Science Communication

“Alien Life in Rainbows” is a short feature produced by The Planetary Society based on my article, “How we use starlight to look for alien life”

Television

Dr. Rasmussen refutes Dr. Loeb’s claim that ‘Oumuamua is an alien spacecraft.

Quotes:

“I really think that in 20, maybe even 10 years, we will have the changes [in gender equity] that I’m hoping for.” — AstroBites

“I started to see that there were other nonbinary scientists.“ — wired.com

“Our final, and perhaps most important recommendation is to listen. Look around your communities to see who the most marginalized, most vulnerable members are and make sure their voices are not just included but prioritized in conversations about equity and inclusion — that their needs and ideas are heard and valued.” — space.com

“The Drake Equation goes in order from easiest to hardest,” said Kaitlin Rasmussen, an astrophysicist at the University of Michigan. While variables like L remain purely speculative, scientists can now answer with some certainty things like average star formation rates in the Milky Way, and the fraction of stars with planets. — The Planetary Society

“In 10 years, we’re going to have ridiculously good telescopes.“ — The Planetary Society

“It’s hard to describe the feeling of seeing [the 2017 neutron star merger] with your own eyes that is completely new to science” — newswise

“I’ve always had plans for [my thesis defense]. Some people have dream weddings in mind, but I’ve always had this.” — Inside Higher Ed

“Basically, when you look at a planet with a spectrograph, one thing that gets really difficult is that the star has a spectrum. And the planet has a spectrum. And they’re mixed together and the planet spectrum—as we said, the planet can be made out of strange things like carbon monoxide, and water and methane—the spectrum of that planet looks a whole whole lot different, just because molecules have their own electron transition based on the fact that their molecules are not singular atoms. So they have these really complicated electron situation going on…” — Assigned Scientist At Birth Podcast

“This [discovery of the temperate super-Earth TOI-1231] is exciting because it’s one of only two or three objects like this so far.” — Wichita Eagle