Ep. 755: Intermediate Mass Black Holes
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Streamed live on May 5, 2025. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay. There are stellar-mass and supermassive black holes. But very little evidence of anything in between. Where are all the intermediate-mass black holes that should be the building blocks of the biggest ones? Actually, the science has been accelerating rapidly and we now know of hundreds of them. The question marks in our understanding are slowly getting replaced with data. Let's review what we now know about intermediate mass black holes and their origins. SUPPORTED BY YOU! This Episode is made possible...
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Ep. 754: K2-18b
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Streamed live on Apr 28, 2025. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay You’ve heard the news! Astronomers are reporting the discovery of biosignatures at K2-18b. Is this proof of life or should we all be more skeptical? It's in the news and people are claiming aliens... but is it aliens? Let's see what the data actually says. SUPPORTED BY YOU This Episode is made possible thanks to our Patrons on Patreon. Join at the Galaxy Group level or higher to be listed in our YouTube videos. Thanks to: BogieNet, Stephen Vei, Jeanette Wink, Siggi Kemmler, Andrew Poelstra, Brian Cagle,...
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Ep. 753: Why is the Moon's South Pole So Interesting?
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Streamed live on Apr 21, 2025. I’m sure you’ve heard that all eyes are on the Moon’s southern pole. This is where various NASA and Chinese missions are targeting. What makes this region so special and what are the special challenges that explorers will face. From TV shows to real-world missions, it seems like everyone just wants to explore the Moon's South Pole. But why? Learn here! SUPPORTED BY YOU This Episode is made possible thanks to our Patrons on Patreon. Join at the Galaxy Group level or higher to be listed in our YouTube videos. Thanks to: BogieNet, Stephen...
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Ep. 752: Should We Go to the Moon or Mars Next?
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Streamed live on Apr 16, 2025. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay There is an ongoing debate on where NASA should go next with humans: to the Moon or Mars. (Or maybe an asteroid or one of Mars’ moons). We are on the verge of sending humans back to the Moon. At the same time others would prefer we focus our exploration on Mars. It’s a tough choice because there are costs and benefits to both. Let’s try to give this conversation some nuance. Let's discuss the reasons for each of these worlds. SUPPORTED BY YOU! This Episode is made possible thanks to our Patrons on Patreon....
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Ep. 751: Vacuum Energy
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Streamed live on Apr 7, 2025. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay. Even empty space isn’t empty. It’s filled with the quantum fluctuations of spacetime itself. Which can be measured with famous experiments like the Casimir Effect. There is a surprising amount of energy in space itself, which has led to some interesting theories about how the future of the Universe might evolve. You can't get something from nothing but sometimes that nothing is something you can get something from. SUPPORTED BY YOU This Episode is made possible thanks to our Patrons on Patreon. Join at the...
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Ep. 750: Supernova Early Warning System
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Streamed live on Mar 31, 2025. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay When enormous stars detonate as supernovae they release a burst of neutrinos that can be the first sign of a coming explosion. Now, astronomers have built a network to watch for that flash of neutrinos, and help direct their telescopes for when the sky show begins. Supernovae explosions occur in stages, with neutrinos being emitted hours before photons. If we can accurately detect those neutrinos, we might just be able to get on target before the light show even starts.... Maybe. SUPPORTED BY YOU This Episode is...
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Ep. 749: Dark Energy Changing Over Time
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Streamed live on Mar 24, 2025. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay The Hubble Tension is a vexing problem, with astronomers measuring the expansion of the Universe at different points in its history and getting different results. Errors have mostly been ruled out, which leaves the potential for new physics. Has the strength of dark energy been changing over time? We thought Dark Energy was constant with time, but new results from DESI say maybe not, and honestly, if it wasn't constant the Hubble Tension would be a whole lot easier to solve. SUPPORTED BY YOU! This Episode is...
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Ep. 748: Fast Radio Bursts
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Streamed live on Mar 17, 2025. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay. For the briefest of moments, some dead stars can flash brighter than their entire galaxy (in Radio light) and then live to do it again and again. It’s time for an update on fast radio bursts, a phenomenon we’ve only known about for a few decades. In this time astronomers have learned a tremendous amount them. They’re not solved, but we’re getting closer! SUPPORTED BY YOU This Episode is made possible thanks to our Patrons on Patreon. Join at the Galaxy Group level or higher to be listed in our YouTube...
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Ep. 747: Rogue Planets
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Streamed live on Mar 10, 2025. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay Most planets orbit stars. That’s the rule, right? Well, maybe not. In fact the vast majority of planets could be floating freely through the Milky Way. Today we’re gonna talk about rogue planets. Sometimes planets just go rogue. Let's learn about planets living free from stars.
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Ep. 746: Dust Storms
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Streamed live Feb 24, 2025. We have dust storms on Earth and of course the famous dust storms on Mars. There are even dust storms on Titan. What causes these storms and how do they work differently on the worlds in the solar system. But what about the exoplanets? The bane of solar panels, humans, and robots, dust storms have a way of picking up steam (or at least dust) all over the solar system. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay SUPPORTED BY YOU! This Episode is made possible thanks to our Patrons on Patreon. Join at the Galaxy Group level or higher to be listed in our...
info_outlineStreamed live January 9, 2025.
From little Ingenuity to the future Firefly and all our Earth Science fliers, let's look at the buzzy scientists. NASA’s Mars Ingenuity helicopter showed us how wonderful a flying science platform can be on another world. Soon there’ll be a helicopter flying on Titan, but there are many other flying robots that’ll be helping us with all our science needs.