StarXiv: a podcast discussing the latest astronomy papers

StarXiv: a podcast discussing the latest astronomy papers

by Michelle and Payel
Astronomy
Season 1
Episode 43 - early dark energy, the fate of Venusian moons, and the power of forbidden lines
In this week's episode, Michelle and Payel ask whether early dark energy leaves a detectable imprint on large-scale structure, and whether Venus once had a moon — and what might have happened to it. They also each pick a paper using forbidden line emission to probe galaxy evolution, including one testing whether some extremely metal-poor galaxies are impostors.
S1 · E43
Sep 1, 2026
30:47
Episode 42 - disk clumps, triple systems and an exciting new stream!
Michelle and Nicole sit down to discuss the latest papers from the arXiv, including the discovery of a globular cluster stream outside the Milky Way, how disk clumps migrate to the centres of galaxies, a unique and cool pulsar hierarchical triple system and a weird, metal poor star in the Milky Way disk. Tune in below, on Spotify, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Check out this weeks papers below Evidence for the First Globular Cluster Stellar Stream beyond the Milky Way - Julie Kiel Holm et al Clump Migration in Disk Galaxies: Revisiting Chandrasekhar's Dynamical Friction - Pushpak Pandey & Kanak Saha Tracing the early Milky Way thin disc with the Gaia-ESO Survey - Carlos Viscasillas Vázquez et al. The PSR J0435+3233 Triple System - Z. L. Yang et al
S1 · E42
Aug 18, 2026
31:16
Episode 41 - the age of the Universe, AI and literature reviews, and giant companions
Payel and Michelle delve into another group of wonderful papers on the astronomy arxiv! They discuss dating the Universe, comparing 2025 large language models in their ability to assist with literature views, telling apart exocomets and giant companions, early signatures of secular evolution in disk galaxies, and the abundance of data to come from Vera Rubin. You can read more about the papers below: Cosmic CORALS: Timing the Universe with high-z star clusters - Elena Tomasetti et al. AI's Capability in Assisting Scientific Research in Physics, Astrophysics, and Cosmology I: Literature Review - Anamaria Hell et al. Evidence for a giant companion orbiting Tabby's star - Cristina Madurga-Favieres et al. Bar-driven secular evolution largely complete in a disk galaxy 7.6 billion years ago - Takafumi Tsukui et al. A Deep Look at the Ultra-Faint Milky Way Satellite Virgo III with Rubin Observatory Data Preview 2 - Aashay Pai et al.
S1 · E41
Aug 4, 2026
32:52
Episode 40 - globular clusters, extended disks, high redshift galaxies and aliens!
In this episode, Michelle and Payel discuss results from the searches for extra-terrestrial life, a natural mechanism for producing light element variations in globular clusters, a typical galaxy at z>10 and the origin of Andromeda's extended stellar disk. And take a look at the papers below Globular cluster abundance patterns inherited from giant molecular clouds - William McClymont et al. Project Hephaistos -- IV. James Webb Space Telescope Observations of Two Dyson Sphere Candidates - Erik Zackrisson et al. Deep Spectroscopic Follow-Up of Maisie's Galaxy -- A Typical Galaxy in the Early Universe - Rebecca Larson et al The Merger-Driven Origin of the Vast Extended Stellar Disc Around the Andromeda Galaxy - Tsakonas et al
S1 · E40
Jul 22, 2026
30:50
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 the formation of solar flare ribbons. A novel data-driven approach to extract stellar population properties from galaxy spectra using absorption indices – Zahra Sharbaf et al. JWST reveals how black holes are fed: kiloparsec-scale multiphase filaments feed sub-kiloparsec circumnuclear disks - Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo et al. pop-cosmos: Disentangling galaxy properties from observables using data-driven approaches - Benedict Van den Bussche et al. Solar flare ribbons structured by uncombed chromospheric loops - Lakshmi Chitta et al.
S1 · E39
Jun 23, 2026
38:35
Episode 38 - merging galaxies, exploding stars and the beauty of individual galaxies
In this episode, Michelle and Nicole discuss machine learning methods to classify merging galaxies and different classes of supernova. They also look into whether planetary engulfment can explain unsual chemical signatures in some binary systems, and dive deep into some beautiful MUSE data for a spiral galaxy at redshift 0.09. Check it out below, on Spotify, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts! Check out the papers we featured below A Deep Study of the Spiral Galaxy W2246f - Evelyn J. Johnston et al. Chemical paradox in a binary system: Exploring metal enrichment in HD 81809B - Nuno Moedas et al. Vision-Language Model Ensembles Achieve Human-Expert Accuracy for Galaxy Merger Classification - Marco Chiaberge et al. Photometry is all you need: supernova classification as a mixing problem - Ana Sofía M. Uzsoy & V. Ashley Villar
S1 · E38
Jun 8, 2026
35:44
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. Check out the papers we discussed below: Lunar ejecta as the missing piece to resolving lunar cratering asymmetry - Hailiang Li et al. AMPM II. — A Lunar-Mass Primordial Black Hole Microlensing Candidate in the Milky Way Halo - Renee Key et al. Witnessing the rapid growth of disk galaxies over cosmic time using JWST and HST - Samane Raji et al. Identifying group galaxies merging with massive clusters using machine learning - Rhys Jordan et al.
S1 · E37
May 25, 2026
32:52
Episode 36 - Dead Earths, magnetic fields and Galactic amnesia
In this episode, Michelle and Nicole discuss primordial magnetic fields, Galactic merger memory, the origin of Venus's carbon dioxide rich atmosphere and using Galactic stars to predict extragalactic abundances. Listen below, on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
S1 · E36
May 11, 2026
33:17
Episode 35 - More Milky Way mayhem, Fast Radio Bursts, and very cold disks
In this episode, Nicole and Payel discuss an accurate dating of the Gaia-Enceladus Sausage merger with the Milky Way, a new probe of matter clustering on small scales using Fast Radio Bursts, a new analysis of the retrograde stars in the Milky Way, and a simulation perspective on the very cold disks found at high redshift by ALMA. And check out the papers below: The Last Galactic Firework: Timing the last significant merger with stars, globular clusters and 𝜔 Centauri Chervin Laporte and Matthew Orkney Signatures of Suppressed Matter Clustering revealed by Fast Radio Bursts Kritti Sharma et al. Substructures of the Milky Way's Retrograde Halo: Evidence for Multiple Accretion Events Young Kwang Kin et al. Dynamically cold discs in high-redshift galaxies: comparison between ALMA observations and TNG50 Yi He et al.
S1 · E35
Apr 28, 2026
34:08
Episode 34 - The cosmic web, the ancient Milky Way, and planets around small stars
In this episode, Nicole and Payel discuss a stellar system located towards the Galactic bulge, the structure of filaments in the cosmic web, the homogeneity of the chemical compositions of exoplanets born in the same disc, and the possibility of water-rich hot super Earths. Check out the papers below: The multi-age stellar populations of Terzan 5 as revealed by JWST Giorga Zullo et al. Universal Dark-matter Density Profiles of Cosmic Filaments Peng Xu et al. A Chemical Mismatch Between Young Stars and Their Inner Disks Diogo Souto et al. Super-Earth masses and stellar abundances from NIRPS reveal tentative evidence for water-rich formation around M dwarfs Drew Weisserman et al.
S1 · E34
Apr 13, 2026
28:51
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