So much going on: Shatner goes to space, the astroquarks ponder time travel, Tunguska may have been a near miss, free neutron decay holds the key to the universe, Fast Radio Bursts become more puzzling, and Strange Quark absolutely does not want any tortoises or any creatures at all, for that matter, to be harmed! Join us and special guest Dr. Hannah Sargeant for all this, Captain Kirk trivia, and more.

Walkabout the Galaxy

Captain Kirk Goes to Space and Other Oddities

The intrepid New Horizons spacecraft has discovered close binary comets in the Kuiper belt, and the Lucy mission is getting ready to explore binary trojan asteroids sharing Jupiter's orbit. It's all about small bodies, including just how late we can nuke an inbound asteroid and live to tell the tale. 

Binaries Galore

Comet 29P is on an odd, distant orbit, between Jupiter and Saturn, and like a fidgety child sent to the corner, it keeps having unpredictable outbursts. In other planetary systems, the numerous hot jupiter class of planets seem to have a uniform nighttime temperature due to the presence of clouds of rock droplets. Maybe a good name for a song: Rock Droplet? And we'll check in on the latest in Dark Energy news.

Centaurs and Rocky Clouds

We discuss not one but two galactic civilizations (Dune and Foundation) coming to screens big and small this Fall. Life being a central part of most civilizations, we discuss some interesting new observations of biomolecules in space and review the bizarre menagerie of hypothesized exotic stars. Join us for all that and an Asimovian trivia.

The Psychohistory of Astroquarks

Quasars, those incredibly bright and distant sources powered by supermassive black holes, may have a trick to their radiation that let's us use them as standard candles. We'll dive into that and take a dive in close to the Sun with the Parker Solar Probe to learn about its discoveries of new populations of dust in the inner solar system. Plus, impactor trivia, and how long would you want to stay in space?

Taking the Measure of the Universe with Quasars

Light's odd way of behaving both like a particle and a wave is nothing new, but a cool new experiment shows that it's not an either/or but a continuum of gradations from wave to particle. The universe has some crazy stuff going on. We use the wave nature to take a look at an odd transient phenomenon at the core of the Milky Way and for Top quark to embarrass Strange quark at trivia.

The Mind Blowing Wave Particle Duality of Light

We explore dwarf galaxies with no star formation and dwarf planets with a clue to a lurking object in the outer solar system. But first Top Quark is stumped by a non-stumper stumper, and our trivia takes us out to the largest structures in the universe. Catch up on all the latest news with the astroquarks, and have fun at the same time.

Odd Galaxies and Odder Planets

Will we find extraterrestrial life on Mars, Europa, or an exoplanet like Earth? Or will it be on an entirely different kind of planet, larger than the Earth, smaller than Neptune, and with planet enormous quantities of water? These hydrogen-rich ocean worlds, or hycean worlds, may be habitable. And to keep our own planet habitable, we may need to think about gently nudging asteroids off a collision course rather than blasting them to smithereens. 

Hycean Worlds and Nudging Asteroids

Saturn's rings are so amazing that they have helped us learn that Saturn's core is a sludgy-soupy beast that doesn't have a sharp boundary. And the waves in the rings are like the Milky Way's spiral arms, one of which has a clump at an odd angle that may be similar to some clumps we see in Saturn's rings! The astroquarks are here to help you fit it all together. Plus, how fast can you walk on the Moon? You might be surprised.

Saturn's Chewy Center and the Milky Way's Broken Arm

The Galaxy is in turmoil. At the galactic council MEGACON, the forces of Cosplay, Comics, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Gaming, and more have gathered to restore balance and reason to society. The Astroquarks have lost one of their trio: Top Astroquark. As Charm and Strange struggle to fight the forces of chaos and unreason, the bearded SPACE WHISPERER Brendan Byrne of WMFE arrives on a beam of radio waves to complete the triad and allow the Walkabout the Galaxy to continue… Plus Artemis, Mars, JWST, and Olympic Space Trivia!

The Missing Astroquark

It's a tale of pairs and "self-coupling", which causes Top quark endless mirth, in this episode, with Higgs boson pairs, self-annihilating photon pairs producing antimatter (in an electron/positron pair), and a pair of oddly red asteroids. Tune in for another wide ranging episode, also featuring olympic rants.

Pairs of Bosons, Photons, and Asteroids

They have to be out there, and now we have a first direct glimpse of what is likely to be the birthplace of an exomoon - a moon forming in a disk around a planet orbiting another star. We check in on the curious case of FBOTs (fast blue optical transients), and closer to home we've learned that Mars' interior has a bigger core than anticipated. Get this news, space news, trivia linking sci-fi and planetary-sci, and much more.

Exomoons and Inside Mars

Lithium is not just in demand for all those new electric car batteries, it seems there's a problem with missing lithium in the universe. We explore the Cosmological Lithium Problem, take a look at what tree rings and the sea floor have to tell us about Earth's space environment, and take a deep dive into wormholes for our trivia. 

The Cosmological Lithium Problem

Beware the Squire of Gothos for the Kepler mission has discovered 4 more new free-floating planets. LIGO has observed the first collision between a black hole and a neutron star, and the ocean of Enceladus just might harbor life. Learn about these astronomical developments and much more, including a Venus exploration trivia and science fiction film rants.

Rogue Planets, Gravitational Waves, and Life in Enceladus

In another wide-ranging episode, we discuss how atmospheric and oceanic chemistry changes wiped out most life on Earth 250 million years ago, the best evidence yet for a third type of supernova, and the importance of timekeeping for astronomy and space missions. We also have historical clock trivia and a lot of space news to share. 

Things that Blow. And Clocks.

An irreverent and informative tour of the latest, greatest and most interesting discoveries in astronomy.

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Walkabout the Galaxy

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