Ask A Spaceman | 365 Days of Astronomy: Recent Episodes
Ask A Spaceman | 365 Days of Astronomy
How can the solar corona be hotter than the surface? What has the Parker Solar probe learned so far? What do magnetic fields have to do with all this?
The post Dec 17th: What Makes the Sun’s Corona So Dang Hot? appeared first on 365 Days of Astronomy.
Are we “in range” of any potential supernovae? Has the Earth ever been hit in the past? What about gamma-ray bursts from across the galaxy?
The post Dec 3rd: Could Any Supernova Harm the Earth? appeared first on 365 Days of Astronomy.
How do black holes get close enough to merge? What causes them to emit gravitational waves, and where do the waves come from?
The post Nov 19th: How Exactly Do Black Holes Merge? appeared first on 365 Days of Astronomy.
How did Pluto get demoted? What makes a planet a planet anyway? Why do we now have so many different kinds of planets, and should we make things simpler?
The post Nov 5th: Is it Time to Redefine the Planet? appeared first on 365 Days of Astronomy.
How do gravitational lenses work? Where would a spacecraft need to be to use the Sun’s gravity as a telescope? What could we learn about exoplanets with this on weird trick?
The post Oct 15th: How Could We Turn the Sun into a Telescope? appeared first on 365 Days of Astronomy.
Podcaster: Paul M. Sutter Title: AaS! 233: Why Do We Care About Methane on Mars? Organization: INFN Trieste and OSU CCAPP Link : Twitter @PaulMattSutter, http://www.Facebook.com/PaulMattSutter, and http://www.askaspaceman.com Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/PaulMattSutter Description: What’s behind the Martian Methane Mystery? Is it a sign of life, or just some strange chemical process? Or are we […]
The post Oct 1st: Why Do We Care About Methane on Mars? appeared first on 365 Days of Astronomy.
Why are private space companies pushing tourism? Is there a future for tourism in space? Is this an overall good thing for space exploration, or just a distraction?
The post Sep 17th: Is Space Tourism a Good Idea? appeared first on 365 Days of Astronomy.
Where do we live within the galaxy? What shapes the local bubble? How long will we be inside it?
The post Sep 3rd: What Made the Local Bubble? appeared first on 365 Days of Astronomy.
Podcaster: Paul M. Sutter Title: AaS! Ep. 230: Is the Universe Making Any New Galaxies? Organization: INFN Trieste and OSU CCAPP Link : Twitter @PaulMattSutter, http://www.Facebook.com/PaulMattSutter, and http://www.askaspaceman.com Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/PaulMattSutter Description: How do galaxies form and evolve? Is the universe still making new ones? What will happen to the current galaxies in […]
The post Aug 20th: Is the Universe Making Any New Galaxies? appeared first on 365 Days of Astronomy.
Podcaster: Paul M. Sutter Title: AaS! 229: Is the James Webb Breaking Cosmology? Organization: INFN Trieste and OSU CCAPP Link : Twitter @PaulMattSutter, http://www.Facebook.com/PaulMattSutter, and http://www.askaspaceman.com Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/PaulMattSutter Description: What has the James Webb Space Telescope learned so far? Is it finding galaxies that “break” cosmology? What will we learn next? I […]
The post Aug 6th: Is the James Webb Breaking Cosmology? appeared first on 365 Days of Astronomy.
Can galaxies ever get destroyed? What happens to their stars? Do galaxies ever die? More on today’s Ask a Spaceman!
The post Jul 16th: Can a Galaxy Be Destroyed? appeared first on 365 Days of Astronomy.
What does it mean for the Universe to have a center? Could we ever travel to ours? What is a singularity?
The post Jul 2nd: Where is the Center of the Universe? appeared first on 365 Days of Astronomy.
How does length contraction work in relativity? Do moving objects really get shorter? What about from their perspective? How are we supposed to make sense of any measurement?]
What is the “cold spot” on the cosmic microwave background? Why shouldn’t it exist? What are some possible explanations for it, and why are they unsatisfying? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
How do planets get tidally locked? What are these systems typically like? Can life find a home in such a challenging environment?
If we went to the Moon already, why can’t we go back so easily? What technology have we lost? What are we trying to do differently?
What’s the most distant thing we can see with the naked eye? What about with a telescope? What about at other wavelengths? Is there anything more to see?
What is “emergence” in physics and why is it a big deal? What would it mean for gravity to be emergent? How would we have to rewrite the laws of physics?
How can a “big rip” tear the Universe apart? What does that mean for existence itself? Is it going to happen, and what are we doing to find out? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
How do we track dangerous asteroids? What can impacts do to us? What do we plan to do if The Big One is headed for us? Is Armageddon a documentary?
Why is it so hard to get a picture of the Milky Way? How much of our galaxy have we mapped?
How do we achieve nuclear fusion in the laboratory? What are some experiments that are trying to achieve fusion power generation? Why is it so difficult?
Is evolution universal throughout the cosmos? What are the different forms that life can take? When did life first appear in the universe? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
What forces people to lose trust in science? How does this affect the process of science itself? What are scientists doing to make this worse? How can we fix it?
What’s floating around in space between all the stuff? Are there any truly empty places in the universe? What is the “fabric” of spacetime?
How were ancient people able to predict eclipses so well? How did they make predictions without modern science? What were they able to discover?
What is the combined motion of everything in the universe? How does all of that influence us? Are we just going around in circles, or is there something more? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
What are some wild stories behind names in astronomy and physics? How did we get the jargon words that we did? What are some of the funniest names?
What’s the difference between science and pseudoscience? What is a scientific mindset? How are we able to spot pseudoscience when it’s happening? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
How was massive astronomy done in the 1800’s? Who were the Harvard Computers? How did Annie Jump Cannon figure out how to classify stars?
Why didn’t the big bang collapse in a singularity? What would a universe-sized black hole be like? Now that I think about it, do we live inside a giant black hole already?
Could we nudge the orbit of the Earth to avoid the death of the Sun? Could it get kicked out of the solar system altogether? What are rogue exoplanets?
If light always travels at the speed of light, how does it slow down when passing through air or water? Does it matter is light is made of particles or waves? What’s the difference between phase velocity and group velocity, and how does that all play into this?
What are the biggest mysteries facing modern astronomers? What questions do I wish could be answered in my lifetime? What are most astronomers working on right now?
What discoveries and insights made the biggest impacts in astronomy and physics? What were the biggest surprises? What results took the longest to achieve? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
How does a black hole make a shadow? What can we learn from it? What are we seeing when we look at a black hole? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
What are the advantages of robotic exploration of the solar system? What are the limitations? Is there any situation where human exploration is better?
What are Dyson spheres? What would be involved in building one? How much energy would it cost, and could we ever pay it back?
What’s the temperature of deep space? Can it get any colder than that? How do we even define temperature when there’s nothing around? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
How do we know that the universe doesn’t rotate? Why would it matter if it did? What does all this have to do with time travel?
What are blue straggler stars? How were they first discovered? What do they tell us about star clusters and the evolution of stars? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
Is it possible for anything to travel faster than light? What about tachyons? How would faster-than-light travel break causality?
What is the role of consciousness in quantum mechanics, if there even is one? Is there any way at all to develop a coherent view of nature based on quantum mechanics? What are the ultimate lessons that we can learn from quantum mechanics?
What is real in quantum mechanics, and what are mere mathematical tricks? Can the probability waves be real, and what would that mean? What is Pilot-Wave theory?
What is the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics? How does decoherence play a critical role? What are the strengths and weaknesses of this idea? Find the answer with @PaulMattSutter at #365DaysOfAstro
What were Einstein’s objections to quantum mechanics? Why was he so bothered by non-locality? What is the EPR paradox?
What is the Copenhagen interpretation? How did the debates between Heisenberg and Schrodinger influence later physicists? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the “shut up and calculate” approach to quantum mechanics?
What are the basic lessons of quantum mechanics? What does quantum mechanics teach us about the nature of reality? How does a quantum worldview differ from a classical one?
Who developed quantum theory and why? What experiments motivated the creation of quantum mechanics? How was quantum mechanics a total break from classical physics?
How do physicists understand quantum mechanics? What are the postulates and principles of quantum mechanics? How do the foundations of quantum mechanics compare to other theories?
Where does quantum theory fit in the larger tapestry of physics? What is the domain of quantum mechanics? And most importantly, what are the limits of quantum physics?
How do you make a super-atom? What can they be used for? What does this mean for quantum mechanics? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
What makes the principle of least action so important? Who came up with it? Is it all just a bunch of math or does it actually mean something?
What is a pulsar? How can we use them to map gravitational waves? What kind of technology does it take? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
What are some of the problems with dark matter? What about modified gravity? Are there any other solutions? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
How big can a rocky planet get? Can a rocky planet turn into a gas giant? Why are some planets rocky and others gassy? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
How do giant black holes shut off star formation? How do they turn it back on? Which came first, the black hole or the galaxy? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
How did gravity get so ridiculously weak? Could it be related to extra dimensions? What does string theory and the concept of the “bulk” have to do with it?
What is the dipole repeller? Why is it a dipole? What is it repelling? What is the Bootes Void and how is it connected to dark energy?
What does everybody think is the twin paradox? What's the REAL twin paradox? How is the paradox resolved, and what does it teach us about synchronicity? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
How was radioactive decay discovered? What are the different kinds of decay? How does quantum mechanics make all this happen? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
What makes the Big Bang theory so successful? How were alternatives ruled out? What are the electric universe and steady state theories? Do any other options remain, like conformal cyclic cosmology?
Why are Lagrange points so crucial to astronomy? What makes even simple gravity so difficult? How do you “put” something at a Lagrange point?
What is the fine structure constant? Where does it come from? Why is it so important? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
Why do we care about loop quantum gravity? Is it a viable path to uniting quantum mechanics and general relativity? What does it mean for spacetime to be discrete?
How are globular clusters so old? Where did they come from, and how are they linked to galaxy formation? What makes them so globular, anyway?
What is the simulation hypothesis? Is it just pseudoscience? How do we grapple with its implications? Find the answer in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
Where did ‘Oumuamua come from? What is it made of, and how did it end up here? Is it really an artifact of an alien civilization?
What missions will come after the James Webb Space Telescope launches? What new discoveries await us? How long will they take to start?
How do giant planets make diamond rain? Does it really, you know, rain? Where does diamond rain exist?
What is a vacuum, and what makes a false one? What happened in the early universe to bring about our current physics? Will it happen again? If so, when?
What are the different kinds of gamma ray bursts? What powers them? What do we still have to understand about them? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
Is there more to say about the “crisis in cosmology”? What are the fundamental disagreements? Is there any way out of this mess? Why am I talking about it again? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
What kind of signals are we searching for from aliens? What are technosignatures and biosignatures? How are we looking for non-intelligent life? Is there any hope of finding life in our own solar system? I