Today marks 90 years from Clyde Tombaughs discovery of Pluto and in celebration we look at New Horizon’s flyby and the new science coming out of MU69. We also look at an image of Mars with a crescent moon as the passed in last night’s sky. Pluto at 90 – Tombaugh’s discovery revolutionized knowledge of […]
Carbon dioxide and salt water ice on Mars melts when the sun’s angle changes, leading to “Crocus Melting”, according to new research. Betelgeuse is actually changing shape due to stellar activity or dust ejection. And the OLA camera is malfunctioning on OSIRIS-REx – so it can’t focus on all the rocks, currently, but this is […]
We’ve been seeing a lot of reports about a possible alien signal from a weird radio source observed by the CHIME telescope. We look at the original research paper and sort fact from fiction (and the aliens are fiction). We also look at new efforts to work with the UN to limit the effects of […]
After a couple weeks of low activity, it’s actually been a busy week in aerospace! Annie chats about the second batch of satellites for OneWeb, Japan’s new spy satellite, a failed Iranian launch, and ESA’s Solar Orbiter. New this week: useless space facts! Our first launch of the week was an Arianespace Soyuz-2 from Baikonur […]
Today’s show starts with a mighty YORP. It turns out the YORP effect may spin asteroids to death in dying star systems. We also look at how the formations of giant planets and brown dwarf stars differ, and a new way to get science from dust. Supercharged light pulverizes asteroids, study finds (Warwick) Today’s episode […]