Fraser Cain
Universe Today
Dr. Pamela Gay
CosmoQuest
Last week was one of the most exciting meetings we’ve seen from the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, with hundreds of announcements and discoveries from various missions. One theme kept coming up, the Solar System is more volcanically active than we thought. Today, we’ll explore volcanism on other worlds.
You’ve probably heard that the best kind of science is peer-reviewed research published in a prestigious journal. But peer review has problems of its own. We’ll talk about that today.
NASA works on many missions using tried and true technology, but they also invest in creative ideas that could drive the future of space exploration. It’s called NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts or NIAC.
In the olden days, NASA developed its missions using a variety of in-house engineers and external suppliers. As more commercial companies are targeting the Moon, NASA is working with partners to deliver its payloads to the lunar surface.
Recent Episodes
Well, this is it, we’re finally going to talk about the James Webb Space Telescope. After decades of development, delays and budget creep, the powerful infrared observatory is at its final home at the L2 Lagrange Point. Yesterday we saw the first scientific images...
Have you ever noticed that significant space and astronomy events seem to happen during holidays? It’s not a coincidence, there’s actually a reason why. Today we’ll talk about some of the key events that happened during holidays. https://youtu.be/vJ9JaMGfqsM?t=446...
Summer is officially, astronomically here. And for folks in the Northern Hemisphere, that means it’s the perfect time to head outside and see what’s happening in the sky. Today we’ll give you a good list of things to keep an eye out for, with or without a telescope....
Summer is here and that means finally tackling your huge list of books piled up on your bedside table and filling up your Kindle. What books do we recommend for some fun reads? NOTE: Video is incomplete due to technical difficulties. https://youtu.be/dF18aVF7mdU Show...
We always say that we're living in golden age of space and astronomy, but it feels like things are just accelerating. What does the long-term future hold for our place in the Universe? https://youtu.be/cUZQHC-Xk7k Show Notes | Transcript Show Notes Star Trek: The Next...
The International Space Station has been continuously inhabited for over 20 years now, serving as a peaceful collaboration between space-faring nations. But it's a machine, and it's getting old. In addition, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has made things complicated....
https://youtu.be/FWmMwisoBSQ Now that we've discovered thousands of exoplanets, we're learning more and more about what kinds of planetary systems there are out there across the Universe. Are planets like Earth unique or totally rare? Download MP3 | Show Notes |...
https://youtu.be/dALXUbVaWCs All the waiting is over, we've finally seen the image of the event horizon from the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way. Today we're going to explain the picture, and what's next for the Event Horizon Telescope. Download...
https://youtu.be/NFR7R6wNxcM We've always assumed that we lived in a perfectly normal system with a normal star and normal planets. It's all... normal. But with our modern understanding of billions of stars, just how normal is our Sun, anyway? Download MP3 | Show...
https://youtu.be/VYSO-rb1iLM The Earth is teeming with life, both in the upper atmosphere to kilometers underground. There's no question that our planet has life. But is our planet itself alive? This is a question posed back in the 1970s as the Gaia hypothesis, and it...
https://youtu.be/_vWn9c4WaP0 There are general-purpose telescopes and missions that astronomers can use to study specific objects. And there are survey missions that look at the entire sky, which astronomers can use to answer questions about the Universe. We've talked...
https://youtu.be/R5kSNGxShko Knowledge moves forward, and so, we must move with it. Today we'll give you an update on some of the most fascinating, and fast-changing topics in astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology. Download MP3 | Show Notes | Transcript Show Notes...
https://youtu.be/QBAf5CVkvTM Although humans have never actually been to Mars, explorers have simulated many aspects of Mars missions here on Earth. There are missions under the ocean, on the tops of volcanoes, in the harsh Canadian north, and even in bed that...
https://youtu.be/ISg74n2B4CA Computers are a big part of astronomy, but mostly they've been relegated to doing calculations. Recent developments in machine learning have changed everything, giving computers the ability to do jobs that humans could only do in the past....
https://youtu.be/DoWq4_zIlu4 We think of space as a vacuum, but there are regions of different density. There are winds blowing from stars and other objects that clear out vast bubbles in space, and look absolutely fantastic in pictures. And might have been critical...
https://youtu.be/TwNN3BQbjVA As astronomers look out across the Universe, they see various objects spewing jets of material light years into space. What causes these jets, and what impact do they have on the Universe. Download MP3 | Show Notes | Transcript Show Notes...
https://youtu.be/FPCf6eGaBQ4 The Milky Way is a vast grand spiral today, but how did it get this way? Astronomers are starting to unravel the history of our galaxy, revealing the ancient collisions with dwarf galaxies, and how they came together to build the Milky...
https://youtu.be/bfYxeEh0TFk We've always assumed that habitable planets would need to be like Earth; a terrestrial planet orbiting a sunlike star. But now astronomers have been discovering planets in the habitable zone around very much non-sunlike stars. What strange...
https://youtu.be/V5ZqqA17IxU A recent image from the South African Meerkat telescope blew our minds. It was a high resolution image of the center of the Milky Way, showing delicate filaments and other structures. What was so mind blowing is that this was an image from...
https://youtu.be/bgklGICUNeQ Pulsars are the rapidly spinning degenerate husks of dead stars, turning hundreds of times a second. But they're also handy clocks, spinning with such certainty and accuracy that astronomers can use them for all kinds of stuff. We might...