Walkabout the Galaxy

We go deep on this episode of Walkabout, with new analysis of the lakes on Titan showing the largest may be more than 300 meters deep. In deep space, the long, low rumble of spacetime from interactions of supermassive black holes may have revealed itself in subtle changes in the timing of pulsars. Check it all out, plus find out just how long two shakes of lamb's tail really is. We've got the whole universe covered.

The galaxy has been making rocky planets for longer than we thought, and a new study shows us how black holes can tell us just how symmetric the universe is using a bumblebee field. You'll have to listen to find out! Plus, we have nerd news, space news, and trivia. Don't miss it.

We welcome special guest Heather Archuletta, a NASA pillownaut, who tells us what it's like to spend weeks simulating space travel in a slightly inverted bed. While time may have seemed to slow down last year, the Earth has actually been speeding up a bit. We'll explain it all, along with news from our neighboring star, sleep trivia, and nerd news as we kick off the third annual Year of the Astroquarks.

A planetary explorer in deep space turns its eyes outward and faints a brighter glow from distant galaxies than expected, while an alternative theory to dark matter suffers a blow. (Natural) radio emissions from an exoplanet may have been detected for the first time. The astroquarks explain it all and have a year-end space news trivia round up to close out our 2020 season.

Astrometry, what is it good for? Among other things it tells us where the heck we are, and that turns out to be only 25,000 light years away from the monster black hole at the center of the galaxy. Closer to home, the astroquarks discuss the exciting return of samples from an asteroid and the Moon by two robotic explorers, plus astronomy trivia and more space news from the venerable Voyager probes.

We are not only star stuff, we are also Big Bang stuff! We learn about how the formation of deuterium in the first few minutes after the Big Bang has left a lingering mark on the universe and each of us. A mysterious blue nebula has been explained as the Yo-Yo like aftermath of the merger of two small stars, Jim and Addie choose between the Moon and Mars for their vacation destinations, and our trivia is about the big blue marble.

Learn about a catastrophic merger of neutron stars that resulted in a weird beast known as a magnetar. Also, your Astroquarks take a look at a new model for geysers on Jupiter's moon Europa, and challenge you with some Einstein trivia. The odds are improving for axions being dark matter, plus, Jim does a 180 on Baby Yoda!

A Fast Radio Burst (we like to call them Furbies) has been seen coming from a highly magnetic neutron star right here in our own galactic backyard. A new analysis of Kepler data tells us how many of Star Trek's "Class M" (Earthlike) planets are nearby, and Top quark Jim Cooney provides the stumpers. Plus, we have a special astronomy election trivia question, for the most famous case of voting on a science question. Spoiler: you really shouldn't vote on things like that.

Charm quark Addie Dove is over the Moon about the announcement that water molecules have been found in minerals all over the lunar surface. We also take a look back at our friend the Philae lander which bounced several times on a comet before coming to rest in a nook or a cranny. The surface of the comet is softer than fresh snow. Join us for a tour of the solar system, with spacecraft trivia and some random astroquarkiness thrown in for good measure.

Join us for a behind-the-scenes blow-by-blow discussion of the activities of NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission as it made contact with the asteroid Bennu and captured a sample of material from the ancient solar system. We are joined by Dr. Humberto Campins, a Co-Investigator on the mission, for an in-depth examination of this literally ground-breaking event. And we also have a Halloween-theme for our trivia, space news, and a nerd news apology.