Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Astronomy and cosmology explainers • Search for life: defining life, origins, habitability • Exoplanets/moons/comets and biosignatures • Solar system missions, Mars/icy moons • Space telescopes (JWST, Euclid, Gaia) • Black holes, dark energy, cosmic rays, stellar evolution
This podcast pairs an astronomer and a curious co-host to unpack a wide range of astronomy and cosmology topics, often using recent research results, spacecraft milestones, and listener questions as starting points. Across the episodes, the conversations move from the big-picture structure and fate of the universe—expansion, dark matter and dark energy, the cosmic web, and questions about what “energy” even means on a universal scale—to the life cycles of stars and galaxies, including star formation, variable stars, white dwarfs, novae and supernovae, neutron star mergers, and the growth of black holes from stellar-mass objects to supermassive and ultramassive extremes.
A substantial throughline is “life in the universe” and the search for habitable environments. The podcast examines what makes stars and planetary systems suitable for life, how habitable zones are defined, and why certain common stars may be challenging hosts. It surveys candidate planet types—rocky worlds, ocean worlds, and other proposed classes—and discusses how scientists might detect biosignatures or technosignatures. Relatedly, there is extensive coverage of exoplanet science: discovery methods such as transits, phase curves, spectroscopy, and direct imaging; the rapid pace of new finds; and the frontier topics of exomoons and exocomets.
The show also frequently highlights space missions and observatories that enable these discoveries, including major telescopes and survey projects as well as planetary missions and sample returns. Listeners can expect discussion of lunar exploration, solar probes, asteroid deflection tests, and iconic long-duration spacecraft, alongside explanations of the physics behind the measurements. Occasionally, the lens widens to interdisciplinary applications of space particles and detection techniques beyond astronomy. Overall, the content blends fundamental concepts with timely updates on what new instruments are revealing about planets, stars, and the evolving universe.
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Episodes:
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s3e4: What IS Life, Anyway?
2026-Jan-28
74 minutes
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s3e3: Solar System Sanctuaries
2025-Dec-04
71 minutes
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s3e2: Habitats in the Void
2025-Nov-19
60 minutes
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s3e1: First, You Need Light
2025-Oct-31
61 minutes
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s2e6: Experimental Extraterrestrial Exo-Observatory
2025-Mar-08
49 minutes
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s2e5: Exotelescope Expeditions
2025-Jan-17
56 minutes
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s2e4: Exoplanet Extrapolation
2025-Jan-03
50 minutes
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s2e3: Exoplanets ExoWrapped
2024-Dec-19
56 minutes
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s2e2: Exocomet Excitation
2024-Nov-28
57 minutes
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s2e1: Exomoon Expectation
2024-Nov-13
55 minutes
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Introducing Syzygy Season Two!
2024-Nov-08
1 minute
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122: Syzygy Live! — The Power of Seeing It For Yourself
2024-Jul-19
63 minutes
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121: Dark Bubbles of Weakness
2024-Jun-04
49 minutes
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120: Biggest Small Black Hole
2024-Apr-29
48 minutes
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119: Astrocampus Turns Ten!
2024-Apr-18
47 minutes
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118: Sextuplet Symphony
2024-Jan-30
61 minutes
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117: SLIM chance of Moon landing?
2024-Jan-23
67 minutes
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116: Black Hole Sun
2024-Jan-15
61 minutes
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115: Zevatron in the Void
2023-Dec-08
52 minutes
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114: A Burst of Tellurium
2023-Nov-21
50 minutes
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113: White Dwarf Destiny
2023-Nov-06
54 minutes
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112: Unexpected JuMBOs
2023-Oct-09
58 minutes
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111: Special Asteroid Delivery
2023-Oct-02
43 minutes
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110: Euclid's Five Big Questions
2023-Sep-13
61 minutes
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109: Something From Nothing?
2023-Jun-25
54 minutes
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108: Betelgeuse! Betelgeuse! Betelgeuse!
2023-Jun-08
57 minutes
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107: Biggest Bang Ever! (Again?)
2023-May-28
60 minutes
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106: Star Eats Planet
2023-May-08
48 minutes
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105: Back To The Moon (2023 Edition)
2023-May-02
56 minutes
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104: Biggest Black Hole
2023-Apr-25
53 minutes
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103: Red Dwarf Paradox
2023-Mar-18
52 minutes
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102: Breaking The Universe
2023-Mar-14
57 minutes
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101: Spin Down Earth
2023-Mar-06
56 minutes
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100: Just Wonderful To Be Back!
2023-Jan-23
58 minutes
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99: Black Holes & Big News
2022-May-13
10 minutes
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98: New Nova
2022-Apr-29
61 minutes
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97: Biggest Comet Ever!
2022-Apr-22
61 minutes
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96: Space Particles Probe Pyramids
2022-Apr-15
76 minutes
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95: Baby Planets (& Moons!)
2022-Apr-10
71 minutes
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94: A Star Is Born
2022-Apr-02
64 minutes
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93: Baby Galaxies
2022-Mar-26
57 minutes
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92: Baby First Stars
2022-Mar-19
59 minutes
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91: Baby Universe
2022-Mar-11
69 minutes
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90: Touching The Sun
2021-Dec-21
57 minutes
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89: Diverting Dimorphos with DART
2021-Dec-05
59 minutes
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88: Galaxy Munchies
2021-Nov-23
49 minutes
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87: Star Go Boom!
2021-Nov-16
54 minutes
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86: Extragalactic X-Ray Exoplanet
2021-Nov-02
48 minutes
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85: Lucy In The Sky With Trojans
2021-Oct-26
49 minutes
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84: Spot Speeds Up
2021-Oct-19
53 minutes
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83: James Webb Set For Launch (Honestly!)
2021-Oct-12
57 minutes
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82: Billionaires In Space!
2021-Jul-19
70 minutes
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81: To Infinity And Beyond!
2021-Jun-29
59 minutes
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80: Mapping the Unseeable
2021-Jun-22
56 minutes
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79: Voyager Hears A Hum
2021-Jun-01
52 minutes
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78: Muons broke my physics!
2021-May-11
68 minutes
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77: A Night In The Life Of An Astronomer
2021-Mar-18
63 minutes
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76: Everybody's Going To Mars
2021-Mar-05
62 minutes
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75: Story of the Sun
2021-Feb-12
62 minutes
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74: Vale Arecibo
2021-Jan-14
62 minutes
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73: Blanets & Squeezars
2020-Dec-15
59 minutes
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72: Nobel Black Holes
2020-Oct-20
73 minutes
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71: Penguins on Venus?
2020-Sep-22
48 minutes
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70: Syzygy Summer Spectacular
2020-Jul-28
65 minutes
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69: Solar Secrets & Nebulous Neutrinos
2020-Jul-16
56 minutes
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68: Birth Of A Planet
2020-Jul-03
49 minutes
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67: The Mystery of Dark Matter — Live from the York Festival of Ideas!
2020-Jun-24
60 minutes
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66: Inscrutable Neutrons & Perplexing Pulsars
2020-May-22
57 minutes
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65: Burbidge Burbidge Fowler & Hoyle
2020-May-15
55 minutes
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64: Almost A Good Comet
2020-May-07
41 minutes
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63: A Pair Of Delta Scuti Lambda Boos
2020-Apr-22
38 minutes
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62: The Cosmic Sponge
2020-Mar-28
54 minutes
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61: Biggest Bang Eva!
2020-Mar-13
45 minutes
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60: Big Moons!
2020-Mar-06
49 minutes
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59: Living With A Star
2020-Feb-28
46 minutes
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58: Astronomical Pancake Theory
2020-Feb-19
50 minutes
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57: Ancient Stardust and Gaia Sausage
2020-Jan-26
45 minutes
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56: No Bang For Betelgeuse?
2020-Jan-17
49 minutes
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55: The Starlink Controversy
2019-Dec-27
42 minutes
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54: Black Hole Redemption
2019-Dec-20
39 minutes
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53: ’Tis the season(ality)
2019-Dec-13
39 minutes
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52: Live from the Podcast Social Club!
2019-Dec-04
43 minutes
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51: Mercury in Transit!
2019-Nov-16
43 minutes
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50: Imposter Comet!
2019-Nov-11
43 minutes
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49: The Syzygy Planet Hunter's Guide
2019-Nov-06
66 minutes
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48: Wobbly Stars & Exoplanets
2019-Oct-26
45 minutes
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47: The Milky Way Explodes!
2019-Oct-19
35 minutes
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46: Dark Energy And The End Of The Universe
2019-Oct-11
49 minutes
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45: Biggest Neutron Star Ever!
2019-Oct-07
46 minutes
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44: Waterworld?
2019-Sep-27
38 minutes
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43: Moss Piglets in Spaaace!
2019-Sep-20
38 minutes
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World's First Trans-Galactic Podcast!
2019-Sep-09
7 minutes
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42: Life, The Universe, And Everything
2019-Sep-09
48 minutes
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Teaser: a special Ep 42 event
2019-Sep-02
2 minutes
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(Live) The Great Syzygy Space Off!
2019-Aug-13
53 minutes
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41: Cosmic Microwave Background (Scopes on a Balloon!)
2019-Jul-28
53 minutes
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40: One Giant Leap
2019-Jul-21
65 minutes
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39: Ridiculously Large Telescopes
2019-Jun-30
47 minutes
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38: Blue Twinkly Supergiants
2019-Jun-14
34 minutes
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37 (supplemental): Syzygy Film Club!
2019-May-14
4 minutes
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37: Crazy Donut Moon Theory
2019-May-11
41 minutes
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36: Scopes On A Plane!
2019-May-03
35 minutes
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35: THAT Black Hole Image
2019-Apr-23
46 minutes
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34: This System's Got Everything!
2019-Apr-05
34 minutes
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33: Goldilocks Zones around Binary Stars
2019-Mar-21
38 minutes
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32: A Mysterious Box of Asteroid Stuff
2019-Mar-15
38 minutes
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31: LIGO Gets An Upgrade
2019-Feb-22
57 minutes
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30: Stardust, or Cosmic Poo?
2019-Feb-15
39 minutes
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29: The Serendipitous Rings of Saturn
2019-Feb-08
39 minutes
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28: All Exoplanets Are Exciting
2019-Jan-25
46 minutes
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27: Up A Mountain In NZ
2018-Dec-25
23 minutes
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26: How To Build A Solar System
2018-Dec-19
40 minutes
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25: Picture The Sky
2018-Dec-10
48 minutes
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24: Black Holes Feeding On Colliding Galaxies
2018-Nov-23
38 minutes
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23: Syzygy Live! from YorNight 2018
2018-Nov-19
41 minutes
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22: How To Measure The Universe
2018-Nov-09
48 minutes
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21: BepiColombo goes to Mercury
2018-Nov-02
45 minutes
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20: Photo of a Black Hole
2018-Oct-26
38 minutes
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19: Moons, Exomoons & Moonmoons
2018-Oct-19
42 minutes
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18: Mysterious Planet 9
2018-Oct-12
40 minutes
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17: Quantum Conspiracy Theory
2018-Sep-28
12 minutes
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Episode 16: Einstein at the Heart of the Galaxy
2018-Aug-10
37 minutes
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Episode 15: A Salty Lake on Mars
2018-Aug-03
34 minutes
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Episode 14: Total Eclipse of the Moon
2018-Jul-26
37 minutes
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Episode 13: Neutrino Messenger from a Distant Blazar
2018-Jul-20
35 minutes
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Episode 12: The Light Fantastic
2018-Jul-06
36 minutes
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Episode 11: Black Hole Eats Star, Then Burps
2018-Jun-29
44 minutes
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Episode 10: So you want to be an astronomer?
2018-Jun-22
44 minutes
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Episode 09: Life on Mars?
2018-Jun-15
38 minutes
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Episode 08: The Frozen Dunes of Pluto
2018-Jun-08
38 minutes
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Episode 07 (supplemental): Octopuses from Space!
2018-Jun-01
7 minutes
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Episode 07: Plumes of Ice on Europa
2018-May-25
43 minutes
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Episode 06: Galaxy Pile Up Causes Cosmic Chaos!
2018-May-20
32 minutes
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Episode 05: Diamonds from Space!
2018-May-04
31 minutes
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Episode 04: The Music Of The Stars
2018-Apr-27
32 minutes
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Episode 03: Holding Our Breath For TESS!
2018-Apr-19
38 minutes
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Episode 02: Dark Matter Is Out There, Even When It's Not
2018-Apr-13
29 minutes
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Episode 01: Planets, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away
2018-Apr-05
33 minutes
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Episode 00: A Syzygy Sneak Peek
2018-Apr-03
3 minutes
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