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Video URL

http://youtu.be/8GMoBfHXKnw

Video Description

Astronomy has a unique ability to inspire, and contemplations of astronomical phenomena have led a great many to pursue serious careers in physics. Today we live in an era of unprecedented discovery as planets orbiting other stars are being discovered and characterized at an amazing rate. In this video I aim to take advantage of the seemingly innate human fascination with astronomy as well as the exciting current discoveries in exoplanet studies to highlight the critical importance of physics in the exploration of our universe. I attempt to accomplish this by capturing the viewer's imagination about other star systems and then taking them deeper by explaining, using carefully-made and accurate graphic animations, the subtle physical effects that we in our current research are using to detect and characterize planets. The idea is to explicitly tie the physics to the process of discovery and exploration in hopes to inspire some to think deeper and take their fascination and enthusiasm to another level. The video concludes with inspirational (and accurate) animations and engaging audio descriptions of several fascinating star systems that we in the Knuth Information Physics Laboratory at the University at Albany (SUNY) have recently discovered and/or explored and are in the process of publishing.

Video Creator Bio

Kevin Knuth is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Physics and Informatics at the University at Albany. He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Entropy, and is the co-founder and President of a robotics company, Autonomous Exploration Inc. He has more than 15 years of experience in applying Bayesian and maximum entropy methods to the design of machine learning algorithms for data analysis applied to the astronomy and the physical sciences. His current research interests include the foundations of physics, autonomous robotics, and searching for and characterizing extrasolar planets.

    4 days later

    The footage was absolutely stunning. The possibilities of the expansiveness of the universe was compelling, especially in the way it was presented. I would've liked to see a little more practical application as to how these findings might apply to our universe's weather patterns, tides, etc. I say that because I believe research and exploration is great, but what are learning from these new findings and how can they help make us more proactive when dealing with i.e. hurricanes, or earthquakes, even other areas of research in health & the environment. In other words, studying the stars is great, but now how can use that information to impact our world in a positive way.

    Otherwise, very impressive and eye opening.

    Great work.

    8 days later

    Dear Prof. Knuth,

    I thoroughly enjoyed your video. You did a great job of explaining the process of detecting exoplanets and the physical concepts involved. It is remarkable how much progress has been made in the detection of new planets in the last couple of years, and I'm excited about the future of this very interesting field!

    --Gino

    PS: We would appreciate it if you could find the time to view and rate our own short video, Quantum Harmonies of Gravity.

      Kevin,

      Thank you for a very informative video about the detection of exoplanets. I especially liked the fact that the video remained accessible to a wide audience, while going a step further than most popular presentations, taking the time to explain more subtle effects like secondary transits, tidal effects and Doppler beaming: I think you really succeeded in showing the importance of physics in the study of exoplanets. Your Mathematica animations were very clear and truly served to increase the understanding of the material presented, which is, unfortunately, not always the case with popular science videos and films, which often have a lot of pretty eye candy that is not always relevant and sometimes distracts from the narrative.

      I hope your video does well in this contest. Good luck!

      Marc

      P.S. If you have a chance to view, comment and vote on my trilogy of videos entitled "This Is Physics" --- where I try to convey the "fun of physics" by focusing on some of the greatest moments of its history --- it would be quite appreciated!

        Hi Kevin,

        I loved watching your video! Your enthusiasm was clear from your voice. I look forward to continuing our discussion about metaphysics next time we meet.

        Cheers,

        Spiros

          Thank you very much.

          It is quite exciting to be living at a time when we are beginning to understand what the universe is actually like!

          I will check out your video.

          Thanks again!

          Kevin

          Thank you very much Marc. Your comments mean a lot to me coming from someone who made three beautiful and engaging videos yourself!

          We live in an exciting era of discovery, and I aimed to present this and use it to give the viewer an appreciation of the physics involved. These are detection techniques that we have worked to develop and it is exciting to see that our first discoveries are only the beginning!

          Hi Spiros! Thank you so much!

          I thoroughly enjoyed our fireside discussions in Puerto Rico! We live in an amazing universe, and I hope it brings us together again soon.

          Thanks again!

          Kevin

          Hi Cristi!

          Thank you so much!

          I really enjoyed your video on quantum reality. I will take a look at your relativity video next.

          Cheers

          Kevin

          I enjoyed this video Kevin,

          It was informative, and thoughtfully well presented. The narration was good for the most part, but you could set the tone better at the beginning. It was well-produced, otherwise - and most importantly, it gets your point across. A great way to highlight your group's research.

          I get up to Albany frequently, and might enjoy dropping by the University Physics department for a chat some time, if you are up for it. In the meanwhile; I hope you'll get to check out my video on the importance of the Mandelbrot Set to Physics.

          All the Best,

          Jonathan

          Hi Kevin

          Your video is one of my favorites.

          I already showed it to my kids.

          Hope you do well in the competition.

          Teresa

          10 days later

          Great job here...

          Please go through my video also and rate it and give me your valuable suggestions... The topic of my video is - PHYSICS THE ODYSSEY...

          Regards

          8 years later
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