Astronomy Cast Full Raw Feed

Streamed live on Dec 29, 2025.

How big can a star get? This is a calculation made by one of the original pioneers of modern astronomy, Sir Arthur Eddington. And it's named after him, the Eddington Limit. Now, astronomers are finding examples of giant black holes early in the Universe, calling into question some of Eddington's assumptions. Let's explore this fascinating concept! Why are stars sphere-ish? Why do blackholes not eat everything? Why do pulsating stars pulsate? It all comes down to work done by Eddington at the beginning of the last century, and today we're going to look...

Streamed live on Dec 22, 2025.

Shortly after the big bang there were almost exactly the same amounts of matter and antimatter in the Universe, but there was just enough of a difference that we live in a matter-dominated Universe. But it didn't have to be that way! Explaining this mystery has been one of the great mysteries in astronomy, and today we'll see if there's been any progress! Why is the Universe the way it is? Specifically, why is it made mostly of matter? This is the question we'll look at today!

This show i...

Streamed live on Dec 15, 2025.

Atomic hydrogen is the raw material for stars, but there's a problem. It's cold & dark, but it can do a very rare trick, releasing a photon in a very specific wavelength, known as the 21 centimeter line. And thanks to this wavelength astronomers have mapped out star forming regions across the Milky Way, the Universe and into the Dark Ages! This forbidden transition of Hydrogen has led to the mapping of galaxy rotation, a cool classroom application of quantum mechanics, and weirdly no Nobel prize. In this episode, Fraser and Pamela take a look...

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay.

Streamed live on Nov 8, 2025.

[Editor's Note: Fraser says "Episode 773" at the head of the show. Not to worry, he was just confused. They recorded a few episodes out of sequence. I fixed the issue in the regular non-FullRaw episode.]

Scientific expertise is under attack on all fronts with concerns coming from politicians and the public. While most of this is unwarranted and politically motivated, there can be germ of truth. Bad science does happen, but how? How is it that papers that very few...

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay.

Streamed live on Nov 9, 2025.

We are powerless fans of space exploration. But what if some fool gave us the authority and funding to make our space dreams a reality? Someone asked us what we'd do with a billion dollars. What missions? Which telescopes? But what if we had more? 100 Billion! A trillion! All the monies! You keep asking, and this week we answer you! Come hear what Fraser and Pamela would do if they were given complete control over $1billion that had to be used for...

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay.

Streamed live on Nov 9, 2025.

It's time once again for our annual gift giving guide. We've got recommendations for books, movies, TV shows, games and of course astronomy gear to satisfy the space nerds in your family. The Christmas season is almost upon us, and with it comes excuses to inject science into the lives of those you love... or ask for them to give you that book, lens, or art print you already know you'll love. In this episode, Fraser and Pamela share the things they...

Streamed live on Nov 8, 2025.

With the arrival of the comet 3I/Atlas (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System), the world is getting a crash course in comets, their behavior, and of course their tails. Today we're going to talk about comets and their tails, why they exist, how they grow, why they can be different colors and how they can be sometimes point AT the Sun.

Comets are one of the most animated and ephemeral targets for astronomy. From night to night they can change in shape and color, and every nuance tells us s...

Streamed live on Nov 3, 2025.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay.

It is arguable that humanity now has the technological ability to live on Mars. It would be done at enormous expense and sacrifice, and there are some tricky problems that we haven't solved yet. Although we could live on Mars, should we? There is a famous quote from Jurassic Park: "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." This concept is played out across the sciences, and in planetary exploration, it...

Streamed live on Oct 20, 2025.

New instruments bring new mysteries, and when James Webb came on line it uncovered a collection of strange, compact, bright objects shifted deeply into the red end of the spectrum. These were dubbed "Little red dots" or LRDs. And the astronomical community continues to puzzle over what they are. When JWST first peered into the distant past, it discovered the early universe had a rash of little red dots. Their existence just 450 million years after the big bang meant either galaxies were forming way faster than anyone predicted, or something unimagined had been...

Streamed live on Oct 13, 2025.

So it's been decades since we've seen a bright comet in the sky. And actually there was a pair — Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake. And then, silence! And unmet promises by the Universe to give us a bright comet. Comets are unpredictable, and they arrive precisely when they intend to. Is it time again for a bright comet? If you asked us in January if 2025 was going to have any outstanding comets would fly through the Solar System, we would have (and we did) say "no." And we were wrong. Comets are fickle, unpredictable, and li...

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

Streamed live on Oct 6, 2025.

You can only describe a black hole by its mass and its spin. And maybe it's charge. But allow us to propose a new criteria: the personal experience. Some black holes have seen things… Experienced the laws of physics at their most extreme. And today we'll tell their stories. The more of the sky we observe, the more bizarre situations we find black holes in. Let's explore!

This show is supported through people like you on Patreon.com/Ast...

End-of-Life Planning for Your Spacecraft!

Streamed live October 1, 2025.

Your spacecraft has reached the end of its mission. You've done everything you can to keep it operational, but now it's time to say goodbye. How do space agencies deal with spacecraft to shut them down gracefully, protect future missions and life on other worlds. So, the time has come to see your mission across the Rainbow Bridge. How exactly do you say goodbye? Let's discuss. 

Streamed live on Sep 22, 2025.

We don't launch a lot of rockets every year, so their impact on the environment is minimal compared to other forms of transportation. But that number is steadily increasing with rates that we'll have to take seriously. What's the current and future impact of rockets on the environment Rocket facilities are often surrounded by wildlife preserves and they always fly through our atmosphere. Let's take a look at how launches do and don't impact the environment around them from the surface of Earth, to the farthest orbits (and landings). 

Streamed live September 17, 2025.

This week, we look at the process behind rockets getting licensed to launch, and everyone around the pad getting notified to stay away as T-0 approaches. (Can you say "errant boat"?) We have a saying around here: "One does not simply book a return trip from a rocket launch." That's because they are an intensely complex chain of events that need to go right before it's wise to let that rocket leave the launchpad. 

Streamed live Sep 8, 2025.

Welcome to the first episode of our 19th season! This week we look at objects coming from other solar systems that come passing on by our Sun. During the summer hiatus the 3rd interstellar object was discovered: Comet 3I/ATLAS! So now we have 3 different interstellar interlopers to compare & contrast. What are we starting to learn about other star systems from this small sample size and how will our detection get even better?

[Editor's note: HiRISE's telescope is 1/2 meter.]

Streamed live on Jun 30, 2025.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

Normally we try to end the season on a high note. But there's unfolding news that we just HAVE to cover before we leave you for the summer. NASA's new budget is here, and it's 25% smaller. We'll cover what the changes are and try to understand the implications. It's a bad decade to be a researcher. We're going to look at why, and what US cuts will mean for the world. 

[Editor's note] There was an audio problem with Pamela's m...

Streamed live June 25, 2025.

The time has come. The mighty Vera Rubin Observatory has finally come on line and delivered its "first light" images. And by Pamela's rules that means we get to talk about it! So let's do that! After decades of waiting, we have images from Vera Rubin Observatory!

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Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

Streamed live on Jun 16, 2025.

It's almost time for our annual summer hiatus, but before we go, we wanted to direct you towards all the fun and space stuff we'll be enjoying this summer. We've got meteor showers, planets, rocket launches, TV shows, movies! Here's what's good.

In a couple of weeks, we'll go on hiatus, but we want to make sure you are ready for stuff we can anticipate happening. 

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Streamed live on Jun 9, 2025.

Humanity has turned its focus back to the Moon, sending a fleet of spacecraft to the lunar surface. Some are run by the government, but there's a whole new group of commercial landers bearing instruments to the lunar surface. Is this the future of lunar exploration? Space used to be a place occupied by government-funded and military missions, but today, we're seeing the rise... and fall (somersault, crash, and explosion) of missions with commercial design and funding. Let's talk about how this is good, bad, and maybe just too soon.

Streamed live on May 26, 2025.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

Some of our favorite robots are rovers currently roving around the surface of the Moon & Mars. But there's some pretty tricky terrain out there and engineers are scheming up clever ways to explore other worlds inspired by life that crawls, slithers, hops and flies. As we explore more surfaces and more complex surfaces throughout the solar system, mission teams are designing robot explorers that don't sit still and also don't rove. In this episode, we're going to take a look at the...

Streamed live on May 19, 2025.

Computers are getting smaller, faster and more capable, which has enabled an entirely mew class of satellites: CubeSats. A mission small enough that you can hold it in your hands, and yet powerful enough to even travel to other planets and send messages home. 

Every year, our electronics seem to get smaller and more powerful, with today's smart watches being more fully featured than the computers Pamela and Fraser had as little kids. These tiny processors, sensors, and transmitters are allowing tiny satellites with powerful functionality, and today we ta...

Streamed live on May 12, 2025.

NASA's newly launched SphereX mission is up & operational and has completed its initial checkout and "first light". Everything looks good! And now it's starting its science operations. And that's good enough for Pamela! And THAT means we can talk about it. So let's do that! There's a new space telescope in town (or at least in LEO). Let's check out what it's looking at and looking to do.

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Streamed live on May 5, 2025.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay.

There are stellar-mass and supermassive black holes. But very little evidence of anything in between. Where are all the intermediate-mass black holes that should be the building blocks of the biggest ones? Actually, the science has been accelerating rapidly and we now know of hundreds of them. The question marks in our understanding are slowly getting replaced with data. Let's review what we now know about intermediate mass black holes and their origins. 

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Streamed live on Apr 28, 2025.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

You've heard the news! Astronomers are reporting the discovery of biosignatures at K2-18b. Is this proof of life or should we all be more skeptical? It's in the news and people are claiming aliens... but is it aliens? Let's see what the data actually says. 

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Streamed live on Apr 21, 2025.

I'm sure you've heard that all eyes are on the Moon's southern pole. This is where various  NASA and Chinese missions are targeting. What makes this region so special and what are the special challenges that explorers will face. From TV shows to real-world missions, it seems like everyone just wants to explore the Moon's South Pole. But why? Learn here!

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Streamed live on Apr 16, 2025.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

There is an ongoing debate on where NASA should go next with humans: to the Moon or Mars. (Or maybe an asteroid or one of Mars' moons). We are on the verge of sending humans back to the Moon. At the same time others would prefer we focus our exploration on Mars. It's a tough choice because there are costs and benefits to both. Let's try to give this conversation some nuance. Let's discuss the reasons for each of these worlds.

Streamed live on Apr 7, 2025.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay.

Even empty space isn't empty. It's filled with the quantum fluctuations of spacetime itself. Which can be measured with famous experiments like the Casimir Effect. There is a surprising amount of energy in space itself, which has led to some interesting theories about how the future of the Universe might evolve. You can't get something from nothing but sometimes that nothing is something you can get something from.

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Streamed live on Mar 31, 2025.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

When enormous stars detonate as supernovae they release a burst of neutrinos that can be the first sign of a coming explosion. Now, astronomers have built a network to watch for that flash of neutrinos, and help direct their telescopes for when the sky show begins. Supernovae explosions occur in stages, with neutrinos being emitted hours before photons. If we can accurately detect those neutrinos, we might just be able to get on target before the light show even starts.... Maybe.

Streamed live on Mar 24, 2025.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

The Hubble Tension is a vexing problem, with astronomers measuring the expansion of the Universe at different points in its history and getting different results. Errors have mostly been ruled out, which leaves the potential for new physics. Has the strength of dark energy been changing over time? We thought Dark Energy was constant with time, but new results from DESI say maybe not, and honestly, if it wasn't constant the Hubble Tension would be a whole lot easier to solve.

Streamed live on Mar 17, 2025.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay.

For the briefest of moments, some dead stars can flash brighter than their entire galaxy (in Radio light) and then live to do it again and again. It's time for an update on fast radio bursts, a phenomenon we've only known about for a few decades. In this time astronomers have learned a tremendous amount them. They're not solved, but we're getting closer!

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Streamed live on Mar 10, 2025.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

Most planets orbit stars. That's the rule, right? Well, maybe not. In fact the vast majority of planets could be floating freely through the Milky Way. Today we're gonna talk about rogue planets. Sometimes planets just go rogue. Let's learn about planets living free from stars. 

Streamed live Feb 24, 2025.

We have dust storms on Earth and of course the famous dust storms on Mars. There are even dust storms on Titan. What causes these storms and how do they work differently on the worlds in the solar system. But what about the exoplanets?

The bane of solar panels, humans, and robots, dust storms have a way of picking up steam (or at least dust) all over the solar system.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

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Streamed live Feb 20, 2025.

I'm sure you've heard the news, asteroid 2024 YR4 has a tiny chance of hitting Earth in 2032. How do astronomers discover these dangerous asteroids, measure their future impact risk and track the changes over time? When should we panic? New asteroids are found every day, and every day we learn that those asteroids don't have any murderous intentions. But how do we learn that? In this episode we dig into asteroid orbital determination.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

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Streamed live on Feb 10, 2025.

What time is it? OK, fine, what time is it on the Moon? The Moon orbits the Earth, so it doesn't fall into a specific time zone. Also, there's lower gravity on the surface of the Moon, which changes the rate that clocks tick. Well… It's time to introduce Lunar Time. 

When are you when you are on the Moon? Researchers are putting together definitions!

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

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Streamed live on Feb 3, 2025.

Just a few years ago LIGO detected the first direct evidence of gravitational waves coming from colliding black holes. And there you have it. Boom! Black holes collide! But that wasn't all we learned from gravitational waves, nor will we learn. Sure, the masses of merging black holes are nice to know, but what else can we learn from gravitational black holes?

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

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Streamed live on Jan 27, 2025.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

Gravity Waves ... not gravitational waves ... move atmospheres and make pretty clouds. Have you ever looked up into the sky and seen bizarre cloud formations that look like waves on the ocean? These are gravity waves. Not to be confused with gravitational waves, and they're caused by a balance of buoyancy and gravity. And of course these have been seen across the solar system. 

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Streamed live on Jan 20, 2025.

Pollution will ultimately give away a society.

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Thanks to: Andrew Poelstra, BogieNet, Brian Cagle, David, David Truog, Ed, Gerhard, Schwarzer, Jeanette Wink, Siggi Kemmler, Stephen Veit 

Streamed live on Jan 13, 2025.

Why stars can't be trusted!

If you're an astronomer you depend on accurate observations of stars, but there's a problem. Stars are sneaky! Changing in size, brightness, color, they hide their chemistry, their age and even their companions from all but the cleverest observers. Stars explode precisely when they intend to. Betelgeuse took a brightness plunge, T CrB refused to go nova, and other failures to be predictable irk observers for good reasons. Let's talk about it.

Streamed live January 9, 2025.

From little Ingenuity to the future Firefly and all our Earth Science fliers, let's look at the buzzy scientists. NASA's Mars Ingenuity helicopter showed us how wonderful a flying science platform can be on another world. Soon there'll be a helicopter flying on Titan, but there are many other flying robots that'll be helping us with all our science needs. 

What can we hope (or dread) to see in 2025?

Last week we talked about the 2024 strangeness. Now we're gonna talk about the upcoming space stories for 2025 that we're looking forward to. It's a nice mix of new rockets, new missions and new fly-bys.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

Streamed live December13, 2024.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay.

2024 was a strange year! I'll let your imagination take flight and consider how 2024 was weird for you. But, for space and astronomy we had some interesting, revolutionary, unsettling and downright weird stories pop up. Today let's talk about them.

Streamed live on Dec 2, 2024

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

It's time for our Holiday Gift Guide, where we suggest ideas for presents for the space fans in your life! What books are we reading? What games are we playing and what telescopes are we admiring?

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Streamed live on Nov 25, 2024.

Last week we talked about the Einstein probe. So this week it is only natural that we talk about the man himself, Albert Einstein. He revolutionized the field of physics, played a vital role in the early 20th century and struggled to unite the forces of the Universe at the end of his career.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

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Streamed live on Nov 11, 2024.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay.

Another day, another space telescope! Today we're looking at the newly launched Einstein Probe. A collaboration between the Chinese Space Agency and the European Space Agency. The mission has been operating since January searching the cosmos for short, bright flashes of X-rays. 

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Streamed live on Nov 5, 2024.

Last week we talked about the mission. This week we'll talk about Euclid of Alexandria, the ancient Greek mathematician who inspired the mission. Let's learn about his life and the ground breaking work that made so much of our modern mathematics possible.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay.

Let's look at the Euclid Space Telescope.

The Euclid 208-Gigapixel image!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86ZCsUfgLRQ

Streamed live on Oct 21, 2024.

Let's look at the man whose name is carried by the Neil Gehrels Swift Telescope.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay.

Streamed live October 15, 2024.

Let's look over the long life of the  Neil Gehrels Swift Telescope as it watches for the multi-spectral flashes of high energy explosions.

Streamed live on Sep 30, 2024.

Let's talk about that giant telescope that's changing everything. We have been waiting our entire careers to make this episode on the James Webb Space Telescope, AKA the JWST. This historic Observatory was launched just a couple of years ago and it's already overturning our understanding of the early Universe star formation and exoplanets!

Streamed live on Sep 23, 2024.

Last week, we talked about the Parker Solar Probe. As always, we like to talk about the person who inspired the mission. What makes this amazing and different is that Eugene Parker was there to watch the launch of the mission that shares his name. Why is he so influential on solar astronomy?

Streamed live on Sep 16, 2024.

Let's look over the long life of the Parker Solar Probe as it explores the Sun and nearby worlds.

The Sun! It's that ongoing thermonuclear explosion that's happening right over there! And although the Sun is necessary for life on Earth, we still have questions! So NASA has sent the Parker Solar Probe to visit the Sun up close, to get us some answers.

Streamed live Sep 9, 2024.

We made all sorts of predictions, and some of the stuff we didn't know about last July, somehow, we still don't know about as we set up this episode on September 3! Join us for the first episode of Season 18 as we review all the crazy space science that happened during our Summer Hiatus. 

Streamed live on Jun 24, 2024.

Normally Pamela refuses to think about the future. But today, on our final episode before hiatus, she's throwing out those rules. It's like the PURGE! Here's what we're excited about for the future. Especially for the next couple of months until we return in September.

Streamed live Jun 20, 2024.

Fraser & Pamela list their favorite books! Take notes!

I also have a favor to ask - I'm working on a research project with my collaborator Sanlyn Buxener on what factors help and hinder people learning and doing science. Can you please take our survey?
bit.ly/AstEco THANK YOU! - Pamela

Streamed live on Jun 10, 2024.

Astronomers have discovered thousands of exoplanets, revealing entirely new types of worlds that we just don't have in the solar system. It's enough to start getting a rough sense of what kinds of planets are out there. What's the big picture?

Here's a familiar question: How's the weather? We're familiar with the weather on Earth and telescopes and missions are watching the weather on other planets in the Solar System. But for the first time in history, astronomers can now answer that question for exoplanets, located light-years away from us.

Most of the exoplanets we've found are around stars, where they belong. But a few have been found free-floating in interstellar space. The evidence is growing that there are a lot of them out there, maybe even more than planets with stars. How do they form and how can we learn more about them?

Streamed live on Apr 30, 2024.

Our galaxy series continues with elliptical galaxies. Unlike other types, these are large, smooth with very few distinguishing features. They're filled with red and dead stars, a clue to their evolution.

Our galaxy series continues, on to spiral galaxies. In fact, you're living in one right now, but telescopes show us the various shapes and sizes these galaxies come in. Thanks to JWST, we're learning how these spirals got big, early on in the Universe.

Streamed live on Apr 30, 2024.

It's time to begin a new mini-series, where we'll look at different classes of galaxies. Today, we'll start with the dwarf galaxies, which flock around larger galaxies like the Milky Way. Are they the building blocks for modern structures?

How old is that star? That planet? That nebula? Figuring out the ages of astronomical objects is surprisingly challenging. Fortunately, astronomers have developed a series of techniques they can use to work out the ages of stuff.

Last week, we learned about the death of Peter Higgs, a physicist and discoverer of the particle that bears his name. The Large Hadron Collider was built to find and describe the particle. Today, we'll look back at the life of Peter Higgs and his particle.

How to watch a solar eclipse and do some science!

The next great eclipse is upon us, with viewers across North America witnessing the moon passing in front of the Sun. It's an amazing experience, but also an opportunity to do science. Let's talk about what we can learn from this momentous event.

Several of the planets and moons in the Solar System are in orbital resonance, orbiting in a geometric lockstep. And not just the Solar System, astronomers have found the same resonances in other star systems.

Last week was one of the most exciting meetings we've seen from the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, with hundreds of announcements and discoveries from various missions. One theme kept coming up, the Solar System is more volcanically active than we thought. Today, we'll explore volcanism on other worlds.

You've probably heard that the best kind of science is peer-reviewed research published in a prestigious journal. But peer review has problems of its own. We'll talk about that today.

NASA works on many missions using tried and true technology, but they also invest in creative ideas that could drive the future of space exploration. It's called NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts or NIAC.

In the olden days, NASA developed its missions using a variety of in-house engineers and external suppliers. As more commercial companies are targeting the Moon, NASA is working with partners to deliver its payloads to the lunar surface. Today let's talk about NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Program.

Streamed live on Feb 19, 2024.

[My apologies for Fraser's audio dropouts. We're not sure how it happened as it wasn't happening at his studio. Audio is a black art, IMHO. Rich)

Last week we learned that Russia might be planning nuclear weapons to take out satellites in space. What is the current and future possibility of weapons in space and what are the treaties designed to prevent them?

Last week we talked about sample return missions from the Moon and Mars, but scientists have retrieved samples from other objects in the Solar System, including comets and asteroids. What does it take to return a piece of rock from space, and what have we learned so far?

We've sent robots to other worlds, but the amount of science we can deploy to another planet can't compare with the vast science labs we have on Earth. That's why more and more missions are for a sample return, bringing pieces of alien worlds back to Earth, where we study them with proper equipment.

We're so familiar with NASA's exploration efforts in space, but you might be surprised to learn that China launches almost as many rockets as the US. They've got their own space exploration program that could soon bring humans to the surface of the Moon. Let's give a brief overview of China's space exploration plans.

Wherever we find liquid water on Earth, we find life, so it makes sense to search for water across the Universe, and hopefully we can find evidence of life. But what about worlds which are completely covered in water, oceans hundreds of kilometers deep. Can there be too much water?

NASA's Juno spacecraft has completed dozens of flybys of Jupiter, seeing the planet from many angles and delivering some of the most beautiful images we've ever seen of the Jovian world. Now it's focusing in on Io, sending home images of the tiny volcanic world from just 1,500 km away. And the best is yet to come.

Streamed live on Dec 20, 2023.

Solar cycle 25 is shaping up to be a doozy, with plenty of flares and coronal mass ejections blasting off the Sun. As the solar activity continues to rise, how are things shaping up?

Streamed live on Dec 11, 2023.

With Artemis 1 completing its robotic flight around the Moon, we know that the SLS works. Next comes Artemis 2, with a crew of astronauts flying past the Moon. If that's successful, we could see humans set foot on the Moon in December 2025. But there is a long list of challenges to consider that could delay things considerably. Go or no go for launch‽

Last week we looked back at some of the ideas that science has changed its mind about. This week we look forward, into the future, at some of the big ideas that astronomers are making progress in. What space science are we looking forward to?

Astronomers talk about all the amazing discoveries they're making but sometimes, it turns out, they were wrong. After decades and centuries of discoveries, how have they changed their minds?

Just a warning, the holidays are rapidly approaching. It's time, once again, to think about what to buy all the space nerds on your lists. Here's what we like.

How the time flies. It's been over a year since JWST went operational, with other missions joining the fun. What new insights have we gained about the Universe thanks to these powerful new tools?

Finally, we reach the end of our tour through the missions in the Solar System. Out beyond Mars, to Jupiter, the Kuiper Belt and Beyond.

Another week, another review of space missions in the Solar System. Today we set our sights on the red planet. What are all the active missions at Mars today?

Our journey through missions continues, this time we focus on the Moon. There are many nations on the Moon, near the Moon, around the Moon, traveling to the Moon. It's a lot. We'll talk about it today.

Our journey through space missions continues. Now we move away from the Earth to the rest of the solar system. What's out there orbiting, roving and flying on other worlds and in interplanetary space. Today we look inward and we'll talk about the missions studying the Sun, Mercury and Venus.

Last week, we brought you up to speed on the spacecraft which are helping to study Earth from above. Many of our missions are in Earth orbit but looking outward to study the Universe. Today, we'll talk about the missions close to home, helping us understand our place in the cosmos.

It's time for another series! This time we're gonna look at the missions that're currently in place across the solar system. Today we'll start with the key missions here on Earth, studying the planet from above and looking out into the Universe. 

Jupiter's Great Red Spot is one of its most iconic features. First seen hundreds of years ago. Although it's certainly long lasting, it's been changing in size over the last few decades. Shrinking, changing in color. Is it fading away? And what can the changes tell us about storms on giant planets?

Streamed live on Sep 18, 2023.

We've looked at Earth's changing climate, now let's see what it's like for another world: Mars. Much looks familiar, but some of it is totally alien, from ice caps of frozen carbon dioxide to planetary dust storms that can obscure the entire world from view.

This video was made possible by the following Patreon members:

Stephen Veit

Jordan Young

Jeanette Wink

Andrew Poelstra

Brian Cagle

David Truog

BogieNet

Gerhard Schwarzer

David Duration: 01:04:53

Streamed live on Sep 11, 2023.

It's official! June and July were the warmest we've seen since records began over a century ago. Fires are rampant across Canada, and we're seeing record droughts around the world. Today we're going to look at 20 years of climate science, how well does reality match up with the predictions.

This video was made possible by the following Patreon members:

Stephen Veit

Jordan Young

Jeanette Wink

Andrew Poelstra

Brian Cagle

David Truog

BogieNet

Gerhard S...

Hiatus Message

Once again, we've reached the end of a season here on Astronomy Cast, and it's time for the summer hiatus.

See you in September!

Streamed live on Jun 26, 2023.

Once again, we've reached the end of a season here on Astronomy Cast, and it's time for the summer hiatus. But the Universe never takes a break. What can we expect to happen over the summer while we're catching up on our reading, building our gardens and planning for Season 17?

We're going back to the Moon. In the next few years humans will set foot on the Moon again, ideally this time to stay. But this will be different than the Apollo era, going to the scientifically fascinating, and difficult southern pole of the Moon. What needs to be done to prepare the way back to the Moon?

The permanently shadowed craters on the Moon are the focus of so much research. That's because they seem to contain vast reserves of water ice. Water we could use for oxygen, propellant and so much more, but also, to help us understand where the Earth's water came from.

Launching satellites from Earth is counter-productive. You've got to make a satellite that can handle Earth gravity, then the brutal flight to space, then deployment in orbit. What if you could build your spacecraft in space?

One of JWST's top jobs is to peer deeper into the Universe than ever before, watching as the first galaxies came together. Surprisingly, astronomers found galaxies that seemed much more mature than expected, much earlier than it was believed possible. What's going on and what does it mean for cosmology?

After the cosmic microwave background radiation was released, the Universe returned to darkness, cloaked in this clouds of primordial hydrogen and helium. Gravity pulled these vast clouds into the first stars, and then the first galaxies. This is Cosmic Dawn, and JWST will help us probe this mysterious time in the Universe.

Astronomers first noticed the strange behaviors of rotating galaxies almost 100 years ago, suggesting there's an invisible dark matter hold them together with gravity. Or maybe we just don't understand how gravity works at the largest scales. Observations are much better now, and astronomers have found examples of galaxies that are almost entirely made of dark matter. Does this tell us anything?

In 2017, astronomers detected the gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation from colliding neutron stars. This had been long theorized as one of the causes of a certain type of gamma-ray burst. By studying the event and its afterglow, astronomers have learned a tremendous amount about the formation of the heaviest elements in the Universe.

Last week we talked about rogue stars. This week we're going to take things up a notch and talk about an even more extreme event. Rogue black holes. Astronomers recently discovered a supermassive black hole on an escape trajectory, leaving newly forming stars in its wake. It's wonderful, terrible, nightmare fuel.

Most stars in the Milky Way are trapped in here with us, doomed to orbit around and around and around. But a few have found a way out, an escape into the freedom of intergalactic space. How do stars reach escape velocity, never to return?