Episode 706: Open Space 100: Did We Really Detect a Signal from Proxima Centauri? And More...

In this week's last QA of 2020, I go long answering questions about space and astronomy. I talk about the news of a radio signal received from Proxima Centauri, an update on my attempts to learn Mandarin Chinese, and a long diatribe about megaconstellations and their impact on astronomy.

00:00:00 Start

00:02:51 How do we know the rotation rate of gas planets?

00:05:21 Green blobs

00:05:42 Radio signal from Proxima Centauri

00:11:25 Learning Chinese

00:17:05 Why don't we live in a black hole?

00:18:37 Is nuclear propulsion legal?

00:21:50 Are there planets that have no knowledge of space?

00:24:57 Will the speed of light change our view of the conjunction?

00:26:25 Should we build a super-Kepler?

00:29:00 What motivation is there for space colonization?

00:31:23 Better name for dark matter?

00:32:15 Why learn Chinese?

00:35:12 Where will humans go instead of Mars?

00:37:00 Will we detect heavier elements after the island of stability?

00:38:40 Will there be a future mission to Neptune?

00:39:51 Should we send a mission to Alpha Centauri?

00:41:23 What would the Milky Way look like from above?

00:43:00 Updates on O'Neill cylinders?

00:45:10 Should we change our behaviour if we live in a simulation?

00:47:06 Is the Universe 99.99% devoid of life?

00:50:27 Will I do QAs in Mandarin?

00:51:06 What's the terminal velocity speed of Starship?

00:52:04 How to push Venus into the Sun?

00:53:04 Am I enjoying The Expanse?

00:54:15 Could Hubble show the conjunction?

00:54:37 How big were Pop 3 stars?

00:58:15 What missions would I do if I was the head of NASA?

00:59:49 Will robots replace people most of the time?

01:01:15 Favorite missions that never happened?

01:02:20 Backyard observatory?

01:03:20 ESA's reusable rocket plans

01:07:25 Can a remote colony be self-sustaining?

01:10:11 What about VASIMIR?

01:12:17 How bad will Starlink be for astronomy?

01:25:27 Could you extrapolate the position of stars in the sky?