Universe Today Podcast

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.

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.

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?

In this week's live Open Space, people wanted to know if solar sails really work, will we ever get close to the speed of light, what's the best way to get out of Venus' gravity well, and more?

In this week's questions show, I answer whether or not dark matter could become a black hole, how do we know the Universe is flat, and what would happen to the world's market for precious metals once we start mining asteroids?

When you’re out in space, water is the most precious resource you can get your hands on. It can be used for air, water, to grow food, radiation shielding, and most importantly, as the propellant for your spacecraft.

Exploration of the Moon has revealed that there’s a tremendous amount of water ice locked into the regolith, but it’s probably very difficult to access. But there are also permanently shadowed craters at the Moon’s poles that could have more than enough water to support a permanently inhabitable station on the Moon.

But it’s going to be tricky to get at, considering the fact that temperatures in the shadows plunge to -240 degrees Celsius, just 30 degrees above absolute zero.

On a special time, we've got a special guest, Professor Martin Rees, a British cosmologist and astrophysicist. He's the Astronomer Royal and helped develop many of the modern theories of astronomy and cosmology.

In this week's live QA, I explain why a black hole can have infinite density but not infinite gravity. Does your perception of time change due to your mass, and am I ever intimidated by the people I get to interview?

The distances to other stars are depressingly enormous. Sure, it’s incredibly far to get to Mars, Jupiter, and even Pluto, but at least you can design a robotic spacecraft to make the journey and see the science results in your own lifetime.

But in the case of other stars, interstellar flight times will take thousands and even tens of thousands of years to send just a robotic mission.

Fortunately, the Milky Way has got our back. Other star systems have been hurling comets and asteroids towards the Solar System. All we’ve got to do… is catch them.

This week's guest is Moiya McTier. You might know Moiya as one of the regular co-hosts on the Weekly Space Hangout. She's an astrophysicist and science communicator, working with Columbia's Cool Worlds Lab.

In this week's live QA, I explain what's happening with Universe Today during the megavirus, what I think about the recently released UFO videos, how aliens could hide their existence, and if Starship will cause a Kessler Syndrome.

The Moon orbits around the Earth. The Earth orbits around the Sun. And out in the distant Universe, astronomers have found a system that takes this logical progression to its most extreme. There’s a system where a supermassive black hole with millions of times the mass of the Sun orbits another black hole with billions of times the mass of the Sun.

How astronomers discovered this incredible interaction took careful observations, imagination, and the hard work of the Spitzer Space Telescope, taken during its final years of operation.

This week's guest is DasValdez, a popular Twitch stream who covers all things Kerbal Space Space. Das has carried this love of space exploration and astronomy into the real world, with absolutely fascinating coverage of rocket launches and virtual tours of museums.