The Hunt for Dark Energy with Jason Rhodes
Summary
Neil deGrasse Tyson and Paul Mercurio welcome Jason Rhodes to discuss the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Rhodes explains how Roman will probe dark energy using supernovae, galaxy clustering, and weak gravitational lensing from the L2 Lagrange point. The episode also covers Roman’s coronagraph for direct exoplanet imaging and its microlensing survey to detect rogue planets. Finally, the hosts touch on the Hubble tension and the complementary role of the Euclid mission.
Topics discussed
Rosetta Stone sponsorship and language learning features
StarTalk intro and guest Jason Dittmann joins
Naming the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
Lagrangian points and comparison with Hubble and Webb
Impact of satellite constellations on astronomy
Defining dark energy and the accelerating universe
The Hubble tension and evolving dark energy models
Roman's wide-field instrument and data archive
Coronagraph technology and exoplanet detection
Microlensing and finding rogue planets
Confirming microlensing planets and telescope history
Infrared capabilities and single-photon detectors
Euclid mission comparison and cross-checking data
Conclusion, resources, and final ads
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