Ask a Spaceman!

How do gravitational lenses work? Where would a spacecraft need to be to use the Sun’s gravity as a telescope? What could we learn about exoplanets with this on weird trick? I discuss these questions…

What’s behind the Martian Methane Mystery? Is it a sign of life, or just some strange chemical process? Or are we just fooling ourselves? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!

Why are private space companies pushing tourism? Is there a future for tourism in space? Is this an overall good thing for space exploration, or just a distraction? I discuss these questions and more…

Where do we live within the galaxy? What shapes the local bubble? How long will we be inside it? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!

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How do galaxies form and evolve? Is the universe still making new ones? What will happen to the current galaxies in the universe? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!

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What has the James Webb Space Telescope learned so far? Is it finding galaxies that “break” cosmology? What will we learn next? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!

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Can galaxies ever get destroyed? What happens to their stars? Do galaxies ever die? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!

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What does it mean for the universe to have a center? Could we ever travel to ours? What is a singularity? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!

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How does length contraction work in relativity? Do moving objects really get shorter? What about from their perspective? How are we supposed to make sense of any measurement? I discuss these question…

What is the “cold spot” on the cosmic microwave background? Why shouldn’t it exist? What are some possible explanations for it, and why are they unsatisfying? I discuss these questions and more in to…

How do planets get tidally locked? What are these systems typically like? Can life find a home in such a challenging environment? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!

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If we went to the Moon already, why can’t we go back so easily? What technology have we lost? What are we trying to do differently? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!

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What’s the most distant thing we can see with the naked eye? What about with a telescope? What about at other wavelengths? Is there anything more to see? I discuss these questions and more in today’s…

What is “emergence” in physics and why is it a big deal? What would it mean for gravity to be emergent? How would we have to rewrite the laws of physics? I discuss these questions and more in today’s…

How can a “big rip” tear the universe apart? What does that mean for existence itself? Is it going to happen, and what are we doing to find out? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Sp…

How do we track dangerous asteroids? What can impacts do to us? What do we plan to do if The Big One is headed for us? Is Armageddon a documentary? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a…

Why is it so hard to get a picture of the Milky Way? How much of our galaxy have we mapped? What the heck is a “barred spiral” and what does that have to do with our core? I discuss these questions a…

How do we achieve nuclear fusion in the laboratory? What are some experiments that are trying to achieve fusion power generation? Why is it so difficult? I discuss these questions and more in today’s…

Is evolution universal throughout the cosmos? What are the different forms that life can take? When did life first appear in the universe? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman…

What forces people to lose trust in science? How does this affect the process of science itself? What are scientists doing to make this worse? How can we fix it? In this special episode themed from m…