Walkabout the Galaxy

Latest Episodes:

Little Red Dots and Big Black Holes Jan 22, 2025

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The discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope keep coming. After showing that galaxies formed far earlier than we thought, we now have a better understanding of what was going on in the early universe. Those little red dots spied by JWST are actually the glow of heated dust and gas from supermassive black holes, and not the glow from billions of stars as had been thought. Closer to home, did the Earth sport a ring for a few million years? Analysis of ancient craters suggests it may have. Tune in to get the full story, plus gravitational trivia, space news, and more.

Kiss and Capture for Pluto and Charon and Dark Energy Remains Dark Jan 15, 2025

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Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, orbit each other with gazes lovingly fixed on each other, held in place by a romantic tidal attraction. But Charon's large size has always been difficult to explain. New simulations show that their love affair may have started at the beginning with a "Kiss and Capture" collision, much gentler than the devasting impact that formed our own Moon. Hear all about that, Centaurs, space news, space trivia, and a new way to explain away Dark Energy with your friendly neighborhood astroquarks.

Quasi Particles, Pluto's Moons, and Cosmic Rays Jan 08, 2025

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We kick off 2025 with oddities from quasi particles, to cosmic rays, to the moons of Pluto. What has mass when it moves in one direction and doesn't when it moves in another direction? How do thunderstorms on Earth interact with cosmic rays? What is up with Pluto's moons? Join us as we tackle these questions as well as the stumper and special top quark trivia. It's all part of the package in an episode of Walkabout the Galaxy.

Mysterious Dark Comets Dec 18, 2024

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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.

Making Big Blobs is Hard Dec 11, 2024

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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.

Neutrino Fog and the Hunt for Dark Matter Nov 27, 2024

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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.

Not All Supernovae Are Created Equal Nov 20, 2024

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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.

Is There Another Belt of Comets? Nov 06, 2024

Show notes

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.

Trojan Asteroids Everywhere Oct 30, 2024

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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.

Basin Instinct - Cosmological Structure and Edible Asteroids Oct 23, 2024

Show notes

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).

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