Universe Today Podcast

Can stars be born without a parent galaxy? Can quasars destroy life in an entire galaxy? Is there another planet in our Solar System after all? Did the Sun have a sibling star at some point? Answering all these questions and more in this week's Q&A show.

Seeing an Earth-like planet around a Sun-like star isn't possible with current telescopes. The difference in brightness is just too big. But future space telescopes will have multiple tricks up their sleeve specifically for that. Which ones? Finding out in this interview.Guest: Dr Bertrand Mennesson

Plate tectonics could be incredibly rare, LEGO bricks made from actual space rocks, mapping the Milky Way’s dark matter halo, and Perseverance’s SHERLOC instrument is fully operational again.

China returns samples from the far side of the Moon, SpaceX will be de-orbiting ISS, could you surf the methane waves on Titan, and who knows when Starliner is coming home

Not every new space mission needs a separate launch and dedicated hardware. With this proposal, there's a huge potential for finding signals from primordial black holes by just using signals from a spacecraft flying to Uranus or Neptune. No additional hardware required.

How often do objects fall into the Sun? Why do some stars explode as novae, not as Type 1a supernovae? Can the US Army just donate NASA a Hubble 2? Will humans be living underground on Mars? Answering all these questions and more in this week's Q&A.

AI is practically everywhere right now. But what practical use does it have in science? How can machine learning and large language models help in Astronomy and Cosmology? What can they look like and what use can we get out of them?Guest: Dr Mike Smith

How old is Jupiter’s Red Spot, watching a supermassive black hole wake up, the earliest merging quasars, and Starliner still hasn’t come home.

Astrophysicist Jason Kristiano discusses primordial black holes, their formation, impact on the Universe, observational methods, and potential as dark matter solution. From quantum fluctuations in inflation to gravitational wave detection challenges, the conversation explores new perspectives on cosmology and fundamental forces.

Satellites run out of fuel and have to de-orbit and end their missions. But what if they had access to a practically infinite amount of fuel? What if they could scoop air from the atmosphere and use it as propellant? That is exactly the research that Dr Mansur Tisaev is doing!Guest: Dr. Mansur Tisaev