Space Nuts: Astronomy Insights & Cosmic Discoveries

Professor Jonte Horner joins Space Nuts to discuss Jupiter's crucial role in shaping the solar system's architecture, a white dwarf star unexpectedly consuming an asteroid billions of years after its star died, and the rapidly evolving ring system around centaur Chiron.

Andrew Dunkley and guest Jonty Horner answer listener questions on astronomy, covering the coincidences between the sun and moon, gravitational slingshots for space travel, the mysterious Hoag's object galaxy, and the concept of the cosmic event horizon.

The episode explores the impact of the US government shutdown on NASA and space launches, critiques conspiracy theories around Comet Three-Eyed Atlas, and debates the ethics of sending human remains to Mars.

Andrew Dunkley hosts astrophysicist Jonty Horner in a Q&A edition, where they tackle listener questions on spaghettification, neutron stars vs.

Andrew Dunkley and guest Jonty Horner discuss controversial sunlight satellites, a near-Earth asteroid miss, the 6,000th exoplanet discovery, and evidence for a subsurface ocean on Saturn's moon Mimas.

In this Q&A edition of Space Nuts, astrophysicist Jonty Horner joins to answer listener questions on dark matter's interaction with black holes, the timing of Betelgeuse's potential explosion, the physics of Lagrange points, and the mysterious Kordeleski plasma clouds.

Host Andrew Dunkley and guest Jonty Horner discuss SpaceX's latest Starship launch success, highlighting its dramatic landing and aggressive testing approach.

In this Q&A episode of Space Nuts, Professor Jonty Horner answers listener questions on light pollution, including how an EMP would instantly reveal the night sky but require eye adaptation.

Andrew Dunkley and astrophysicist Jonti Horner answer listener questions on climate change science, Snowball Earth theories, a record-breaking high-energy neutrino, and the mysterious maser-emitting star MWC349A.

Andrew Dunkley and astrophysicist Jonty Horner discuss a car windscreen impact debunked as a meteorite, a daylight fireball over Australia, the unusual behavior of interstellar Comet 3I Atlas, a supermassive black hole in a tiny galaxy, and how life recovered after an asteroid impact in Finland.

Andrew Dunkley and guest Professor Jonty Horner discuss recent astronomical events, including updates on comets like 3I Atlas and C2025R2 Swan, meteor showers like the Orionids and Draconids, evidence of a past ocean on Uranus's moon Ariel, and the potential threat from asteroids hidden near Venus.

In this Q&A edition, hosts and guest Jonty Horner answer listener questions on topics including the accelerating expansion of the universe, the physics of space elevators, the enigmatic exoplanet TOI 6894b, and the potential for ancient life in Mars's Gale Crater.

["Space Nuts' Q&A edition has Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson answering Justin, Larry, Mike, and Giles on planetary orbits, cosmic expansion, time, and orbital projectiles.", "Fred Watson says planets do not spiral into the Sun because the solar system has very little friction, solar wind is negligible at planetary scale, and Jupiter helps shape resonant structures like the Hilda asteroids.", "He says Earth's self-gravity overwhelms cosmic expansion inside the planet and inside the solar system, while Hubble-style recession only shows up for distant galaxies.", "The episode also covers Roger Penrose, Einstein's block-time idea, and DART's 2022 hit on Dimorphos when Giles asks how accurately a solid projectile from orbit could be aimed."]

["Space Nuts with Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson covers lunar water, ESA's JUICE flyby of 3I/ATLAS, and a graphene aerogel propulsion test.", "Fred Watson walks through a University of Colorado Boulder study led by Paul Hain that argues the Moon's oldest craters hold the most ice and that lunar water may have accumulated for 3 to 3.5 billion years.", "The show then turns to JUICE's navigation camera, which found 3I/ATLAS shedding about 2,000 kilograms of water vapor per second, or roughly 70 Olympic-sized swimming pools a day.", "The final segment covers an ESA microgravity experiment where three graphene aerogel cubes accelerated under laser light in 30 milliseconds, pointing to future optical propulsion ideas."]

["Space Nuts Q&A runs from relativistic Doppler beaming to Mars water, Earth mass loss, solar fusion, and a brief Artemis II debris question.", "Andrew Dunkley hosts with Professor Fred Watson, the show's astronomer at large, while Ron, Sunny Skies, Holt, Ken, and Sandy bring the questions.", "Fred says the Event Horizon Telescope's M87 and Sagittarius A star images can hide color shifts in continuum light while still brightening the approaching side, and he uses Phoenix on Mars as chemical evidence for water ice.", "He also estimates about 11,000 tonnes in orbit versus less than 100 tonnes beyond Earth, then uses binding energy and the helium-4 mass defect to explain why the Sun's fusion numbers work."]

["Space Nuts opens on Artemis II's successful lunar flyby, with Andrew Dunkley recounting the RS-25 engine callout, the crowd cheering, and the 40-minute loss of signal behind the Moon.", "Fred Watson says the crew of Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen passed Apollo 13's distance record and even saw lunar impact flashes while rounding the Moon.", "The episode then shifts to Australia's decision to end its European Southern Observatory strategic partnership, a deal that has given Australian astronomers access to the VLT in Northern Chile since 2017.", "The final segment explains why Gandalf and Moonsized look like X-ray binaries without obvious companion stars, pointing to a white dwarf, a half-ring of debris, and unusual asymmetric magnetization."]

Space Nuts Q&A edition tackles Nick from Milton Keynes on black-hole time dilation, Hazel from Scotland on pulsar planets, David from the Sunshine Coast on Bennu, and Keith from Washington State on neutrinos.

Hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson discuss upcoming Artemis 2 mission, NASA's moon base plans, ISS crew evacuation, and a second generation star discovery.

This episode of Space Nuts covers listener questions about falling into a black hole, anti-matter stars, and tips for low-light astrophotography.

Professor Fred Watson and Heidi Compo answer listener questions about astronomy and space.

This episode answers a listener's question about how much smaller the sun was two billion years ago due to its fuel consumption.

A fill-in host introduces herself and discusses space science, astronomy, and sci-fi concepts with an astronomer.