The Open Universe

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An unbounded journey through the archives of astronomy

Sownak Bose & Ana Bonaca


    • Apr 21, 2025 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 44m AVG DURATION
    • 16 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from The Open Universe

    Episode 15: Riding the solar wind: Eugene Parker's “magnetic” legacy

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2025 46:02


    On December 24, 2024, NASA's Parker Solar Probe shattered records: becoming simultaneously the closest a human-made object has ever approached the Sun, and, travelling at 430,000 mph, the fastest object ever built on Earth. This was the culmination of a 70-year long legacy of its namesake, Eugene Parker, who in 1958 transformed our understanding of the Sun from a static ball of fire to a dynamic, magnetic entity capable of ejecting extremely hot winds into vast reaches of space. In this episode, we revisit Parker's seminal paper and its impact on exploratory missions of the Solar System for decades after.

    Episode 14: Could the movie Armageddon happen in real life?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2025 52:33


    In 1998, “NASA” sent a team of rag-tag oil drillers to an asteroid hurtling towards Earth, averting an Armageddon. 24 years later, NASA is at it again – but this time, with a somewhat more delicate approach. In September 2022, the DART mission collided with Dimorphos, an asteroid in a binary orbit with its larger companion, Didymos, perturbing its trajectory just enough to show how future threats may be thwarted this way. In this episode of The Open Universe podcast, we revisit this amazing feat of engineering and space technology – and perhaps what the odds are for a blockbuster event worthy of Hollywood to occur in real life!

    Episode 13: Minding the heavens: Sweeping the night sky with Caroline Herschel

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 11, 2024 45:41


    It is August 1st, 1786, and a starry haze zips through the night sky. As celestial phenomena go, this is just a fleeting event - but not one that evades Caroline Herschel's Newtonian “sweeper”. Although she doesn't know it yet, Herschel will soon be renowned as the great discoverer of comets, and one of the most eminent astronomers of her generation. Journey back in time with The Open Universe and meet the great Minder of the Heavens!

    Episode 12: Is the Universe slowing down?

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 13, 2024 40:46


    For 14 billion years, our Universe has been expanding.  For 5 billion years, its expansion has been accelerating.  But now.... is our Universe slowing down again? 

    Episode 11: The JWST Revolution, Part 3: Is the Universe Broken?

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 25, 2024 30:08


    Our exploration continues into the world of CEERS, one of the major flagship surveys of the early JWST data. Now, astronomers are confronted by yet more first generation galaxies that seem to defy scientific consensus -- a group of objects so luminous that their formation should not have been possible based on standard theories of galaxy formation. So, is the Universe truly broken? Or is it simply playing a cruel trick on our ability to locate how far these galaxies actually are....?

    Episode 10: The JWST Revolution, Part 2: Remarkably Bright Galaxies at Cosmic Dawn

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 27, 2024 36:55


    It's July 2022, and JWST is now in full swing – its early images already captivating people the world over. In all this excitement, however, a team of astronomers is struck by one thing in particular... two beacons of light, shining out from the very depths of time: extraordinarily bright galaxies in existence so early as to defy all expectations. But how could galaxies so big exist so soon after the birth of the cosmos? Have we misunderstood galaxy formation all along?     

    Episode 9: The JWST Revolution, Part 1: A New Space Telescope

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 6, 2024 47:14


    Christmas Day, 2021 offered a once-in-a-lifetime present to the astronomical community: JWST, a revolutionary new space telescope with the potential to transform our understanding of the cosmos. But with every new innovation, there is always room for plenty of surprises….  In our new miniseries on the Open Universe Podcast, we delve into the world of JWST and the incredible observations it's made in just the first year of its operations – some, perhaps, with the potential to break our understanding of the universe.  

    Episode 8: Fiat Lux: Conversations on science and faith at the Vatican Observatory

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 31, 2024 40:54


    The Open Universe goes on tour to Castel Gandolfo, Italy, home of the Vatican Observatory, where we chat with resident astronomer Richard D'Souza on astronomy, faith, and early efforts to map the Milky Way. 

    Episode 7: A secret ocean beneath Pluto's icy volcanoes?

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 29, 2023 58:18


    Volcanic explosions and surface flows on a frozen world?! Join us on board the New Horizons spacecraft on its journey towards the edge of the Solar System as it uncovers a distant world full of geological surprises.

    Episode 6: The most epic journey in the lifetime of a photon

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 20, 2023 60:52


    Photons traveling through spacetime are cosmic messengers carrying with them rich stories of the past history of our cosmos. Find out how an otherwise innocuous observation of distant quasars in 1965 transformed our understanding of the composition of intergalactic space, and the phases of evolution our Universe underwent billions of years ago.

    Episode 5: What is that beeping in the night sky?

    Play Episode Listen Later May 9, 2023 68:08


    For years, astronomers have been puzzled by the mysterious bursts of cosmic radio emission, until recently, two teams identified the origin of these events as extremely magnetic stars -- strong enough to disrupt credit cards on the moon!

    Episode 4: The final voyage in the life of a star

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2022 51:31


    Relive the story of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar who, as a 19-year old, came to a remarkable realization on board a ship journeying to start his physics scholarship in England. This discovery would lead to a bitter spat with one of the most eminent luminaries in the world of astronomy, and eventually reveal an astonishing feature of time and space – the existence of black holes.

    Episode 3: How did a 1912 circular open up our Universe?

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 2, 2022 32:56


    The vastness of space was unfathomable until a pioneer of "Big Data" found a regularity in the way some stars change brightness, a discovery which has ever since allowed us to precisely measure distances to stars throughout the Milky Way and beyond.

    Episode 2: The ultimate fate of the Universe

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 29, 2022 55:48


    Our universe appears to be an ever-expanding, or an open universe. Join us on a journey into the future to discover what this means for all the planets, stars, and galaxies.

    Episode 1: Can seismic activity on stars help us discover the next Earth?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 17, 2022 40:22


    Discovering small planets like the Earth orbiting other stars like the Sun is hard, but blobs of gas surfacing from stellar interiors can help.

    Episode 0: What's all this about??

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 9, 2022 3:48


    We hit our mid-life crises early and started a podcast about astronomy.

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