Universe Today podcasts with Fraser Cain

This week I'm joined by sci-fi author and science writer John Michael Godier. We talk about the latest space news and what's happening with John's new Event Horizon Channel.

The distances between stars are so vast, it’s hard to wrap your mind around it. Even our far flung Voyagers have barely reached interstellar space, and would take tens of thousands of years to get to even the nearest star. But scientists and engineers are considering what it would actually take to send a spacecraft to another star. It’s called Project Dragonfly, and would use existing or near future technologies to send a 3,000 kg spacecraft to Alpha Centauri within 100 years.

The distances between stars are so vast, it’s hard to wrap your mind around it. Even our far flung Voyagers have barely reached interstellar space, and would take tens of thousands of years to get to even the nearest star. But scientists and engineers are considering what it would actually take to send a spacecraft to another star. It’s called Project Dragonfly, and would use existing or near future technologies to send a 3,000 kg spacecraft to Alpha Centauri within 100 years.

In this week's questions show, I wonder if moons could be geostationary, if we could detect Hawking radiation, if SETI is pointless, and why I'm always talking to people like they're 11.

In this week's questions show, I wonder if moons could be geostationary, if we could detect Hawking radiation, if SETI is pointless, and why I'm always talking to people like they're 11.

Thanks to the hardworking Gaia spacecraft, astronomers think they’ve located a star that formed from the same solar nebula as the Sun. In fact, this star is a virtual twin of the Sun and it’s actually pretty close. Well, astronomical speaking.

Thanks to the hardworking Gaia spacecraft, astronomers think they’ve located a star that formed from the same solar nebula as the Sun. In fact, this star is a virtual twin of the Sun and it’s actually pretty close. Well, astronomical speaking.

In this week's questions show, I wonder how well we'll be able to survive various extinction scenarios, can mobile apps help you learn the night sky? What would we do if Tunguska happened today? And more...

In this week's questions show, I wonder how well we'll be able to survive various extinction scenarios, can mobile apps help you learn the night sky? What would we do if Tunguska happened today? And more...

It’s been about a year since the mysterious interstellar asteroid (or maybe comet) Oumuamua passed through our Solar System. It was going so fast and was so far away that astronomers could see very little before it was off and away into deep space again.

It’s been about a year since the mysterious interstellar asteroid (or maybe comet) Oumuamua passed through our Solar System. It was going so fast and was so far away that astronomers could see very little before it was off and away into deep space again.

In this week's questions show, I wonder if we'll have enough time to respond to an asteroid or comet, if we're going to fill the asteroid belt with space junk and if antimatter engines are the best way to explore space.

In this week's questions show, I wonder if we'll have enough time to respond to an asteroid or comet, if we're going to fill the asteroid belt with space junk and if antimatter engines are the best way to explore space.

In the pristine icy environment of Antarctica, there’s a telescope, embedded into an ancient glacier. The telescope is observing the Universe, directly through the Earth, using a cubic kilometer of ice to capture elusive particles called neutrinos.

In the pristine icy environment of Antarctica, there’s a telescope, embedded into an ancient glacier. The telescope is observing the Universe, directly through the Earth, using a cubic kilometer of ice to capture elusive particles called neutrinos.