You might be familiar with the cosmic microwave background, but that’s just one of the background radiations that astronomers look at. Some are well known and cataloged. While others are just starting to be possible to see at all. All of them tell us more about our Universe.
Space scientists and engineers recently went through the process of deciding on their science goals, so we thought we’d spend an episode explaining how this works, and how the next generation of spacecraft and telescopes will be selected.
This is gonna be another one of those evergreen topics where we come back again and again. Finding planets. Every time we talk about this now it seems like we’ve gained thousands of new planets. Well, buckle up! New techniques will grow that by tens of thousands and even millions!
NASA’s Juno Mission just received a mission extension, adding Jupiter’s moons to the menu. Now, finally, we can talk about Juno!
Stars often come in groups of 2 or more. And if they’re orbiting close enough to each other one star can feast on the other and when that happens, well, mayhem ensues!
In just the last few years astronomers have discovered a tremendous amount of gamma-ray bursts and what’s actually causing them. The answer, of course, is that it’s more complicated than we originally thought.
Remember the good old days when there were only a few thousand living and dead satellites? Well, those days are long over. We’re now entering an era where there will be tens of thousands of satellites. Not to mention the spent rocket boosters and other space junk. What kind of risk do we face and what can be done about it?
In 2024, human will set foot on the Moon again. But explorers going to the Moon will need to be concerned about all kinds of hazards, like dust, radiation and gigantic Moon worms.
This week we complete the stellar trilogy to answer the question, What happens to the really, really, really big stars when they die?
Two weeks ago we talked about where stars come from, and last week we discussed how stars die. This week we complete the stellar trilogy to answer the question, What happens to the really, really, really big stars when they die?
Stars like our Sun will spend billions of years fusing together hydrogen and pumping out energy. And when the fuel runs out, their death is as interesting as their birth. This week Fraser and Pamela trace out this stellar evolution, and explain what the future holds for stars, large and small