Universe Today Podcast

This week I'll be joined by Dr. Ryan Watkins, a planetary scientist who focuses on exploration of the Moon. She's a member of the Science Advisory Board for the Blue Origin Blue Moon landing program. Learn more about her work here: https://www.psi.edu/about/staffpage/rclegg-watkins Our Book is out! https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Today-Ultimate-Viewing-Cosmos/dp/1624145442/ Audio Podcast version:...

Professor Brian Keating returns to Open Space to talk about the big concepts in cosmology, from inflation to the largest scale structures. Dr. Keating was the Principal Investigator of the BICEP2 experiment, and now he's the Director of the Simons Observatory in Chile. https://briankeating.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/ Our Book is out! https://www.amazon.com/Univer...

I'll be joined by Scott Manley, programmer, DJ and spaceflight explainer on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxzC4EngIsMrPmbm6Nxvb-A Our Book is out! https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Today-Ultimate-Viewing-Cosmos/dp/1624145442/ Audio Podcast version: ITunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/universe-today-guide-to-space-audio/id794058155?mt=2 RSS: https://www.universetoday.com/audio Wha...

Today I'm joined by Dr. Phil Metzger, a planetary physicist with the Planetary Science faculty at the University of Central Florida. Phil specializes in economic planetary science, helping humanity learn to prosper in space. https://www.philipmetzger.com/bio/ Our Book is out! https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Today-Ultimate-Viewing-Cosmos/dp/1624145442/ Audio Podcast version: ITunes: https://itunes....

Today I'll be joined by Susanna Kohler, an astrophysics Ph. D. and science writer for the American Astronomical Society. Follow Dr. Kohler on Twitter: https://twitter.com/susannakohler Our Book is out! https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Today-Ultimate-Viewing-Cosmos/dp/1624145442/ Audio Podcast version: ITunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/universe-today-guide-to-space-audio/id794058155?mt=2 R...

Today I'm joined by Dr. Matt O'Dowd from the successful PBS Space Time YouTube Channel. Matt is an astrophysicist and associate professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department at the Lehman College of the City University of New York. Check out PBS Space Time here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7_gcs09iThXybpVgjHZ_7g Our Book is out! https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Today-Ultimate-Viewing-Cosm...

My guest today is Rob Hoyt, the CEO and Chief Scientist of Tethers Unlimited. Founded in 1994, Tethers Unlimited is working on space-based assembly and manufacturing technologies. Learn more about the company here: https://www.tethers.com/ Our Book is out! https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Today-Ultimate-Viewing-Cosmos/dp/1624145442/ Audio Podcast version: ITunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast...

Today I'll be joined by Jim Al-Khalili, a professor of physics at the University of Surrey. He's a well-known science presenter in the UK and has written many books on science and physics. His newest book is "The World According to Physics". Learn more about Jim: https://www.jimal-khalili.com/ Our Book is out! https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Today-Ultimate-Viewing-Cosmos/dp/1624145442/ Audio Podca...

One of the longstanding questions astronomers have had is, are we normal? Is our Solar System a template for what we might expect to see as we look out into the Milky Way at other star systems? As the data continues to come in, the answer to that question really seems to be no, we’re not normal. Star systems seem to have a huge variety of planets orbiting them. Familiar planets like our own terres...

In this week's questions show, I explain why we should be excited for both Starship and Artemis. Do we have a cognitive bias when thinking about advanced civilizations? Should humans or robots explore space? And more... Watch Astronomy Cast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUHI67dh9jEO2rvK--MdCSg Follow Dr. Pamela Gay on Twitter: https://twitter.com/starstryder 00:30 Why should Artemis bother? St...

No guest this week, just a live QA with me. I counsel people on how to be patient when living on Elon Musk time, what is NASA interested in with the Moon, what's the purpose of human space exploration, and more. 01:23 Starship prototype failure 04:29 Elon Musk time 05:45 Any lunar surface mission objectives? 08:10 What's the purpose of human space exploration? 09:34 How long have I been running Un...

Mars has been the destination for so many of our spacecraft, and for good reason, it’s probably the most Earthlike place in the Solar System, with water ice on its surface and reservoirs of the liquid beneath the surface. If we’re going to find life, Mars might be the place. But the tiny moons orbiting Mars, Phobos and Deimos, are scientifically fascinating on their own, and so far, a mission has...

After almost 50 years since the Apollo Moon landing missions ended, NASA announced that they’re going to return to the surface of the Moon with their Artemis mission, ideally taking the first lunar footsteps in 2024. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine asked for additional funding to achieve this goal, and the other branches of government haven’t been as enthusiastic about this plan. So don’t be su...

No guest this week, just a live QA with me. We talked about what China is up to on the Moon and what comes next. How well have we mapped the surface of the Moon. Why has NASA chosen to build the Artemis mission differently from the Apollo missions, and more... Our Book is out! https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Today-Ultimate-Viewing-Cosmos/dp/1624145442/ Audio Podcast version: ITunes: https://itunes...

It’s hard to really wrap your mind around the vast distances between stars. The fastest spacecraft ever launched into an interstellar trajectory right now is Voyager 1. If it was directed at the nearest star, it would take tens of thousands of years to make the journey across the interstellar gulf. Even so, groups like Breakthrough Starshot and Icarus Interstellar are working on plans right now to...

In this week's live Q&A, and talk about whether or now we're going to need a Prime Directive in the future like Star Trek, and why aliens might have one already, could life exist on a red dwarf, and if balloons could be used to launch rockets. 04:25 Did Solar Probe break orbit? 05:45 Why do we pronounce Dutch words in our English way? 08:09 Will NASA need more money to get to the Moon? 10:54 W...

Near the end of 2019, astronomers watching the red giant Betelgeuse noted how much the star had dimmed, continuing to steadily fade for months. It’s a variable star, and it’s known to get dimmer and brighter, but the big surprise is that it’s still continuing to dim, recently passing magnitude 1.56 and still getting dimmer. This is unprecedented in the decades that astronomers have been watching t...

In this week's questions show, I talk about how we're in a new space race, and what this means for returning to the Moon. Of course, lots of follow up answers about the Fermi Paradox. Could Betelgeuse release gravitational waves if it explodes? And what is our responsibility if we are truly alone in the Universe? Follow Dr Jessie Christiansen on Twitter https://twitter.com/aussiastronomer 00:24 Ne...

In this week's questions show, I explain why I've got such a skeptical view about the search for aliens if there might be multiple great filters, and why NASA doesn't just go back and use Apollo hardware to return to the Moon? Follow Dr. Wright on Twitter: https://twitter.com/astro_wright 00:40 Are there multiple Great Filters? 02:35 Could we refuel ships in space to land on Mars 06:01 Could we pu...

On February 9, 2020, the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral Florida on top of an Atlas V 411 spacecraft. The spacecraft’s mission is to fly inside the orbit of Mercury, on a tilted orbit that takes it above and below the Sun, capturing images of the Sun’s poles for the first time. This is just a year and a half after the launch of NASA’s Parker Solar Prob...

You’re looking at the highest resolution image that has ever been taken of our Sun, using the brand new Daniel K Inouye Solar Telescope in Maui. These lighter regions are convection cells, blobs of hot gas the size of Texas which have carried heat from deep below the surface of the Sun, releasing it into space. The darker lines are cooler regions, where the material is sinking back down into Sun....

In this week's questions show, I answer when the cosmic microwave background will shift into radio waves, what the Sun would sound like if space was filled with air, and limits of our knowledge about planets through simulations. Visit James Davenport's YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg6zx6fQG_Xo639TIjwJSZA 00:45 When does the CMB turn into radio waves? 03:49 Sounds in space...

In this week's life Q&A, I explain why we don't send animals to space any more, why I don't think we'll ever travel faster than the speed of light, and how graveyard orbits work. 00:35 Why don't we send animals to space anymore? 06:02 Will faster than light travel ever possible? 07:34 What are graveyard orbits? 09:05 Should we go to the Moon or Mars? 12:49 High resolution images of the Sun 14:...

On Sunday, January 19th, 2020, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying its newly designed Crew Dragon spacecraft. 84 seconds into flight, at the moment of maximum aerodynamic pressure, the capsule fired its eight SuperDraco thrusters, detaching from the top of the rocket and flying ahead. Moments after, the Falcon 9 rocket exploded in midair, destroying a completely good rocket, but the capsule...

In 2006, astronomers spotted the telltale sign of a supernova detonating in the galaxy NGC 1260, located about 240 million light-years away in the constellation of Perseus. As telescopes around the world turned their collective light-gathering power on the expanding explosion designated as SN 2006gy, they realized they were seeing something very unusual. This clearly wasn’t a regular supernova. It...