It’s amazing to think there are telescopes up in space, right now, directing their gaze at distant objects for hours, days and even weeks. Providing a point of view so stable and accurate that we can learn details about galaxies, exoplanets and more. And then, when the time is up, the spacecraft can shift its gaze in another direction. All without the use of fuel. It’s all thanks to the technology of reaction wheels and gyroscopes. Let’s talk about how they work, how they’re different, and how t...
Aug 13, 2019•12 min
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Telescope launched back in April, 2018. After a few months of testing, it was ready to begin mapping the southern sky, searching for planets orbiting stars relatively nearby. We’re just over a year into the mission now, and on July 18th, TESS has shifted its attention to the Northern Hemisphere, continuing the hunt for planets in the northern skies. As part of this shift, NASA has announced a handful of fascinating new planets turned up by TESS, including a cou...
Aug 09, 2019•12 min
In this week's questions show, I answer a question about solar sails, what geologists might learn from lunar rocks, if Earth could survive inside Jupiter, could gas giants be closer to the Sun, and more. Dark Site Finder: https://darksitefinder.com/map/ Videos mentioned: What is an Electric Sail? Another Exotic Way to Explore the Solar System - https://youtu.be/-pIl_cv3OkA Oldest Rock From Earth Was Found On The Moon (Of All Places) - https://youtu.be/0h_ckjhGdjs What are Globular Clusters? Reli...
Aug 08, 2019•23 min
When we look outward into space, we’re looking backwards in time. That’s because light moves, at the speed of light. It takes time for the light to reach us. But it gets even stranger than that. Light can be absorbed, reflected, and re-emitted by gas and dust, giving us a second look. They’re called light echoes, and allow astronomers another way to understand the Universe around us. Audio Podcast version: ITunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/universe-today-guide-to-space-audio/id79405815...
Aug 05, 2019•12 min
There are few places in the Solar System which are as fascinating as Saturn’s moon Titan. It’s a world with a thicker atmosphere than Earth. Where it’s so cold that it rains ammonia, forming lakes, rivers and seas. Where water ice forms mountains. Like Europa and Encleadus, Titan could have an interior ocean of liquid water too, a place where there might be life. Titan’s got layers, and fortunately, there’s an awesome new mission in the works to explore it: the Titan Dragonfly mission. Links to ...
Aug 02, 2019•11 min
In this week's questions show, I explain how long it'll take for space junk to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere, would it be possible to put advertising in space, and why panspermia is appealing as a hypothesis. 01:04 When will the space junk return to Earth? 03:14 Why don't we clean up the junk? 06:50 Can we advertise in the night sky? 08:36 Why is pansperimia appealing as a hypothesis? 10:53 Crewed space station dedicated to astronomy? 13:25 Best way to reduce light pollution? 16:08 What fact...
Aug 01, 2019•33 min
As NASA prepares to return to the Moon by 2024 as part of its Artemis program, the agency is focusing its efforts on exploring the Moon’s polar regions. These are areas of the Moon which seem to have a lot of water mixed in with the regolith. Some of these craters are permanently in shadow, and might still have large quantities of water, that’s accessible to human and robotic explorers. This is a critical resource, and the Moon might be just the place to help humanity as it pushes out to explore...
Jul 30, 2019•13 min
Where you can travel in space depends on how much propellant you’ve got on board your rocket and how efficiently you can use it. But there’s a source of free propellant right here in the Solar System - the Sun - which is streaming out photons in all directions. You just need to catch them. And right now, the Planetary Society’s new LightSail 2 spacecraft is testing out just how well it’ll work. Light Sail 2 Photos: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/lightsail-2-team-continues-tweaks-test...
Jul 26, 2019•11 min
In this week's QA, I tackle constant acceleration. Do we have anything that can accelerate at 1G for long periods of time? Why are there different sized stars? And do the heavier elements come from supernovae or colliding neutron stars? Check out Sophia on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/astropartigirl https://astropartigirl.com/ Traveling for billions of light years in a human lifetime https://youtu.be/4tjQ8o8j-O8 00:00 Continuous thrust at 1G? 02:25 How can bigger stars form? 03:56 Heavy eleme...
Jul 24, 2019•31 min
People are always worried that alien civilizations will detect the transmissions from our old radio shows and television broadcasts, and send in the invasion fleet. But the reality is that life itself has been broadcasting the existence of life on Earth for 500 million years. Blame it on the plants. In addition to filling the atmosphere with oxygen, plants give off a very specific wavelength visible in infrared radiation. It’s the kind of signal that other civilizations could search for as they’...
Jul 23, 2019•10 min
On October 19th, 2017 astronomers detected the first interstellar asteroid (or maybe comet) passing through the Solar System: Oumuamua. It had a brief encounter with the inner Solar System and then hurtled back out into interstellar space. Once astronomers noticed it, they directed the world’s telescopes on the object, but it was too far away to reveal anything more than a faint dot. Until now, we’ve only been able to study objects in our own Solar System. We have no idea what the rest of the Mi...
Jul 23, 2019•11 min
In this week's QA, I answer why space telescopes aren't a waste of taxpayer resources, if ground-based space telescopes will become obsolete, and whether it makes sense to crash phobos into Mars. 00:18 Waste of taxpayer money? 02:14 Will ground-based telescopes become obsolete? 03:50 Crash Phobos into Mars 04:56 Should NASA collaborate with China? 05:45 Entanglement to communicate faster than light? 08:09 Crop circles 08:36 Problem with wearing a weight suit in zero gravity 09:55 Methane rocket ...
Jul 09, 2019•13 min
This past weekend Skylias moderated a debated between John Michael Godier and Fraser Cain over their Fermi paradox theories. If there are aliens where are they? The Fermi paradox theory asks where are the alien civilizations in the galaxy? And in the universe. If they exist. Where are the extraterrestrials? Website: https://www.eventhorizonshow.com/ Support Universe Today Podcast...
Jul 05, 2019•38 min
In this week's questions show, I explain how astronomers know what the Milky Way looks like, what would happen in a catastrophic impact on the International Space Station, and who is the team who works with me on Universe Today? Our Book is out! https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Today-Ultimate-Viewing-Cosmos/dp/1624145442/ Audio Podcast version: ITunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/universe-today-guide-to-space-audio/id794058155?mt=2 RSS: https://www.universetoday.com/audio What Fraser's Wa...
Jul 03, 2019•20 min
The Solar System is a really big place, and it takes forever to travel from world to world with traditional chemical rockets. But one technique, developed back in the 1960s might provide a way to dramatically shorten our travel times: nuclear rockets. Of course, launching a rocket powered by radioactive material has its own risks as well. Should we attempt it? Audio Podcast version: ITunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/universe-today-guide-to-space-audio/id794058155?mt=2 RSS: https://www....
Jul 01, 2019•12 min
In this week's questions show, I explain why NASA decided to build James Webb and not more Hubble Space Telescopes, what would happen if you opened up a jar in space, and do we know of any stars without planets? 00:45 Why doesn't NASA build more Hubbles? 02:42 Where did life come from? 04:05 What if you opened a jar in space? 05:58 Why didn't I answer your question? 07:15 Will we give up all the sky? 09:06 Annoyed about light pollution. 10:28 Less satellites, higher up 11:41 Stars without planet...
Jun 21, 2019•19 min
Explorers have always brought stowaways with them on board. Thanks to our travels around the world, hardy creatures like rats, goats, pigs and starlings and more have found their way to every corner of the globe. Not to mention our plants, microbes and viruses. Wherever we go, life goes with us, whether we want it to or not. And when we travel to other worlds, it looks like the most extreme life Earth has ever cooked up is ready and willing to make the journey with us. Now that the big flybys ar...
Jun 18, 2019•11 min
In this week's penultimate episode of Open Space before our summer hiatus, I give tips and tricks on seeing Jupiter, what's a good starting telescope, updates on LIGO, why rockets launch straight up, and more... 00:00 Introduction 02:00 Looking at Jupiter 02:38 Starting Telescope 03:55 Why do rockets launch vertically first? 05:04 How much should a telescope cost? 05:48 What has LIGO been seeing? 08:15 How bad is the radiation around Jupiter? 10:20 What do I think about the Lunar Gateway 13:17 D...
Jun 18, 2019•1 hr 2 min
In this week's live QA episode, I tackled questions about the reality of returning astronauts to the Moon by 2024, the loss of dark skies, will we ever be able to shop for our own personal spacecraft, and more. 01:00 Our hiatus 04:40 Can we really return to the Moon by 2024? 09:05 Dark sky controversy 10:28 Is it hard to stay fascinated about astronomy? 13:44 Will space travel ever be like air travel? 15:49 Didn't Trump say they weren't going to the Moon any more? 17:54 Did extraterrestrial visi...
Jun 12, 2019•1 hr
Here's my interview on Space Junk about the Fermi Paradox: https://anchor.fm/spacejunk/episodes/The-Fermi-Paradox-and-The-Great-Filter-w-Fraser-Cain-e44uff 00:29 Are rings only limited to gas giants? 02:30 If we blocked the light on Venus, would it cool down? 04:34 What would it take to build a generational ship? 06:20 Do airplanes avoid telescopes? 08:16 Examples of reused spacecraft designs. 10:17 Could we breath an alien atmosphere? 12:02 How do they evacuate ISS? 13:21 What is the cost of th...
Jun 06, 2019•22 min
Audio Podcast version: ITunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/universe-today-guide-to-space-audio/id794058155?mt=2 RSS: https://www.universetoday.com/audio What Fraser's Watching Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbJ42wpShvmkjd428BcHcCEVWOjv7cJ1G Weekly email newsletter: https://www.universetoday.com/newsletter Support us at: http://www.patreon.com/universetoday More stories at: http://www.universetoday.com/ Twitch: https://twitch.tv/fcain Follow us on Twitter: @universetoday...
Jun 04, 2019•9 min
00:28 Why is Starlink so bright? 02:52 Should Starlink provide internet access? 07:02 How do chemical thrusters work in a vacuum? 07:50 Sgr A* is pretty cool? 09:09 Launch providers should provide a discount for science 10:16 Could Starlink satellites do science too? 12:50 Will corporations and governments surveil us? 14:45 Am I using a green screen 15:47 Can Starlink be blocked? 18:21 Worried about space junk? 18:40 Should you invest in SpaceX? 20:00 Should we trust Elon Musk? Our Book is out! ...
May 31, 2019•22 min
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May 28, 2019•11 min
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May 27, 2019•1 hr 12 min
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May 22, 2019•1 hr 2 min
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May 21, 2019•1 hr 1 min
Audio Podcast version: ITunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/universe-today-guide-to-space-audio/id794058155?mt=2 RSS: https://www.universetoday.com/audio What Fraser's Watching Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbJ42wpShvmkjd428BcHcCEVWOjv7cJ1G Weekly email newsletter: https://www.universetoday.com/newsletter Support us at: http://www.patreon.com/universetoday More stories at: http://www.universetoday.com/ Twitch: https://twitch.tv/fcain Follow us on Twitter: @universetoday...
May 21, 2019•9 min
Subscribe to Dylan's Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgOf4wBnoGg8WHHHr_h4otQ 00:27 Reusable platform for space exploration? 03:20 Move atmosphere from Venus to Mars? 05:08 Where to Mars clouds come from? 06:23 Earth like planets in Andromeda 07:59 Shouldn't we see gravitational waves a second time? 09:45 How low of gravity can humans survive? 11:22 Shame on you bro 15:30 Are there L6/L7? 16:49 Is there a reference time? 18:59 Would aliens in a cosmic void know they're in a larger unive...
May 20, 2019•26 min
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May 15, 2019•8 min
01:00 Gravity Wells are for Suckers poster 01:36 What's coming out soon? 03:15 Why are people worried about overpopulation? 04:41 Favorite spot on Vancouver Island to see stars? 06:12 Why no guest this week? 09:04 More about space construction? 10:25 Have I ever seen a UFO? 11:04 Could we intercept a future Oumuamua? 17:15 Episodes on future missions? 18:07 Thoughts on Jeff Bezos' Blue Moon concept? 26:46 Will we abandon spaceflight again? 30:08 What physics experiments could we do on the Moon? ...
May 15, 2019•1 hr 1 min
