Universe Today Podcast

How did life begin on Earth? It's one of the most important questions ever. Clearly, we don't have an answer yet, but how can we even approach it? What methods and studies can we use to come closer to the answer? Figuring all this out with Dr Sukrit Ranjan, Assistant Professor at University of Arizona.

Black holes are defined by only three parameters: mass, charge and spin. We know that black holes spin. But how can we measure that? What tools and methods are at our disposal? Answering these questions with Dr Ruth Daly, Professor of Physics at Penn State University.

What is the farthest object you can see with the unaided eye? Do galaxies have Lagrange points like stars or planets? What does NASA think about Starship's last flight attempt? Which future space telescopes are the most exciting? How will Starship fly without a crew escape system? Answering all these questions and more in this week's Q&A show.

Hubble is down right now. JWST sees the first protoplanetary disk in another galaxy. Titan Dragonfly’s delay. The first full image of the Chinese Space Station from orbit.

What was it like to fly on the Space Shuttle? What made this vehicle so important for the history of spaceflight? What stories can it tell? Answering all these questions with NASA Space Shuttle Astronaut, Tom Jones.

How bad can a solar flare really be for the Earth? What would evolution in an isolated star system look like? What damage can a rogue planet flying through the Solar System cause? When will we have Lagrange point interferometers? What's the speed limit for gravitational assists? Answering all these questions and more in this week's Q&A.

It happened! Starship and SuperHeavy Did Launch for the second time. All 33 raptors were working. Hot staging went as planned. But then both the Booster 9 and Ship 25 were lost. What exactly went wrong and what does it mean for the future of Starship? Finding out with Scott Manley and Marcus House.

SpaceX Starship launches again. Webb finds methane in the atmosphere of an exoplanet and reveals a star-forming region near the center of the Milky Way. The overwhelming logistics of dealing with an asteroid threat.

Did James Webb already reach its full potential or is there more to come from it? How does TESS compare to Kepler? Can we use Starlinks as a giant space-based interferometer? Can we rip a black hole apart to see what's inside? Answering all these questions and more in this week's Q&A!

China is planning a Mars Sample Return Mission. James Webb tracks water moving towards planets. The Hubble Tension has gotten even more tense.

How large surveys of our galactic neighbourhood can help us better understand dark energy? What more can we learn from them? What instruments and techniques are used for this? Answering all these questions and more with Dr John Moustakas.

The so-called Crisis in Cosmology didn't go anywhere. Different methods are giving different values for the Hubble Constant creating one of the most interesting mysteries in Astronomy. What possible solutions do we have? Discussing them with Dr Sunny Vagnozzi.

Lucy made an incredible discovery. One of the strangest exoplanetary systems ever seen. Understanding the Universe with slime mold. And the most powerful ion engine passes the test.

You asked for it, so it's here. A big interview about a proposed mission called LIFE that could help us revolutionise planet hunting. My guest is Dr Daniel Angerhausen from EHT Zurich.

How do we know that Psyche is a metal asteroid? Did primordial gravitational waves stretch when inflation happened? When do we finally get more Trappist-1 data from JWST? Can a dead star possibly reignite?