The Light Reveals Everything with Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi SEASON 6 PREMIERE

What can we learn from a beam of light? How much dark matter is there in our solar system? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Alice Liu welcome astrophysicist, inventor, educator, and CEO of The Astro Society, Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi, PhD in the first episode of our 6th season. The Astro Society, aka The Astronomical Society of the Pacific, is the oldest astronomical professional society in the U.S., founded in 1889 after a total solar eclipse seen on the West Coast. They’re the organization behind the Night Sky Network, funded by NASA. As always, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing: a possible dark matter particle detection by the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment at the Sanford Underground Research Facility underground in South Dakota. Dr. Oluseyi explains the event itself, how particle astrophysics works, and why the jury is still out on whether it was an actual discovery of dark matter or not. Our first audience question comes from John: “How much dark matter in the solar system is there?” According to Hakeem, it depends on which model you use: WIMP or MACHO. In a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle model, the mass of dark matter in the solar system would be about one millionth the mass of the Earth. When Chuck asks how something that small can have such an impact, Dr. Oluseyi references the enormity of the galaxy, and the fact that the dark matter halo surrounding it is 10 times bigger than that! Our next question is from Kari, who asks, “What's the difference between bright energy and dark energy?” Hakeem explains that the “dark” in dark energy refers to our lack of knowledge, which is different than the use of dark in “dark matter” because it doesn’t interact with light. He’s more effusive about light and what it can tell us about anything that interacts with it. Next, Dr. Oluseyi talks about his experiences building space telescopes, like the Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array (MSSTA) designed to observe the Sun in ultraviolet and soft x-rays. He also shares some very expensive mistakes made by grad students who went on to have successful careers. After our break, Alice has another audience question. Stephanie asks, “If the Sun's just a ball of gas in space, why hasn't it just evaporated into space yet?” According to Hakeem, that is a brilliant question, and the answer is that it has been, from day one. He says the sun is leaking mass via the solar wind, although it’s not exactly the same process as evaporation. But the sun is so massive, that even this constant loss hasn’t made a dent in it’s size. Moving on, Chuck asks Hakeem how he got into science. His surprising, heartwarming story of “Hope, Hustle, and Help” takes us from Mississippi and the 9th Ward in Houston in the Seventies to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and NASA. We end with Hakeem recounting the story of how he was asked to lead the investigation into whether NASA Administrator James E. Webb was involved with or culpable in the mistreatment of members of the NASA community. The findings: Webb was not only not culpable, but had actually acted to protect gay people and others in government service, as well as working against racism. If you’d like to know more about Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi, you can visit theastrosociety.org website, their YouTube channel, AstroBeatShow, or catch him on his NOVA podcast, “Particles of Thought,” and the “Does It Fly” podcast from Rodenberry Podcasts with Tamara Krinsky. We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon.   Image Credits: - The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment. – All Images Credit: Sanford Underground Research Facility. - The Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array (MSSTA). – Credit: NASA - MSSTA payload on Sounding rocket 36.049, White Sands Missile Range, May 1991. – Credit: NASA - Visualization of space weather in the solar system in 2015 as the New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto. – Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio, the Space Weather Research Center (SWRC) and the Community-Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC), Enlil and Dusan Odstrcil (GMU) - James E. Webb. – Credit: NASA - NASA Administrator James Webb tours the new Plum Brook Reactor Facility in Dec. 1961 with Abe Silverstein, Director of the Lewis Research Center. – Credit: NASA   CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome to Season 6 of The LIUniverse 01:25 Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi Describes The Astro Society, Founded in 1889 03:46 Possible Dark Matter Detection - Joyfully Cool Cosmic Thing 10:46 How Much Dark Matter Is There in the Solar System? 15:32 What's the Difference Between Bright Energy and Dark Energy? 18:12 What Matters Most When Building Solar Telescopes? 28:27 If the Sun Is a Ball of Gas, Why Hasn't It Evaporated? 31:36 Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi’s Journey of Hope, Hustle, and Help 35:52 The Investigation of NASA Administrator James Webb