Universe Today Podcast

When the largest stars die, it’s usually pretty obvious. Supernovae are visible from billions of light-years away. But recently astronomers watched a massive star just disappear. No explosion, nothing, it just… vanished?

Of course, it could have been dust. It’s always dust. But one intriguing possibility is that the star just imploded directly into a black hole, without the supernova detonation. And if that’s the case, is this happening more often, we just didn’t notice it?

This episode is a segment that we did in the Weekly Space Hangout talking about how astronomers are using masers (water lasers) to measure the expansion rate of the Universe.

You'd think that another, independent way to measure the expansion rate of the Universe would be helpful, but it's only deepened the mystery of the cosmological crisis.

This week, it'll be the last Open Space with Fraser before the show goes on its summer hiatus until September. If you've got some burning space questions, no will be your chance to ask them.

Earlier this year, NASA announced 4 new Discovery-class missions that they were considering. These are low-cost, rapidly-built missions that will help scientists understand some mystery in astronomy and planetary science.

One of these missions is called Trident, and it’s going to be targeting the Planet Neptune. And more specifically, it’s going to be providing close up pictures of its largest moon Triton.

In this week's questions show, I answer what would happen if a supernova exploded right beside a black hole, how do we know that it's impossible to travel faster than the speed of light, can we hitch a ride on an interstellar object, and more...

This is a recent interview with me on the Space Junk, hosted by Tony Darnell and Dustin Gibson about the future of Solar System settlement. Although I'm a huge fan of space exploration in general, I'm not a huge fan of living on other words.

Subscribe to Space Junk: https://anchor.fm/spacejunk

In this week's episode, I answer questions about alien life, why the ISS is at its current altitude, and of course, many questions about black holes.

Another week, another Open Space. In this week's questions show, I talk about planets orbiting red dwarf stars, if planets could steal moons from each other, and whether or not the space shuttle should have ever been built.

Astronomers have discovered thousands of exoplanets, and still need to confirm thousands more. And over the coming decades, we’ll probably learn of millions of planets, orbiting stars we’ve never heard of.

That’s why it’s reassuring to know astronomers are learning a tremendous amount about the closest star system to our own, Proxima Centauri. In fact, we now know of two planets orbiting the red dwarf star, one of which is in the habitable zone.

As you know, I sometimes throw interviews with me on the feed. And this is one I did about a week ago on the Interplanetary Podcast. We talk about a range of things in space and astronomy, and my portion shows up around the 30-minute mark.

https://www.interplanetary.org.uk/home

In this week's episode of Open Space, I talk with Dr. Jamie Molaro, a planetary scientist who helped discover that the surface of asteroid Bennu has rocks that crack because of the constant day/night cycle.

Another week, another Open Space. This week I answer questions about what we might see in the next 5 decades. When dark matter will get debunked, and who will carry the Mars torch after Elon Musk passes away.

I’d say half the astronomy-related videos on YouTube are all about black holes. Clearly, they’re a fascinating topic, but they’re also a mystery. How do you observe something that can absorb all the radiation and matter falling onto them, and nothing can ever escape? How do we know they’re really there, and what are the best observations we can make?

Today I’m joined by Dr. Paul Sutter, a cosmologist, and astrophysicist to talk about how we know black holes are really there and not just a figment of an astrophysicist’s imagination?

In this week's questions show, I answer questions about how the International Space Station stays above the Earth's atmosphere, does dark matter need a better name? And how do astronomers know they're looking at exoplanets and not sunspots?

On Sunday, May 31st, 2020, a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley docked with the International Space Station. This was a tremendous accomplishment for SpaceX and NASA, giving the United States the capability of launching its own astronauts, and no longer relying on its Russian partners.

This was the 5th time that US astronauts went into orbit on a new kind of space vehicle, following in the footsteps of Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle.

Another week, another Open Space. This week, I answered questions about whether space-time could freeze, are standard candles like Type 1a supernovae still useful? And is the Great Attractor just a black hole?