Walkabout the Galaxy

Walkabout the Galaxy episodes:

• 04.03.2024

  Surprises from Bennu and the Milky Way

  Analysis of the samples returned from the asteroid Bennu have revealed surprising assemblages of minerals that put new constraints on the origin of the solar system. And once Top Quark Jim Cooney stops giggling, he tells us about the discovery...

  
• 03.27.2024

  The Dark Ages of the Universe

  We peer back in time both to the murky history of our own solar system and to the dark ages of the universe. The JWST has confirmed that dwarf galaxies were the first to illuminate the universe, putting an end...

  
• 03.20.2024

  A Nova Visible this Year?

  One of only a handful of recurrent novas, white dwarf stars that undergo a periodic explosive brightening as they accrete material from a neighboring star, is showing signs that it may be ready to blow sometime in 2024! Visible in...

  
• 03.06.2024

  Psyche Revisited and Two Giant Black Holes

  The presumed metallic asteroid Psyche gets a new look before the spacecraft of the same name gets there in 2029, and it reveals different spectral characteristics than were observed in previous studies. We discuss the mystery of metallic asteroids and...

  
• 02.28.2024

  The Tiniest Ocean World and the Brightest Quasar

  Saturn's so-called Death Star moon Mimas may harbor a global subsurface ocean based on analysis of Cassini data of the tiny moon's orbit and rotation. And in the distant universe, what was previously thought to be a run-of-the-mill star in...

  
• 02.21.2024

  Space Oddities in the Solar System

  Water molecules have been observed on the surface of an asteroid for the first time, and new studies help explain some of the odd behavior of planetary ring systems, including why they even exist around small objects in the outer...

  
• 02.07.2024

  When Will We Walk on Mars?

  In this special episode recorded live at MegaCon Orlando 2024, we are joined by NPR space reporter Brendan Byrne to take a close look at where we are in the mission to get people to the red planet. We take...

  
• 01.31.2024

  Large Cosmological Structures and JWST Spies a Binary TNO

  There's another claim for a violation of the cosmological principle - that all parts of the universe are basically the same on large scales - but Top quark Jim Cooney explains all is not lost for the standard model of...

  
• 01.24.2024

  Trojan Mysteries and Titan Snowbergs

  Strange disappearing islands in the hydrocarbon lakes of Saturn's giant moon Titan may be fluffy icebergs of hydrocarbon snow. If you're on Titan, definitely don't eat the snow, yellow or not. As the Lucy mission heads towards the Trojan asteroids,...

  
• 01.10.2024

  Agents of Chaos and Iron Snow

  What role has Jupiter played in the existence of our warm and cosy home planet? Has it been bravely using its gravity to keep the inner solar system calm, or did we luck out and escape getting hurtled out of...

  
• 12.21.2023

  Globular Clusters and Life in Enceladus

  New analysis of Cassini data suggests more complex hydrocarbons are part of Enceladus's global sub-surface ocean. We discuss the prospects for life on this tiny moon. The JWST continues to deliver scientific bonanzas, now providing direct observations of globular clusters...

  
• 12.13.2023

  Pluto Cryovolcano and a Cosmological Supervoid

  At Pluto’s frigid temperatures, even what we breathe is frozen. This can give rise to unusual cryovolcanism, and new research suggests a super cryovolcano tens of kilometers across on the ninth planet (yes, we went there). Speaking of super things,...

  
• 12.06.2023

  Mysterious Cosmic Ray and Martian Airglow

  The second most energetic cosmic ray (really a particle) ever observed smashed into the Earth a couple of years ago, raising more questions about the origins of these incredibly energetic particles. Solar wind particles meanwhile smash into the planets, and...

  
• 11.22.2023

  Ethical Dilemmas in Space Exploration

  The astroquarks are joined by Dr. Erika Nesvold, astrophysicist and author of “Off Earth: Ethical Questions and Quandaries for Living in Outer Space” to explore some of the surprising problems people need to think about when going to space. We’re...

  
• 11.15.2023

  The Origin of Supermassive Black Holes

  JWST data confirm early formation of supermassive black holes, less than 500 million years after the big bang. This early formation suggests these monsters start off very large and form with the initial formation of the galaxy. We also take...

  
• 11.08.2023

  Dinky and the S8 Tension

  The Lucy spacecraft had its first asteroid encounter, revealing Dinkinesh to be a binary asteroid.  In cosmology, a new simulation with a terrible acronym leaves the "S8 Tension" intact. Models of the expansion of the universe starting with our observations...

  
• 11.01.2023

  The Surprising Interiors of Mars and Venus

  New research suggests that Venus, Earth’s twin gone bad, may have started off with tectonic plate activity, like Earth. This will help us understand the evolution of Earth-like planets and why they become hothouses like Venus. Our other planetary next-door...

  
• 10.25.2023

  Detecting ETs and Intergalactic Baryons

  Fast Radio Bursts are back, this time providing a crucial measurement of the amount of normal matter in the universe. Top quark Jim Cooney explains how the interaction of light from very distant gamma ray bursts reveals the otherwise invisible...

  
• 10.18.2023

  Neutron Star Quakes and the Streaming Instability

  Images of the distant Kuiper Belt Object Arrokoth add more weight to the pebble accretion model of planetesimal formation via the streaming instability. If that sounds strange, then you'll really love the story about comparing Fast Radio Burst statistics to...

  
• 10.04.2023

  Pangaea Ultima, Antimatter Gravity, and the Evection Resonance

  The next supercontinent could spell bad news for mammals. The equivalence principle passes another test, with antimatter atoms falling just like normal matter atoms, and Josh gets excited about the evection resonance and the role it may have played in...

  
• 09.27.2023

  Short Take: Asteroid Sample and Dark Matter Hopes

  Strange and Top discuss the return of the sample from the asteroid Bennu and an intriguing measurement from a dark matter detector in Italy in this, our first Short Take episode. Sadly, the measurement has not been reproduced. Yet. A...

  
• 09.20.2023

  Trouble in the Universe: El Gordo and Dinky

  There's more tension in the standard model of the history of the universe. Giant superclusters of galaxies formed early than we thought they could. These collosal structures trace their origins to quantum fluctuations in the early universe. Find out what...

  
• 09.13.2023

  Ho'oleilana and Weird Spots on Mercury

  This episode is about hollows in space on very different scales and for very different reasons. Ho'oleilana is the largest observed structure in the universe, a bubble of sorts defined by great sheets of galactic superclusters whose size is a...

  
• 09.07.2023

  Water in the Solar System - Dragoncon 2023

  The astroquarks report from Dragoncon 2023 on the surprisingly diverse distribution of water in the solar system, where it came from, and the prospects for life on other worlds. We are joined by planetary geologist R. Scott Harris for this...

  
• 08.30.2023

  Diamonds, Granite, and Hubble Tension

  When we think of all the wonderfully unique things about the Earth as a planet (liquid water on the surface, life, plate tectonics), the existence of lovely granite kitchen countertops doesn’t usually make the list. But it turns out granite...

  
• 08.16.2023

  The Sun Bounces Gamma Rays and a Muon Surprise

  The Sun is showering us with far more gamma rays than anticipated according to new measurements from a Cerenkov radiation detector in Mexico. The way those gamma rays are produced is very cool. Also cool: data continue to suggest a...

  
• 08.09.2023

  Rogue Planets Galore and the Age of the Universe

  We take a look at two extraordinary astronomical news items in this episode. A deep dive into an astronomical survey has discovered an Earth-sized rogue planet and a Neptune-sized rogue planet. Extrapolating from those discoveries, there may be trillions of...

  
• 08.02.2023

  Dark Stars and Water in Hot Places

  The JWST has spotted water vapor in the hot inner region of a protoplanetary disk, the same region where rocky planets like are own are expected to form. This suggests water can be incorporated into terrestrial planets during formation, without...

  
• 07.26.2023

  X-Rays from Mercury and a Different Kind of Gravitational Hole

  We think of aurora as an atmospheric phenomenon, but what happens when high energy particles from the Sun directly impact a planetary surface? Mercury reveals another cool planetary twist with auroral-like emission from its surface. Meanwhile, Jim and and Josh...

  
• 07.12.2023

  The Rumble in the Universe

  Nature has provided us with exquisitely accurate clocks in the form of pulsars, those rapidly rotating neutron stars whose beams of radiation act like high-powered lighthouses across the galaxy. We discuss the amazing discovery of a deep, low, rumble of...

  
• 06.28.2023

  All Things Dark: Matter, Energy, and More

  Top quark has a field day in this episode with a model for fuzzy dark matter, new data that could shed light on dark energy, and a cool x-ray echo from the supermassive black hole at the heart of our...

  
• 06.21.2023

  Earth's Pebble Accretion and the Boring Billion

  New analysis of radioisotopes of meteorites and the Earth suggest the Earth formed in only a few million years via a process called pebble accretion. This may mean the Earth’s water was incorporated early and gradually rather than through late...

  
• 06.14.2023

  Supernovae Near and Far

  There’s a bright supernova in a nearby galaxy, and a very distant supernova made brighter by the beauty of gravitational lensing. In another galaxy, a gargantuan black hole is revealed to be orbited by another supermassive black hole, resulting in...

  
• 05.31.2023

  Is the Universe Left or Right-Handed?

  Lefty astroquark Jim Cooney leads us on an exploration of what it means for the universe to have chirality. In other words, is there a break in parity in the way galaxies are distributed, or would the universe look the...

  
• 05.24.2023

  Scary Things That Can Happen To Planets

  We take a deep dive into the origin of Mars’s moons and whether they are chips off the old block. There’s no research to explain the mystery of why Mars and the rest of the planets are even here after...

  
• 05.10.2023

  Crazy Rings, Watery Moons, and Ancient Black Holes

  We explore the strange ring system of dwarf planet Quaoar, and discuss a new study that suggests that Uranus's four largest moons (which aren't really very large!) may have subsurface salty oceans. In the astrophysical realm, black holes may have...

  
• 04.26.2023

  The Impact of Impacts on Water on Mars

  New calculations show how large impacts onto Mars may have boosted its greenhouse effect, helping explain how it was warm enough for all those rivers and lakes billions of years ago. If that explains Mars' early warm climate, it could...

  
• 04.19.2023

  Live at Nerd Nite with the Moon, JUICE, and M87 Black Hole

  We return to Orlando Nerd Nite for a live recording where we take a look at the exciting upcoming missions to the Moon and the ESA mission to Jupiter's moons, JUICE, now on its 8 year journey to its destination....

  
• 04.05.2023

  MegaCon 2023 and JWST

  Space reporter Brendan Byrne becomes an honorary astroquark at MEGACON 2023 where we take a look at some of the recent and landmark discoveries of JWST, including the earliest supermassive black hole and a new era of studying exoplanets. Plus:...

  
• 03.29.2023

  Oumuamua Explained and Dark Matter Near Black Holes

  That interstellar comet appears to have gotten its odd behavior from the natural rocket effect of hydrogen gas being released near the Sun and not, sadly, alien rocket technology. The universe is still a cool and interesting place, though, and...

  
• 03.22.2023

  Active Volcanism on Venus!

  Compelling evidence for recent (1990’s!) volcanic activity on Venus has been un-Earthed, or rather un-Venused, by Robert Herrick through analysis of Magellan radar data. A volcanic vent seems to have roughly doubled in size in 1991. We discuss the difficulties...

  
• 03.15.2023

  It's About Time!

  What time is it on the Moon? It turns out the answer to that is not as easy as just lining it up with a time on the Earth. Worse, it's not even that obvious what time it is on...

  
• 03.08.2023

  Sweet Europa Tail

  Learn about active asteroids and how the DART mission kind of turned an asteroid into an active asteroid, how impacts into Mercury have given it a dust trail, and we speculate about what might happen if Europa came to Earth....

  
• 03.02.2023

  Runaway Black Holes and Certified Organic Asteroids

  Astronomers have sighted a supermassive black hole ejected from its host galaxy and creating a wake of stars from intergalactic gas. And if that wasn't enough to blow your mind, closer to home we've seen organic molecules in the material...

  
• 02.15.2023

  Whacky Water and Weird Rings

  Where would you go and what would you bring with you if you could explore any object in the universe? Our cosmologist Jim Cooney wants to look for aliens underneath Europa's icy shell. This shell's complicated fractures may owe something...

  
• 02.01.2023

  The Trouble with Neutrinos and Other Mysteries

  Neutrinos are slippery little buggers, and a new experiment is tightening the net to pin down their itsy-bitsy mass. Closer to home, the Earth's core is a complicated system with changing rates of rotation. We also take a look at...

  
• 01.25.2023

  The Tiniest Wormhole

  Scientists have created a simulation of a wormhole in a quantum computer. Top quark helps us understand the significance of this as well as reminds us what the heck a wormhole is anyway. In planetary science, collisions may once again...

  
• 01.18.2023

  The Super Earth Assembly Line

  Our own solar system is lacking in one of the most common types of planet, the Super Earth. These large rocky planets have a cookie-cutter characteristic that may be explained by the evolution of stuff in a forming system’s disk....

  
• 01.11.2023

  On Top of Nuclear Fusion

  Top quark Jim Cooney rejoins the crew and gives us a deep dive into the breakthrough in nuclear fusion at the National Ignition Facility. Mars rover Perseverance is busy storing samples of Mars for a future mission to bring home,...

  
• 12.14.2022

  All About STEVE and GRBs

  The astroquarks get Down with it as we welcome Dr. Audrey Martin back as the Down astroquark for a discussion of the strange auroral phenomenon known as STEVE (for real), an odd gamma ray burst that may be the result...