Universe Today Podcast
Space news, interviews, Q&As, and exclusive content from Universe Today.
Audio versions of Fraser Cain YouTube channel.
- Update frequency
- every day
- Average duration
- 27 minutes
- Episodes
- 1405
- Years Active
- 2014 - 2025
Episode 385: 332 - Can We Protect Astronauts
Space is our future, but space is also a deadly place, with poisonous radiation and an increased risk of cancer. We’re protected here on Earth thanks to our planet’s magnetosphere, but is there a way…
Episode 384: 333 - How Do Planets Shift Orbits
We once thought our Solar System was normal, average. How wrong we were, how varied the planetary systems are out there. It turns out, the migration of planets played a huge role in the Solar System …
Episode 383: QA 38: Measuring a Black Hole’s Spin and more. Featuring Andy Weir Author of the Martian
In this week’s question show, Fraser explains how astronomers measure the spin rate of black holes, other uses of gravitational slingshots, and why everyone is talking about Patreon.
Episode 382: QA 37: Why Am I Such a SpaceX Hater (or Fanboy)? And More...
In this week’s question show, Fraser explains his thoughts on SpaceX, what he does for his regular job, and wonders if you could use a black hole to perform gravitational slingshots, whether planets …
Episode 381: 331 - What Is Eternal Inflation
In order to get the large scale structure of the Universe we see today, cosmologists have proposed the idea of inflation, that the Universe expanded an enormous amount in the earliest moments. But if…
Episode 380: 330 - Going Back To The Moon
On October 5th, 2017, US Vice President Mike Pence announced that NASA is going back to the Moon. He didn’t provide any other details, just some kind of moonward directed space exploration. And it tu…
Episode 379: QA 36: Growing Plants in Lunar Regolith? And More
In this week’s question show, Fraser wonders if we’ll be able to grow crops in lunar soil, if the Moon has been changing over time, and what title does Elon Musk get when he colonizes Mars.
Episode 378: 329 - What Is An Electric Sail
We’re all familiar with the idea of solar sails to explore the Solar System, using the light pressure from the Sun. But there’s another propulsion system that could harness the power of the Sun, elec…
Episode 377: 328 - Kilonova
Astronomers have made the groundbreaking detection of two neutron stars colliding in a galaxy 130 million light years away. They detected the gravitational waves AND the blast of radiation released f…
Episode 376: 327 - Where Do Comets Come From
Some comets orbit the Sun on a regular basis, but others come in from deep space, a region known as the Oort Cloud. What causes them to make this journey, and will we ever be able to explore the Oort…
Episode 375: QA 35: Best Place for a Telescope? And More
In this week’s question show, Fraser wonders where would be the best place to put a really powerful telescope, why a kilonova is important, and what happens when brown dwarfs die.
Episode 374: QA 34: Will Ice Protect Us From Radiation? And More
In this week’s question show, Fraser wonders if the Earth will get new moons, if dark energy is getting more diluted over time, and if the ice on Jupiter’s moons will protect us from its deadly radia…
Episode 373: 326 - SpaceX Goes All in On The Big Freaking Rocket
Elon Musk gave us an update on SpaceX’s plans to send humans to Mars, going all in on their new launch vehicle: the BFR.
Episode 372: 325 - Deep Space Gateway
NASA is working on developing a space station in a cis-lunar orbit that will serve as the jumping off point to exploring the Solar System; it’s known as the Deep Space Gateway.
Episode 371: QA 33: Should We Sweep the Moon? And More, Featuring Scott Manley
In this week’s question show, Fraser searches for the most energetic collisions in the Universe, whether we should vacuum up dust on the Moon, and are there supernovae that don’t create black holes.
Episode 370: 324 - What Are Globular Clusters?
One of the most beautiful and scientifically interesting objects in space are the globular clusters, containing hundreds of thousands of stars. What are they and where did they come from?
Episode 369: QA 32: Why Can’t James Webb Be Repaired? And More
In this week’s question show, Fraser explains why James Webb can’t be repaired if anything goes wrong, why we even need space telescopes in the first place, and his favorite methods of zipping around…
Episode 368: 323 - Intermediate Mass Black Hole Discovered
Astronomers have been searching for mid-weight black holes, and now they’ve found one, right here in the Milky Way.
Episode 367: 317 - What Missions Have Been Cancelled
Over the past decades, many missions have been canceled. What alternative history could we have had if these projects had gone through?
Episode 366: 318 - Where Are The Voyagers Now
We’re nearly at the 40th anniversary of the launch of NASA’s Voyager spacecraft. And they’re still going! Let’s remember these amazing missions.