Universe Today Podcast

Another asteroid hit exactly where astronomers predicted, a monster asteroid rolled Ganymede over onto its side, strange sounds coming from Starliner, and China announces when it’ll try to grab a piece of Mars.

Dr. Gerard van Belle, a leading expert in optical interferometry, discusses the astounding potential of using interferometers for enhanced astronomical observations. He explains why not all telescopes adopt this technology and explores innovative lunar missions like MoonLITE that aim to revolutionize how we observe distant celestial bodies. The conversation dives into detecting exoplanets and the visionary Big Fringe Telescope, highlighting the challenges and possibilities of pushing the boundaries of our understanding of the universe.

Could entangled electrons be used for FTL communications? Will Starship enable better satellites? Could we detect radiation on another world? Are there alternative explanations for black holes? Answering all these questions and more in this week's Overtime Q&A.

Is Betelgeuse a binary star? Starliner is coming home empty. New Glenn is on schedule to launch NASA’s next mission to Mars. NASA’s solar sail unfurls.

Why does the Sun have an 11-year cycle? Would I rather have a Venus mission or a Jovian moon mission? Do black holes attract other black holes? Can Chinese astronomers use Hubble/Webb? Answering all these questions and more in this week's Overtime Q&A.

The DART mission is going to create a meteor shower on Earth, an explanation for the Wow! Signal, big problems with New Glenn, and JUICE completes a flyby of both the Earth and Moon.

Have I ever messed up a recording? Are there plans for new space stations? Is there a limit to the size of an orbital rocket? Will humanity survive the next mass extinction event? Answering all these questions and more in this week's Overtime Q&A.

The quest to find an Earth-sized planet around a Sun-like star continues. One of the telescopes that could achieve it is ESA's Plato mission. How will it be able to do it and what should we expect from it? Finding out it this interview.Guest: Dr. David Brown

Vast amounts of water found on Mars, but there’s a catch, Milky Way and Andromeda might not merge after all, a planet found before it gets destroyed, and an easier way to terraform Mars.

The final parsec problem is a mystery that is yet to be answered by cosmology. On paper, supermassive black holes shouldn't merge. But yet they do. Why is it happening? What helps them slow down? Could it be dark matter? Looking for answers in this interview.Guest: Dr. Gonzalo Alonso Álvarez