Walkabout the Galaxy

Joshua Colwell, Adrienne Dove, and James Cooney
  • 5.0 (5)
  • NATURAL SCIENCES
  • UPDATED WEEKLY
Walkabout the Galaxy

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

  1. 3 HRS AGO

    Neutrino Fog and the Hunt for Dark Matter

    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.

    44 min

  2. 20 NOV

    Not All Supernovae Are Created Equal

    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.

    42 min

  3. 6 NOV

    Is There Another Belt of Comets?

    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.

    42 min

  4. 30 OCT

    Trojan Asteroids Everywhere

    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.

    28 min

  5. 23 OCT

    Basin Instinct - Cosmological Structure and Edible Asteroids

    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).

    45 min

  6. 9 OCT

    OG Top Goes to Europa

    Original Top Quark Dr. Tracy Becker returns to her old stomping grounds to hang with the Walkabout crew and send Europa Clipper on its way to Jupiter. Join us for a preview of this mission's ambitious goals and the exciting journey it took to the launch pad. Also, new research suggests the Earth may escape a fiery death when the Sun becomes a red giant. We have, of course, space news, space history trivia, and much more.

    50 min

  7. 2 OCT

    Back in Black Holes

    We’ve got mini black holes as potential dark matter candidates and monstrous black holes spewing jets to cosmological scales. Who better than Top quark Jim Cooney to take us through these black holes? No one, that’s who. We take a deep dive into meteorites, particularly those that have come from Mars. You may be surprised to learn how many we have, and now we know more about where those free Mars samples originated from on the red planet. Join us for all this, space news, and trivia.

    48 min

  8. 18 SEPT

    Black Hole Spindown Chirp and a 9-Day Geologic Rumble

    Gravitational waves may provide a new way to observe supernovae in our own Milky Way galaxy and determine when they produce black holes and when they result merely in neutron stars. Closer to home, scientists did some clever detective work to figure out the source of a mysterious 9-day seismic shaking here on Earth. The culprit: a giant, regular sloshing in a fjord triggered by a landslide as a result of warming temperatures and melting land ice. Join us for this and other astro news including an interesting mini-moon and funny science lingo.

    41 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

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

Information

  • Creator
    Joshua Colwell, Adrienne Dove, and James Cooney
  • Years Active
    2014 - 2024
  • Episodes
    320
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Joshua Colwell
  • Show Website
    Walkabout the Galaxy

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