Universe Today Podcast

Latest Episodes:

[Space Bites] Two-Face White Dwarf // Age Of The Universe Controversy // Lagrange Point Planet Jul 21, 2023

Show notes

Is the Universe twice as old as we thought? China updates its lunar exploration plans. Astronomers might have found an exoplanet in a Lagrange Point.

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00:00 Intro
00:14 Is the Universe twice as old
- https://www.universetoday.com/162394/the-universe-could-be-twice-as-old-if-light-is-tired-and-physical-constants-change/
04:10 China's Moon plans
- https://www.universetoday.com/162392/china-will-use-two-rockets-to-put-humans-on-the-moon/
06:23 Lagrange point planet
- https://www.universetoday.com/162439/is-this-the-first-exoplanet-trojan-or-the-result-of-an-epic-collision-between-worlds/
08:20 Last week's vote
- https://youtu.be/0V1RqK1Hynk
08:53 JWST sees very old organic checmicals
- https://www.universetoday.com/162470/carbon-based-molecules-seen-just-a-billion-years-after-the-big-bang/
10:46 Two-Face White Dwarf
- https://www.universetoday.com/162481/one-side-of-this-white-dwarf-is-covered-in-hydrogen-while-the-other-side-is-helium/
12:58 AI expansion to space news sector
14:19 Non-circular Mars crater
15:53 Lightning over Europe
- https://www.universetoday.com/162410/a-satellite-is-now-continuously-watching-lightning-strikes-in-europe/
16:43 Deer update
17:22 Book Club

📺 VIDEO VERSION
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[Interview] We Must Go Back To Enceladus! Here's Why Jul 18, 2023

Show notes

Enceladus is the most interesting world in our Solar System in terms of exploration potential. It just is. But at the moment there are no approved missions to come back there. In this interview I'm discussing a New Frontiers class mission concept, the Astrobiology eXploration at Enceladus (AXE) with Dr Marshall Seaton from NASA JPL.

🪐 Astrobiology eXploration at Enceladus (AXE)
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/acd119

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00:00 Intro
02:27 How does Enceladus feel like
04:45 Why go back to Enceladus
15:20 AXE mission concept
23:10 How should we search for life
29:03 Building a New Frontiers class mission
46:46 Other icy ocean worlds
51:08 How special is Enceladus
54:37 What's next for the mission concept
58:40 Career path for young scientists

📺 VIDEO VERSION
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[Special] Real Science Results Behind JWST's First Year Jul 18, 2023

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James Webb recently celebrated its first anniversary at work. What science results did it bring? Why graphs of spectra are as great as the nice pictures? How did JWST change Cosmology? What to expect from the next year of observations? All the answers in this Special Episode.

👉 Dr Jessie Christiansen
https://web.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/christia/

👉 Dr Maggie Lieu
https://www.youtube.com/@SpaceMog

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00:00 Intro
01:22 Webb as a planet hunter
03:49 JWST from the Cosmology perspective
06:30 Spectra vs Images
10:53 Most significant results
23:36 Data access to Webb's results
29:46 Exciting targets for Cycle 2

📺 VIDEO VERSION
https://youtu.be/rsZzLzixd-E

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[Space Bites] India's Moon Lander Launch // JWST Anniversary // Strong ELT Progress Jul 14, 2023

Show notes

JWST celebrates its first year of operation. The Extremely Large Telescope is half-built. A black hole suddenly roars into life.

🦌 The deer story:
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00:00 Intro
00:13 Webb Celebrates 1 Year of Operations
- https://www.universetoday.com/162357/celebrate-a-year-of-jwst-with-this-ludicrous-image-of-rho-ophiuchi/
03:15 ELT Is Half-Way There
- https://www.universetoday.com/162343/the-biggest-telescope-in-the-world-is-half-built/
05:09 Black Hole Rapidly Switching On
- https://www.universetoday.com/162326/a-black-hole-switched-on-in-the-blink-of-an-eye/
07:13 Ancient Stars Close To The Galaxy Center
- https://www.universetoday.com/162328/ancient-stars-somehow-survived-close-to-the-center-of-the-milky-way/
08:58 Last Week's Vote
- https://youtu.be/sLRqFmgi3Zk
09:31 Spiral Arms Around Stars
- https://www.universetoday.com/162323/a-planet-has-whipped-up-spiral-arms-around-a-young-star/
11:29 Chandrayaan-3 launches to the Moon
12:44 Support us on Patreon
14:18 The Methane Race to Orbit is Over
15:21 Mars Dunes
- https://www.universetoday.com/162291/amazing-video-takes-flight-across-the-dunes-of-mars/
16:33 Oh, Deer!
- https://www.patreon.com/posts/shareholders-3-q-85994340
16:57 Outro

📺 VIDEO VERSION
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[Interview] Axions or Not. What's Hiding Behind Dark Matter Jul 08, 2023

Show notes

Before finding out what is dark matter we might first need to find what it isn't. In this interview Dr Keir Rogers explains what do we currently know about dark matter, what can we find in the near future and how the upcoming astronomy instruments might help us with all that.

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00:00 Intro
01:22 What are axions
07:25 How to look for axions
16:25 What dark matter isn't
22:56 Future telescopes
35:05 Best possible instrument to search for dark matter

📺 VIDEO VERSION
https://youtu.be/-6Yn3ajT6_A

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[Space Bites] Big JWST Discoveries // 63-Day Silence for Ingenuity // Lensing Gravitational Waves Jul 07, 2023

Show notes

So much James Webb discoveries. A planet survives after being consumed by a red giant star. Euclid successfully launches. And gravitational lensing gravitational waves.

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00:00 Intro
00:15 Big Webb Spies The Big Web
- https://www.universetoday.com/162267/jwst-sees-the-beginning-of-the-cosmic-web/
02:53 JWST Finds Dust Reservoirs of Two Supernovae
- https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2023/webb-locates-dust-reservoirs-in-two-supernovae
04:29 Most Distant Active Supermassive Black Holes. Again
- https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2023/webb-detects-most-distant-active-supermassive-black-hole-to-date
05:52 James Webb Is GO for Cycle 2
- https://www.universetoday.com/162237/james-webb-is-a-go-for-cycle-2-observations/
09:35 Euclid Launched
- https://www.universetoday.com/162271/esas-euclid-mission-is-off-to-explore-the-dark-universe/
10:53 Last week's vote
- https://youtu.be/YpxJQcr2YPI
11:36 Dark Matter via Gravitational Waves
- https://www.universetoday.com/162261/next-generation-gravitational-wave-detectors-could-pin-down-dark-matter/
13:40 Gravitational Lenses of Gravitational Waves
- https://www.universetoday.com/162273/gravitational-waves-can-be-gravitationally-lensed-and-this-could-provide-another-way-to-measure-the-expansion-of-the-universe/
16:37 Q&As with Fraser Cain
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbJ42wpShvmm6b_fexWT6vSK9J_c4zgep
17:15 Planet coming back from hell
- https://www.universetoday.com/162262/a-planet-was-swallowed-by-a-red-giant-but-it-survived/
18:53 Ingenuity Went Silent for 63 Days
- https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-ingenuity-mars-helicopter-phones-home
20:12 Mars Donut
- https://www.universetoday.com/162256/mmm-perseverance-finds-a-doughnut-shaped-rock-on-mars/
21:34 Outro

📺 VIDEO VERSION
https://youtu.be/sLRqFmgi3Zk

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[Q&A] Submarine for Titan, Planets Changing Size, Even Bigger LIGO Jul 05, 2023

Show notes

When does a Lagrange point stop being one? Can we make LIGO even bigger? Do planets change their size over time? Can we build a submarine to go to Titan? What's next for the TRAPPIST-1 system? All this and more in this week's Q&A!

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00:00 Start
01:21 [Tatooine] Gravitational waves from The Great Attractor?
04:57 [Coruscant] Can LIGO's arms be even longer?
11:37 [Hoth] Can planets change their size over time?
15:17 [Naboo] Can we build a sub for Titan?
17:26 [Kamino] Most surprising discoveries from JWST?
20:37 [Bespin] Could we detect technosignatures from the Star Wars Galaxy?
23:21 [Mustafar] What's the core of Jupiter made of?
25:38 [Alderaan] What's next for the TRAPPIST-1 system?
28:19 [Dagobah] How much mass can a Lagrange point have?

📺 VIDEO VERSION
https://youtu.be/8G2mh15Uaf4

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[Bonus] Robo Eels Exploring Water Worlds, NASA UAP Study, AGI to Take Over Jul 02, 2023

Show notes

This is an episode of John Michael Godier's show Event Horizon. We explore the extraordinary idea of robo-eels, groundbreaking aquatic automatons designed to unlock the mysteries of water worlds like Enceladus and Europa. Then, we shift gears to discuss NASA's riveting UAP study, exploring unidentified aerial phenomena and their implications for our understanding of the universe. Finally, John and Fraser get into the ever changing realm of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and contemplate its potential impact on our future.

⚫️ Event Horizon:
https://www.youtube.com/@EventHorizonShow

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📚 Suggest books in the book club:
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📺 VIDEO VERSION
https://youtu.be/xhA-tBfg-gw

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[Space Bites] Gravitational Waves Background Announced // Planets in The Oort Cloud // Big Starship Update Jul 01, 2023

Show notes

Gravitational wave background of the Universe. A map of the Milky Way in neutrinos. More new discoveries from JWST. A major update for Starship.

🦄 Support us on Patreon:
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📚 Suggest books in the book club:
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00:00 Intro
00:13 Gravitational Waves Announcement
- https://www.universetoday.com/162188/after-decades-of-observations-astronomers-have-finally-sensed-the-pervasive-background-hum-of-merging-supermassive-black-holes/
04:12 IceCube maps the Milky Way
- https://www.universetoday.com/162239/icecube-makes-a-neutrino-map-of-the-milky-way/
06:12 Ancient quasars seen by James Webb
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06345-5.epdf
08:31 Key element for life in Orion Nebula
- https://www.universetoday.com/162140/another-key-molecule-for-life-found-in-space-by-jwst/
10:06 Saturn by JWST
- https://www.universetoday.com/162208/here-come-jwsts-first-images-of-saturn/
11:11 Last week's vote
- https://youtu.be/5jw_cHqT8QU
11:46 Euclid ready for launch
- https://www.universetoday.com/162127/two-new-space-telescopes-will-bring-dark-energy-into-focus/
13:36 Possible planets in Oort cloud
- https://www.universetoday.com/162077/there-could-be-captured-planets-in-the-oort-cloud/
15:40 How to support what we do
- https://www.patreon.com/universetoday/
16:43 Another way to measure space distances
- https://www.universetoday.com/162098/a-new-way-to-measure-distances-in-the-universe/
18:50 Starship hot staging
20:07 Virgin Galactic completes first commercial flight
20:46 Outro

📺 VIDEO VERSION
https://youtu.be/YpxJQcr2YPI

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[Interview] Vera Rubin Telescope Will Revolutionise Astronomy. Here's Why Jun 27, 2023

Show notes

The Vera Rubin Observatory will soon come online. It will be a game-changer for Astronomy. How exactly will it happen and how it will help SETI? We're trying to find the answers with my guest, Dr James Davenport from The University of Washington.

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