Jim Lovell’s Legacy, Black Holes & Searching for Alien Life (with Andrew Fraknoi)

Bill welcomes Professor Andrew Fraknoi, astronomer at the Fromm Institute at the University of San Francisco, for a wide-ranging conversation that looks from the headlines to the stars. Topics include:

• Remembering Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell, an American hero who inspired a nation long before Tom Hanks portrayed him on screen.
• The groundbreaking Rubin Observatory project in Chile, which will create “the greatest movie of all time” by photographing the entire sky 800 times over the next decade.
• How this observatory will improve detection of near-Earth asteroids and cosmic events invisible to the naked eye.
• The recent discovery of the largest known black hole, with the mass of 36 billion suns—and why black holes remain one of astronomy’s greatest mysteries.
• How astronomers are now using artificial intelligence to comb through cosmic radio waves, searching for potential technosignatures of alien life.

It’s a fascinating conversation that blends history, science, and the future of space exploration.

Learn more about Professor Fraknoi’s work at fraknoi.com.

Explore Bill’s work & commentary at Bernardoni.blog and Bernardoni.media.