faults, making it a dicey place for future missions to land.