Walkabout the Galaxy

Joshua Colwell, Adrienne Dove, and James Cooney
  • 4.8 (116)
  • NATURAL SCIENCES
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

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

  1. 13H AGO

    Crazy Spinners in the Asteroid Belt and S8 Tension

    The amazing discoveries from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory have already started, and the astroquarks take a look at some close to home. Asteroids bigger than a city block spinning in fewer than 5 minutes are just the beginning, and will change our understanding of the collisional evolution of the asteroid belt. The astroquarks muse on the biggest questions in astronomy today, and one of those, the so-called "S8 Tension" has a possible solution with the help of dark matter and neutrinos. Join us for all that, space news, trivia, and more.

    46 min

  2. 12/17/2025

    Cosmic Rays from Everywhere and Stringy Ancient Galaxies

    The Parker Solar Probe flies through the Sun's corona, MAVEN has gone silent, and new data shed light on the origins of cosmic rays. JWST's observations of ancient galaxies reveal odd shapes that may be connected to dark matter. Join us for a year-end look at the latest discoveries and space news and much more.

    43 min

  3. 12/10/2025

    Interstellar Star Scars and Poop on Mars

    We explore the dining and drinking choices for astronauts, complex chemicals discovered in asteroid samples, and untangling the web of scars in the local interstellar cloud to reveal past encounters of the Sun with some hot stellar neighbors. If you wish you had more hot stellar neighbors, you should definitely check out this episode of Walkabout the Galaxy.

    39 min

  4. 12/04/2025

    Gravothermalizing and Baby Black Holes

    There's a new funky proposal for small black holes in the early universe, and another potential dark matter candidate. Learn about cannibal stars and much more, together with double trivia and space news with your friendly neighborhood astroquarks.

    47 min

  5. 11/26/2025

    An Ancient Moon of Mars?

    The story behind this investigation is almost more cool than the discovery itself. Microlayers of sediments in Mars' Gale Crater, observed by NASA's Curiosity rover, are indicative of tidal sloshing of water in the lake that once filled the crater. Problem is, the age of the rocks and the magnitude of the tides would require a different moon than the ones currently there. Cool! Join us to hear about that, interstellar comet 3I/Atlas, and much more.

    43 min

  6. 11/20/2025

    Why Is There A Universe At All?

    Things would be a lot simpler and a lot less interesting if charge parity existed in the universe, but there would be no one to appreciate that simplicity because we would not exist! New results from the Large Hadron Collider provide a hint at explaining why there is matter in the universe and it was not all eliminated in a dramatic annihilation of matter-antimatter collisions. So, that's a relief! And we have space news, meta-trivia, solar system news and more. Join us, won't you?

    36 min

  7. 11/05/2025

    The Amazing and Crazy Story of Gemini and Jumbo Black Holes

    The astroquarks are joined by Jeffrey Kluger, editor at large at Time Magazine and author of 13 books including Apollo 13 and the new book on the Gemini program. Tune in to hear about some of the outlandish ideas that were explored on the way to the Moon. Plus, top quark gives us a look at a new class of black holes that we've decided are "Jumbo Black Holes". All that plus twin trivia, a hot take, and more.

    45 min

  8. 10/29/2025

    Rings Around a Comet, Betelbuddy, and Odd Jupiter Moons

    These rings aren't around Uranus, they're somewhere even more odd. We discuss the mysterious and changing ring system around the Centaur object Chiron, new clues about the origin of the solar system from the irregular moons of Jupiter, and the puzzling stellar companion to Betelgeuse. Plus, top quark Jim Cooney stumps us with trivia.

    50 min
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4.8
out of 5
116 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 - 2026
  • Episodes
    357
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Joshua Colwell
  • Show Website
    Walkabout the Galaxy

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