Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Astronomy and astrophysics explainers • black holes, stars, gravity, spacetime, cosmology • Solar System planets, Mars water history, meteors, quakes • space missions, Artemis, Voyager, sample returns • stargazing, dark-sky issues • listener Q&A, extraterrestrial life searches
This podcast explores astronomy and space science through conversations between a science journalist and an astrophysicist, with regular input from a Royal Astronomical Society astronomer who answers listener questions and offers practical stargazing guidance. Across the episodes, the focus ranges from fundamental concepts—such as gravity, time, the speed of light, and the large-scale structure and expansion of the universe—to cutting-edge research questions including gravitational waves, fast radio bursts, and the “Hubble tension” in cosmology.
A recurring theme is the behaviour of extreme and unusual objects: black holes (from their growth to whether they could be produced or studied experimentally), strange types of stars and binary systems, and “rogue” bodies like free-floating planets or black holes. The show also spends significant time on the Solar System, discussing planets and moons, planetary formation and collisions, Mars’ watery past, and how missions investigate worlds such as Mercury and Venus.
Space exploration and current affairs are woven throughout, with attention to major upcoming missions, sample-return challenges, asteroid risk assessment, solar storms and space weather, and the logistics and value of human spaceflight. Several episodes draw on historical archives and anniversaries, linking today’s science to past discoveries, spacecraft, and observing traditions. Listener Q&As are a prominent format, bringing in eclectic questions that connect real physics to science fiction, everyday analogies, and speculative ideas like alien communication and detecting technosignatures. The podcast also addresses observational issues on Earth, including light pollution and protecting dark skies.
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Episodes:
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When Space Goes Rogue....
2026-Apr-01
47 minutes
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Black holes in the lab and meeting Ryan Gosling
2026-Mar-18
38 minutes
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What is the Hubble Tension?
2026-Feb-26
65 minutes
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2026: The year in space... And at sea?!
2026-Feb-11
26 minutes
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Q&A: Meteors, Artemis II, and Space Bathtubs
2026-Jan-29
51 minutes
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How to Time Travel
2025-Dec-23
54 minutes
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BONUS - Slingshots, Christmas Presents & Alien Communication
2025-Dec-15
24 minutes
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Protecting Our Dark Skies
2025-Dec-01
49 minutes
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BONUS - Supermassive Gone Rogue
2025-Nov-14
22 minutes
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A Watery History of Mars
2025-Nov-01
47 minutes
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BONUS - Mercury, Gemini and Pringles
2025-Oct-16
32 minutes
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Don't Panic…but a solar storm could be a disaster
2025-Sep-24
47 minutes
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BONUS - Are we Living in a Black Hole?
2025-Sep-09
14 minutes
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Supermassive Q and A...Live!
2025-Aug-26
46 minutes
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BONUS - What Shape is Space?
2025-Aug-12
19 minutes
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Astronauts. Do we need them?
2025-Jul-29
50 minutes
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BONUS - Where are Earth's rings?
2025-Jul-19
12 minutes
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Why isn't Pluto a planet?
2025-Jun-30
50 minutes
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BONUS - Why aren’t stars closer together?
2025-Jun-11
17 minutes
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Is Time Real?
2025-May-28
57 minutes
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BONUS - Mole People on Mars
2025-May-13
16 minutes
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What is Gravity?
2025-Apr-24
53 minutes
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BONUS - Can we gravitationally "hitch hike" out of the Solar System?
2025-Apr-11
15 minutes
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Returning to the Moon - with ESA Astronaut Matthias Maurer
2025-Mar-31
52 minutes
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BONUS - Can A Star Orbit Another Star?
2025-Mar-12
12 minutes
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Sample Return Missions - What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
2025-Feb-28
46 minutes
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EMERGENCY BONUS - Asteroid 2024 YR4
2025-Feb-19
13 minutes
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BONUS - Could we capture a primordial black hole?
2025-Feb-12
16 minutes
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The Search for Space Aliens
2025-Jan-29
55 minutes
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Q&A - Space Potatoes and Christmas Stars
2024-Dec-21
53 minutes
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BONUS - Why can't anything go faster than the speed of light?
2024-Dec-13
14 minutes
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The Mystery of Fast Radio Bursts
2024-Dec-05
40 minutes
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BONUS - Nuclear Pasta & G-Astronomy
2024-Nov-19
17 minutes
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Strange Stars and Bizarre Binaries
2024-Nov-06
48 minutes
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BONUS - A Bumper Edition
2024-Oct-19
31 minutes
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Untangling the Cosmic Web
2024-Oct-02
43 minutes
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BONUS - What distorts time?
2024-Sep-26
15 minutes
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We Made It To Mercury!
2024-Sep-04
35 minutes
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BONUS - Galaxy Spin and Saving Herstmonceux Observatory
2024-Aug-21
13 minutes
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Venus aka "Earth's Evil Twin"
2024-Aug-01
42 minutes
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BONUS - Overmassive Galaxies
2024-Jul-20
22 minutes
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Q&A - Black Hole Special
2024-Jul-03
50 minutes
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BONUS - Lumpy Space Potatoes
2024-Jun-21
14 minutes
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The Major Lunar Standstill
2024-Jun-04
47 minutes
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BONUS - Why does the Aurora Borealis look better on my phone?
2024-May-23
19 minutes
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Voyager: Where no-one has gone before...
2024-Apr-29
47 minutes
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BONUS - Wobbly Planets and Baby Names
2024-Apr-10
13 minutes
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Into The Interstellar
2024-Mar-26
45 minutes
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BONUS - Dust, stars and alien streetlights
2024-Mar-13
12 minutes
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Quakes in Space
2024-Feb-28
53 minutes
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BONUS - Double Yolker Galaxies
2024-Feb-12
13 minutes
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The End of the World
2024-Jan-30
47 minutes
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Do We Live In A Multiverse?
2023-Dec-22
48 minutes
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BONUS - Could Space Junk Block JWST's View?
2023-Dec-21
13 minutes
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Neptune... At Last!
2023-Nov-28
49 minutes
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BONUS - Space News Bulletin
2023-Nov-14
28 minutes
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46: Q&A - Spice Girls, Black Holes, and Ice-Cream in Space
2023-Oct-27
40 minutes
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45: BONUS - Have you heard of "Ploonets"?
2023-Oct-13
18 minutes
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45: Uranus the Oddball
2023-Sep-29
52 minutes
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44: BONUS - Team Enceladus or Team Europa?
2023-Sep-18
13 minutes
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44: Here Comes the Sun...with NASA's Head of Science
2023-Aug-28
50 minutes
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43: BONUS - Aimless telescopes & beyond the Milky Way
2023-Aug-11
11 minutes
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43: Most of the Universe is missing...
2023-Jul-28
46 minutes
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42: BONUS – White holes, astrology and why is Venus so hot?
2023-Jul-06
17 minutes
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42: A (brief) History of Astronomy
2023-Jun-22
48 minutes
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41: BONUS - Why do Gas Giants exist?
2023-Jun-13
14 minutes
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41: BIG Observatories
2023-May-27
45 minutes
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40: BONUS - Are Lunar Poles Arbitrary?
2023-May-13
15 minutes
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40: Becky Loves Saturn
2023-Apr-29
50 minutes
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39: BONUS - Do black holes stop time?
2023-Apr-07
13 minutes
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39: Jupiter The Monster
2023-Mar-24
47 minutes
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38: BONUS - More Comets, Less Asteroids
2023-Mar-10
12 minutes
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38: Gettin' Gravitational Wave-y
2023-Feb-24
44 minutes
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37: BONUS - The Supermassive Mailbox
2023-Feb-11
13 minutes
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37: Q&A - Black Hole Burps and Space Station Pacman
2023-Jan-31
48 minutes
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36: Stargazing with Team Supermassive
2022-Dec-21
47 minutes
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Double Astronaut Special: Returning to the Moon
2022-Nov-25
50 minutes
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34: How to Deflect an Asteroid
2022-Oct-27
46 minutes
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33: Q&A - The Year in Space
2022-Sep-30
54 minutes
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32: JWST First Images... FINALLY!
2022-Aug-27
55 minutes
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31: Life on Mars - LIVE from Standon Calling
2022-Jul-29
42 minutes
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30: Rocky Planets Rock
2022-Jul-01
51 minutes
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29: Gas Giants are Weird
2022-May-31
49 minutes
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28: How to Kill a Galaxy
2022-Apr-30
43 minutes
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27: How to Build a Galaxy
2022-Mar-25
44 minutes
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26: The Marvellous Moon
2022-Feb-25
52 minutes
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25: A Supermassive Q&A!
2022-Jan-28
44 minutes
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24: Eclipses & Expeditions
2021-Dec-24
40 minutes
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23: The End of the Universe
2021-Nov-26
43 minutes
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22: JWST - Seeing the First Stars
2021-Oct-29
39 minutes
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21: Icy Worlds
2021-Oct-01
39 minutes
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20: Firey Worlds
2021-Aug-27
43 minutes
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19: Radiation Belts and Billionaires
2021-Jul-30
40 minutes
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18: A Hunk of Space Junk
2021-Jun-25
44 minutes
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17: Hunting for Planet 9
2021-May-28
42 minutes
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16: Mysteries of the Kuiper Belt
2021-Apr-23
41 minutes
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15: Neutron Stars - with Jocelyn Bell Burnell
2021-Mar-26
42 minutes
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14: A Star Is Born
2021-Feb-26
40 minutes
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13: New Year, New Universe
2021-Jan-22
39 minutes
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12: Gamma Rays & Christmas Stars
2020-Dec-18
42 minutes
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11: Radio Skies & Strange Signals
2020-Nov-20
40 minutes
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Humans In Space - with Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti
2020-Oct-23
41 minutes
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The Power of Space Probes
2020-Sep-25
41 minutes
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Journey to the Centre of the Earth
2020-Aug-28
35 minutes
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Down To Earth
2020-Jul-23
39 minutes
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Looking for Alien Life
2020-Jun-25
38 minutes
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Exploring Exoplanets
2020-May-21
37 minutes
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Under the Space Weather
2020-Apr-23
36 minutes
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Our Neighbourhood Star
2020-Mar-19
37 minutes
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It's All Relativity...
2020-Feb-20
38 minutes
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Seeing The Invisible Universe
2020-Jan-17
40 minutes
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