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
Basin Instinct - Cosmological Structure and Edible Asteroids [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:09
We get a tour of our place in the grand cosmological scheme of things with new mapping of the local Basin of Attraction. Spoiler: also Jim's new stage name. And we explore the final frontier of In Situ Resource Utilizati…
OG Top Goes to Europa [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:24
Original Top Quark Dr. Tracy Becker returns to her old stomping grounds to hang with the Walkabout crew and send Europa Clipper on its way to Jupiter. Join us for a preview of this mission's ambitious goals and the excit…
Back in Black Holes [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:58
We've got mini black holes as potential dark matter candidates and monstrous black holes spewing jets to cosmological scales. Who better than Top quark Jim Cooney to take us through these black holes? No one, that's who.…
Black Hole Spindown Chirp and a 9-Day Geologic Rumble [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:03
Gravitational waves may provide a new way to observe supernovae in our own Milky Way galaxy and determine when they produce black holes and when they result merely in neutron stars. Closer to home, scientists did some cl…
Recent Lunar Volcanic Activity and the Metallicity Cliff [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:01
Tiny samples brought back from the Moon hint at surprisingly recent volcanic activity. What's up with that?! Elsewhere in the galaxy, a detailed study of over 100,000 stars identifies the metallicity cliff. This is where…
Adventures in Space the Cady Way [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:31
The Astroquarks are joined by former NASA astronaut, PhD Chemist, and retired USAF Colonel Cady Coleman at Dragon Con 2024 for a wide ranging discussion of space flight, institutional challenges, training, flute playing,…
Ocean World Mimas and the JUICE Slingshot [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:01
Recent (astronomically speaking, of course!) perturbations to Mimas's orbit may be the explanation for the surprising presence of a global subsurface ocean in this tiny moon of Saturn. Meanwhile, the European Space Agenc…
Barney the Dinosaur Killer from Outer Space and Water Inside Mars [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:24
New research shows that the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs some 66 million years ago formed in the colder, more distant reaches of the solar system. The Astroquarks have taken it upon themselves to dub this asteroid…
The Fermi Paradox - Are We Truly Alone? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:00
When Frank Drake created his famous eponymous equation to estimate the number of advanced communicative civilizations in the Milky Way, we had little more than educated guesses for most of the factors in that equation. D…
Chemical Whispers of Life on Mars [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:24
The astroquarks assemble for their 365th episode, about 10 years after their first, with a look at a canceled mission to the Moon and tantalizing observations from an ongoing mission at Mars. The Perseverance rover has s…