IRrelevant Astronomy is a web series produced by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Each episode explains a general science concept or reveals science news relevant to Spitzer. The "IR" in the title stands for "infrared", making the title refer to "infrared-relevant astronomy." [1] The first episode launched on January 15, 2008, on the Spitzer Space Telescope website. [2]
Tim Pyle - director/co-creator/writer/animator/music composer/producer (2008–present) - Tim worked for 10 years as an animator in the visual effects industry, including on the cult-favorite Invader Zim. Other projects include the Academy Award-nominated Jimmy Neutron, Emmy-nominated series Starship Troopers: the Series, and the Emmy-winning Children of Dune. He has personally won two Aegis Awards, a Telly Award, a CINE Golden Eagle, and 2006 & 2008 NASA awards for producing CG animation. He was the writer and director of Decaying Orbit, a sci-fi DVD feature.
Kenneth Kolb - producer (2009–present) - Kenneth worked 10 years with the Walt Disney Company including Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, and as a coordinator for the Disney Channel. He has worked as the CFO of the Kendrea International Corporation for the past five years, produced several indie short films, and also currently works as a producer for Hogofilm, where he assisted with the production of the feature film Decaying Orbit. He began co-producing IRrelevant Astronomy starting with the episodes released in April 2009.
Dr. Carolyn Brinkworth - science writer (2013–present) - Carolyn is a professional astronomer and educator. She graduated from the University of Southampton (U.K.) with her PhD in astrophysics in 2005, and moved to Caltech, where she now works as the Education and Outreach Scientist for a number of NASA missions. She has been involved in education and public outreach for 15 years, since working at the U.K.‘s National Space Center in Leicester as an undergraduate, and is now studying for her MA in education from Claremont Graduate University. In her spare time, Carolyn volunteers with The Trevor Project.
Jim Keller - co-creator/writer/producer (2008-2009, 2013) - Jim is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, AFTRA, and the Actors' Equity Association, having appeared in shows like Days of our Lives and Melrose Place. [3] His work on NASA's Ask an Astronomer video podcast series has won a Silver Telly Award, a Bronze Telly Award, an Aegis Award, and two Aegis Finalists. [4] Additional awards include an Aegis Award and a CINE Golden Eagle.
Austin Wintory - music composer (2008-2009) - Austin is a music composer for film, TV, and video games. He composed the score for Captain Abu Raed, a multiple award-winning film including the World Cinema Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008. [5] The film has been submitted by the Kingdom of Jordan for a 2009 Foreign Language Oscar. [6] Austin also composed the score to Sony's Flow video game and expansion packs for the Sony PlayStation 3 & PSP, which earned strong reviews for the quality of music. [7] [8]
Ask an Astronomer: (25 episodes) Videos explaining basic and complex astronomy concepts in a simple way. Some episodes feature Dr. Michelle Thaller.
Ask an Astronomy Brain Parasite: (1 episode) Deep inside an astronomer's head, a parasite taps into his brain to learn about science.
Astronomy Anemone: (1 episode) A giant, surly man-eating sea anemone hosts an astronomy-themed talk show.
The Musical: (2 episodes) Mini-musicals, using song to teach astronomy concepts.
Behind the Scenes: (2 episodes) A mock behind-the-scenes look at the production of an educational video.
Part Two: (1 episode) A spoof of old action TV shows. The bulk of the episode shows scenes from a fictitious first episode that never existed, followed by a quick conclusion that appears to wrap everything up neatly.
Psych Out: (1 episode) A short about an astronomer visiting a therapist and taking a Rorschach-type inkblot test using images from the Spitzer Space Telescope.
Robot Astronomy Talk Show: (11 episodes) A series about robots who want to rule the Universe, while producing a talk show featuring interviews with celebrities and astronomers.
Dub'ya: (1 episode) An old movie is edited down and re-dubbed with dialogue about current Spitzer Space Telescope science.
Spaceship Spitzer: (3 episodes) Spitzer astronomer Dr. Michelle Thaller travels with a robot pilot in a spaceship based on the design of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Integrating live action and CG animation, there are currently two episodes: "Enemy Mine" and "The Slowlian Web."
M51 & Gizmo: (1 episode) Innocent alien M51 accidentally unleashes havoc on the planet Earth, and learns about how life exists in the Universe.
Skinfrared: (2 episodes) A series of direct educational narratives about infrared as it relates to the human body. Originally screened as part of the 2007 "Skin Festival" in Pasadena, CA. [9]
Fusion vs. Fission: (1 episode) Spoofing GLaDOS from the videogame series Portal, a description of nuclear fusion in the Sun.
| # | Title | Director | Writer | Release Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Skinfrared #1" | Tim Pyle | Robert Hurt & Tim Pyle | January 15, 2008 | |
| What is infrared light? The Skinfrared series contrasts the world around us in both visible and infrared light, giving the viewer a perspective on how infrared observatories like the Spitzer Space Telescope view the Universe. | |||||
| 2 | "Spaceship Spitzer: Enemy Mine" | Tim Pyle | Tim Pyle & Michelle Thaller | January 17, 2008 | |
| While in battle around the super-massive black hole at the center of the galaxy, Dr. Michelle Thaller teaches Irwin (IR-1) the science behind these giant singularities. | |||||
| 3 | "Skinfrared #2: Water and Ice" | Tim Pyle | Robert Hurt & Tim Pyle | February 8, 2008 | |
| Viewing liquids in extreme temperatures in both visible and infrared light, this episode of the Skinfrared series gives viewers a perspective on how infrared observatories like the Spitzer Space Telescope view the Universe. | |||||
| 4 | "RATS: Asteroids" | Tim Pyle | Jim Keller & Tim Pyle | March 4, 2008 | |
| Will an asteroid strike the Earth and wipe out all life as we know it? IR-2 and his robotic crew make random phone calls to find out. | |||||
| 5 | "RATS: Water in the Universe" | Tim Pyle | Jim Keller & Tim Pyle | March 13, 2008 | |
| Astronomers have discovered huge amounts of water around baby stars; IR-2 and his crew plan to make use of it. | |||||
| 6 | "Dub'ya: Mountie Martin and the Space Diamonds" | Tim Pyle | Tim Pyle | April 21, 2008 | |
| Are tiny diamonds really common in the Universe? Join the intrepid Mountie Martin as he endeavors to find out, while on the trail of the sinister Sammy the Smuggler! | |||||
| 7 | "RATS: Baby Stars" | Tim Pyle | Jim Keller & Tim Pyle | May 16, 2008 | |
| Where do stars come from? IR-2 analyzes recent Spitzer imagery to find out, while an imposing Ratings-bot oversees the broadcast. | |||||
| 8 | "RATS: Omega Centauri" | Tim Pyle | Jim Keller & Tim Pyle | July 2, 2008 | |
| While the robots are away, a sad and lonely man calls in with a beautiful image of the Omega Centauri globular cluster. | |||||
| 9 | "RATS: The Building Blocks of Life" | Tim Pyle | Jim Keller & Tim Pyle | July 21, 2008 | |
| IR-2 and his crew learn about PAHs, which may be the building of all life in the Universe, and decide to put them to good use. | |||||
| 10 | "Psych Out" | Tim Pyle | Jim Keller & Tim Pyle | August 25, 2008 | |
| Does the Helix Nebula look like a human eye? Why do we think we see well-known objects in nebulous images from space? An astronomer and his therapist clash over the issue in this comedic but educational animated short. | |||||
| 11 | "RATS: Sculpting with Stars" | Tim Pyle | Jim Keller & Tim Pyle | October 22, 2008 | |
| IR-2 opens diplomatic relations with the Earth, as a first step toward ruling over all humans on the planet. | |||||
| 12 | "Spaceship Spitzer: The Slowlian Web" | Tim Pyle | Tim Pyle & Michelle Thaller | November 25, 2008 | |
| During a tense face-off with a sinister (but extremely slow-moving) alien race, Dr. Michelle Thaller shows Irwin (IR-1) how scientists can determine what exrasolar planets are made of, even when the planets are too far away to see. | |||||
| 13 | "M51 & Gizmo: Half-Baked Plan" | Tim Pyle | Jim Keller & Tim Pyle | January 23, 2009 | |
| Hoping for his birthday to come around sooner, innocent alien M51 moves the Earth into a closer, faster orbit around the Sun, and learns an important lesson life in the Universe. | |||||
| 14 | "RATS: Twin Brown Dwarfs" | Tim Pyle | Jim Keller & Tim Pyle | March 11, 2009 | |
| While the trapped in an interdimensional portal between two brown dwarfs, IR-2 and the robot encounter their evil twins from an alternate universe. | |||||
| 15 | "RATS: Gravity and the Great Attractor" | Tim Pyle | Jim Keller & Tim Pyle | April 23, 2009 | |
| George Takei, Mark Hamill, and Ed Wasser, provide voices as IR-2 and the robot crew take a look at the Great Attractor, a massive hidden object that is pulling in every nearby galaxy in the local Universe (including our own). | |||||
| 16 | "Part Two: The Warm Mission" | Tim Pyle | Tim Pyle | June 22, 2009 | |
| In this spoof of old TV action shows, Sean Astin, Osa Wallander, and Betty White search for a way to help the Spitzer Space Telescope after it runs out of coolant. | |||||
| 17 | "RATS: Back in Time" | Tim Pyle | Jim Keller & Tim Pyle | August 24, 2009 | |
| Linda Hamilton attempts to foil the robots' plans of Universal conquest; meanwhile, Dean Stockwell explains the concept of "looking back in time" at objects in space, and how it helps astronomers understand how the Universe has evolved. Starring Ed Wasser as the voice of IR-2. | |||||
| 18 | "Behind the Scenes: When Galaxies Collide" | Tim Pyle | Tim Pyle | October 26, 2009 | |
| Felicia Day explains some of the science behind galactic "collisions", including the upcoming collision between the galaxy Andromeda and our own galaxy, in this mock behind-the-scenes look at the making of an educational video. Sean Astin also stars. | |||||
| 19 | "Spitzer Space Telescope: The Musical" | Tim Pyle | Jim Keller, Tim Pyle, Danny Tieger | March 9, 2010 | |
| A singing NASA supervisor uses song to explain about NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, and how infrared astronomy differs from visible-light telescopes like Hubble. Featuring an original song performed by Danny Tieger. | |||||
| 20 | "Spaceship Spitzer: Bots of Both Worlds" | Tim Pyle | Tim Pyle | May 25, 2010 | |
| Amy Okuda flies to Saturn to observe a new giant ring around the planet: the largest ring ever discovered in our Solar System, but one that was only recently revealed through infrared observations by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in 2009. While there, she and Irwin (voiced by Wil Wheaton) encounter an old enemy, and must defeat their sinister plot. Ed Wasser also stars. | |||||
| 21 | "Behind the Scenes: Dead Stars" | Tim Pyle | Jim Keller & Tim Pyle | August 10, 2010 | |
| Actor Sean Astin is hired by a bullying educational film Director and her Flunky #2 sidekick to explain about the life and death of stars. But when things go wrong on the set, actor Sandeep Parikh is hired to replace Sean...only to have things take a bizarre twist. | |||||
| 22 | "RATS: Destroyer of Worlds" | Tim Pyle | Jim Keller & Tim Pyle | November 27, 2010 | |
| Robot IR-2 (Ed Wasser) meets The Physician (Wil Wheaton), an intergalactic buttinsky in a small blue box spaceship. Together, they work to escape "The Destroyer of Worlds", a binary star system that is destroying its inner planets. With: Brigitte Dale | |||||
| 23 | "Astronomy Anemone" | Tim Pyle | Kenneth Kolb & Tim Pyle | February 15, 2011 | |
| Veronica Belmont co-hosts a space-themed talk show with Astronomy Anemone, a carnivorous man-eating sea polyp. WARNING: Contains scenes of cartoon violence and scientific jargon. | |||||
| 24 | "Big Bang: The Musical" | Tim Pyle | Tim Pyle, Danny Tieger | March 18, 2011 | |
| Did you know radiation from the Big Bang can be seen on any analogue TV set? In this mini-musical, a young couple (Brigitte Dale, Marc Helou) discusses the real science behind this, while arguing over what to watch on TV. Original song written & performed by Danny Tieger. | |||||
| 25 | "RATS In Progress: The Mass of Asteroids" | Tim Pyle | Jim Keller & Tim Pyle | February 26, 2013 | |
| Cameron Diaz teaches Robot IR-2 how astronomers can measure the mass of asteroids from tremendous distances. | |||||
| 26 | "Ask an Astronomy Brain Parasite" | Tim Pyle | Tim Pyle | July 16, 2013 | |
| Deep inside an astronomer's head, a parasite (voiced by Alan Tudyk) taps into his brain to learn about...science! Specifically, about why astronauts appear weightless in space. Featuring Wil Wheaton. | |||||
| 27 | "Fusion vs. Fission" | Tim Pyle | Tim Pyle | February 12, 2014 | |
| When a science-mad A.I. system is installed at NASA, two hapless computer technicians (Casey McKinnon, Mike Romo) learn the process behind nuclear fusion in the Sun, and how it differs from fission. Starring Ellen McLain as the voice of NOTGLaDOS. | |||||
On October 19, 2008, IRrelevant Astronomy was nominated for "Best Technology/Science Podcast" at the 2008 Podcast Awards. It was one of 10 finalists in this category following a nomination process that included 281,000 votes. [10] In October 2009, the IRrelevant Astronomy episode "Psych Out" was an official selection at the 2nd annual Imagine Science Film Festival. The IRrelevant Astronomy episode "M51 & Gizmo" has previously won multiple awards including an Aegis Award, CINE Golden Eagle, and winning a "Best of Festival" award at the Kids First Film Festival.
A space telescope or space observatory is a telescope in outer space used to observe astronomical objects. Suggested by Lyman Spitzer in 1946, the first operational telescopes were the American Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, OAO-2 launched in 1968, and the Soviet Orion 1 ultraviolet telescope aboard space station Salyut 1 in 1971. Space telescopes avoid several problems caused by the atmosphere, including the absorption or scattering of certain wavelengths of light, obstruction by clouds, and distortions due to atmospheric refraction such as twinkling. Space telescopes can also observe dim objects during the daytime, and they avoid light pollution which ground-based observatories encounter. They are divided into two types: Satellites which map the entire sky, and satellites which focus on selected astronomical objects or parts of the sky and beyond. Space telescopes are distinct from Earth imaging satellites, which point toward Earth for satellite imaging, applied for weather analysis, espionage, and other types of information gathering.
Infrared astronomy is a sub-discipline of astronomy which specializes in the observation and analysis of astronomical objects using infrared (IR) radiation. The wavelength of infrared light ranges from 0.75 to 300 micrometers, and falls in between visible radiation, which ranges from 380 to 750 nanometers, and submillimeter waves.
The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) was the first space telescope to perform a survey of the entire night sky at infrared wavelengths. Launched on 25 January 1983, its mission lasted ten months. The telescope was a joint project of the United States (NASA), the Netherlands (NIVR), and the United Kingdom (SERC). Over 250,000 infrared sources were observed at 12, 25, 60, and 100 micrometer wavelengths.
The Spitzer Space Telescope, formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), is an infrared space telescope launched in 2003, that was deactivated when operations ended on 30 January 2020. Spitzer was the third space telescope dedicated to infrared astronomy, following IRAS (1983) and ISO (1995–1998). It was the first spacecraft to use an Earth-trailing orbit, later used by the Kepler planet-finder.
Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in San Diego County, California, United States, in the Palomar Mountain Range. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Research time at the observatory is granted to Caltech and its research partners, which include the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Yale University, and the National Astronomical Observatories of China.
The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a (M51a) or NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus. It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. It is 7.22 megaparsecs away and 23.58 kiloparsecs (76,900 ly) in diameter.
Ed Wasser is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Mr. Morden in Babylon 5.
Messier 63 or M63, also known as NGC 5055 or the seldom-used Sunflower Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy in the northern constellation of Canes Venatici with approximately 400 billion stars. M63 was first discovered by the French astronomer Pierre Méchain, then later verified by his colleague Charles Messier on June 14, 1779. The galaxy became listed as object 63 in the Messier Catalogue. In the mid-19th century, Anglo-Irish astronomer Lord Rosse identified spiral structures within the galaxy, making this one of the first galaxies in which such structure was identified.
Doris Daou is a Lebanese-born Canadian-American astronomer who was formerly the Director for Education and Public Outreach of the NASA Lunar Science Institute and the associate director of the NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI), and is currently the program contact for NASA's "Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx)".
Alexei Vladimir "Alex" Filippenko is an American astrophysicist and professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley. Filippenko graduated from Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, California. He received a Bachelor of Arts in physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1979 and a Ph.D. in astronomy from the California Institute of Technology in 1984, where he was a Hertz Foundation Fellow. He was a postdoctoral Miller Fellow at Berkeley from 1984 to 1986 and was appointed to Berkeley's faculty in 1986. In 1996 and 2005, he a Miller Research Professor, and he is currently a Senior Miller Fellow. His research focuses on supernovae and active galaxies at optical, ultraviolet, and near-infrared wavelengths, as well as on black holes, gamma-ray bursts, and the expansion of the Universe.
Michelle Lynn Thaller is an American astronomer and research scientist. Thaller is the assistant director for Science Communication at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
Amy Mainzer is an American astronomer, specializing in astrophysical instrumentation and infrared astronomy. She is the deputy project scientist for the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and the principal investigator for the NEOWISE project to study minor planets and the Near Earth Object Surveyor space telescope mission.
The Baby Boom Galaxy is a starburst galaxy located about 12.477 billion light years away. Discovered by NASA's Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology, the galaxy is the record holder for the brightest starburst galaxy in the very distant universe, with brightness being a measure of its extreme star-formation rate. The Baby Boom Galaxy has been nicknamed "the extreme stellar machine" because it is seen producing stars at a rate of up to 4,000 per year. The Milky Way galaxy in which Earth resides turns out an average of just 10 stars per year.
Tim Pyle is an American filmmaker and animator based in Southern California.
Amy Okuda is an American actress. She portrayed Julia Sasaki on the Netflix comedy-drama Atypical (2017–2021), where she was a series regular during the first two seasons. Okuda is most well-known as Tinkerballa in the popular web series The Guild.
George Henry Rieke, a noted American infrared astronomer, is former Deputy Director of the Steward Observatory and Regents Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He led the experiment design and development team for the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS) instrument on NASA's infrared Spitzer Space Telescope, and currently chairs the science team of the Mid-Infrared Instrument for the James Webb Space Telescope.
OGLE-2014-BLG-0124Lb is one of the farthest known planets in the universe. It is approximately 13,000 light years away, located near the center of the galaxy. The planet was discovered using a technique called microlensing. In this case it took 150 days. Two telescopes are used to detect the planet and the time difference between identification by each telescope is used to calculate the distance to the planet. This also contributes to determining the mass of the planet which is about half of Jupiter's. The planet orbits a star with a mass of 0.7 solar masses and is 3.1 AUs from it.
Vandana "Vandi" Verma is a space roboticist and chief engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, known for driving the Mars rovers, notably Curiosity and Perseverance, using software including PLEXIL programming technology that she co-wrote and developed.
Sarah Connoran Gallagher is a professor of astronomy at the University of Western Ontario, where her research focuses on active galaxies, black holes and compact galaxy groups. From 2018 to 2022, she also served as Science Advisor to the Canadian Space Agency.
Luisa Rebull is an American astrophysicist and a senior research scientist at IPAC-Caltech. In addition, she is the director of the NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP), formerly the Spitzer Space Telescope Program for Teachers and Students, and a communications and testing lead at the Infrared Science Archive (IRSA).
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