Fraser Cain
Universe Today
Dr. Pamela Gay
CosmoQuest
The Earth’s atmosphere protects us from a Universe that’s trying to kill us, but it also blocks our view of the extreme cosmos, like seeing x-rays and gamma radiation. Space telescopes are changing our view of the most extreme events in the Universe.
Day by day, we’re losing our connection with the night sky. Already 1/3rd of humanity lives in so much light pollution that they can’t see the Milky Way without a drive. And now satellite constellations are adding additional light pollution, even in the darkest skies on Earth.
Today, we gaze into the future of space and astronomy. What upcoming missions and events are we excited about?
Pamela has told us in the most flowery terms about the diffuse dust across inner solar system. Leftover from the formation the inner planets. Well, it turns out, she was wrong. Super wrong. Time to update.
Recent Episodes
Consider the following: we've got tides here on Earth, the Moon only shows one face to the Earth, we've got volcanoes on Io, and ice geysers on Enceladus. All these phenomena originate from a common cause: the force of gravity stretching across space to tug at another...
We've discussed star formation in the past, but now we wanted to talk about the different kinds of stellar nurseries we see across the Universe. We know where our Sun came from because we can look out and see different stellar neighborhoods at every stage of...
This week we wanted to give you a basic physics lesson. This isn't easy physics, this is a lesson on the basic numbers of the Universe. Each of these numbers define a key aspect of our Universe. If they had different values, the Universe would be a changed place, and...
Thank you for your interest in the survey, but we have completed gathering data. If you would like to see the results of this survey, check out our paper in Communicating Astronomy with the Public It's time to answer questions again, but this time we hope that you'll...
If you remember way back to Episode 9, we covered Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity. Well, that's only half of the relativity picture. The great scientist made an even more profound impact on physics with his theory of general relativity, replacing Newton with a...
It's time to answer the questions again. And this time we've got some doozies. Is the Universe rotating? Is space something, or is it nothing? Is dark energy evenly distributed? What would happen if an astronaut went out the airlock, without a spacesuit. Want to know...
You probably don't realise it, but magnetic fields are everywhere. We're not talking about the magnets in your speakers, your electronic equipment or on the fridge door. We're talking about the gigantic magnetic fields that surround planets, stars, galaxies and some...
The last decade has been the golden age of astronomy, with new observatories and space telescopes pushing out our understanding of the Universe. We can see billions of light years away, watch dynamic events unfold in almost real-time, and see into every corner of the...
Once again, Pamela does her duty as an astronomer and joins her colleagues at the American Astronomical Society's meeting, held in May, 2007 on Honolulu, Hawaii. With all that sand, surf and sun, how did anyone get any science done? Pamela tracked down the interesting...
While Pamela's away at the American Astronomical Society meeting, we brought in a special guest to help debunk some of the pseudoscience that people mistake for astronomy. Dr Steven Novella from the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe gets to the bottom of astrology and...
Huge stars become black holes, and small stars become white dwarfs. But medium-sized stars can become neutron stars; exotic objects that overcome the nuclear force holding protons and electrons apart. What was once the size of a star is compressed down to only a few...
Astronomers are always trying to get their hands on bigger and more powerful telescopes. But the most powerful telescopes in the Universe are completely natural, and the size of a galaxy cluster. When you use the gravity of a galaxy as a lens, you can peer right back...
Gamma ray bursts are the most powerful explosions in the Universe, releasing more energy in a few seconds than our Sun will put out in its lifetime. It's only been in the last few years that astronomers are finally starting to unravel the cataclysmic events that cause...
We know there's matter, and we know there's anti-matter. If there's dark matter, is there an anti-dark matter? How come gravity can escape from a black hole? Do black holes capture dark matter? Can a moon have a moon? Can a planet have two stars? If you've had any of...
What a week! Astronomers announced the discovery of an Earth-sized planet orbiting the nearby star Gliese 581. We talk about the technique used to discover the planet, the possibilities of finding even smaller planets, and what the future holds for finding another...
Buying your first telescope can be a nerve-wracking experience filled with buyer's remorse. This week we discuss the basics of purchasing your first binoculars and telescope. What to look for, how to clean older equipment, and how to use it for the first time. Let's...
Trillions of neutrinos are produced in our Sun through its nuclear reactions. These particles stream out at nearly the speed of light, and pass right through any matter they encounter. In fact, there are billions of them passing through your body right now. Learn how...
We get questions every week about string theory and topics popularized by science fiction. Here's the problem. There's just no evidence. Each of these is based on wonderful and well-formed mathematical equations, or wishful thinking, but they're very hard (if not...
It's Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and that means the Sun is back. But it's more than just a free heat lamp for your garden, it's an incredible, dynamic nuclear reaction complete with flares, coronal mass ejections, twisting magnetic fields and the solar wind....
This week we're talking about asteroids. And not just any asteroids, but Near Earth Objects. How do astronomers find these things, why are they buzzing around the Earth, what are the chances we'll actually get hit, and what would happen if we did get hit? How could we...