Universe Today Audio

As soon as you learn about the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, your next thought is: is that thing going to destroy our galaxy? In the short term, no, in the long term… maybe?

The Moon is our constant companion, shining away in the night. But how close could the Moon get before it's not a Moon any more? Before it's torn apart by the Earth's gravity and becomes a terrifying ring of orbital debris?

The Earth’s tilt is nothing compared to Uranus, which has been flipped right over on its side. What could have caused such a devastating impact to the planet to make it this way?

Astronomers have theorized there could be an intermediate stage between neutron stars and black holes called quark stars. Are they out there?

Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot is a huge cyclonic storm big enough to swallow the Earth. But it’s been getting smaller over time, while other storms have been growing. What does the future hold for this Jupiterricane?

Some of the greatest discoveries in astronomy have been made by watching how the skies change over time. Today we talk about these techniques, and an observatory that will revolutionize time-based astronomy.

Stars can spin faster or slower than the Sun. What’s the fastest that’s ever been discovered, and what’s the fastest speed you can have before they tear themselves apart?

What if the Earth just stopped dead in its tracks while orbiting the Sun? It would plummet straight down of course, but how long would it take to actually crash into the Sun?

Based on our current growth in energy usage, how long will it take before we use up all the energy of our planet, of our star, or even all the energy in our galaxy?

One of the strangest implications of Relativity is the concept of time dilation; how people moving at different speeds will experience different amounts of time. Dr. Brian Koberlein helps us figure it out.

As we’ve learned, black holes can evaporate over time thanks to the creation of virtual particles at the edge of the event horizon. Dr. Paul Matt Sutter returns to help us make sense of the science.

One of the big mysteries in astronomy is what happened to all the antimatter? Is it possible that it’s actually still out there, in huge antimatter galaxies?

When space objects pass in front of other space objects, we call that a transit. And it turns out, they’re not just fun to watch, they helped us figure out our place in the cosmos.

Stars are hot, we know that, everyone knows that. But are there “cold stars”? It all depends on what you mean by the word “cold” and the word “star”.

If you accelerate at 1G, you can create artificial gravity inside your spaceship. And there’s the added advantage that you can cross billions of light years within a human lifetime. How far can we travel?