Walkabout the Galaxy

An irreverent and informative tour of the latest, greatest, and most interesting discoveries in astronomy.

Mysterious Dark Comets 12/18/2024

Mysterious Dark Comets We know about extinct comets and active asteroids, but now we've got something in between: dark comets, whose orbits indicate cometary activity, but we can't see it! We'll get the scoop on these interesting objects, a flare from a supermassive black hole, and a twist on the question of the age of Saturn's rings. Plus, we have our end-of-the-year rocket launch roundup, and a special astrophysical FLOD stumper for top quark Jim Cooney. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/34495540

Making Big Blobs is Hard 12/11/2024

Making Big Blobs is Hard Top quark Jim Cooney explains why making big blobs is hard and how new observations are helping us understand how the universe made big immensely big blobs more commonly known as giant elliptical galaxies. Nature loves to make a disk, and we love to tell you all about the cool things nature does, including a solid state greenhouse on ancient Mars that may have produced a huge buried supply of water to create giant rivers near its south pole. Join us for this and more mind-blowing stuff. It's all part of our Walkabout the Galaxy. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/34358820

Neutrino Fog and the Hunt for Dark Matter 11/27/2024

Neutrino Fog and the Hunt for Dark Matter It's a good news bad news story with the detection of the neutrino fog. This signal from solar neutrinos may confound our search for certain dark matter candidates, but at least we know our detectors are very, very sensitive! We also take a look at magnetic fields in the outer solar system, specifically why Uranus's magnetosphere was so weird when we visited in 1986, and what tiny grains from a near Earth asteroid may be telling us about the magnetic field four and a half billion years ago. Join us for all that, and of course space news and stupid trivia. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/34150880

Not All Supernovae Are Created Equal 11/20/2024

Not All Supernovae Are Created Equal If you're speaking English, not Latin, do you really have to say "supernovae" instead of "supernovas"? Also, they are, in some sense, created equally: explosion of a white dwarf, but the outcomes are not all equal. You are welcome for this grammatical tangent, and please enjoy our fun discussion about weird tesserae (more Latin!) on Venus and the whole standard candle story of type 1a supernovae gets a rewrite. On this episode of Walkabout the Galaxy, you can also enjoy solar energy/spacecraft trivia, space news, and general hilarity at no extra charge. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/34018752

Is There Another Belt of Comets? 11/06/2024

Is There Another Belt of Comets? New observations contradict earlier studies about the possibility of another belt of comets orbiting the Sun twice as far away as Pluto. We'll take a look at what's what in the outer solar system and also explore whether black holes may help explain the Hubble tension. We also play FLOD (Flyby, Land, Orbit, Destroy) and have some "how many planets" trivia. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/33757257

Trojan Asteroids Everywhere 10/30/2024

Trojan Asteroids Everywhere Join Strange and Down quarks for a close look at Trojan asteroids, the forgotten asteroids of the solar system. NASA's Lucy mission is en route to take our first close look at these denizens of the outer solar system and has an Earth gravity assist in December 2024. As you'll see in our trivia, the numbers of Trojans may surprise you. Jupiter is the king of the Trojans, but we'll take a closer look at the first comfirmed Trojan of Saturn. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/33679492

Basin Instinct - Cosmological Structure and Edible Asteroids 10/23/2024

Basin Instinct - Cosmological Structure and Edible Asteroids We get a tour of our place in the grand cosmological scheme of things with new mapping of the local Basin of Attraction. Spoiler: also Jim's new stage name. And we explore the final frontier of In Situ Resource Utilization with studies of how to get edible nutrients from the raw materials in asteroids. It's a little bit gross. Plus space news, trivia, and more. Join us to learn about all this (and all of our new stage names). /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/33567067

OG Top Goes to Europa 10/09/2024

OG Top Goes to Europa Original Top Quark Dr. Tracy Becker returns to her old stomping grounds to hang with the Walkabout crew and send Europa Clipper on its way to Jupiter. Join us for a preview of this mission's ambitious goals and the exciting journey it took to the launch pad. Also, new research suggests the Earth may escape a fiery death when the Sun becomes a red giant. We have, of course, space news, space history trivia, and much more. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/33369782

Back in Black Holes 10/02/2024

Back in Black Holes We’ve got mini black holes as potential dark matter candidates and monstrous black holes spewing jets to cosmological scales. Who better than Top quark Jim Cooney to take us through these black holes? No one, that’s who. We take a deep dive into meteorites, particularly those that have come from Mars. You may be surprised to learn how many we have, and now we know more about where those free Mars samples originated from on the red planet. Join us for all this, space news, and trivia. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/33291762

Black Hole Spindown Chirp and a 9-Day Geologic Rumble 09/18/2024

Black Hole Spindown Chirp and a 9-Day Geologic Rumble Gravitational waves may provide a new way to observe supernovae in our own Milky Way galaxy and determine when they produce black holes and when they result merely in neutron stars. Closer to home, scientists did some clever detective work to figure out the source of a mysterious 9-day seismic shaking here on Earth. The culprit: a giant, regular sloshing in a fjord triggered by a landslide as a result of warming temperatures and melting land ice. Join us for this and other astro news including an interesting mini-moon and funny science lingo. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/33056297

Recent Lunar Volcanic Activity and the Metallicity Cliff 09/11/2024

Recent Lunar Volcanic Activity and the Metallicity Cliff Tiny samples brought back from the Moon hint at surprisingly recent volcanic activity. What's up with that?! Elsewhere in the galaxy, a detailed study of over 100,000 stars identifies the metallicity cliff. This is where stellar composition that is low in heavy elements seems to inhibit the formation of at least some types of exoplanets. The astroquarks have all the details for you, as well as a Polaris Dawn update and nerd trivia. Join us, won't you? /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/33002137

Adventures in Space the Cady Way 09/04/2024

Adventures in Space the Cady Way The Astroquarks are joined by former NASA astronaut, PhD Chemist, and retired USAF Colonel Cady Coleman at Dragon Con 2024 for a wide ranging discussion of space flight, institutional challenges, training, flute playing, and more. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/32900587

Ocean World Mimas and the JUICE Slingshot 08/28/2024

Ocean World Mimas and the JUICE Slingshot Recent (astronomically speaking, of course!) perturbations to Mimas's orbit may be the explanation for the surprising presence of a global subsurface ocean in this tiny moon of Saturn. Meanwhile, the European Space Agency's JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer) mission successfully completed a novel gravity assist making use of the Earth's Moon and the Earth to send it towards... Venus! We have all the explanations, space travel stumpers, trivia and more. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/32734362

Barney the Dinosaur Killer from Outer Space and Water Inside Mars 08/21/2024

Barney the Dinosaur Killer from Outer Space and Water Inside Mars New research shows that the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs some 66 million years ago formed in the colder, more distant reaches of the solar system. The Astroquarks have taken it upon themselves to dub this asteroid Barney. We’ll update you on that new research and a surprising discovery from Mars Insight data that suggests Mars has a potentially huge amount of delicious H2O not to far beneath its surface. It’s just a bit dirty, is all. And we have lots of space news, stumpers, and more. Join us, won’t you? /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/32629057

The Fermi Paradox - Are We Truly Alone? 08/14/2024

The Fermi Paradox - Are We Truly Alone? When Frank Drake created his famous eponymous equation to estimate the number of advanced communicative civilizations in the Milky Way, we had little more than educated guesses for most of the factors in that equation. Decades later we have much better data, and the answer seems to reinforce Fermi's famous paradox: why is our galaxy so silent? The role of plate tectonics in enabling evolution of advanced life forms is examined in new research were a revision to the Drake Equation is proposed, and the unsettling answer may be that we are truly alone. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/32545377

Chemical Whispers of Life on Mars 07/31/2024

Chemical Whispers of Life on Mars The astroquarks assemble for their 365th episode, about 10 years after their first, with a look at a canceled mission to the Moon and tantalizing observations from an ongoing mission at Mars. The Perseverance rover has spied a particularly unusual rock sample with some tantalizing features. Join us for the deets as well as historical astronomy trivia, space news, and more. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/32375432

Lunar Caves for Future Habitation 07/18/2024

Lunar Caves for Future Habitation In this light episode of Walkabout the Galaxy, Josh and Audrey discuss the first confirmation of open spaces in lava tubes connected to lunar pits on the Moon. 200 lunar pits have been observed on the Moon, and now scientists have used radar data to demonstrate that these pits are in fact connected to caverns that could provide future astronauts with a safe haven beneath the lunar surface. Join us on this short walkabout for the full story, trivia, and space news updates. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/32202222

Dark Matter, Deuterons, and a Mixed-Up Protoplanetary Disk 07/11/2024

Dark Matter, Deuterons, and a Mixed-Up Protoplanetary Disk You'll be amazed at how much we can learn from iron meteorites. Who would have guessed that analysis of the compositions of these humble metallic remnants of asteroids would be able to tell us about the shape of the protoplanetary disk? We'll learn about the latest clues to the early history of our solar system, the surprising abundance of deuterons in cosmic rays provides another indicator that we still have a lot to learn about the early universe, and dark matter - well it's still out there, still dark. Join us for all this, space news, nerdy trivia and more. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/32102612

Cygnus X-3 and a Naked-Eye Nova 06/27/2024

Cygnus X-3 and a Naked-Eye Nova The clock is ticking on T Coronae Borealis which seems primed to undergo a nova explosion this summer. That will make this otherwise faint star as bright as Polaris thanks to a burst of nuclear fusion reactions on the exposed surface of this white dwarf. Another curious binary system, Cygnus X-3, is beaming x-rays toward us thanks to some nifty photon processing in the disk surrounding this black hole. Learn more about these cool systems, parallel universes, dense moons and more with your friendly neighborhood astroquarks. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/31913247

Primordial Black Holes Make the Galaxy Go 'Round 06/20/2024

Primordial Black Holes Make the Galaxy Go 'Round We take a look at some Beta Pic Disk shots before journeying back to the earliest era of the universe and the possible formation of primordial black holes. Some of these may have been only the size of an atom and would have long since evaporated through Hawking radiation. But they may have left an observable imprint for our powerful telescopes peering into the distant past, and their larger siblings are a possible contender for dark matter. Join us for all this, space news, silly trivia, and much more. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/31822682

Full Circle to the Origins of Carbon and Exotic Gravity 06/12/2024

Full Circle to the Origins of Carbon and Exotic Gravity The Astroquarks celebrate their 360th episode with discoveries showing carbon much earlier in the universe than previously thought possible, and an exotic new proposal as an alternative to dark matter. Plus, we have radioactive trivia and a slew of space news with a busy week in rocket and spaceship activity. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/31698827

Volcanic Activity on Venus RIGHT NOW! 06/05/2024

Volcanic Activity on Venus RIGHT NOW! There is a mountain - or should we say a volcano - of evidence, building that suggests volcanic activity on Venus during the time of the Magellan mission in the 1990s. We’ll dig into that, struggle to get our script right, ponder the Fantastic Voyage, upcoming spaceflight milestones, and much more. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/31608482

Watery Erigone and Rogue Stars in the Milky Way 05/30/2024

Watery Erigone and Rogue Stars in the Milky Way New observations of Erigone, the parent body of an asteroid family, indicate its rocks are juicy with water. That makes it both a potential resource for future missions but also shows that asteroids may have played a big role in delivering water to the early Earth. Watery Erigone: it rhymes! You'll have to listen for details. And students discovered three high-speed wayward stars in the Milky Way, relics from an ancient galactic collision. Join us for all this, space news, trivia, fake sponsors, and more. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/31529587

Dyson Spheres and a Molten Planet 05/15/2024

Dyson Spheres and a Molten Planet The Astroquarks delve into the possibility of giant alien constructs around stars, and the strange weather on a planet that is unreasonably close to its star. Join us for space news, trivia, and a fun exploration of odd topics in astronomy on Walkabout the Galaxy. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/31311587

The Low Down on Big G and the Young Moon of Dinkinesh 05/08/2024

The Low Down on Big G and the Young Moon of Dinkinesh NASA's Lucy mission discovered a surprising moon of the small asteroid Dinkinesh on its way to the orbit of Jupiter. New studies of that moon, a contact binary, suggest it may have a surprisingly young age. Meanwhile, cosmologists continue to wrestle with various seemingly contradictory measurements. One model suggests a modification to that old Physics 1 standby, the gravitational constant (or is it?) G. Join us for all the astronomical news near and far, including space news updates and trivia. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/31188697

Dark Matter Wins Again 05/01/2024

Dark Matter Wins Again A clever test of dark matter and an alternative theory of gravity to explain the motions of stars around galaxies results in another check in the win column for dark matter. Simulations with the modified model of gravity failed to explain the motions in the inner regions of galaxies. Meanwhile the search for a hypothesized large object in the distant reaches of our solar system has so far come up empty suggesting that it may be larger and more distant than previously thought. Join us for all the intriguing and exciting space news in the universe! /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/31076463

Surprises from Bennu and the Milky Way 04/03/2024

Surprises from Bennu and the Milky Way Analysis of the samples returned from the asteroid Bennu have revealed surprising assemblages of minerals that put new constraints on the origin of the solar system. And once Top Quark Jim Cooney stops giggling, he tells us about the discovery of an itsy-bitsy galaxy, if you can call it that, orbiting the Milky way. It has only dozens of stars, plus, probably some dark matter. Join us for these surprising discoveries, space news updates, variable star trivia, and a generally good time. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/30651513

The Dark Ages of the Universe 03/27/2024

The Dark Ages of the Universe We peer back in time both to the murky history of our own solar system and to the dark ages of the universe. The JWST has confirmed that dwarf galaxies were the first to illuminate the universe, putting an end to the dark ages that followed the cooling after the big bang. In our own corner of the universe, new research highlights how nearby stars can lead to dramatic changes in our planet’s climate by affecting the Earth’s orbit. Join us for all this, nerd news, space news, and eclipse trivia. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/30563378

A Nova Visible this Year? 03/20/2024

A Nova Visible this Year? One of only a handful of recurrent novas, white dwarf stars that undergo a periodic explosive brightening as they accrete material from a neighboring star, is showing signs that it may be ready to blow sometime in 2024! Visible in the northern hemisphere, T CrB may become visible to the naked eye for a few days this year, repeating a cycle that occurs roughly every 80 years. Closer to home, new analysis of structures and composition on Mars' Tharsis bulge reveal what may be a previously unknown and now-extinct volcano. Join us for explanations, space news, spaceflight trivia and more. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/30461753

Psyche Revisited and Two Giant Black Holes 03/06/2024

Psyche Revisited and Two Giant Black Holes The presumed metallic asteroid Psyche gets a new look before the spacecraft of the same name gets there in 2029, and it reveals different spectral characteristics than were observed in previous studies. We discuss the mystery of metallic asteroids and what we might see at Psyche. Top quark educates us about the largest binary black hole system, with two supermassive black holes orbiting each other from an ancient galactic collision. Join us for all this, space news, and tiny rocket trivia. /episode/index/show/walkaboutthegalaxy/id/30255153

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