Have you ever wondered what early humans thought as they looked up at the night sky? How did our ancestors interpret the motion of the stars, constellations and planets? How did it develop into the science of astronomy as we know it today? This episode Stuart Clark discusses his new book Beneath The Night, and how stargazing has shaped the development of our species.

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NASA’s Jose Siles discusses ASTHROS, a new mission that will see a 2.5m telescope attached to a helium balloon and sent into the stratosphere, in order to give astronomers a closer look at galactic star formation.

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What are the different types of galaxies, and how have astronomers studied them over the years? Also this episode, we speak to Andrew Griffith MP, co-chair of an all-party parliamentary group seeking to protect the UK's dark skies.

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Could life exist elsewhere in the Solar System? Astronomers have announced the presence of phosphine in the clouds of Venus, which could be evidence of microbial life around the hellish planet. This episode Dr Emily Drabek-Maunder, one of the astronomers behind the discovery, reveals how they did it, and why we need a new mission to explore Venus.

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We talk to Libby Jackson – one of the UK's leading experts in human spaceflight and author of Space Explorers: 25 stories of space exploration and adventure – about the history and future of human spaceflight.

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We reveal how stars are born, evolve and die, and discover that a star's mass determines its ultimate fate. Plus, we speak to astronomer Emily Cannon about her research into the dimming of Betelgeuse, a red giant star that forms part of the Orion constellation. Could it be about to go supernova?

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Neptune's icy moon Triton may host an ocean of liquid water beneath its icy surface. We spoke to planetary scientist Louise Prockter to find out about Trident, a proposed mission she's leading to send a spacecraft to explore the frozen satellite.

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Have you ever wondered how the Universe will end? We spoke to Dr Katie Mack to find out what it means to contemplate the final days of the cosmos.

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How far away is the edge of the Solar System? What even is 'the edge'? How do we know it's there? In this month's episode we take a look at the outer limits of our planetary neighbourhood. Plus: we talk to Keith Hayward of the Royal Aeronautical Society about the Chinese space programme and reveal how to make the most of August's Perseid meteor shower.

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16th July 2020 marks 20 years since the launch of the European Space Agency's Cluster mission. For two decades, Cluster has been examining how the solar wind interacts with Earth's magnetosphere and its effect on life on our planet. This episode we spoke to space weather expert and Cluster mission scientist Dr Mike Hapgood.

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