Universe Today Podcast

In this week's questions show, I wonder how well we'll be able to survive various extinction scenarios, can mobile apps help you learn the night sky? What would we do if Tunguska happened today? And more... Support Universe Today Podcast

It’s been about a year since the mysterious interstellar asteroid (or maybe comet) Oumuamua passed through our Solar System. It was going so fast and was so far away that astronomers could see very little before it was off and away into deep space again. Support Universe Today Podcast

In this week's questions show, I wonder if we'll have enough time to respond to an asteroid or comet, if we're going to fill the asteroid belt with space junk and if antimatter engines are the best way to explore space. Support Universe Today Podcast

In the pristine icy environment of Antarctica, there’s a telescope, embedded into an ancient glacier. The telescope is observing the Universe, directly through the Earth, using a cubic kilometer of ice to capture elusive particles called neutrinos. Support Universe Today Podcast

We recorded this week's episode of the QA show from inside the Carnival Magic cruise ship, as part of our summer Astrotour. I saved up a bunch of tough questions for Dr. Paul Sutter, including: what is space itself? Could we use negative mass to destroy black holes? What would you see falling into a black hole, and more... Support Universe Today Podcast

Casey Dreier is the Planetary Society's Director of Space Policy, helping to advocate for planetary science with the US government. He's probably the best person I know to talk about the state of US space policy and the future of crewed and robotic spaceflight. Support Universe Today Podcast

We recorded this episode of the QA live in front of a real audience as part of our Astronomy Cast 500 celebration. I took some rough questions and threw them at Pamela Gay, my co-host in Astronomy Cast. Will the Large Hadron Collider randomly detect particles passing through it? and more. Support Universe Today Podcast

New Horizons gave us the best views we could have hoped for of Pluto. But it was only a single glimpse of half the world. What's New Horizons up to next? And what plans are in the works to return to Pluto and Charon? Support Universe Today Podcast

In this week's questions show, I explain how I'd react if it turned out the government was hiding evidence of aliens. How we communicate with Mars when it goes behind the Sun, and why we should bother building space telescopes any more. Support Universe Today Podcast

For tonight's live QA, I'll be joined by Anton Petrov, a math and science teacher who talks about space and astronomy on his YouTube channel, often simulating events in Universe Sandbox to show how they work. Support Universe Today Podcast

Whenever I mention dark matter in anyway in the Guide to Space, or in a questions show, I get a bunch of responses that have essentially the same point. Astronomers are just speculating, why do they even think dark matter is a thing? Support Universe Today Podcast

In this week's live QA, I answer questions about when Betelgeuse will go supernova, how bad are the fires here in British Columbia, and which planets I'd like us to send probes to. Support Universe Today Podcast

In this week's questions show, I explain why we don't know of any perfectly habitable worlds in the galaxy. Why we don't know if the Universe is finite or infinite, and why we call it "micro gravity" and not "zero gravity". Support Universe Today Podcast

No guests this time, just a live QA with Fraser. Support Universe Today Podcast

The Earth’s atmosphere keeps us safe from the harsh environment of space, but it also obscures our view into the cosmos. No matter how powerful a telescope you build, the turbulence of the atmosphere limits your resolution. But astronomers and engineers have an amazing technology that allows a telescope to peer into space as if the atmosphere isn’t even there, producing images from here on the gro...

In this week's questions show, I wonder what would happen if SpaceX failed as a company, why New Horizons can't search for Planet 9, and I ask for your suggestions for new names to call dark matter and dark energy. Support Universe Today Podcast

Professor Avi Loeb is one of the hardest working astrophysicists in the field, writing a blistering number of academic papers on fascinating topics like the Fermi Paradox, the habitability of other worlds, black holes, and the history of the early universe. He's also one of the people working on the Breakthrough Starshot project to send tiny probes to other star systems. Support Universe Today Pod...

On this week's live QA, I got a chance to talk with David Brin, a science fiction author, futurist, and an advisor for NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts awards. David and I talked about the Transparent Society, why we should go to asteroids before the Moon or Mars, and some cool ideas coming out of NIAC. Support Universe Today Podcast

This week Professor Brad Peterson joins me to talk about the capability of the LUVOIR telescope, which is one of the next generation space telescopes NASA is considering as part of its new Decadal Survey. Support Universe Today Podcast

In this week's QA, I explain why dark matter is really a thing, and not just some made up thing by evil astronomers. How event horizons flatten out when they spin, what kind of scientist I'd want to be, and if you could build a ladder to space. Support Universe Today Podcast

Just me again, back from Australia answering live questions about the Universe. Support Universe Today Podcast

Astronomers have finally solved one of the outstanding mysteries in cosmology. Forget about all the dark matter and dark energy, where’s all the missing regular mass in the Universe? This has been called the “missing baryon problem”. Support Universe Today Podcast

In this week's question's show, I answer what would happen if the Milky Way lost its supermassive black hole, why can't you spiral stuff into the Sun, why do we assume life breathes oxygen? Support Universe Today Podcast

Until we learned to properly navigate our way across the oceans, early explorers were fearful to lose sight of land in case they’d be lost at sea. They learned to use the water currents, winds, movements of birds and of course, the positions of the Sun, the Moon and the stars to find their way across the seas to distant lands. As we learned to launch spacecraft into orbit and out into the Solar Sy...

In this week's episode, I explain why you can't just calculate the position of Planet 9, why we don't use parachutes to retrieve boosters, and if we can wait 100 million years to see the Great Attractor. Support Universe Today Podcast