The Astroholic Explains

Chris and I decided to find out when humans realized that meteorites came from beyond Earth: it could be a lot older than it was once thought! Egyptologist Dr Victoria Almansa-Villatoro joins us to discuss meteorite artifacts and intriguing hieroglyphs from Ancient Egypt.

We are talking about ancient aliens. (No, not the racist conspiracy theory!) We look into the concept of extraterrestrials over history and how it originated. Who were the first recorded people who pondered about life outside Earth?

In this episode, we tackle the classic concept of sound in space, what can we measure, and why it is important that some sound waves move through the cosmos.

Our position inside the Milky Way doesn't give us an advantageous view of our galaxy. But that doesn't mean we haven't found a way around it. Joined by Dr GyuChul Myeong, we explore how we make sense of the Milky Way and its past collision with the Gaia-Sausage galaxy.

In the last episode, we looked at how stars end up dead. So Chris has an important follow-up: can you find a way to heal and save a dying star?

#InvisibleRainbows

Our Sun and many other stars will become larger later in life. But is this a condition common to all stars? Guest questioner Francis wonders about the future of stars and their ultimate demise!

In this episode, we tackle the peculiar carbonado diamond, a black diamond that looks very different from the glittering gems we might be more familiar with. And we will discover that its origin might be out of this world!

Carbonado Diamond going on auction

Invisible Rainbows

Planets in sci-fi are often portrayed as having a single climate, but how truthful is that idea? This audience question gets the full treatment from Alfredo & Chris as they deal with the tatooines, hoths, risas, synnaxes of the real universe!

The Astroholic Explains Xmas Special is inspired by Italo Calvino's Cosmicomics on the 100th anniversary of the author's birth. Join us for an imaginative tale, not fantasy nor sci-fi, but one based on science facts: the formation of elements in stars and how they spread across the universe. ✨

And if you are interested in my book, here is a link to the crowdfunding.