Walkabout the Galaxy

Latest Episodes:

The Mysterious Case of the Dragging Frame Feb 02, 2020

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Would you rather go ice fishing on an alien moon or bungee jumping on Mars? Either way, you definitely want to hear about the mysterious way matter twists spacetime with another confirmation of Einstein's general theory of relativity involving a white dwarf and a pulsar. Join the astroquarks for all that plus the discovery of the nearest exoplanet, solar system trivia, and all the latest space and nerd news.

The Asteroid versus the Volcanoes Jan 19, 2020

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Volcanoes on ancient Earth and not-so-ancient Venus are the main topics for the astroquarks, with planetary trivia, and a giant gassy wave moving through the Milky Way. Catch up on all the different types of numbers, from imaginary to prime, and all the space news and climate updates on this episode of Walkabout the Galaxy. Check out YouTube for the gas-wave shimmy.

Lucy, TESS, and the Dark Energy Mess Jan 14, 2020

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The astroquarks explore our origins with from the ancient fossil Lucy to the upcoming asteroid mission of the same name. They then head for the stars, including a nearby one with a potentially habitable planet, and re-examine the case for dark energy. You're not going to want to miss this one, for the science, the trivia, and a special sponsor message.

Hashtag Fundamental Jan 06, 2020

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The title has nothing to do with the episode except what could be more fundamental than simply measuring how far away something is? The astroquarks tackle this deceptively complex question on cosmological scales as well as the origins of meteor showers and archeoastronomy of ancient aurorae.

Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse Dec 31, 2019

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The astroquarks are wrapped up with the passage of time and the aging of the stars, the universe, and themselves as the first annual year of the astroquark comes to a close. We discuss the red giant star Betelgeuse's mysterious year-end fainting (as in the opposite of brightening), and ss this stellar neighbor nears its explosive end, we take a look at the lives of galaxies and the universe as a whole.

Hot Blobs and Magnetic Spots Dec 22, 2019

Show notes

Walkabout the Galaxy closes out 2019, the first annual Year of the Astroquark, with an episode touching on everything from interstellar comet I2/Borisov to the tiger stripes of Enceladus and the first map of the surface of a freakin' neutron star! As always we share abundant space news, from Starliner to the Mars InSight mole, and embarrassing nerdiness, so wrap up the year with Strange, Charm, and Top, and we'll see you in 2020 for the second annual Year of the Astroquark.

Jim the Asteroid Licker Dec 08, 2019

Show notes

An asteroid has been observed getting smashed to smithereens by another asteroid! And a medium-sized black hole has been observed, which oddly enough is more interesting than a tiny black hole or a humongous black hole. Find out why, and catch up on nerd news, space news, and special Top quark astro-historical-paradoxical trivia on this episode of Walkabout the Galaxy.

Would You Like Your Chunky Space with a Swirl? Nov 25, 2019

Show notes

Strange quark is convinced that the swirls on the Moon are actually 2001 monoliths, and all three of your hosts are eager to go check them out. On the way, will the spacetime they're traversing be smooth or chunky? Top quark explains the difference, along with updates on Europa's ocean, space news, and trivia.

Antimatter and Wormholes Nov 17, 2019

Show notes

An instrument on the International Space Station that can help us understand more about antimatter is getting an upgrade, and we review that old sci-fi staple: the wormhole. Somehow we manage to do this without talking about Star Trek (mostly), but we have nerd news and space updates together with trivia and a new discovery about some of the many moons in our solar system.

When a Giant Black Hole Blows a Lot of Gas Nov 11, 2019

Show notes

Yes, it's just as bad as the title suggests, because when a supermassive black hole in a galactic center really gets going it can shut down star formation in the galaxy by blasting out all the raw star materials also known as atoms. The astroquarks explore galaxies with large and small star formation rates, plus we catch up on space news with Voyager 2 and the return to the Moon, and some throwback Voyager trivia.

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