Listening for the cosmic ‘dark ages,’ from the lunar far side

What did the universe look like before any stars turned on? Astronomers call that time the “dark ages,” and while they think it may be possible to see remnants of it in very low frequency radio signals, hearing those signals from Earth can be challenging.  

One possibility is to put a radio telescope on the far side of the moon, where it would have periods of observation shielded from interference both from Earth and from the sun—and potentially be able to receive that dark ages signal. The LuSEE-Night mission will explore that approach. A small demonstration radio telescope is slated for launch in late 2026 to serve as a proof of concept for low frequency radio astronomy on the lunar far side.

Astronomer Anže Slosar, lead scientist for LuSEE-Night, joins Host Ira Flatow to describe the telescope project and what astronomers hope to achieve by sending it to the moon.

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Guests: 

Dr. Anže Slosar is science lead for the LuSEE-Night project. He’s based at Brookhaven National Lab.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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