A Nova Visible this Year?

A Nova Visible this Year?

Author: Joshua Colwell, Adrienne Dove, and James Cooney March 20, 2024 Duration: 39:49

One of only a handful of recurrent novas, white dwarf stars that undergo a periodic explosive brightening as they accrete material from a neighboring star, is showing signs that it may be ready to blow sometime in 2024! Visible in the northern hemisphere, T CrB may become visible to the naked eye for a few days this year, repeating a cycle that occurs roughly every 80 years. Closer to home, new analysis of structures and composition on Mars' Tharsis bulge reveal what may be a previously unknown and now-extinct volcano. Join us for explanations, space news, spaceflight trivia and more.


Ever wondered what it would be like to grab a coffee with a few planetary scientists who can’t help but find the humor in the cosmos? That’s the feeling you get with Walkabout the Galaxy. Hosted by Joshua Colwell, Adrienne Dove, and James Cooney, this isn’t a dry lecture from a distant lecture hall. Instead, it’s a lively, often funny conversation that feels like you’re right there with them, unpacking the universe’s latest headlines. Each episode digs into the newest and most fascinating discoveries in astronomy and space science, but the approach is grounded and genuinely curious. You’ll hear the hosts’ real excitement and occasional friendly debates as they translate complex ideas from recent papers or major missions into stories anyone can connect with. The tone is naturally irreverent, which makes the science stick, and their camaraderie turns each discussion into an engaging journey. Tuning into this podcast means getting a front-row seat to a casual yet deeply informative chat about everything from quirky asteroids to the profound mysteries of distant galaxies, all delivered with a warmth that reminds you why looking up at the stars is so compelling in the first place. It’s a perfect blend of solid science and natural comedy, making the vastness of space feel a little more like home.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Walkabout the Galaxy
Podcast Episodes
Second Generation Black Hole Mergers and Solar System Chaos [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:34
Exquisitely detailed measurements of the ripples in spacetime from the mergers of black holes now show that some of these merging black holes were, themselves, created by an earlier black hole merging event. While this h…
Whacky Black Hole Collisions and Strange Uranian Rings [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:30
Mysterious bright blue flashes from relatively empty parts of the universe have a new possible explanation involving, what else, black holes. We explore this new idea to explain Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transients (LFB…
Little Plutino Has An Atmosphere and Making Sense of Saturn [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:07
A Plutino, an object that shares Pluto's orbit but which is much smaller than Pluto, appears to have a very thin global atmosphere. We discuss the detection and how such a small body could hold onto even a thin atmospher…
Superkilonova and Artemis II Recap [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:26
Gravitational waves and light combine to reveal what is suspected to be a superkilonova which is much cooler than the name suggests. Cool in the cool way, not the temperature way. Learn about splitting neutron stars and,…
A Whisper of a Hint of Primordial Black Holes plus Earth BLOBs [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:48
Gravitational Wave observatory LIGO has seen a signature that looks like the merger of primordial (pre-stellar, big bang (not big band!) era) black holes. If confirmed with future observations, this would tell us a lot a…
Supermassive Black Holes Supersoaking Other Galaxies [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:59
Supermassive black holes can be terrible neighbors. New research shows that their powerful jets of charged particles can shut down star formation in neighboring galaxies within the galaxy cluster, which is just plain rud…
Planetary Nebulae and Active Asteroids Get a Closer Look [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:10
There's always been a fuzzy line between asteroids and comets, and new observations of asteroids in the vicinity of Jupiter provide a hint to the origin of the mysterious active asteroids that look like asteroids but act…
A Dark Universe Unveiled [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:35
Scientists head to the volcanic fields of Iceland to test instruments for the VERITAS mission to Venus, Artemis II is ready for its historic flight to the Moon, and the Dark Energy Survey reveals the distribution of dark…
Crazy Spinners in the Asteroid Belt and S8 Tension [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:21
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 beg…