Ask a Spaceman!

What are some sources of gravitational waves that aren't black holes? How did inflation create gravitational waves? How can we possibly detect them? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes: http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books...

How do we measure the sizes of stars? What are the biggest ones today, and how big could stars have gotten in the past? Is there any way for a star to cheat and get even bigger? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes: http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: h...

What powers Cepheid variable stars? What about Mira variables and pulsating stars? And are there variable stars that don't actually vary at all? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes: http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books Kee...

What would the Sun sound like if we could hear it? Does any noise at all happen in the universe? What's the biggest sound of all? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes: http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books Keep those questio...

Why does the vacuum of spacetime have energy? How much energy does it have? What prevents us from using it to do anything useful? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes: http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books   Keep those quest...

How do we actually define voids? Are there regions within them that are truly empty? What would it be like to be inside one? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes: http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books   Keep those questions...

Part 2 of 2! What are the modern constants of nature? Is the universe fine-tuned for life? Does the multiverse or string theory explain the origins of the constants? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://ww...

Part 1 of 2! How do fundamental constants appear in physics? Why are they so important? Why do we care where they come from? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books   Keep those questio...

What's inside a neutron star? What strange states of matter do we encounter? And what mysteries will we find deep in the core? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books   Keep those quest...

How do we explain the giant black holes appearing in the young universe? Is it possible to directly collapse a black hole, skipping the formation of stars? What does ultraviolet radiation have to do with this? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.you...

How do you measure the impact of a scientist? Does Stephen Hawking compare to Newton or Einstein? What were his contributions to black holes, the big bang, and quantum gravity? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book:...

Why is the moon so special? Why do we think a giant impact created it? Why didn't the same thing happen to other planets? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books   Keep those questions...

What is 21-cm radiation? What (and who) produces it? What causes it, and what does it tell us about the universe? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books   Keep those questions about sp...

What is an Alcubierre warp drive? What would it take to make it work? Could it propel spacecraft even below the speed of light? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books   Keep those ques...

What is an axion? How could axions make a star, and what does that have to do with dark matter? What would these stars look like? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books   Keep those qu...

Where do parallel universes exist? Could we use wormholes to travel to them? What does time travel have to do with all this? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books   Keep those questio...

What is the Fermi Paradox? How rare is non-intelligent vs intelligent life? What are the challenges a species must overcome to colonize the galaxy? Where is everybody? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://...

Are dark photons as sinister as they sound? What did the curvaton do in the early universe? And is everything really made of preons? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books   Keep those...

How can the solar corona be hotter than the surface? What has the Parker Solar probe learned so far? What do magnetic fields have to do with all this? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/...

Are we "in range" of any potential supernovae? Has the Earth ever been hit in the past? And what about gamma-ray bursts from across the galaxy, are we safe from those? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://...

How do black holes get close enough to merge? What causes them to emit gravitational waves, and where do the waves come from? What does the merger process look like? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://ww...

How did Pluto get demoted? What makes a planet a planet anyway? Why do we now have so many different kinds of planets, and should we make things simpler? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.c...

How do gravitational lenses work? Where would a spacecraft need to be to use the Sun's gravity as a telescope? What could we learn about exoplanets with this on weird trick? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: ht...

What's behind the Martian Methane Mystery? Is it a sign of life, or just some strange chemical process? Or are we just fooling ourselves? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books   Keep...

Why are private space companies pushing tourism? Is there a future for tourism in space? Is this an overall good thing for space exploration, or just a distraction? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www...