Walkabout the Galaxy

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Backwards Exoplanet and Shrinking Mercury Sep 26, 2026

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An exoplanet has been discovered orbiting its star in the opposite direction of its star's rotation, a phenomenon that previously has only been observed in the presence of another star or massive sub-stellar object that can rotate the plane of planet's orbit. In this case, no such obvious explanation exists, suggesting that after the star formed an entire new planet formation disk accreted around the star of unknown origin. Planets close to home also continue to surprise, with a new gas escape mechanism observed at Jupiter and our friend Mercury appears to have shrunk even more than previously thought.

Have We Detected Dark Matter? Sep 15, 2026

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An intriguing detection from a dark matter experiment may be the first direct detection of a dark matter particle. This detection would mean dark matter is made of WIMPs: Weakly-Interacting Massive Particles. There's a non-negligible chance that this is an odd background detection and not dark matter, but if it is, we'll see more like it in the next few years. We also take a look at a study of what might have happened to a moon of Venus if it had formed one like Earth did, plus trivia and space news galore.

Mapping a Galaxy's Dark Matter and a Game-Changing Space Telescope Aug 30, 2026

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The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope sees 100 times more sky than the Hubble Space Telescope and has the ability to directly image planets around other stars like those in our own solar system. Learn about this game-changing space telescope as well as new take on old Hubble observations that allows dark matter to be mapped on a finer scale than ever before.

Black Hole Stars and Solar Instabilities Aug 23, 2026

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What do you call a very-but-not-so-supermassive black hole completely encased in a warm dense cloud of hydrogen? A hot mess? How about "black hole star", a new category of crazy astronomical object that can explain some of the James Webb Space Telescope's mysterious findings from the early universe. And we're a step closer to understanding our own star with dazzling data from the Inouye Solar Telescope that shows evidence of a fluid instability at the surface that helps explain how the solar corona gets so hot. Join us for this, space news, sci fi trivia and more.

Dyson Spheres and Interstellar Colonization Aug 16, 2026

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Strange and Top are at it again with a deep dive on the physics, psychology, and philosophy of the big questions: is there technologically advanced life out there in the galaxy, and if so, we will ever know? Will we make it out of the solar system, and if so, what would that look like? Join us for all that and a physics question disguized as a trivia question.

Black Holes Come Back for Seconds and a Rocky Exoplanet with an Atmosphere Aug 11, 2026

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Supermassive have such voracious appetites that they create an energetic mess when eating which has a tendency to shoot their food off at very high speeds. New observations show the second course for these monsters as material falls back into them. A rocky exoplanet in the habitable zone has a confirmed atmosphere, checking another box for finding worlds that may have life. Join us for a whimsical tour of the universe on Walkabout the Galaxy.

Distant Quasars and Earth's Quasi-Moon Jul 09, 2026

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Quasars, the energetic engines driven by the voracious appetite of supermassive black holes, have been observed in the very early universe, upending ideas about how long it took to form these behemoths in the first place. New results on a peculiar object tagging along around the Sun with the Earth casts doubt on its origin as a possible fragment of the Moon. And the climate takes a swipe at strange quark for complaining about the heat. Check it all out, plus trivia and space news, on Walkabout the Galaxy.

I See a Big Moon Rising and a Bright Radio Sky Jul 01, 2026

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The astroquarks examine the oft-asked question of why the Moon sometimes looks huge and other times, not so much, and we take a look at the cool mission to grapple and boost the NASA Swift space telescope into a higher orbit. Plus, new observations reveal that the sky is much brighter at radio wavelengths than previously assumed, teaching us something about the population of free electrons. Join us for all this, space trivia, and more.

Europa's Disappearing Plumes Jun 25, 2026

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OG Top Quark Tracy Becker joins us with an update on water plumes from Jupiter's moon Europa, plus intriguing new data of interstellar comet 3I shows it is even older than we thought, with an age approaching that of the Milky Way galaxy itself. A new field of tektites has been discovered, pointing to a previously unknown major impact on the Earth. Join us for all this, space news, trivia and more.

Second Generation Black Hole Mergers and Solar System Chaos Jun 04, 2026

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Exquisitely detailed measurements of the ripples in spacetime from the mergers of black holes now show that some of these merging black holes were, themselves, created by an earlier black hole merging event. While this had been suspected to take place, we now have clear evidence of it. On a less dramatic scale but much closer to home, new simulations of the early solar system suggest the large population of moons of Uranus needed help from a now long lost fifth giant planet to survive. Join us for all this, space news, trivia, and a generally good time.

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