Walkabout the Galaxy

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 of an unusual stellar merger, and updates on the successful Artemis 1 mission to the Moon.

Europa's got miniature tectonic activity, and a dark matter candidate may real itself through micro-gravitational lensing events. Dr. Audrey Martin joins us to discuss the strange spectra of the Trojan asteroids which have similar characteristics to comet dust tails. Join us for all this, silly particle name trivia, Artemis updates, and more.

Artemis 1, the most powerful rocket to ever leave the Earth, is up and on its way to the Moon after more hydrogen leaks than we care to remember, and Up Astroquark Dr. Hannah Sargeant signs off on her last Walkabout appearance as she is away to new adventures. We review the Artemis 1 mission, a new tracer for the origin of water on Earth and Mars, and we learn about a new idea for that famous dimming of the supergiant star Betelgeuse. Learn about gravity darkening, also a great name for a rock band, space junk trivia, and more with Strange, Charm, and Up.

The Mars Insight lander detected an impact that produced a stadium-sized crater on the red planet, and the 30-year magnetospheric mission Geotail comes to an end. An experiment deep underground on Earth helps explain the puzzling composition of some of the oldest stars, and we explore the future of eclipses in our trivia. Catch up on all this, the latest space news, and more.

Join us for a special reunion of all the astroquarks with a fresh look at some of our favorite topics, from hunting for biosignatures on Venus and plumes on Europa to the quivering of space-time measured by LIGO. New results on old observations and quasar trivia round out our 300th episode.

We absolutely definitely have not seen any life on Mars. That said, new research suggests that over 3 billion years ago there may have been a certain kind of habitable climate on Mars for some little critters whose effects on the atmosphere would have made Mars - wait for it - uninhabitable! Join us for this and the most powerful gamma ray burst yet observed.

Astronomers have new evidence of the gaseous remnants of the supernova of a population III star from just 700 million years after the big bang. Speaking of big bangs, DART smacked Dimorphos and produced a long trail of debris from the tiny asteroid, and Mercury reveals a surprisingling dynamic surface. Tune in for space news near and far and Nobel prize trivia with your astroquarks.

Humanity gets a bit of payback on asteroids for the rude destruction of the dinosaurs and almost all life on Earth 65 million years ago with the DART spacecraft's successful impact on a teensy-weensy asteroid. New research suggests the asteroids teamed up on Earth long ago, and that there were at least two major impacts to end the Cretaceous and the dinosaurs. Hot and barren Mercury may have significant deposits of solid ice at its poles, and we learn about photon rings around black holes. No giggling.

There are lots of explosions in this episode, beginning with the upcoming planned impact of the DART mission into a teeny-weeny asteroid to test planetary protection techniques. Then we take a look at some nifty detective work about a volcanic explosion on Mars, and finally, astronomers may have found the pre-smoking gun that lets us know when a star is about to go supernova.

The Astroquarks venture into the belly of the beast with our first live recording at the amazing DragonCon in Atlanta. Join us for a look ahead at upcoming Moon missions beyond Artemis, dragon trivia and more.