Walkabout the Galaxy

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Ultralight Dark Matter and Peanut Asteroid Hot Take Apr 30, 2025

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NASA's Lucy mission had a picture perfect encounter with the asteroid Donaldjohanson on its way to the first ever flybys of Trojan asteroids. Discoveries of ancient supermassive black holes challenge theories of their formation. If dark matter is composed of ultralight particles (lighter than a neutrino), that could resolve the mystery. Join us for these and other cosmic discoveries, space news, trivia, and more.

Hot Takes on Water on Earth and Black Hole Singularities Apr 23, 2025

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The astroquarks discover hot takes and explore the nature of ice, the origin of Earth's water, and the trouble with the singularities at the hearts of black holes. Plus, we have a stumper, astronomical trivia, and much more.

Weird Convection on Venus and a Wrinkle in the Lambda Cold Dark Matter Model Apr 09, 2025

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Venus's extra-thick crust may be extra chewy, allowing convection to occur and helping power volcanoes into the current era. New observations of the distant universe, meanwhile, show that dark energy may not have behaved as expected in the standard cosmological model. We'll break it all down for you together with space news and trivia with your friendly neighborhood astroquarks.

Supernovas and Mass Extinctions Apr 02, 2025

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A survey of nearby stars establishes the rate of supernovas in our general neighborhood. Evidence indicates we had nearby stellar explosions at the times of two mass extinctions. Those supernovas may have decimated the ozone layer and contributed to extinctions and climate changes. Plus, we recorded on April 1 and take a look at silly April 1 science papers, and we get tilted with our trivia and space news. Join us, won't you?

Life on Hycean Worlds, Interstellar Debris, and Dark Matter Survey Mar 26, 2025

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If there are Hycean worlds and if they have a certain kind of microbial life and if there is enough of it, JWST might be able to see the chemical products of that in the planet's atmosphere. We take a look at that, debris from neighboring stars entering our solar system, and the first results from the Euclid space telescope. Join us for all this plus a hilarious double stumper and more.

Are We Inside a Black Hole? Mar 19, 2025

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There are exciting new observations from recent lunar missions, a possible chunk of the Moon keeping us company, and an intriguing observation supporting the theory that the entire universe is inside a black hole! Get inside the event horizon with the astroquarks for all the space updates, trivia, and more.

Oort Cloud Spiral, the Color of Mars, and a New Dwarf Galaxy Mar 05, 2025

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We take a look at the formation and structure of the Oort cloud of comets which is spherical at large distances but has a spiral structure in its inner regions. And, after all this time, there's a surprising twist on the nature of the iron mineral that gives Mars its reddish hue. Also hiding in plain sight is a dwarf galaxy in the neighborhood of the Andromeda galaxy, our largest companion galaxy. Join us for a discussion of these discoveries, trivia, space news and more.

Did You Quipu? Feb 26, 2025

Show notes

Lunar exploration continues to accelerate, and there's a new longest "structure" in the universe. Quipu is a quasi-alignment of clusters of galaxies stretching over 1 billion light years. Structure is in cynical quotation marks because these objects are not bound or connected to each other in any way, but their arrangement is a natural consequence of the evolution of the universe. If we happen to be in a Quipu-like structure ourselves, that may help us get out of our Hubble tension problem. Join us for cosmological mind-benders like this, and updates on ocean worlds and other moons closer to home, as well as space news and trivia.

Hubble Tension Won't Go Away But Some Exoplanets Do Feb 12, 2025

Show notes

The more measurements we make of the expansion of the universe, the more it seems as though Hubble Tension is not a problem with our data but a problem with our understanding of the expansion of the universe. We'll talk about that, and some cool new observations closer to home, including a disintegrating exoplanet that is giving us a unique peak into a planet's insides. Join us for all this and more, including space news and trivia.

Exocomets, Io, and the Great Dimming of T Tauri Jan 29, 2025

Show notes

Juno reveals a surprise about the interior of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io, and the OG young variable star T Tauri is getting ready to fade from view thanks to its dusty neighbors to the south. Speaking of dust, that's what gets kicked up when comets collide, and a new survey examines the cometary belts around dozens of star systems, providing a detailed look at the outer reaches of exoplanetary systems. Join us for all this, sample return stumpers, and Top Quark trivia.

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