Welcome to the StarXiv! A monthly podcast that delves into the latest astronomy papers & results from the arXiv.
Hosted by Michelle, Payel, and Nicole.



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Episode 44 – asteroid impacts, chemical evolution and quasi-stars
In this week’s episode, Michelle and NEWLY MINTED PhD, Dr Nicole, discuss papers including predictions for 10-metre plus asteroid impact rates on Earth and other planets, the abundance of life-critical Phosphorus in Galactic stars, age dating giants with the carbon-to-Nitrogen ratio and whether quasi-stars can explain the properties of little red dots! Tune in below,…
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Episode 43 – early dark energy, the fate of Venusian moons, and the power of forbidden lines
In this episode, Michelle and Payel discuss whether early dark energy impacts large-scale structures and explore the possibility of Venus having a moon. They review papers on forbidden line emissions and galaxy evolution, including studies on extremely metal-poor galaxies. Listen on various platforms.
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Episode 40 – globular clusters, extended disks, high redshift galaxies and aliens!
In this episode, Michelle and Payel explore the search for extra-terrestrial life, mechanisms for light element variations in globular clusters, characteristics of a typical galaxy at z>10, and Andromeda’s extended stellar disc origin.

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Episode 39 – data-driven stellar population studies, multi-scale AGN feedback, and solar flare ribbons
In this episode, Payel and Nicole discuss machine learning methods to to transform composite galaxy spectra and determine key features of galaxy evolution. They also examine new observations of the Centarus cluster with JWST, closing the loop on AGN feedback across multiple radial scales. Finally, they discuss new solar observations that shed new light on…

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Episode 38 – merging galaxies, exploding stars and the beauty of individual galaxies
In this episode, Michelle and Nicole explore machine learning techniques for classifying merging galaxies and supernovae. They discuss planetary engulfment’s role in unusual chemical signatures in binary systems and analyse MUSE data of a spiral galaxy.

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Episode 37 – Lunar craters, primordial black holes & growing galaxies
In this episode, Michelle and Payel talk about the asymmetry in the number of craters across the moon, using microlensing to find primordial black holes, tracing the growth of disk galaxies since z~1, and using machine learning to detect group galaxies merging with massive clusters. Listen below, on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get…

The Hosts
Payel Das & Michelle Collins are astronomers at the University of Surrey. They love research, but struggle to find time to read a lot of papers. They’re hoping this podcast fixes that. Nicole Buckley is a PhD student at the University of Surrey. She loves reading papers!
Keep in touch
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