Radio Stars: Astronomy's First Radio Stars

Today we know that virtually all stars within our Galaxy emit radio waves. Using modern radio telescopes, astronomers routinely study these stellar radio waves to better understand how stars form, how they evolve, and how they die. However, for early radio astronomers, it was an enormous challenge to detect even the nearest radio star—the Sun.

In this episode, we hear from astronomer and historian Dr. Ken Kellermann of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory about some of the pioneers of early radio astronomy, including Karl Jansky and Grote Reber, the challenges they faced, and how their work paved the way for current-day astronomers to use radio waves as a vital tool for understanding the astrophysics of Sun and other stars.