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Every show filed under astronomy, ranked by what listeners actually play.

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  • Star Trails: From Backyard Astronomy to Cosmic Wonder

    One Light-Day From Home

    After nearly 50 years in space, Voyager 1 is about to cross a remarkable milestone. On November 18, humanity's most distant spacecraft will reach a distance of one light-day from Earth, more than 16 billion miles away, so distant that even a radio signal traveling at the speed of light needs a full day to reach it. In this episode, we celebrate the astonishing longevity of Voyager 1, including the recent engineering efforts to squeeze a few more precious watts from its fading power supply. Then we use Voyager's journey to confront one of astronomy's most humbling subjects: the sheer scale of space. How long would Voyager take to reach Alpha Centauri? How fast is the record-setting Parker Solar Probe compared with light? And why has BepiColombo needed eight years to reach Mercury when New Horizons crossed billions of miles to Pluto in only a little more time? We'll also look at a provocative AI-assisted proposal for an interstellar mission using technology that largely exists today, provided you're willing to wait roughly 80,000 years for arrival. Then, in this week's night sky for November 15–21, Mars and Jupiter meet in a striking predawn conjunction, Mercury returns to the morning sky, the Moon passes Saturn, the Leonid meteor shower peaks, and the winter stars begin taking over the evening. We finish with Sirius — one of our nearest stellar neighbors at just 8.6 light-years away — and one final reminder of just how enormous even our own little corner of the galaxy really is. Connect with us on Bluesky @startrails.bsky.social If you’re enjoying the show, consider sharing it with a friend! Want to help? Buy us a coffee! Also, check out music made for Star Trails on our Bandcamp page! Podcasting is better with RSS.com! If you’re planning to start your own podcast, use our RSS.com affiliate link for a discount, and to help support Star Trails.

    Today · 30 min
  • Fakten zum Einschlafen – Das Universum

    Was steckt wirklich hinter einer Supernova-Explosion? - Vom Eisenkollaps zur Weißen-Zwerg-Detonation | Fakten zum Einschlafen - Das Universum

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Wenn am Nachthimmel eine Supernova aufleuchtet, sehen wir meist nur das gleißende Oberflächenphänomen einer gewaltigen kosmischen Explosion. Doch das sichtbare Licht verrät nicht automatisch, welcher physikalische Motor dieses Spektakel tatsächlich antreibt. Diese Episode trennt die optische Erscheinung von der tieferen Ursache und erklärt die zwei grundlegend verschiedenen Mechanismen, die Sterne sterben lassen. Wir betrachten den Gravitationskollaps eines massereichen Sterns, dessen Eisenkern unter der eigenen Schwerkraft in Sekundenbruchteilen zu einem Neutronenstern oder Schwarzen Loch implodiert. Auf der anderen Seite steht das thermonukleare Durchgehen eines Weißen Zwergs, in dessen entarteter Materie das natürliche Sicherheitsventil der thermischen Ausdehnung ausfällt. Die etablierte astronomische Sortierung in Typ Ia, Typ II, Ib und Ic ordnet Beobachtungen nützlich, spiegelt jedoch nicht immer die tatsächliche Physik wider. Manche Fragen klingen einfach, bis man versucht, sie zu beantworten. Bei der Vorbereitung dieser Folge kehrte ich immer wieder zu der Erkenntnis zurück, dass unsere bewährten Kategorien oft nur die Farbe des Bucheinbands beschreiben, nicht aber den Inhalt. Mich fasziniert, wie ein motorenzentriertes Verständnis uns davor schützt, das Innere einer Explosion falsch zu deuten. Wenn wir lernen, zuerst nach dem physikalischen Antrieb zu fragen, wird die scheinbar verwirrende Vielfalt der Supernovae plötzlich logisch und greifbar.

    Today · 39 min
  • Sleepy Facts About the Universe

    How Does a Collapsing Star Core Produce an Explosion? - The Hidden Collapse Before a Supernova | Sleepy Facts About the Universe

    Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! When we picture a supernova, we usually imagine a star suddenly brightening and exploding outward. But the visible blast is actually a delayed announcement. The real catastrophe happens deep inside the star in less time than it takes to draw a breath, hidden entirely from view. This episode examines the final seconds of a massive star, exploring how an iron core collapses at a significant fraction of the speed of light, reaches the density of an atomic nucleus, and rebounds to launch a shock wave. The journey from this hidden collapse to a visible explosion is remarkably complex. The shock wave immediately loses energy to nuclear demolition and escaping neutrinos, often stalling completely before turbulent convection and neutrino heating can revive it. Because photons remain trapped in the dense stellar envelope, the only signal to escape immediately is a burst of neutrinos. This exact sequence was confirmed in 1987 when detectors recorded neutrinos from a supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud hours before the first visible light arrived. I wanted to understand why the bright spectacle we see is just a minor fraction of the total energy released, and how an event can be completely finished in the core before we even know it has begun. Some questions sound simple until you try to answer them, and the mismatch between the internal collapse and the delayed visible arrival completely changes how I think about dying stars.

    Today · 26 min
  • PBS Space Time

    What if Humans Are NOT Our Planet's First Civilization? | Silurian Hypothesis

    Enjoy 10% OFF and free worldwide shipping on all Hoverpens with code PBS: North America & other countries: https://bit.ly/pbs_novium UK & Europe: https://bit.ly/pbs_noviumeu To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime We’re almost certainly the first technological civilization on Earth. But what if we’re not? We are. Although how sure are we, really? The Silurian hypothesis, which asks whether pre-human industrial civilizations might have existed. Check out the Space Time Merch Store https://www.pbsspacetime.com/shop Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special announcements! https://mailchi.mp/1a6eb8f2717d/spacetime Search the Entire Space Time Library Here: https://search.pbsspacetime.com/ Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Christopher Pollack & Matt O'Dowd Post Production by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini & Stephanie Faria Directed by Andrew Kornhaber Associate Producer: Bahar Gholipour Executive Producers: Eric Brown & Andrew Kornhaber Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell Spacetime is produced by Kornhaber Brown for PBS Digital Studios. This program is produced by Kornhaber Brown, which is solely responsible for its content. © 2023 PBS. All rights reserved. End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: https://www.youtube.com/user/MultiDroideka Space Time Was Made Possible In Part By: Big Bang Sponsors Bryce Fort Peter Barrett David Neumann Sean Maddox Alexander Tamas Morgan Hough Juan Benet Vinnie Falco Fabrice Eap Mark Rosenthal Quasar Sponsors Glenn Sugden Alex Kern Ethan Cohen Stephen Wilcox Mark Heising Hypernova Sponsors Stephen Spidle Chris Webb David Giltinan Ivari Tölp Zachary Wilson Kenneth See Gregory Forfa Bradley Voorhees Scott Gorlick Paul Stehr-Green Ben Delo Scott Gray Антон Кочков Robert Ilardi John R. Slavik Donal Botkin Edmund Fokschaner Chuck Zegar Jordan Young Daniel Muzquiz Gamma Ray Burst Sponsors Robert DeChellis Tomaz Lovsin Anthony Leon Billy Holland Leonardo Schulthais Senna Lori Ferris Dennis Van Hoof Koen Wilde Nicolas Katsantonis Piotr Sarnicki Massimiliano Pala Thomas Nielson Joe Pavlovic Justin Lloyd Chuck Lukaszewski Cole B Combs Andrea Galvagni Jerry Thomas Nikhil Sharma Ryan Moser John Anderson Bradley Ulis Craig Falls Kane Holbrook Ross Story teng guo Mason Dillon Harsh Khandhadia Susan Albee Matt Quinn Michael Lev Terje Vold James Trimmier Jeremy Soller Paul Wood Joe Moreira Kent Durham jim bartosh Ramon Nogueira The Mad Mechanic John H. Austin, Jr. Diana S Poljar Faraz Khan Almog Cohen Daniel Jennings Russ Creech Jeremy Reed David Johnston Michael Barton Isaac Suttell Oliver Flanagan Bleys Goodson Mark Delagasse Mark Daniel Cohen Shane Calimlim Tybie Fitzhugh Eric Kiebler Craig Stonaha Frederic Simon John Robinson Jim Hudson Alex Gan David Barnholdt John Funai Bradley Jenkins Vlad Shipulin Cody Brumfield Thomas Dougherty King Zeckendorff Dan Warren Joseph Salomone Patrick Sutton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Today · 25 min

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