PBS Space Time

PBS

Space Time explores the outer reaches of space, the craziness of astrophysics, the possibilities of sci-fi, and anything else you can think of beyond Planet Earth with our astrophysicist host: Matthew O’Dowd. For all business inquiries and sponsorship opportunities please reach out to: pbsspacetime@lighthouseagents.com Matt O'Dowd spends his time studying the universe, especially really far-away things like quasars, super-massive black holes, and evolving galaxies. He uses telescopes in space to do it. Matt completed his Ph.D. at NASA's Space Telescope Science Institute, followed by work at the University of Melbourne and Columbia University. He's now a professor at the City University of New York's Lehman College and an Associate at the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium. Previous host Gabe Perez-Giz is an astrophysicist who studies black hole physics. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University and also hosted PBS Infinite Series. patreon.com/pbsspacetime

  1. 1 hr ago

    Black Holes. Dissected. For 1.5 Hours.

    Black holes are not just the strangest objects in the universe, they're the sharpest test we have of how reality actually works. This episode explores how these extreme cosmic laboratories force general relativity and quantum physics into direct confrontation. We look back through a decade of content to understand their formation and the theoretical diagrams that describe them, offering a journey through the profound implications of these celestial objects for our understanding of space time and astrophysics. Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime Check out the Space Time Merch Store https://www.pbsspacetime.com/shop Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special announcements! https://mailchi.mp/1a6eb8f2717d/spacetime Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Matt O'Dowd Post Production by Leonardo Scholzer Directed by Andrew Kornhaber Associate Producer: Bahar Gholipour Executive Producer: Andrew Kornhaber Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell Spacetime is a production of Kornhaber Brown for PBS Digital Studios. This program is produced by Kornhaber Brown, which is solely responsible for its content. © 2025 PBS. All rights reserved. End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: https://www.youtube.com/user/MultiDroideka Space Time Was Made Possible In Part By: Big Bang Alexander Tamas David Paryente Juan Benet Kenneth See Mark Rosenthal Morgan Hough Peter Barrett Santiago Tj Steyn Vinnie Falco Supernova Ethan Cohen Glenn Sugden Grace Biaelcki Mark Heising Stephen Wilcox Tristan Lucian Claudius Aurelius Tyacke Hypernova Alex Kern Ben Delo Cal Stephens chuck zegar David Giltinan Dean Galvin Donal Botkin Gregory Forfa Jesse Cid Dyer John R. Slavik Justin Lloyd Kenneth See Massimiliano Pala Michael Tidwell Mike Purvis Paul Stehr-Green Scott Gorlick Scott Gray Spencer Jones Stephen Saslow Thomas Mouton Zachary Haberman Антон Кочков Daniel Muzquiz Gamma Ray Burst Aaron Pinto Adrien Molyneux Almog Cohen Anthony Leon Arko Provo Mukherjee Ayden Miller Ben McIntosh Bradley Jenkins Bradley Ulis Brandon Lattin Brian Cook Bryan White Chris Liao Christopher Wade Chuck Lukaszewski Collin Dutrow Craig Falls Craig Stonaha Dan Warren Daniel Donahue Daniel Jennings Daron Woods Darrell Stewart David Johnston Doyle Vann Eric Kiebler Eric Raschke Eric Schrenker Faraz Khan Frederic Simon Harsh Khandhadia Ian Williams Isaac Suttell James Trimmier Jeb Campbell Jeremy Soller Jerry Thomas jim bartosh John Anderson John De Witt John Funai John H. Austin, Jr. John591 Joseph Salomone Junaid Ali Kacper Cieśla Kane Holbrook Keith Pasko Kent Durham Koen Wilde Kyle Atkinson Marcelo Garcia Marion Lang Mark Daniel Cohen Mark Delagasse Matt Kaprocki Matthew Johnson Michael Barton Michael Clark Michael Lev Michael Purcell Nathaniel Bennett Nick Hoffenstoffer III Nicolas Katsantonis Paul Wood Rad Antonov Reuben Brewer Richard Steenbergen Robert DeChellis Ross Story Russell Moore SamSword Sandhya Devi Satwik Pani Sean Owen Shane Calimlim SilentGnome Sound Reason Steffen Bendel Steven Giallourakis Terje Vold Thomas Dougherty Tomaz Lovsin Tybie Fitzhugh Vlad Shipulin William Flinn WILLIAM HAY III Zac Sweers ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Black Holes. Dissected. For 1.5 Hours.
  2. 2 hr ago

    Black Hole Harmonics

    Learn more at https://www.brilliant.org/spacetime PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE Black holes are crazy enough on their own – but crash two together and you end up with a roiling blob of inescapable space that vibrates like a beaten drum. And the rich harmonics of those vibrations, seen through gravitational waves, could hold the secrets to the nature of the fabric of spacetime itself. Today on space time journal club we’ll explore the papers that claim to have detected black hole harmonics. We’ll also give you the latest updates on the most recent – in some cases quite bizarre - LIGO detections. Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime Check out the Space Time Merch Store https://pbsspacetime.com/ Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Matt O'Dowd Graphics by Murilo Lopes Directed by: Andrew Kornhaber Executive Producers: Eric Brown & Andrew Kornhaber End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRl6-nb4iOnsij-vnpAjp0Q When physicists talk about black holes they’re usually referring to highly theoretical objects – static, unchanging black holes viewed from “infinitely” far away. This makes everything clean and simple enough to attempt the already notoriously complex calculations of black hole physics. But real black holes are created in the violent deaths of massive stars, and there’s nothing clean about that. And we now know that black holes merge – and in the process produce gravitational radiation that we’ve only just managed to detect with the miraculous work of the LIGO and VIRGO gravitational wave observatories. In the instant after its merger, the new, joined black hole looks nothing like the idealized theoretical black hole. Special Thanks To All Our Patreon Supporters Big Bang Supporters Anton Lifshits David Barnholdt David Boyer David Nicklas Fabrice Eap Juan Benet matt miller Morgan Hough Quasar Supporters Mark Heising Mark Rosenthal Vinnie Falco Hypernova Chuck Zegar Danton Spivey Donal Botkin Edmund Fokschaner Hank S Joe Pearce John Hofmann John R. Slavik Jordan Young Joseph Salomone Mathew Matthew O'Connor Syed Ansar Gamma Ray Burst Supporters A G Adrien Molyneux AlecZero Andreas Nautsch Bradley Jenkins Brandon labonte Brian Dan Warren Daniel Lyons David Bethala DFaulk Frederic Simon Geoffrey Short Graydon Goss Greg Smith James Flowers James Quintero John Funai John Griffith John Michael Kerr John Pollock John Robinson Jonathan Nesfeder Joseph Dillman Josh Thomas Justin Lloyd Kevin Lee Kevin Warne Kyle Hofer Malte Ubl Nick Virtue Nick Wright Paul Rose Scott Gossett Sean Warniaha Tim Stephani Tonyface Yurii Konovaliuk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  3. 3 hr ago

    Solving Quantum Cryptography

    PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE ↓ More info below ↓ Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime Check out the Space Time Merch Store https://pbsspacetime.com/ Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special announcements! https://mailchi.mp/1a6eb8f2717d/spacetime Your extensive posting history on r/birdswitharms and your old fanfiction-heavy livejournal are both one tiny math problem away from becoming public knowledge. That math problem is prime number factoring, and the new era of quantum computers may lay bare your indiscretions, as well as collapse the entire digital economy. Unless we get us some post-quantum cryptography post-haste. So, how close are we? Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Dan Garisto & Matt O'Dowd Graphics by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini, & Pedro Osinski Directed by: Andrew Kornhaber Camera Operator: Setare Gholipour Executive Producers: Eric Brown & Andrew Kornhaber End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRl6-nb4iOnsij-vnpAjp0Q Special Thanks to All our Supporters on Patreon! Big Bang Supporters Scott Gray James Younger Robert Doxtator Ahmad Jodeh Caed Aldwych Radu Negulescu Alexander Tamas Morgan Hough Juan Benet Fabrice Eap Mark Rosenthal David Nicklas Quasar Supporters Alec S-L Christina Oegren Mark Heising Vinnie Falco Hypernova William Bryan Mark Matthew Bosko Justin Jermyn Jason Finn Антон Кочков Julian Tyacke Syed Ansar John R. Slavik Mathew Danton Spivey Donal Botkin John Pollock Edmund Fokschaner Joseph Salomone Matthew O'Connor Chuck Zegar Jordan Young Hank S John Hofmann Timothy McCulloch Gamma Ray Burst Darren Duncan Russ Creech Jeremy Reed Max Bernard Magistrala Хемус [Kybrit] Eric Webster David Johnston J. King Michael Barton Christopher Barron James Ramsey Mr T Andrew Mann Jeremiah Johnson fieldsa eleanory Peter Mertz Kevin O'Connell Bryan Dawley Richard Deighton Isaac Suttell Devon Rosenthal Oliver Flanagan Dawn M Fink Bleys Goodson Darryl J Lyle Robert Walter Bruce B Ismael Montecel M D Andrew Richmond Simon Oliphant Mirik Gogri David Hughes Mark Daniel Cohen Brandon Lattin Yannick Weyns Nickolas Andrew Freeman Brian Blanchard Shane Calimlim Tybie Fitzhugh Robert Ilardi Eric Kiebler Tatiana Vorovchenko Craig Stonaha Michael Conroy Graydon Goss Frederic Simon Greg Smith Sean Warniaha Tonyface John Robinson A G Kevin Lee Adrian Hatch Yurii Konovaliuk John Funai Cass Costello Geoffrey Short Bradley Jenkins Kyle Hofer Tim Stephani Luaan AlecZero Malte Ubl Nick Virtue Scott Gossett David Bethala Dan Warren Patrick Sutton John Griffith Daniel Lyons Josh Thomas DFaulk Kevin Warne Andreas Nautsch Brandon labonte Lucas Morgan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  4. 3 hr ago

    The Holographic Universe Explained

    PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE ↓ More info below ↓ We live in a universe with 3 dimensions of space and one of time. Up, down, left, right, forward, back, past, future. 3+1 dimensions. Or so our primitive Pleistocene-evolved brains find it useful to believe. And we cling to this intuition, even as physics shows us that this view of reality may be only a very narrow perception. One of the most startling possibilities is that our 3+1 dimensional universe may better described as resulting from a spacetime one dimension lower – like a hologram projected from a surface infinitely far away. Check out the new Space Time Merch Store! https://pbsspacetime.com/ Support Space Time on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime Need a Refresher to Fully Understand the Holographic Principle? https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsPUh22kYmNCHVpiXDJyAcRJ8gluQtOJR #holographicuniverse #holographicprinciple #spacetime Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Matt O'Dowd Graphics by Aaron Halevy Directing by Andrew Kornhaber The holographic principle emerged from many subtle clues – clues discovered over decades of theoretical exploration of the universe. Over the past several months on Space Time, we’ve seen those close clues, and we’ve built a the foundations needed to glimpse the true meaning of the holographic principle. We’ve moved from quantum field theory to black hole thermodynamics to string theory. We’ve made a background playlist if you want to start from scratch, and I especially recommend catching last week’s episode. But this is tough material, so let’s do a review. Special thanks to our Patreon Big Bang, Quasar and Hypernova Supporters: Big Bang: Anton Lifshits coolascats David Nicklas Fabrice Eap Juan Benet Justin Lloyd Tim Davis Quasar: James Flowers Mark Rosenthal Tambe Barsbay Vinnie Falco Hypernova: chuck zegar Danton Spivey Donal Botkin Edmund Fokschaner Jens Theisen John Hofmann Jordan Young Joseph Salomone kkm Mark Heising Matthew O'Connor Thanks to our Patreon Gamma Ray Burst Supporters: Alexey Eromenko Andreas Nautsch Antonio Ruiz Bradley Jenkins Brandon Labonte Buruk Aregawi Carlo Mogavero Daniel Lyons David Behtala David Crane David Schmidt Dustan Jones Geoffrey Short Greg Weiss Jack Frosch James Hughes James Quintero Jinal Doshi JJ Bagnell John Webber Jon Folks Jonah Joseph Emison Josh Thomas Kenneth F Leonard Kevin Warne Kyle Hofer Malte Ubl Mark Vasile Nathan Hitchings Nicholas Rose Nick Virtue Ratfeast Richard Broman Scott Gossett Sigurd Ruud Frivik Tim Crookham Tim Stephani Tommy Mogensen سلطان الخليفي Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  5. 4 hr ago

    Could The Universe Be Inside A Black Hole?

    Take the Space Time Fan Survey Here: https://forms.gle/wS4bj9o3rvyhfKzUA PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to:http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime What is inside a black hole? Inevitable crushing doom? Gateways to other universes? Weird, multidimensional libraries? If you’ve ever wanted to know then you might be in luck - Some physicists have argued that you’re inside one right now. Check out the Space Time Merch Store https://www.pbsspacetime.com/shop Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special announcements! https://mailchi.mp/1a6eb8f2717d/spacetime Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Matt O'Dowd Post Production by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini, Pedro Osinski, Adriano Leal & Stephanie Faria GFX Visualizations: Ajay Manuel Directed by Andrew Kornhaber Assistant Producer: Setare Gholipour Executive Producers: Eric Brown & Andrew Kornhaber Executives in Charge (PBS): Adam Dylewski, Maribel Lopez Director of Programming (PBS): Gabrielle Ewing Spacetime is produced by Kornhaber Brown for PBS Digital Studios. This program is produced by Kornhaber Brown, which is solely responsible for its content. © 2021 PBS. All rights reserved. End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: https://www.youtube.com/user/MultiDroideka Special Thanks to Our Patreon Supporters Big Bang Mark Evans David Taiclet Daniel Alexiuc Nenado763 Peter Barrett David Neumann Charlie Leo Koguan Sandy Wu Ahmad Jodeh Alexander Tamas Morgan Hough Amy Juan Benet Vinnie Falco Fabrice Eap Mark Rosenthal David Nicklas Henry Van Styn Quasar Supporters Alex Kinsey Alex Kern Ethan Cohen Stephen Wilcox Christina Oegren Mark Heising Hank S Hypernova Supporters william bryan Kirk Honour Sergio Bonfiglio drollere Joe Moreira Marc Armstrong Scott Gorlick Paul Stehr-Green Adam Walters Russell Pope Ben Delo Scott Gray Антон Кочков John R. Slavik Mathew Donal Botkin John Pollock Edmund Fokschaner Joseph Salomone chuck zegar Jordan Young Daniel Muzquiz Gamma Ray Burst Supporters Frank Walker Matt Q WhizBangery Tony Affinito Lillith Montgomery Avi Yashchin MHL SHS Kory Kirk Terje Vold Anatoliy Nagornyy comboy Brett Baker Jeremy Soller Jonathan Conerly Andre Stechert Ross Bohner Paul Wood Kent Durham jim bartosh Nubble Chris Navrides Scott R Calkins The Mad Mechanic Ellis Hall John H. Austin, Jr. Diana S Ben Campbell Faraz Khan Almog Cohen Alex Edwards Ádám Kettinger MD3 Endre Pech Daniel Jennings Cameron Sampson Pratik Mukherjee Geoffrey Clarion Nate Darren Duncan Russ Creech Jeremy Reed Eric Webster David Johnston Web Browser Michael Barton Christopher Barron James Ramsey Justin Jermyn Mr T Andrew Mann Isaac Suttell Devon Rosenthal Oliver Flanagan Bleys Goodson Robert Walter Bruce B Simon Oliphant Mirik Gogri Mark Delagasse Mark Daniel Cohen Brandon Lattin Nickolas Andrew Freeman Shane Calimlim Tybie Fitzhugh Robert Ilardi Eric Kiebler Craig Stonaha Martin Skans The Art of Sin Graydon Goss Frederic Simon Tonyface John Robinson A G David Neal Kevin Lee justahat John Funai Cass Costello Tristan Bradley Jenkins Kyle Hofer Daniel Stříbrný Luaan AlecZero Cody Thomas Dougherty King Zeckendorff Nick Virtue Scott Gossett Dan Warren Patrick Sutton Daniel Lyons DFaulk Kevin Warne Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  6. 4 hr ago

    Is the Proxima System Our Best Hope For Another Earth?

    Thank you to Morning Brew for supporting PBS. To learn more and sign up go to https://cen.yt/mbpbsspace Take the Space Time Fan Survey Here: https://forms.gle/wS4bj9o3rvyhfKzUA PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to:http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE At just four light years away, Proxima Centauri is our closest solar neighbor. The recent discovery of the new exoplanet Proxima D, has reopened the discussion of whether the proxima system is our best chance at reaching another Earth. How did we discover Proxima D? How do we know what the conditions are on planets so far away? Watch the episode to learn more. Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime Check out the Space Time Merch Store https://www.pbsspacetime.com/shop Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special announcements! https://mailchi.mp/1a6eb8f2717d/spacetime Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Matt O'Dowd Post Production by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini, Pedro Osinski, Adriano Leal & Stephanie Faria GFX Visualizations: Ajay Manuel Directed by Andrew Kornhaber Assistant Producer: Setare Gholipour Executive Producers: Eric Brown & Andrew Kornhaber Executives in Charge (PBS): Adam Dylewski, Maribel Lopez Director of Programming (PBS): Gabrielle Ewing Spacetime is produced by Kornhaber Brown for PBS Digital Studios. This program is produced by Kornhaber Brown, which is solely responsible for its content. © 2021 PBS. All rights reserved. End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: https://www.youtube.com/user/MultiDroideka Special Thanks to Our Patreon Supporters Big Bang Mark Evans David Taiclet Ben Dimock Daniel Alexiuc Nenado763 Peter Barrett Nils Anderson David Neumann Charlie Leo Koguan Sandy Wu Matthew Miller Ahmad Jodeh Alexander Tamas Morgan Hough Juan Benet Vinnie Falco Fabrice Eap Mark Rosenthal David Nicklas Henry Van Styn Quasar Alex Kinsey Alex Kern Ethan Cohen Stephen Wilcox Christina Oegren Mark Heising Hank S Hypernova william bryan Sergio Bonfiglio drollere Joe Moreira Marc Armstrong Scott Gorlick Paul Stehr-Green Adam Walters Russell Pope Ben Delo Scott Gray Антон Кочков John R. Slavik Mathew Donal Botkin John Pollock Edmund Fokschaner Joseph Salomone chuck zegar Jordan Young m0nk Daniel Muzquiz Gamma Ray Burst Tony Affinito Lillith Montgomery Avi Yashchin MHL SHS Kory Kirk Joshua Friede Terje Vold Anatoliy Nagornyy Sam Kirkpatrick comboy Brett Baker Jeremy Soller Jonathan Conerly Andre Stechert Ross Bohner Paul Wood Kent Durham jim bartosh Nubble Chris Navrides Scott R Calkins The Mad Mechanic Ellis Hall John H. Austin, Jr. Diana S Ben Campbell Lawrence Tholl, DVM Faraz Khan Almog Cohen Alex Edwards Ádám Kettinger MD3 Endre Pech Daniel Jennings Cameron Sampson Pratik Mukherjee Geoffrey Clarion Nate Darren Duncan Russ Creech Jeremy Reed Eric Webster David Johnston J. King Michael Barton Christopher Barron James Ramsey Justin Jermyn Mr T Andrew Mann Isaac Suttell Devon Rosenthal Oliver Flanagan Bleys Goodson Robert Walter Bruce B Simon Oliphant Mirik Gogri Mark Delagasse Mark Daniel Cohen Brandon Lattin Nickolas Andrew Freeman Shane Calimlim Tybie Fitzhugh Robert Ilardi Eric Kiebler Craig Stonaha Martin Skans The Art of Sin Graydon Goss Frederic Simon Tonyface John Robinson A G David Neal Kevin Lee justahat John Funai Cass Costello Tristan Bradley Jenkins Kyle Hofer Daniel Stříbrný Luaan AlecZero Vlad Shipulin Cody Malte Ubl King Zeckendorff Nick Virtue Scott Gossett Dan Warren Patrick Sutton Daniel Lyons DFaulk Kevin Warne Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ratings & Reviews

About

Space Time explores the outer reaches of space, the craziness of astrophysics, the possibilities of sci-fi, and anything else you can think of beyond Planet Earth with our astrophysicist host: Matthew O’Dowd. For all business inquiries and sponsorship opportunities please reach out to: pbsspacetime@lighthouseagents.com Matt O'Dowd spends his time studying the universe, especially really far-away things like quasars, super-massive black holes, and evolving galaxies. He uses telescopes in space to do it. Matt completed his Ph.D. at NASA's Space Telescope Science Institute, followed by work at the University of Melbourne and Columbia University. He's now a professor at the City University of New York's Lehman College and an Associate at the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium. Previous host Gabe Perez-Giz is an astrophysicist who studies black hole physics. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University and also hosted PBS Infinite Series. patreon.com/pbsspacetime

You Might Also Like