Walkabout the Galaxy

Just when the mysterious dimming of nearby giant star Betelgeuse is explained, a more distant giant star was almost completely blocked out. We discuss the very different explanations for these two st…

These days it goes without saying that the universe is the same in every direction, at least on large scales. Or is it? We take a look at a new result from the Sloane Digital Sky Survey that seems to…

We're feeling happy, chatty, and ranty in the first show back in our studio since February, 2020, with a look at two new missions to Venus, a cool experiment about Aurora, magnetic field trivia, and …

On our 239th episode the Astroquarks reflect on the Friends Reunion where they reflected on their time making only 236 episodes. The Friends and the Astroquarks have aged, but nothing compared to the…

Neptune, as the outermost big planet, has an outsized effect on the countless objects in the Kuiper belt in the distant reaches of the solar system. We take a look at how the orbits of Kuiper belt co…

We are kidding, neutrinos. We love you. You're just a little bit scary! In this episode we discuss a way we'll learn about the mysterious tiny particles and their interactions with matter, as well as…

How many licks does it take to get to the center of Saturn? We don't know, but when you get there you will find a gooey surprise. Saturn's core is more massive than previously thought, and has a mixi…

A quackery of astroquarks takes a close look at neutron stars thanks to observations from the NICER observatory on the International Space Station and some clever scientific modeling that reveals the…

Not all dark matter is "dark matter" dark matter. Some is simply dark, well, matter. An Australian radio telescope has found a long filament of cold plasma from the scintillations it produces in the …

The center of our galaxy is producing more gamma rays than we can account for. Some say dark matter is the explanation, and others say no way. We explore the different scenarios for the high energy s…

We explain the polarization of light in the context of the image of the black hole event horizon in M87 and take a new look at the interstellar object Oumuamua and what may have powered its peculiar …

A supermassive black hole seems to be going on a walkabout its own galaxy, and dust from Mars (or its moons) seems to be going on a walkabout the solar system. We explain how that's possible and how …

The astroquarks explain the physics behind Warp Drive and a new solution to Einstein's general theory of relativity. Closer to home, the Moon showers the Earth with sodium atoms, and ancient comets m…

The search for the elusive intermediate mass black hole (hundreds to thousands of times the mass of the Sun) has instead turned up a cluster of black holes within a cluster of stars. Just a few thous…

NASA's Perseverance rover successfully touched down on Mars last week, capping a perfect set of three arrivals at the red planet. Dr. David Brain joins us to tell us about the plans for one of those …

The astroquarks debate the relative merits of hair and baldness in the grand context of black holes and the ultimate question of the nature of information in the universe. Not bad for a cheeky title!…

Dr. Zoe Landsman rejoins the Astroquarks to explain how creating simulated regolith or dirt helps scientists and engineers prepare for missions to the Moon, Mars, asteroids, and Phobos. We also take …

Three missions, including two rovers, are arriving at Mars this month. We preview some of the unique aspects of the Mars Perseverance rover, and we explore the curious case of a giant galaxy with, ap…

We go deep on this episode of Walkabout, with new analysis of the lakes on Titan showing the largest may be more than 300 meters deep. In deep space, the long, low rumble of spacetime from interactio…