Fraser Cain Podcast

An interstellar meteorite could be hiding in the ocean. Why doesn’t Jupiter have rings like Saturn. The time when Earth’s magnetic field almost collapsed. The shortest day on Earth, and Planet 9 is running out of places to hide. Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/universetoday 00:00 - Intro 00:45 - Why Jupiter doesn’t have massive rings htt…

It's time for our weekly Spacebites news segment. This week we learn how JWST is doing after its micrometeorite strike, two more helicopters are flying to Mars, and how do you stop the Milky Way from turning into self-replicating robot probes? Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/universetoday 00:00 - Intro 00:27 - How bad the JWST damage rea…

SLS finally gets a launch date for Artemis I, JWST keeps giving the goodness, Percy finds another weird thing on Mars, astronomers find a dormant black hole and NASA will launch a flagship telescope on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy. Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/universetoday 00:00 - Intro 00:33 - More from JWST https://www.universetoday.com/1…

Even more pictures from James Webb Space Telescope, China's planning a mission to Neptune, SpaceX's Booster 7 suffers from an explosion, black holes are messy eaters, going under Europa's ice crust and more. More videos about James Webb My JWST Special: https://youtu.be/0VNQ6_hSA8o @Dr. Becky : https://youtu.be/uZeEhUCAeac @Anton Petrov : https://y…

NASA finally released James Webb's first full-color images. We have 5 great photos of different regions of space. So, in this video we're digesting all the great pictures we got from JWST. 00:00 - Intro 00:49 - Deep Field 04:37 - Exoplanet 07:26 - Stellar Death 10:12 - Galaxy 12:12 - Stellar Birth 14:27 - Outro More about the first JWST images: htt…

In this week's questions and answers show, I explain how Starship will enable enormous space telescopes, if James Webb can look at Hubble, and if future astronomers will have any way of learning about the expansion of the Universe and the Big Bang. 00:00 Start 01:46 Could Starship be a telescope? 04:26 Can JWST see Hubble? 06:10 Will elliptical gal…

NASA teases JWST images, Rocket Lab launches CAPSTONE, mystery rocket's crash site found on the Moon, how magnetars are created, ISS gets more independent from Russia and more. 00:00 Intro 00:32 NASA teases first JWST images Weekly Space Hangout with Lee Feinberg https://youtu.be/0pEmQ1zpKtI 03:44 NASA funds space nuclear reactor development https:…

In this week's Questions and Answers show, I explain how astronauts are trained to deal with medical emergencies if the Universe is expanding smoothly or chaotically, and what would survive longer, a white dwarf or a red dwarf? 00:00 Start 01:34 [Tatooine] What if there's a medical emergency on the ISS? 04:13 [Coruscant] Could we see before the Big…

SLS finally got through WDR (almost), Falcon 9 are setting new reuse records, China is about to beat NASA to Mars with a sample return mission, Charon red spot explained and more. 00:00 Intro 00:29 New records for SpaceX 01:33 SLS goes through WDR (kinda) https://www.universetoday.com/156446/nasa-says-its-satisfied-with-rehearsal-for-sls-moon-rocke…

Dr. Martin Barstow is is a Professor of Astrophysics and Space Science at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester and the former President of the Royal Astronomical Society. Dr. Barstow was part of the team who worked on the recent Gaia Data Release 3, which categorized almost 2 billion stars in the Milky Way. https:/…

In this week's questions and answers show, I explain why most quasars are very far away, consider what would happen if you brought Pluto into the inner Solar System, and deliver the heartbreaking news of why the ISS won't be recycled. 00:00 Start 01:25 [Tatooine] Can quasars appear anywhere in the Universe? 04:35 [Coruscant] What if you brought Plu…

Dr. Sonny White is a physicist and mechanical engineer. He previously worked at NASA's Eagleworks Lab testing advanced propulsion systems, and developing ideas for faster-than-light travel. He's now working with Limitless Space, founded with the vision of advancing human space exploration beyond the Solar System by the end of the 21st century. http…

FAA finally gave its approval to SpaceX for Starship launches from Boca Chica, Gaia released its third data drop, China stars continuous space presence, Perseverance finds another weird rock on Mars. 🚀 Discord Discussion Club https://discord.gg/bRxr4JTNqh 👽 Anton's video on Best Tourist Destination in Our Solar System https://youtu.be/IzCFSaQdgn8 0…

Annika Rollock is a Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is studying next generation space habitats and recently published a paper about how future space stations can remain self-sufficient, especially when support and communication from Earth are far away. https://www.annikarollock.com/ 🚀 OUR WEBSITE: ═════════════════════════…

In this week's questions and answers show, I explain how JWST and other telescopes see color, how images from observatories are released to the public, and how much of the sky can JWST see. Also, a bunch of non-Webb questions too. 00:00 Start 01:55 [Tatooine] How does JWST see color? 09:58 [Coruscant] How are astronomical images released to the pub…

Dr. Paul Hickson is a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Hickson is overseeing a team that built a telescope out of liquid mercury in India. The International Liquid Mirror Telescope is 4 meters across and built on top of a 3,000-meter mountain in India. This will prove the technology and allow for la…

Dr. Jacob Haqq-Misra is a geologist and astrobiologist with the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science. He studies the conditions that allowed life to spread across the Earth and searches for similar environments across the Universe. In a recent paper, Dr. Haqq-Misra suggests methods that we could search for technologically advanced civilizations a…

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JWST got damaged by a micrometeoroid but seems to be okay, NASA buys more Crew Dragon flights, Mars rovers see interesting stuff, ESA confirms a comet hunter, UFOs get official NASA investigations, all planets get into order in the night sky and more. Discord Discussion Club https://discord.gg/9vXZFCGKMg?event=983521001998549092 00:00 Intro 00:28 J…

Dr. Zach Putnam is an assistant professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He's part of a team developing navigation techniques that use the signals from pulsars to always know your location, anywhere in the Solar System. https://aerospace.illinois.edu/directory/profile/zputnam 🚀 OUR WEBSITE: ════════════════…

In this week's Questions and Answers show, I answer what it would take to build a telescope as big as the Earth's orbit around the Sun, why SgrA* seems to have been rolled over on its side, and how we know the age of stars. 00:00 Start 01:50 [Tatooine] Could we have a telescope the size of Earth's orbit? 08:11 [Coruscant] Why is SgrA* rolled over o…

Einstein's Theory of General Relativity has been tried and tested many times, and so far, Einstein was right. But we know his theory must be incomplete, as it still doesn't integrate with quantum mechanics. Where are physicists searching next for the future of cosmology and relativity? Dr. Leah Jenks is a PhD recipient from Brown University, and wi…

NASA selects two suppliers for new spacesuits, James Webb reveals the date of first color images, JUICE moves closer to launch and a new kind of solar sail gets to next NIAC round. 00:00 Intro 00:32 First JWST images date revealed James Webb Video: https://youtu.be/tadR5fUatHo 02:01 NASA selects Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace for spacesuit contr…

James Webb is the most expensive and most advanced telescope in human history. Will it be worth its $10B price? What it will discover? How long will JWST last? Will it ever be serviced? All the answers are in this episode of The Big Q. 00:00 Intro 00:39 How JWST came together. 02:58 The telescope that ate astronomy. 04:36 Leading to launch. 06:08 S…

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How did life go from single-celled to multi-celled? Dr. William Ratcliff is an Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences at the School of Biological Science at Georgia Tech. Dr. Ratcliff and his collaborators are working with single cells of yeast, watching them make the jump to become multi-cell…

Boeing finally completes a demo mission, scientists grow plants in lunar regolith, NASA will launch a mission to repair and refuel a satellite, space suits are leaking on the ISS again, and more. 00:00 Intro 00:27 Update on the meteor storm on May 31st https://www.universetoday.com/156008/update-on-the-potential-may-31st-tau-herculid-meteor-storm/ …

In this week's Questions and Answers show, I explain what James Webb will see when it looks at SgrA*, why black holes happen to be facing towards us, and if asteroid strikes can hurl dinosaurs into space. 00:00 Start 00:59 [Tatooine] Will Webb look at SgrA*? 05:23 [Coruscant] Why are both black holes facing us? 07:16 [Hoth] Were dinosaurs hurled to…

Professor Stephen Sweeney works in the department of physics at the University of Surrey. He specializes in photonics, using lasers and photovoltaics for new types of communication, remote power transmission, and other concepts in space exploration. https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/stephen-sweeney 🚀 OUR WEBSITE: ════════════════════════════════════ …

Dr. Ashish Goel is a Research Technologist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the Robotic Surface Mobility group. He has helped develop the plans to build a giant radio telescope inside a crater on the Moon, providing a pristine view to the Universe, using the Moon to block Earth's radio transmissions. https://www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/who-we…

In this week's News Bites segment, I talk about the successful launch of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner, how astronomers watch a nova unfold in real time, the (not) door way on Mars, and the chance to see the greatest meteor storm in a generation. 00:00 Intro 00:41 Boeing Starliner Successful Test Launch 03:49 China Continues to Extend Its Plans for …

Dr. Jonathan Jiang is the supervisor of the Aerosol and Cloud Group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Dr. Jiang has contributed over 220 peer-reviewed papers in a variety of journals. Most recently, he collaborated on a paper that investigates the future of human space exploration beyond the Moon and Mars, even to the outer Solar System. https:/…

Michael Amato is an engineer at NASA and has been a member of the team behind NASA's DAVINCI spacecraft which will be launching to Venus in 2029. The spacecraft will be exploring the atmosphere of Venus with more clarity and detail than has ever been seen before, giving us a better sense about how the world became so different from Earth. https://w…

In this week's episode, I talk about how close to the Sun Parker Solar Probe can get, what is the smallest possible star that's turned into a red giant, why do I think aliens will need to adhere to the laws of physics, and more. Oh, and why am I so cynical? 00:00 Start 01:17 [Tatooine] Will Parker Solar Probe fly low enough to dodge prominences? 03…

We finally have the SgrA* supermassive black hole image by the Event Horizon Telescope, China announces their plans to launch a space telescope, and Russia threatens to leave the ISS. 00:00 Intro 00:20 Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole https://www.universetoday.com/155874/this-is-it-meet-the-supermassive-black-hole-at-the-heart-of-the-milky-way/ …

Edward Balaban is a research scientist at NASA Ames and the principal investigator of the Fluidic Telescope Experiment, or FLUTE. The idea is to create a giant lens in space out of a fluid that could maintain its shape in microgravity. The technology was recently tested during the Axiom-1 mission to the International Space Station. https://www.nasa…

Dr. Kevin Cannon is an assistant professor of geology and geological engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. Dr. Cannon has been studying the properties of lunar regolith, developing techniques that could help to mitigate its dangers during long-duration lunar exploration missions. https://geology.mines.edu/project/cannon-kevin/ 🚀 OUR WEBSITE:…

In this week's Questions and Answers show, I explain why we don't see much stuff in space unfolding in real time, how long will Musk's Tesla be a recognizable object, and what are some feasible structures we could build to help send payloads to space. 00:00 Start 03:38 [Tatooine] Why don't we see space stuff in real time? 07:40 [Coruscant] When wil…

Rocket Lab almost catches their Electron booster with a helicopter, China building an asteroid redirection mission, NASA gives out awards and astronomers find a new type of space explosions. 00:00 Intro 00:35 Rocket Lab Almost Caught a Booster with a Helicopter https://www.universetoday.com/155706/they-did-it-rocket-lab-uses-copter-to-catch-and-rel…

My guest today is Dr. Sam Howell, a planetary scientist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Sam studies the interiors of icy worlds, like Europa and Enceladus and is pioneering methods to explore their subsurface oceans. https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/showell/ 🚀 OUR WEBSITE: ════════════════════════════════════ https://www.universetoday.com…

My guest today is Dr. Franck Marchis, a senior planetary astronomer and chair of the exoplanet group at the Carl Sagan Center of the SETI Institute and Chief Scientific Officer and Founder at Unistellar. Franck helps develop adaptive optics systems for research observatories and helped develop the fully automated eVscope telescope which helps amate…

Every day about 100 tonnes of space dust strikes the Earth's atmosphere. Most of these space rocks vaporize, but some fall to the Earth at meteorites. Did you know that there are particles from space falling on the roof of your house? My guest today is Scott Peterson. Scott collects micrometeorites from his house and takes pictures of them using a …

In this week's Questions and Answers show, I explain why James Web still can't see the Big Bang, if black holes can "unblack hole" later in life and what is the cutest nebula in the Universe? 00:00 Start 03:17 [Tatooine] Can Webb see back to the Big Bang? 08:20 [Corusant] Could antimatter destroy a black hole? 10:06 [Hoth] Why can't the aliens be h…

NASA extended 8 space missions, EHT has groundbreaking announcements on the Milky Way's supermassive black hole, James Webb shows first images, SOFIA telescope is getting shut, Starship evaluation gets another delay, and more space news. 00:00 Intro 00:37 EHT announced ‘groundbreaking Milky Way results’ https://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann2…

My guest today is Dr. Renu Malhotra, a planetary scientist who specializes in planetary migration and orbital mechanics. Dr. Malhotra and her team have discovered that Pluto's orbit is surprisingly chaotic at small timescales and yet surprisingly stable at larger timescale. We'll talk about her research and the science of orbital mechanics that led…

In this week's questions and answers show, I talk about supermassive black hole nucleosynthesis, the threat of grabby aliens and why would we ever bother building Von Neumann Probes. 00:00 Start 01:00 [Tatooine] Are elements being formed in quasars? 03:50 [Corusant] What will the coverage of the Moon landings be like? 06:39 [Hoth] How close will Co…

Planetary Science Decadal Survey recommends a mission to Uranus, SLS is set for another delay, Perseverance sees a Phobos solar eclipse, all Hubble's images in a single picture and other most important space and astronomy news of the week. 00:00 Intro 00:43 Planetary Science Decadal Survey is out https://www.universetoday.com/155519/planetary-decad…

My guest today is Dr. Margaret Meixner, the Director of Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) Science Mission Operations. Previous to this role, Dr. Meixner was a Distinguished Astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) and a Project Scientist at James Webb Space Telescope. https://www.sofia.usra.edu/about-sofia/…

My guest today is Dr. Slava Turyshev, a physicist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He helped to solve the Pioneer Anomaly, and is developing a mission that could use the Sun's gravity as a natural lens to focus the light from distant objects. https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Turyshev/ 🚀 OUR WEBSITE: ════════════════════════════════════ htt…

My guest today is Celeste Keith, a graduate student at the University of Chicago. Celeste and her team are searching for ways to detect the presence of primordial black holes, leftover from the Big Bang. These could be an explanation for dark matter and other phenomena in the Universe. https://astrophysics.uchicago.edu/people/profile/celeste-keith/…