We’ve reached the end of 2021, and this is the last episode of the year. Let’s look back at the big space events of the last year and talk about what we’re looking forward to in 2022.
Our Hosts
Fraser Cain
Universe Today
Dr. Pamela Gay
CosmoQuest
Production by
- Richard Drumm, Audio Engineer
- Ally Pelphrey, Video Engineer
17 Seasons
700+ Episodes
2018 Winner Parsec Award
Ep. 624: Small Rocky Bodies (Including Phobos and Deimos)
We’ve talked about the icy objects of the Solar System, today let’s talk about space rocks. There’s a surprising variety of rocky material in the Solar System, and each object has a story to tell about the history and formation of the planets, moons and other rocky bodies.
Ep. 623: NEOS: Concern or Nah?
Are asteroids dangerous? Just ask the dinosaurs, and they’ll tell you a sad story of fiery death. It turns out we’re in a shooting gallery of space rock and metal, and somewhere out there there’s one with our name on it. Should we be worried or are the risks so minimal to be irrelevant?
Ep. 622: Rocky Moons and Giant Asteroids
A rock is a rock is a rock, right? Across the Solar System there are giant rocky asteroids and even rockier moons. What’s the difference between these two families of objects, and where did they come from?
Recent Episodes
Ep. 229: Cassini Mission
Last week we talked about the Italian astronomer Giovanni Cassini. This week we'll talk about the mission that shares his name: NASA's Cassini Spacecraft. This amazing mission is orbiting Saturn right now, sending back thousands of high resolution images of the ringed...
Ep. 228: Giovanni Cassini
Another two parter, coming at you. This week we talk about the Italian astronomer, Giovanni Domenico Cassini, best known for discovering Saturn's moons and the biggest division in Saturn's rings. Cassini made many other important discoveries in the Solar System, and...
Ep. 227: The Big Dipper
We wanted to spend a few shows talking about some of the most recognizable constellations in the night sky. We've chatted about Orion the Hunter, but now we're going to talk about the Big Dipper, also known as Ursa Major, or the Great Bear - apologies to our southern...
Ep. 226: Weather
How's the weather? Maybe a better question is... why's the weather? What is it about planets and their atmospheres that create weather systems. What have planetary scientists learned about our Earth's weather, and how does this relate to other planets in the Solar...
Ep. 225: Ice in Space
A huge part of the Solar System is just made of ice. There are comets, rings, moons and even dwarf planets. Where did all this ice come from, and what impact (pardon the pun) has it had for life on Earth? Ep. 225: Ice in Space Jump to Shownotes Jump to Transcript Show...
Ep. 224: Orion
Most people know how to find two constellations: the Big Dipper, and Orion the Hunter. You can teach a small child to find Orion, and at the right time of year, they'll find it in seconds. There's so much going on in this spectacular constellation, from the star...
Ep. 223: The Transit of Venus
Since the planet Venus is closer in to the Sun than Earth, there are rare opportunities to see it pass directly in front of our parent star. This is known as a planetary transit, and thanks to the geometry of the Earth and Venus, they only happen a couple of times a...
Ep. 222: The Decadal Survey
In episode 198 we explained how space missions are chosen, and introduced the Decadal Survey. Since the time we recorded that episode, the full Decadal Survey for planetary science has been released, explaining the science goals for planetary geologists over the next...
Ep. 221: Geomorphology
When we look around our planet, we see a huge variety in landforms: mountains, valleys, plateaus, and more. Continents rise and fall over the eons, providing geologists with a history of the planet's evolution. The study of these changes is known as geomorphology, and...
Ep. 220: Mass Extinction Events
The Earth seems like a safe place, most of the time. But we have evidence of terrible catastrophes in the ancient past. Times when almost all life on Earth was wiped out in a geologic instant. What could have caused so much devastation? And will something like this...
Ep. 219: Planck Mission
Another mission named after a famous physicist. This time we're looking at the Planck mission, designed to study the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation over the entire sky. Like the previous WMAP mission, this will help astronomers understand the first moments...
Ep. 218: Max Planck
It's time for another action-packed double episode, where we meet a man and his mission. This time around its German physicist Max Planck, considered to be the father of quantum theory - he was later granted a Nobel Prize for just that discovery. Let's take a trip...
Ep. 217: Stellar Classification
Have you ever heard an astronomer utter these words? Oh be a fine girl and kiss me. They're not being romantic, they're trying to remember the different ways to organize stars, as detailed nicely on a Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. Let's learn what all those letters...
Ep. 216: Archaeoastronomy
The Sun, Moon, stars and planets are visible to the unaided eye, and so they have been visible to astronomers since before recorded history. Some of the earliest records we do have tell us what the ancient astronomers thought about the heavens, and how they used the...
Ep. 215: Light Echoes
Just as sound can echo off distant objects, light can echo too. And the echoes of light bouncing off stellar remnants, black hole accretion disks, and clouds of gas and dust provide astronomers with another method of probing the distant cosmos. Download Ep. 215: Light...
Ep. 214: Space Tourism
Have you ever wanted to go to space, but lacked the... everything... to be an astronaut? A whole new industry of space tourism will take you where you need to go. There are new companies offering zero-G flights, sub-orbital flights, and there have even been paying...
Ep. 213: Supermassive Black Holes
It's now believed that there's a supermassive black hole lurking at the heart of every galaxy in the Universe. These monstrous black holes can contain hundreds of millions of times the mass of our own Sun, with event horizons bigger than the Solar System. They're the...
Ep. 212: GPS Navigation
Last week we talked about the old way navigators used to find their way around the planet; by looking at objects in the sky, and doing some tricky math. The new navigation system, of course, is the Global Positioning System, and it helps you find your spot on the...
Ep. 211: Celestial Navigation
Before there was GPS, navigators had to rely on the Sun and the stars to find their way around the Earth. It's easier than it sounds, if you've got the right instruments, clear skies, and a really accurate clock. Let's examine the history of celestial navigation,...
Ep. 210: Mars Exploration Rovers
The twin Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have been crawling around the surface of Mars since early 2004 - years longer than they were expected to live. And what they have discovered there on Mars has given scientists their best understanding of...