Podcasts about Milky Way

A three-way tug-of-war isn’t a common sight – unless you look toward the constellation Leo. Three galaxies there are tugging at one another, producing some spectacular results. The galaxies are M65, M66, and NGC 3628 – the Leo Triplet. All three galaxies are about the same size as our home galaxy, the Milky Way. And each may resemble the Milky Way – a beautiful spiral with a long “bar” of stars across its middle. The triplets are close enough together that the gravity of each galaxy exerts a strong pull on the others. That’s given M66 a slightly “wonky” look. The galaxy’s core is a little off-center. Its spiral arms are loosely wound, and they aren’t symmetrical. And the arms are lined with knots of starbirth. Some of the stars in these regions are huge. Such a star burns out quickly, then explodes as a supernova. And since 1973, we’ve seen five supernovas in M66 – compared to zero in the Milky Way. We see NGC 3628 edge-on, so it’s hard to know its exact shape. What we do see is a lane of dark dust sandwiched between brighter layers. We also see a “tail” that’s 300,000 light-years long – three times the size of the galaxy itself. It’s a ribbon of stars pulled out by the other galaxies in their ongoing “tug-of-war.” Leo is in the east at nightfall. The triplet is to the upper right of Denebola, the star at the lion’s tail. It’s an easy target for a small telescope. Script by Damond Benningfield

For Charles Messier, star clusters were a nuisance. The French astronomer was mainly interested in comets. In the 18th century, finding a comet could bring fame and fortune – kings sometimes awarded medals and fat stipends for their discovery. Through a telescope, star clusters could resemble comets. Messier and others might spend time following a cluster, only to find out that it wasn’t the prize. So Messier compiled a catalog of clusters and similar nuisances – a list of objects to ignore. Four of the clusters follow a narrow path near Canis Major, the big dog: M46, 47, 48, and 50 – a Messier “highway.” Although they’re close together in our sky, the clusters are not close together in space. Their distances range from about 1600 light-years to more than five thousand. So there’s no relationship among them. They appear close together because they all lie along the Milky Way – the glowing outline of the disk of the Milky Way Galaxy. In that direction, we’re looking into the most densely populated region of the galaxy, so we see many more stars and star clusters – including the “pesky” clusters cataloged by Charles Messier. The clusters are in the southeastern quadrant of the sky as night falls. Look for Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, due south. The clusters spread out to the left and upper left of Sirius. All of them are easy targets for binoculars. Script by Damond Benningfield

At the start of the Great Depression, a Minnesota candy magnate moved to the Pulaski area and became the community's biggest employer. Plus the local news for March 12, 2026 and Winter Storm Fern evictions. Credits: This is a production of Nashville Public RadioHost/producer: Nina CardonaEditor: LaTonya TurnerAdditional support: Mack Linebaugh, Tony Gonzalez, Megan Jones and the staff of WPLN and WNXP

Daily Bitachon: The Structural Geometry of Plants Welcome back to our Sha'ar HaBechina plant series. Today, we look at what I found to be the most fascinating aspect of this research: the structural geometry of plants . The way leaves are arranged on a stem isn't random; it is mathematical. Most plants follow the Fibonacci sequence : $1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34...$ and so on. In this sequence, each new number is the sum of the two before it ($5+8=13$, $8+13=21$). The Efficiency of the Spiral Why does HaKadosh Baruch Hu put this math into plants? Because it is the most efficient way to survive. Imagine a plant growing leaves. If every leaf grew directly above the one below it, the top leaf would steal all the sunlight and rain, and the bottom leaves would die. By following a spiral based on these Fibonacci numbers, the plant ensures that each leaf is tucked into a gap where it can still see the sun. ![Illustration of leaf phyllotaxis showing Fibonacci spiraling] Packing Perfection Look at a sunflower or a pinecone. The seeds are packed so tightly there is no wasted space. This happens because the seeds grow in two sets of spirals that criss-cross. If you count the spirals going left and those going right, they are almost always two neighbor numbers from the sequence, like 34 and 55 . Lilies usually have 3 petals. Buttercups have 5 . Daisies often have 34, 55, or 89 . Pineapples have scales that form spirals following these exact counts. Binyan vs. Tzmicha: The Growing Building The late Rav Wolbe used to contrast Binyan (building) with Tzmicha (growth). A building is made of dead blocks following a blueprint; a plant grows organically. But the novelty here is that there is a "building" happening inside the growth! There is an architectural design working within the plant itself. It is a "growing building"—a structure that isn't happening randomly but according to a specific mathematical stamp of wisdom. The Golden Ratio: God's Favorite Recipe While the Fibonacci sequence is a string of numbers, the Golden Ratio ($approx 1.6$) is the relationship between them. It is a way of dividing things so they are perfectly balanced. Imagine a bar of chocolate. If you break it so the big piece is $1.6$ times larger than the small piece, and the whole bar is $1.6$ times larger than the big piece, you've hit the "Golden" proportion. ![Diagram of the Golden Rectangle and the Fibonacci Spiral] Why it Matters to Us Aesthetics: Humans find this ratio naturally pleasing. Your credit card, a standard index card, and even the Mona Lisa are shaped close to this ratio because it feels "right" to our brains. Art & Music: Artists place subjects at the "Golden Line" (about 60% across) to make an image feel stable yet dynamic. Some composers even time the climax of a song to hit at the "Golden Moment"—62% of the way through. The Universal Stamp This isn't just in plants. The same ratio appears everywhere: The Human Body: The proportion between your hand and your arm, or the features of a balanced face. The Cosmos: The spiral of a massive hurricane and the structure of the Milky Way galaxy follow this exact geometry. Microscopic Life: Even DNA molecules measure in a way that reflects this sequence. In the language of Bitachon , this shows us there is One Designer . He put His stamp on everything. As the Sha'ar HaBechina teaches, even though everything in creation looks different, there is a singular, divine similarity that runs through it all. This mathematical sequence is the "identity card" of the Creator, found in every corner of the universe.

Are you feeling the dark pressing in, like truth is harder to find, the world feels scarier by the day, and your nervous system can't quite settle? And yet… something inside you knows this is also a turning point? Michael channels Archangel Michael (through automatic writing) with a message that's both sobering and wildly hopeful: this is a month of dark vs. light, truth vs. obscuration, and a collective "giant turn" that marks the beginning of the end of war, even if the headlines don't look like it yet. Archangel Michael's guidance is clear: the "darkness" may be focused, but the light is learning to become focused too, and that changes everything. From grounding your body, to reclaiming your voice, to taking community action, to a powerful prayer-circle meditation for "Heaven on Earth," this episode is a roadmap for empaths, lightworkers, and anyone who feels called to help humanity pivot to a higher timeline. This isn't about choosing sides. This is about cutting through obscuration, stepping into focus, and becoming a warrior of love, with your voice, your vision, and your heart. Key Topics Why this month feels like dark vs. light, and why it's "crazy difficult" to see clearly right now. The "giant turn" of an ancient system, and the lessening grip of the old way. The message that changes everything: a pivot point toward the end of war. Why war is described as "only good for profit" (and what that implies). The month of youth rising, and why the younger generation becomes the engine of change. The empath's role: being "grandfathered in" with gifts the youth are coming online with now. Why the light has struggled: "darkness is focused, light is diffuse" (and how focus flips the script). "Political depression": how hopelessness is engineered, and how to convert it into power. The two-step path: visioning a better world + taking real-world action with your voice and community. The March message: March with your voice, speech, and actions, for your future and the youth of tomorrow. A guided "Heaven on Earth" meditation: prayer circle, Milky Way, and broadcasting a new timeline from the heart. This is a lifeline for anyone searching for an "energy forecast," "Archangel Michael channeling," "empath tools," or a spiritual way to stay grounded during global chaos. If you've felt overwhelmed, exhausted, or hopeless, Michael offers a clear reset: ground the body, focus the light, reclaim your voice, and dare to envision (and broadcast) a future that doesn't fit the old paradigm. Join the Inspire Nation Soul Family!

Fear is often framed as something we should push through or conquer. But in practice, the relationship with fear is usually more nuanced. In this episode, I share reflections from a solo trip through southern Utah, including a memorable night of stargazing under the Milky Way at Cedar Breaks National Monument. The experience brought up an interesting tension between awe and instinctive caution. From that moment, I explore a broader question: how do we grow without overwhelming ourselves? Rather than ignoring fear or letting it run the show, there is a middle path where we can listen to our instincts, stretch beyond our comfort zone, and still maintain self-trust. This approach allows for meaningful expansion without creating the backlash that often comes from pushing too far. In this episode: • A stargazing experience that sparked reflections on fear • Why unfamiliar environments activate our survival instincts • The difference between healthy expansion and overwhelm • Why pushing through fear isn't always the best strategy • How to grow while maintaining self-trust and inner balance Want to support my work and be supported by my team of guides?  Check out my membership offer: https://www.patreon.com/practicalshamanism Want more audio content from me? Check out my online academy at https://academy.handsoverheart.com/  Sound editing by Kev Young.  You can reach them at kyoung.keviny@gmail.com DISCLAIMER: The suggestions and information provided here are intended for personal growth and exploration. The content of this podcast is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice or psychological treatment. Please seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health condition.   To learn more about me and my work, please visit my website at https://handsoverheart.com

One third of Americans believe the world will end in their lifetime. Astronomers discover 100 black holes devouring a star cluster. Oklahoma family reports Class A Bigfoot sighting. Scientists warn we're creating consciousness faster than we can understand it.Study published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology reveals apocalyptic thinking is now mainstream, not just fringe conspiracy theorists. Five psychological dimensions identified: imminence, causation (human vs divine), personal control, emotional outlook, and vision of what the end looks like. Researchers say this affects voting, policy, and how society responds to crises.Palomar 5 star cluster being consumed by swarm of 100+ black holes, each 20 times the mass of our sun. Located 80,000 light years from Earth with a 30,000 light year tidal stream. In a billion years, only black holes will remain orbiting the Milky Way.Family in Oklahoma witnesses massive bipedal creature crossing power line easement in broad daylight northwest of Durant. BFRO classifies as Class A encounter—credible witnesses, close range, no misidentification.Deep dive: Scientists warning of existential risk from creating consciousness faster than we understand it. Lab-grown brain organoids that might be aware. AI systems that could be conscious with no way to recognize it. Ethical disasters we're not prepared to handle. What happens when we can't tell if something is conscious?https://www.youtube.com/@InfiniteRabbitHolePodcastInfiniteRabbitHole.com

Astronomy Cast Ep. 785: Magnetars By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live March 6, 2026. Magnetars are a special type of neutron star with physics that defy comprehension. Magnetic fields so powerful they could strip you apart at an atomic level. But, where do they come from? So many mysteries to uncover about magnetars. Back in December 2004, a gamma rays washed out cameras and zotted satellites as a star on the other side of the Milky Way shifted around its magnetic fields. Magnetars are violent that way. In this episode of Astronomy Cast, Fraser and Pamela take on this tiny terrible monsters. This show is supported through people like you on Patreon.com/AstronomyCast In this episode, we'd like to thank: Burry Gowen, Eric Lee, Jeanette Wink, Michael Purcell, Andrew Poelstra, David, David Rossetter, Ed, Gerhard Schwarzer, Jason Kwong, Joe McTee, Sergey Manouilov, Siggi Kemmler, Sergio Sancevero

Sponsor Links:This episode of Space Nuts is brought to with the support of NordVPN. When you need to make your online life secure, get the one we use, NordVPN. To take advantage of our special offer, visit www.nordvpn/spacenutsMars Meteor Showers, Gas Giants, and the Search for Alien CivilizationsIn this engaging Q&A episode of Space Nuts, hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson respond to intriguing questions from listeners about our universe. From the risks of meteor showers on Mars to the gravitational effects of Jupiter on its moons, this episode is filled with cosmic curiosities and insightful discussions.Episode Highlights:- Meteor Showers on Mars: David from the UK wonders about the potential hazards of meteor showers on Mars, given its thin atmosphere. Andrew and Fred discuss how the reduced atmospheric pressure could allow smaller meteorites to reach the Martian surface and the implications for future human habitation.- Exploring Gas Giants: Penny asks whether there are plans to fly spacecraft through the atmospheres of Saturn and Jupiter. The hosts explain the challenges of such missions and highlight ongoing projects focused on the fascinating moons of these gas giants instead.- The Gravitational Dance of Europa: Andy from London seeks clarity on how Jupiter's gravity affects its moon, Europa, without pulling it closer. Andrew and Fred elaborate on the tidal forces at play and how they create the intriguing geological activity observed on Europa.- The Search for Alien Civilizations: Duncan raises the thought-provoking question of whether we are truly alone in the universe. The hosts discuss the vast distances involved in the Milky Way and the implications for potential communication with extraterrestrial life.For more Space Nuts, including our continuously updating newsfeed and to listen to all our episodes, visit our website. Follow us on social media at SpaceNutsPod on Facebook, Instagram, and more. We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favorite platform.If you'd like to help support Space Nuts and join our growing family of insiders for commercial-free episodes and more, visit spacenutspodcast.com/about.Stay curious, keep looking up, and join us next time for more stellar insights and cosmic wonders. Until then, clear skies and happy stargazing.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT3Pxmo1YLc Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain ) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest ) Streamed live March 6, 2026. Magnetars are a special type of neutron star with physics that defy comprehension. Magnetic fields so powerful they could strip you apart at an atomic level. But, where do they come from? So many mysteries to uncover about magnetars. Back in December 2004, a gamma rays washed out cameras and zotted satellites as a star on the other side of the Milky Way shifted around its magnetic fields. Magnetars are violent that way. In this episode of Astronomy Cast, Fraser and Pamela take on this tiny terrible monsters.   This show is supported through people like you on Patreon.com/AstronomyCast In this episode, we'd like to thank: Burry Gowen, Eric Lee, Jeanette Wink, Michael Purcell, Andrew Poelstra, David, David Rossetter, Ed, Gerhard Schwarzer, Jason Kwong, Joe McTee, Sergey Manouilov, Siggi Kemmler, Sergio Sancevero   We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.  Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!  Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.  Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org.

Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain ) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest ) Streamed live March 6, 2026. Magnetars are a special type of neutron star with physics that defy comprehension. Magnetic fields so powerful they could strip you apart at an atomic level. But, where do they come from? So many mysteries to uncover about magnetars. Back in December 2004, a gamma rays washed out cameras and zotted satellites as a star on the other side of the Milky Way shifted around its magnetic fields. Magnetars are violent that way. In this episode of Astronomy Cast, Fraser and Pamela take on this tiny terrible monsters.   This show is supported through people like you on Patreon.com/AstronomyCast In this episode, we'd like to thank: Burry Gowen, Eric Lee, Jeanette Wink, Michael Purcell, Andrew Poelstra, David, David Rossetter, Ed, Gerhard Schwarzer, Jason Kwong, Joe McTee, Sergey Manouilov, Siggi Kemmler, Sergio Sancevero

This is the sixtieth episode in the Crypto Hipster's Curtain Calls Series, which includes 3–4-minute clips from Seasons 6-8. This compilation draws upon my conversations with:Da Hongfei, founder @ Neo (4/14/2024, Season 7)Myles Harrison, Chief Product Officer @ AMINA Bank (6/25/2024, Season 7)Barna Kiss, co-founder @ Malda (3/9/2025, Season 8)Sunil Srivatsa, founder and CEO @ Storm Labs (4/12/2024, Season 7)Josie Leung, COO and co-founder @ MilkyWay (3/4/2025, Season 8)

Artemis Updates, the Brian Nebula, and Galactic MappingIn this enlightening episode of Space Nuts, hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson dive into the latest developments in space exploration and celestial phenomena. From the shifting timelines of the Artemis program to the fascinating discoveries made by the James Webb Space Telescope, this episode is packed with cosmic insights and intriguing discussions.Episode Highlights:- Artemis Program Updates: Andrew and Fred discuss the recent delays in the Artemis 2 mission, which is now expected to launch no earlier than April. They also explore the implications of the newly inserted Artemis 3 mission, which will focus on testing spacecraft capabilities in Earth orbit before the lunar landing.- The Brian in Space: The hosts delve into the discovery of the PMR1 nebula, also known as the Exposed Cranium Nebula. They discuss its unusual appearance and the significance of the James Webb Space Telescope's observations that reveal this nebula's intricate structure, reminiscent of a brain.- Mapping the Galactic Center: Andrew and Fred highlight a groundbreaking survey of the center of our galaxy, revealing the complex dynamics and chemical compositions within this turbulent region. They discuss the technologies used in this research and what it means for our understanding of the Milky Way.For more Space Nuts, including our continuously updating newsfeed and to listen to all our episodes, visit our website. Follow us on social media at SpaceNutsPod on Facebook, Instagram, and more. We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favorite platform.If you'd like to help support Space Nuts and join our growing family of insiders for commercial-free episodes and more, visit spacenutspodcast.com/about.Stay curious, keep looking up, and join us next time for more stellar insights and cosmic wonders. Until then, clear skies and happy stargazing.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space

Australians stranded in the Middle East are being urged to wait for airlines to issue tickets before heading to airports, as a possible flight from Dubai to Sydney may depart; Israel has sent troops into southern Lebanon and ordered residents of more than 80 villages to evacuate, as Iran-backed Hezbollah declared it was ready for an “open war;” KIIS afternoon host Kent 'Smallzy' Small has stepped in to host the breakfast radio show, telling listeners “the show must go on;" Dark skies are rapidly disappearing, with artificial light pollution now so widespread that more than a third of the world’s population, about 2.8 billion people, can no longer see the Milky Way from where they live. THE END BITS Support independent women's media Check out The Quicky Instagram here GET IN TOUCHShare your story, feedback, or dilemma! Send us a voice note or email us at thequicky@mamamia.com.au CREDITS Host: Grace Rouvray Audio Producer: Lu Hill Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Geoff Clayton is an astronomer at the Maria Mitchell Association. This week Geoff talks about the center of our Milky Way galaxy and its supermassive black hole.

 Dark Dragons Astronomy✨ Agena Astro |

What do the orbits of the moon around the earth, the earth around the sun, and our solar system around the Milky Way have in common?  They are all in their corresponding Goldilocks zones.  A fantastic stroke of good fortune according to an evolutionary worldview.

Astronomers may have found the missing link in the story of the Milky Way's most common planets. In this SETI Live, host Moiya McTier is joined by exoplanet scientist John H. Livingston to explore a new discovery that helps connect the dots between small rocky worlds like Earth and the larger "sub-Neptunes" that dominate our galaxy. Using cutting-edge observations and statistical analysis, researchers have identified a population of planets that appears to bridge a long-standing gap in our understanding of planetary formation. For years, astronomers have known that planets of sizes between Earth and Neptune are incredibly common—but their origins and evolutionary paths have remained puzzling. This new result may finally clarify how these worlds form, evolve, and sometimes transform. What does this mean for: • How do planetary systems assemble? • Why does our Solar System look so unusual? • The search for habitable worlds beyond Earth? Join us as we break down the science, the methods, and the bigger implications for exoplanet research and the search for life. Press release: https://www.abc-nins.jp/en/2026/01/08/10010/ Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09840-z (Recorded live 26 February 2026.)

You have more mitochondria in your body than there are stars in the Milky Way, and they determine how energized, focused, and resilient you feel every day. When they're damaged, your “battery” drains fast, no matter how healthy you try to be. In this episode, I'm breaking down the modern energy thieves—and the simple, powerful steps to turn your cellular power back on. Watch The Dr. Josh Axe Show every Monday & Thursday on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@drjoshaxe?sub_confirmation=1 

SpaceTime with Stuart Gary Gary - Series 29 Episode 26In this episode of SpaceTime, we delve into NASA's postponed return to the lunar surface, a remarkable hypersonic test flight by an Australian company, and the fascinating hidden chemistry at the heart of the Milky Way galaxy.Nasa's Lunar Return DelayedNASA has announced a significant delay in its plans to return humans to the lunar surface, pushing the Artemis 4 mission to 2028. The upcoming Artemis 3 mission will focus on testing systems in low Earth orbit instead of conducting a lunar landing. NASA officials emphasize the need for a methodical approach to ensure the safety and success of future missions, including critical tests of lunar landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin. This strategic shift aims to facilitate at least one major lunar landing annually starting in 2028.Successful Hypersonic Test FlightAn Australian scramjet has achieved a successful test flight, propelling the Dart hypersonic aircraft to speeds exceeding five times the speed of sound. This milestone underscores the potential of scramjet technology, which utilizes a unique engine design without moving parts to achieve hypersonic speeds. The successful mission, launched from Rocket Lab's Wallops Island facility, marks a significant step toward developing autonomous hypersonic vehicles capable of sustained flight and could pave the way for future space travel advancements.Revealing the Milky Justin's ChemistryAstronomers have captured the largest and most detailed image of the central region of the Milky Way galaxy, unveiling a complex network of filaments and cosmic gas. This groundbreaking observation, made possible by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), provides unprecedented insights into the processes of star formation in the galactic center. The study reveals the intricate chemistry of the central molecular zone, detecting various molecules and enhancing our understanding of star formation in extreme environments.www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com✍️ Episode ReferencesScientific Reports, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical SocietySupport our podcast: Become a supporter.

What do you do when a new data point drops—and all eyes turn to you? In this episode, John Dues and Andrew Stotz explore the leadership discipline required when performance data changes. Instead of reacting to a single data point, they unpack how Deming thinking (understanding variation, avoiding tampering, and pausing to interpret patterns) can protect trust, stability, and improvement. A practical conversation for leaders who want wisdom—not speed—to guide their decisions. TRANSCRIPT 0:00:02.3 Andrew Stotz: My name is Andrew Stotz, and I'll be your host as we dive deeper into the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Today, I'm continuing my discussion with John Dues, who is part of the new generation of educators striving to apply Dr. Deming's principles to unleash student joy in learning. The topic for today is when the numbers change and everyone looks at you. John, take it away.   0:00:28.4 John Dues: Yeah, it's good to be back, Andrew. I think this is sort of an interesting topic. Many of us that have been in leadership roles have been in this position where the numbers change, whatever they may be. For me, they're dips in attendance, they're assessment results changing, something like that, a subgroup's results changes from the previous year. Sometimes the changes are small, sometimes they're big. But I'm thinking about times when they're just large enough to draw attention in a meeting. And it's not even really so much the size of the change that's important, it's what happens next.   0:01:12.9 John Dues: So you can kind of put yourself in one of these meetings where you're looking at data and maybe you didn't even expect it, but people kind of notice. Then someone asks what went wrong? And then the next thing that comes is someone suggests some type of fix or solution, and then this pressure starts to build. Especially if they're all sort of looking at you, the silence can feel irresponsible. And so what do we do? We react in some way. We call another... For explanations, maybe from others. We adjust a plan that's already in place. We launch a new initiative or tighten expectations on people, whatever it may be. None of it's out of malice. It's done out of care, most typically, or at least in the settings I've observed this sort of phenomenon.   0:02:13.1 Andrew Stotz: Don't just stand there, do something.   0:02:15.2 John Dues: Don't just stand there, do something. But the thing is, very often it just makes things worse. Right?   0:02:21.0 Andrew Stotz: Don't just do something. Stand there.   0:02:23.8 John Dues: Right, right. The opposite. But even if you know that, it's very, very difficult in the moment to...   0:02:32.5 Andrew Stotz: The pressures.   0:02:33.6 John Dues: Yeah.   0:02:34.9 Andrew Stotz: Well, I have a little... Little thing happened last night when a friend of mine came to see my mom and me, and we went out for there's a restaurant nearby, so we got the walker and got mom going. And her natural inclination was to help mom in getting up and that type of thing. And I was explaining to her the difference between what I call a caregiver and a caretaker. And I was saying that most people are caretakers where they're just taking care and they want to just help. And she's like, "It's irresistible. I mean, in my bones, I want to help." And I said, "It's very hard to see that sometimes the best help is to let her struggle and use her legs to get up, not to help her on that." And that was like a revelation for her last night, it just made me think about that.   0:03:33.8 John Dues: No, that's actually a perfect analogy because her health is sort of a high stakes environment. Just like schools are high stakes environments or many of the businesses that people run that listen to this podcast have high stakes. In our cases, it's students and families matter, outcomes matter. There's a lot of different stakeholders that are interested in what's going on in schools. And when those numbers do change, it can feel like neglect if you don't do anything. We're expected to notice. We're expected to... Good leaders are supposed to respond. They're supposed to act decisively, right?   0:04:12.0 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, because there's another aspect to it too. Let's just say that you have a boss that understands it and you're like, "Yeah, it's just noise. It's not signal." But how many times can you say that? Right?   0:04:27.8 John Dues: Yeah, that's right.   0:04:28.5 Andrew Stotz: That's another kind of pressure in that situation.   0:04:31.6 John Dues: Yeah, that's like the second-in-command type person, right? So they have their own pressure. And what you can see happening, this like visible action is sort of like evidence of competence because you can see it. And so the reaction becomes the default. So just like in this example you're giving with your mom, that action to help is very hard to resist. Even though by doing so, like you were saying, she doesn't get the physical exercise and actually makes things worse in the long term for your mom's health.   0:05:10.4 Andrew Stotz: "Boss, why did Kevin get a promotion and not me?" "Well, Kevin's a man of action."   0:05:14.8 John Dues: Man of action, right. Exactly. Exactly. And there's all these risks for a leader that doesn't react right away. Are they disengaged? If they're asking questions instead of acting right away, are they just uncertain? They lack certainty? Are you ignoring the data if you are pausing or waiting? Again, under these conditions, which I think are prevalent just about everywhere that I've been, at least, reacting quickly feels like the safest move. But I think the conflation is speed and wisdom. But speed is not, definitely not the same thing as wisdom, right?   0:06:02.1 John Dues: In all of our organizations, the data fluctuates naturally over time. No different in schools, like we've talked about. Attendance rises and falls, assessment results bounce up and down, behavior incidents they spike and they dip. And it's not necessarily a sign that something's broken. It's often just how systems typically behave, the systems that we're paying attention to. I think the main mistake leaders typically make in that moment when they see that movement is that they think that automatically means something changed. And so you get these concerns if it's a bad move in the data. If it's a short-term increase, maybe we trigger some type of celebration. So this works both ways, actually. But the main point is that one data point becomes a story. It becomes the story of what's... We try to attach an explanation to this dip or this increase that's actually not grounded in any kind of reality. We would say they're just reacting to noise, kind of like what you just said. And the problem, though, is that there's a number of then very predictable things that happen. First, educators, and I felt this as a teacher. I taught in Atlanta Public Schools, a big district that was trying lots of new things in the early 2000s. You feel this whiplash. So priority shifts, guidance changes. Yesterday's focus is replaced by today's concern.   0:07:44.5 John Dues: And what happens in a setting like that, that I found, is that people start explaining instead of learning. Especially when there's a strong accountability system like there is in education systems, results are questioned immediately, often. And so the safest response at almost all levels of the organization is just to justify what's already happened, not to explore what might be improved. Very, very, very difficult. And that then leads to trust eroding. And over time, what I've seen is that educators learn that any fluctuation brings scrutiny. They become cautious, defensive, quiet. And obviously none of that improves outcomes. And again, just like in the example with your mom, it actually makes things harder to improve in the long term. So this overreacting to this routine variation then often increases variation, and so the system actually becomes noisier and not more capable. You get this vicious cycle. What's that?   0:09:00.5 Andrew Stotz: Tampering.   0:09:01.8 John Dues: Yeah, tampering. Exactly. That's what Deming would call it, tampering. When you intervene in a stable system.   0:09:07.3 Andrew Stotz: It's interesting. The one data point becomes a story is a great, great line. In the world of finance, everybody's trying to get the next wave. As a financial analyst, you're trying to think, okay. And all we do constantly is look at the next data point and say, "Does this confirm or not my view that gold's going to crash now, or gold's going to rise, or US stocks are going to X, or the dollar is going to... " And most of the time, we're just making one data point become a story, and then the next data point comes out and it's like, "Okay, so there's a different story here." And then...   0:09:51.3 John Dues: Yeah. That explanation there it's sort of... The key idea is reaction. It's literally seductive. It is seductive because it feels productive.   0:10:04.3 Andrew Stotz: In my finance work, when I help people with their money, what I do introduce what I've learned from Dr. Deming to say it really helps me separate the signal from the noise in the stock market, and therefore, I will never react. And I even set parameters where I rebalance my portfolio every three months. So when they go, "What are you going to do about such and such?" it's like, "Everything's set. I'm going to wait until the results are in, and I'm going to reevaluate on a framework, on a systematic way," which just helps me from getting whipsawed this way or whiplash this way or that way. And it's proven to be not only great for helping people feel like I have a deeper understanding and follow what I'm doing, but it also improves performance.   0:11:07.7 John Dues: Yeah. And you know, I'm definitely no financial expert by any means, but it makes me think of The Big Short, the movie, when I don't know how true to reality it is, but when the character played by Christian Bale, Michael Burry, is sticking to his guns with his shorting of the housing market and people are coming into his office and screaming at him. He's getting emails that are coming in one after another calling him an idiot, threatening him with lawsuits, and he holds. So that's like an extreme example of not reacting to noise. And you can see what it does to him in the movie, the intestinal fortitude, before sort of it comes to the conclusion. He got less and less certain even though he stuck to his guns, that he was doing the right thing. Right.   0:12:00.3 Andrew Stotz: I got to get that clip because I want to combine that with Mel Gibson in that movie, I can't remember, the Celtic battles in England where he's saying, "Hold the line! Hold the line!" What is it?   0:12:13.6 John Dues: Braveheart, probably.   0:12:16.3 Andrew Stotz: Braveheart. Yeah.   0:12:17.9 John Dues: Braveheart. Yeah. That's because when you're having a conversation like this and you talk about this leadership concept, just about everybody's going to nod along with you. But when you are actually in the moment, very few people hold the line, very few people hold the line. But at least if you have this grounding, at least you'll be more likely to hold the line because you have some techniques and some ways to sort of paint this picture that there's a firm logic. There's never certainty, but at least there's a firm logic for why you're holding the line in a particular situation. But it's very, very hard. Very hard.   0:12:58.2 Andrew Stotz: One question is, could there be such a thing like a mantra that the management team could have? Something like, "One point is not the full story," or something that they talk about in non-emotional times so that they've got it set. So when all of these numbers change and everyone looks at you, it's like, "Guys, remember, one point is not the story."   0:13:28.1 John Dues: Yeah, no, that's a really good idea. That would be a good sort of internal value or something marketing-wise that you could sort of, something sticky that would remind people of this, especially in those moments of anxiety or even panic, depending on the particular situation and the type of data that you're talking about. That's a good idea. I think the key thing is that activity is not the same as improvement. It feels good. It feels good to change something, introduce something new, new rules, new expectations, even though the system itself hasn't changed. And like you said, that's tampering. You make adjustments to a stable system based on something that's just routine ups and downs and it degrades performance. I think a lot of people are familiar with Deming's Red Bead Experiment. Less of them are familiar with the Funnel Experiment. He basically talks about when you are trying to hit a target through a funnel and you move it each time to sort of adjust for the variation from the mark. You actually, he called it going off into the Milky Way in terms of where you end up when you make these adjustments every single time.   0:14:46.1 Andrew Stotz: I thought that demonstration was so... I don't remember that he did it in the seminars that I attended. I remember the Red Bead Experiment. But that tampering is so powerful to understand the mess you can end up in.   0:15:05.7 John Dues: Yeah. And that was in The New Economics. I don't think he ever did it in a four-day seminar that I remember. But the interesting thing is generally the best choice is just to keep the funnel in the same place and keep going. But again, that's very hard. Especially let's say you're doing this as a group activity and group two, three, four, and five, you're looking over and they're making these adjustments every time, and you're just sitting there. And you're like, "Maybe they're onto something," or "Maybe I do need to move." But at the end of it, they're much farther away than you are.   0:15:43.4 Andrew Stotz: And I feel like the title you talked about, "When the Numbers Change and Everyone Looks at You," is evoking that emotion of, "Am I doing something wrong? Other people would do it a different way. Oh, they're making progress. I'm just sitting here." Those kind of emotions are the types of things that cause that tampering.   0:16:02.7 John Dues: Yeah. And then that shows up as initiative overload. You get these contradictory messages, constant course correction like in the Funnel Experiment. And the irony is you typically have a leader who cares deeply and they don't realize they're creating the very instability that makes improvement impossible. It's a tough realization. So what I would say is that when the data does change, the most important leadership move is not action, but it's interpretation. So instead of asking, "What should we do?" maybe a good first question is, "Is this shift within the range of what we should expect?" So just that question kind of slows the moment down. It shifts attention from reaction to understanding and it invites the group to look at data over time rather than point to point. It opens up this possibility that nothing is wrong even if the results aren't yet acceptable.   0:17:15.4 Andrew Stotz: Love that. Love that.   0:17:16.8 John Dues: Yeah, I think it's a really important...   0:17:17.5 Andrew Stotz: Is this shift within the range of what we would expect?   0:17:20.6 John Dues: Yeah.   0:17:21.1 Andrew Stotz: Answer's going to be "Yes, this is in the range." So next topic in a meeting.   0:17:28.5 John Dues: Right. And we've talked about this before. And it's possible when you've asked that question that the system itself looks stable, but it also may be producing outcomes we don't like. And so the key is even in those cases, reacting to an individual data point is not going to help. In that case, if you have stability but outcomes you don't like, you need thoughtful system redesign. But these sort of urgency-driven immediate fixes, overreaction, that's not going to help. That's not going to help.   0:18:06.9 John Dues: So the big thing is pausing before reacting. But that's often misunderstood. We talked about is he or she ignoring the data? Are they lowering expectations? Is that leader just indecisive? I don't think so. I think that's really what discipline is. And pausing, being that person that says, "Let's take a breath and pause here," it creates the space to study patterns rather than focusing on those individual data points. It allows leaders to separate stability from acceptability. It prevents unnecessary pressure then cascading through the system, which is what often happens. And so what I think is when you actually pause, what you're doing is protecting the people in your organization. When you do that, I think in an education system it protects teachers from being judged on noise they can't control. I think it protects leaders from... They are often then turning around and making promises that the system can't actually keep. It's sort of like a short-term thing, but you're hurting the long term. And then it protects students because they don't then undergo all these constant changes that disrupt their learning.   0:19:43.1 John Dues: So I think what a leader, a strong leader does that's different is they ask questions. What does this look like over time? Is this a meaningful signal from what we've seen before? What should we expect if nothing changes? Just some basic questions. I think resisting the urge to explain every up and down movement. And it's really at the end of the day what it comes down to is you're not trying to assign meaning to every data point, but what you're trying to do is understand the underlying system behavior. Now sometimes action is warranted, and in those cases, you're going to act in a deliberate way. When it's not, they're going to communicate that and communicate why we're going to wait in this particular scenario and why that's the responsible choice. So there's got to be this underlying logic whichever direction you're going to go. And I think if you've ever been around a leader like this, it feels calm. It just feels calm. It feels steady. And over time, the key thing is it creates this system that's trusting and then as a result, it's far more capable of improvement. It's far more likely that improvement's going to happen.   0:21:13.4 Andrew Stotz: That's amazing. And I was just taking lots of notes, but I wrote down pause, have discipline, protect employees, protect students. But I wrote down protect the aim.   0:21:27.0 John Dues: Yeah, protect the aim. That's good.   0:21:28.7 Andrew Stotz: Protect the aim of the system. Why are we here? And if we can't do that pause and look at it carefully, there's just no way we're going to achieve that.   0:21:43.3 John Dues: Yeah, no, I agree. And I think the thing is with these situations is that the most damaging decisions in schools are often made after the numbers change, but not because of the numbers themselves. Like even if they've declined, typically it's not to the point that it's catastrophic, but what's catastrophic is the series of decisions that are made as a result of the decline. And so in those situations again, this reaction feels responsible. But really what happens when you react without understanding is it creates more noise, more stress, more instability, and you still don't have the improvement at the end of all that consternation.   0:22:30.1 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, I would sum up my sum of this is the bad manager says, "That's a terrible result. Let's make it worse."   0:22:42.0 John Dues: And that's really what's happening. They're obviously not saying it, but that's exactly what's happening. Exactly. That's a really good summary. And I would kind of sum it up with three big ideas that would be helpful for listeners. I think the first one is that not all variation is meaningful. Most fluctuations actually are just routine, should not trigger action. The second one we've talked about, that overreaction creates instability. Acting on noise makes systems worse, not better. And then the third thing I would say is that pausing is a leadership skill and understanding must come before action.   0:23:30.2 John Dues: And I say it's a skill 'cause you actually have to practice it. I think you have to prepare yourself for what you're going to do when you get in front of a group and you're going to talk about results and those results maybe aren't exactly where you want them to be. You have to practice that, rehearse it. What are you going to say? How are you going to back that up? What's the logic? But I think when leaders learn to have that pause before reacting, they actually protect learning, they protect trust, and then they actually create the conditions for improvement. And I think that's the work that matters most when everyone's looking at you to make a key decision. Not easy, but certainly important work.   0:24:08.6 Andrew Stotz: That's a great wrap. I'm not going to add anything to it. John, on behalf of everyone at the Deming Institute, I want to thank you again for this discussion. And for listeners, remember to go to deming.org to continue your journey. You can find John's book, Win-Win: W. Edwards Deming, the System of Profound Knowledge, and the Science of Improving Schools on amazon.com. This is your host, Andrew Stotz, and I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming, "People are entitled to joy in work."      

 This episode's guests:Remi Bouche, Science Coordinator at Mont-Megantic.Jeremey Evans, Photographer - Filmmaker.Dashiell Leeds, Conservation Coordinator for the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter.Bill's News Picks:Let there be light — but not in Maine, GREG WALCHER, The Daily Sentinel.Our state is the best place in the country to bring dreams to life: A second Sphere venue is coming to the US, Fraser Lewry, Louder.LED lighting undermines visual performance unless supplemented by wider spectra, Nature. Exposure to outdoor artificial light at night is associated with a higher risk of ulcerative colitis: a prospective cohort study from the UK Biobank, Frontiers in Public Health.Are You Afraid of the Dark? This Oregon Retreat Locks You in Total Darkness. For Days. On Purpose, Danielle Denham, That Oregon Life. Send Feedback Text to the Show!Support the showA hearty thank you to all of our paid supporters out there. You make this show possible. For only the cost of one coffee each month you can help us to continue to grow. That's $3 a month. If you like what we're doing, if you think this adds value in any way, why not say thank you by becoming a supporter! Why Support Light Pollution News? Receive quarterly invite to join as live audience member for recordings with special Q&A session post recording with guests. Receive all of the news for that month via a special Supporter monthly mailer. Satisfaction that your support helps further critical discourse on this topic. About Light Pollution News: Ever wonder why migrating birds crash into buildings? Or why you can't sleep at night? What about where you can still see the Milky Way? Light Pollution News explores how our 24/7 lit world affects everything from wildlife and human health to our understanding of the stars, travel, and the future of our cities. Host Bill McGeeney brings on rotating guests to help dig into the latest research, policy activity, and real-world solutions - from how irresponsible lighting degrades our health to the best dark sky destinations for your next trip. Whether you're a birder, conservationist, astrophotographer, or just someone who misses sleeping in darkness, this is the show that connects the dots between your...

fWotD Episode 3223: Galaxy Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Monday, 2 March 2026, is Galaxy.A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek galaxias (γαλαξίας), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. Galaxies, averaging an estimated 100 million stars, range in size from dwarfs with less than a thousand stars, to the largest galaxies known – supergiants with one hundred trillion stars, each orbiting its galaxy's centre of mass. Most of the mass in a typical galaxy is in the form of dark matter, with only a few percent of that mass visible in the form of stars and nebulae. Supermassive black holes are a common feature at the centres of galaxies.Galaxies are categorised according to their visual morphology as elliptical, spiral, or irregular. The Milky Way is an example of a spiral galaxy. In addition to shape, galaxies may be notable due to special properties, such as interacting with another galaxy, producing stars at an unusual rate, or having an active galactic nucleus. It is estimated that there are between 200 billion (2×1011) and 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe. Most galaxies are 1,000 to 100,000 parsecs in diameter (approximately 3,000 to 300,000 light years) and are separated by distances in the order of millions of parsecs (or megaparsecs). For comparison, the Milky Way has a diameter of at least 26,800 parsecs (87,400 ly). Its nearest large neighbour, the Andromeda Galaxy, is just over 750,000 parsecs (2.4 million ly) away.Most galaxies are gravitationally organised into groups, clusters and superclusters. The Milky Way is part of the Local Group, which it dominates along with the Andromeda Galaxy. The group is part of the Virgo Supercluster. At the largest scale, these associations are generally arranged into sheets and filaments surrounded by immense voids. While there are good models describing the formation of stars from gravitational condensation of dense clouds of gas, galaxy formation is less well understood. The process operates on the scale of a billion years. Galaxies occasionally collide during their lifetime.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:31 UTC on Monday, 2 March 2026.For the full current version of the article, see Galaxy on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm generative Matthew.

NASA rewrites the Artemis roadmap, the Space Force grounds Vulcan Centaur, astronomers peer back 11 billion years to the universe's most extraordinary construction site, water bears reveal surprising secrets about Martian soil, NASA passes a key milestone in extracting oxygen from lunar regolith, and ancient stellar lighthouses rewrite the Milky Way's origin story. Plus — six planets in tonight's sky.

Astronomers have just spotted something terrifying: a “zombie star” streaking across the Milky Way, and it might be one of the strangest—and most dangerous—objects in our galaxy. Known only as SGR 0501+4516, this cosmic oddity is tearing through space at speeds most rockets could only dream of — and its magnetic power? Let's just say it makes Earth's field look like a fridge magnet. Could this be a new class of celestial monster… or something even weirder? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Astronomy Daily  |  S05E49  |  February 26, 2026 Six Planets, a Surprise in the Milky Way, and the First ISS Medical Evacuation Revealed   Tonight the Moon sits right next to Jupiter in what is the visual highlight of the February six-planet alignment. Meanwhile, astronomers have made a jaw-dropping discovery about our galaxy's magnetic field, NASA has named the astronaut at the centre of last month's historic ISS medical evacuation, and a hypersonic scramjet launch has been scrubbed. All that and more in today's episode.   IN THIS EPISODE •       SKYWATCHING — Moon-Jupiter conjunction tonight: the six-planet alignment (Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) is peaking right now, with Jupiter blazing beside the waxing Moon after sunset. The Blood Moon total lunar eclipse arrives March 3. •       DEEP SPACE — The world's largest radio telescope array has made new chemical discoveries in the turbulent heart of the Milky Way around Sagittarius A*, our galaxy's supermassive black hole. •       ARTEMIS UPDATE — NASA's SLS rocket has returned to the Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs; early April is now the earliest realistic launch window for the crewed lunar flyby. •       ISS — NASA has named the astronaut who required the first-ever medical evacuation from the International Space Station, following last month's early return of Crew-11. •       SCIENCE — A groundbreaking new map of the Milky Way's magnetic field reveals an unexpected diagonal reversal in the Sagittarius Arm — a discovery that prompted an OMG moment for the lead researcher. •       LAUNCH UPDATE — Rocket Lab's HASTE ‘That's Not a Knife' hypersonic mission carrying an Australian hydrogen scramjet demonstrator has been scrubbed; no new date yet.   FIND US Website: astronomydaily.io  |  Social: @AstroDailyPod  |  Part of the Bitesz.com Podcast NetworkBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support.Sponsor Details:Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN. To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit www.bitesz.com/nordvpn. You'll be glad you did!Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click HereThis episode includes AI-generated content.

On Episode 10 of Season 6 of the Old Radio Comedy Podcast,we bring you the Feb. 18, 1945 broadcast from Old Gold Comedy Theater, “The Milky Way,” and the Jan. 23, 1948 broadcast from the Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, “The Argument.” Enjoy!

Recently, cosmologist Dr. Sean Carroll suggested that the amount of galaxies in our universe is not something we would expect if God created the universe. But how does Dr. Carroll know what we should expect a God-created universe to look like? That's a question we explore on this month's episode of Good Heavens! Come and see! The thumbnail image of this month's episode is an enormous field of galaxies, thousands of them, released by NASA and the ESA last April. You can read more about this stunning image here. With the exception of the orbs of light with diffraction spikes (stars in our own Milky Way galaxy) every dot of light is a galaxy with tens or hundreds of billions of stars! (Psalm 19:1-6; Isaiah 40:26; Gen. 1:14-16). Watch the Alex O'Connor and Sean Carroll in conversation on YouTube.+ Email us and let us know how you're enjoying the podcast! Psalm1968@gmail.com. Good Heavens! is a production of Watchman Fellowship, Inc. Visit our website today at Watchman.org. Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.  To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens.  This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.

In this exclusive best of episode, I sit down with Andrew Collins, author of the new book "Karahan Tepe: Civilization of the Anunnaki and the Cosmic Origins of the Serpent of Eden." This book is Andrew's two-decade long quest to understand this sister site of Göbekli Tepe. Explaining how Karahan Tepe functioned as a shamanic centre for oracular communications, Andrew shows how the site's rock-cut structures were used to connect with the Galactic bulge and stars of Scorpius in their role as, respectively, the head and active spirit of a world-encircling snake identified with the entire length of the Milky Way. He traces this serpent motif throughout history, identifying it with the biblical serpent of Eden, the Kundalini of Vedic tradition, and the black snake of the Yezidis. He shows also how the founders of Karahan Tepe were recalled in Hebrew myth and legend as the Watchers and Nephilim and in Sumerian and Babylonian mythology as the Anunnaki. These then were the true founders behind Taş Tepeler, the world's first post ice age civilization, a subject he has championed since the writing of his seminal work “From the Ashes of Angels” in 1995, penned as the first spades were going into the ground at Göbekli Tepe.GET ANDREW'S BOOKJOIN ME ON A TOUR

The Earth spent some crazy amounts of time (tens of millions of years) completely frozen over. And not, in the grand scheme of things, all that long ago. New research shows the ocean was salty and super-cold. How did life survive? New techniques using radio observations reveal a complicated and twisty galactic magnetic field. Join us for an icy, winter olympics themed episode to find out all this and more.

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# Exploring Cosmic Frontiers: Webb Telescope Reveals Universe's Hidden SecretsJourney through space with The Space Cowboy as this captivating podcast episode unpacks the latest groundbreaking discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope. From organic molecules in distant galaxies to evidence challenging our understanding of cosmic evolution, this episode delivers fascinating insights into our universe's deepest mysteries.Discover how researchers used Webb's powerful infrared capabilities to uncover unprecedented chemical complexity in galaxy IRAS 07251-0248, revealing organic compounds never before detected outside our Milky Way. Learn about the surprising influence of "quiet" supermassive black holes that subtly shape their galaxies, and marvel at the discovery of the most distant jellyfish galaxy ever observed—challenging theories about early galaxy formation.The episode culminates with Webb's most paradigm-shifting revelation: massive, mature galaxies existing far earlier in cosmic history than current models can explain, potentially requiring cosmologists to rewrite our understanding of the universe's evolution.Perfect for astronomy enthusiasts, science lovers, and anyone fascinated by the cosmos, this accessible exploration of cutting-edge space discoveries will leave you with a renewed appreciation for the mysteries awaiting us among the stars.#JamesWebbTelescope #Astronomy #CosmicDiscoveries #SpaceExploration #Astrophysics #GalaxyFormation #BlackHolesSome great Deals https://amzn.to/49SJ3QsFor more check out http://www.quietplease.aiThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

U herinnert zich vast wel die oranje-zwarte foto van het superzware zwarte gat in het midden van ons melkwegstelsel, genaamd Sagittarius A*. In deze aflevering willen we beweren dat dit misschien helemaal geen zwart gat was. Maar wat was het dan wel?Een zwart gat van donkere materie?https://news.mit.edu/2024/exotic-black-holes-could-be-dark-matter-byproduct-0606Could the Milky Way galaxy's supermassive black hole actually be a clump of dark matter?https://www.space.com/astronomy/dark-universe/could-the-milky-way-galaxys-supermassive-black-hole-actually-be-a-clump-of-dark-matterThe dynamics of S-stars and G-sources orbiting a supermassive compact object made of fermionic dark matter:https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/546/1/staf1854/8431112?login=falseDark matter, not a black hole, could power Milky Way's heart:https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/research-highlights/dark-matter-not-black-hole-could-power-milky-ways-heartImaging fermionic dark matter cores at the centre of galaxies:https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/534/2/1217/7759710?login=falseQuasars Have Always Had Dark Matter Halos:https://www.universetoday.com/articles/quasars-have-always-had-dark-matter-halosSubaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs). XVIII. The Dark Matter Halo Mass of Quasars at z ∼ 6:https://arxiv.org/pdf/2307.02531Dark matter halos measured around ancient quasars:https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/focus/en/press/z0508_00310.htmlDe Zimmerman en Space podcast is gelicenseerd onder een Creative Commons CC0 1.0 licentie.http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0

Are we finally uncovering hidden pulsars at the center of the Milky Way? Join host Beth Johnson and William J. Welch Postdoctoral Fellow Karen Perez for a deep dive into a newly announced discovery of a possible pulsar near our galaxy's core. Using data from the Breakthrough Listen Deep Pulsar Survey and observations with the NSF Green Bank Telescope, researchers are probing one of the most extreme and mysterious regions in the Milky Way. The Galactic Center is a chaotic environment dominated by the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*. For decades, astronomers have predicted that many pulsars should orbit this region — yet very few have been detected. Why are they so hard to find? And what would discovering more of them mean for testing gravity, mapping the Galactic Center, and understanding extreme astrophysics? Press release: https://news.columbia.edu/news/researchers-announce-discovery-possible-pulsar-milky-ways-center Paper: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae336c Datasets: https://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/research/group/breakthrough-listen/deep-pulsar-survey-results-galactic-center  (Recorded live 12 February 2026.)

There’s nothing like a merger to stir things up. That applies not only to companies and families, but to galaxies as well. One example is Messier 61. A recent merger with a smaller galaxy has brought its central black hole to life, triggered the birth of thousands of new stars. It also kicked out a ribbon of stars that’s as long as the galaxy itself. Messier 61 is a lot like our home galaxy, the Milky Way. It’s about the same size and mass, and it looks about the same – a beautiful spiral with a long bar of stars across its middle. But a close look shows big differences. M61 is giving birth to stars at a much faster rate than the Milky Way. It’s produced more supernovas – the explosive deaths of young, massive stars. The supermassive black hole in its heart is “feeding” much more voraciously. And last year, astronomers discovered a “streamer” of stars behind M61. The streamer is a hundred thousand light-years long, and ten thousand wide. The likely cause of all that activity is a merger with a smaller galaxy. The encounter squeezed big clouds of gas, triggering the starbirth. It provided fresh material for the black hole. And it pulled out stars in the galaxies to form the long tail – stirring things up in a beautiful spiral galaxy. M61 is 55 million light-years away, in Virgo. It climbs into the sky in mid-evening, and sails high across the south later on. It’s an easy target for binoculars. Script by Damond Benningfield

On summer nights, Earth faces the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy. That part of the Milky Way features dense clouds of stars. Under dark skies, it’s quite a sight. But during the long, cold nights of winter, we’re facing the opposite direction – toward the galaxy’s edge. So the Milky Way looks thin and faint – a bare ghost of its summer glory. No matter which direction you face, the hazy band of light known as the Milky Way represents the combined glow of millions of stars that outline the galaxy’s disk. The disk is about a hundred thousand light-years wide, but only a few thousand light-years thick. It contains a few hundred billion stars. The center of the galaxy is densely packed, like the downtown of a major city. But its outskirts are like the suburbs. There are fewer stars, and they’re more widely spread. And the closer to the galaxy’s edge, the more thinly spread the stars become. The Milky Way doesn’t end at the edge of the disk. The disk is surrounded by a “halo” of stars and dark matter. It extends hundreds of thousands of light-years into space in every direction. But the halo is like the countryside – a few solitary residents spread far and wide. So nothing in the halo is visible without a good telescope – far outside the galaxy’s disk. The Milky Way arcs high across the sky on February evenings. You need nice dark skies to see it – the thin but still beautiful glow of our home galaxy. Script by Damond Benningfield

Crew-12 is prepping for a Friday launch. NASA selects AXIOM for a fifth private mission to the ISS. China is a step closer to a lunar mission. Could the supermassive black hole in the middle of the Milky Way really be dark matter?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/made-of-stars--4746260/support.

Ursa Major III is doomed. It’s falling apart, and may vanish completely in a couple of billion years. There’s not much to it even now. It’s so faint that it wasn’t discovered until 2023. It contains about 60 stars – all of them ancient, and all much smaller and fainter than the Sun. They add up to only about 16 times the Sun’s mass. They’re packed into a loose ball about 20 light-years wide. But the total mass is about 2,000 times greater than the mass of the visible stars. That’s led to some confusion about its nature. One idea is that it’s a small galaxy that’s orbiting the Milky Way. Most of its mass would consist of dark matter – matter that produces no energy, but that reveals its presence through its gravitational pull on the visible matter around it. A study last year suggested a different nature – a star cluster held together by a clump of black holes. The cluster might have been born with a hundred thousand stars or more. When some of the stars died, they formed black holes, which congregated near the cluster’s middle. The gravity of the Milky Way pulled away many of the cluster’s stars. Encounters with the black holes kicked out many more. And the study says the cluster will fall apart completely in about two billion years. The cluster – or galaxy – is about 30,000 light-years away, in the great bear. But Ursa Major III is far too faint to see, even with a telescope. Script by Damond Benningfield

Sponsor Links:This episode of SpaceTime is brought to you with the support of Squarespace....your first stop when you want to build a presence online. To check out our special offers, simply visit www.squarespace.com/spacetime for detailsSpaceTime with Stuart Gary Gary - Series 29 Episode 18In this episode of SpaceTime, we explore groundbreaking theories about the nature of dark matter, the thermal differences between the lunar far and near sides, and new revelations regarding Jupiter's dimensions.Dark Matter's Role in the Milky WayA new study suggests that dark matter could be the driving force behind the gravitational dynamics of our Milky Way galaxy. Researchers propose that a clump of fermionic dark matter might exert similar gravitational influence as the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center, Sagittarius A. This theory challenges conventional understanding and is supported by data from the European Space Agency's Gaia mission, which mapped the galaxy's outer halo and rotational curve, indicating a potential new model for understanding galactic structures.Lunar Far Side's Cooler InteriorRecent findings published in Nature Geoscience indicate that the lunar far side may be significantly cooler than the near side. Analyzing samples collected by China's Chang'e 6 mission, scientists discovered that the far side's regolith formed from lava at temperatures approximately 100 degrees Celsius lower than those from the near side. This study provides insight into the Moon's geological history and the uneven distribution of heat-producing elements, which may have resulted from ancient impacts or tidal forces from Earth.Jupiter's Slimmer ProfileNew measurements from NASA's Juno mission reveal that Jupiter is actually slimmer than previously thought, being about 8 kilometers narrower at the equator and 24 kilometers flatter at the poles. These findings refine our understanding of the gas giant's shape and have implications for models of planetary formation and evolution. The data also sheds light on Jupiter's atmospheric dynamics, including its powerful winds and cyclones, enhancing our knowledge of gas giants both within our solar system and beyond.www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com✍️ Episode ReferencesMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Nature Geoscience, Nature AstronomyBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-with-stuart-gary--2458531/support.(00:00:00) New study claims that mysterious substance called dark matter could be powering our Milky Way(00:08:01) New study suggests lunar far side may be a little bit colder than near side(00:12:52) Space Time is brought to you by Squarespace. com spacetime(00:14:23) New measurements based on NASA's Juno mission reveal Jupiter is much smaller than previously thought(00:18:16) People with depressive personalities far more likely to have sexual fantasies, study finds(00:20:34) New test shows artificial intelligence chatbot admitting it would kill to save itself(00:27:09) Already we have security companies treating AI chatbots like humans

Listen to Future Now Ep. 151 Pulsars and Livers In this episode we begin with a discussion of local microclimates and the potential for using solar energy to power gravity-based water batteries. We share highlights from the recent “SpiritFest,” noting the strong presence of Russian and Ukrainian cultural traditions and featuring a conversation with spiritual teacher Asha, who asserted that AI lacks the “Jiva” or soul necessary for spiritual enlightenment.Grok’s AI chimes in on this..The next major segment features an interview with chiropractor Craig Eymann, who explains the often-overlooked “phase two” of liver detoxification; Iman emphasizes that this process requires amino acids from proteins rather than simply juice fasts, and we look at how seed oils and sugar are primary culprits behind fatty liver disease. We  also cover a wide range of futurist news, starting with the “Genius Act” and the government’s accumulation of a Bitcoin reserve through confiscation. We look at Elon Musk’s strategic pivot to building a city on the Moon before Mars, citing easier access and potential for orbital data centers, alongside a Chinese experiment that successfully hatched butterflies in microgravity. The big question is, can it fly with no gravity? Additional tech updates include Tesla’s Fremont plant switching to Optimus robot production, the viral “Claudebot” AI that autonomously phoned its user, and the integration of AI and fast drones for immersive Olympics coverage. The show concludes with scientific discoveries, such as a pulsar found near the Milky Way’s central black hole and the “Breakthrough Listen” project’s search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Enjoy!  A butterfly successfully flies in zero gravity

Stars are born from huge clouds of gas and dust. Many of the stars remain close together, forming clusters. But as a cluster moves through the Milky Way, it gets pulled apart. The gravity of the rest of the galaxy tugs away the stars on the outskirts of the cluster. It also loosens the rest of the cluster, making it easier to pull away more stars. A recent study looked at how that’s played out in the region around the Pleiades cluster. Using telescopes in space and on the ground, researchers measured how fast the stars in the region are spinning. That provides a rough measure of their age – the younger the star, the faster it spins. They also measured the motions of the stars through the galaxy, allowing them to trace the paths of the stars far into the past. And they compared the compositions of the stars; stars that were born together are made of the same mixture of elements. From that, they found that the Pleiades and several smaller groups were close together tens of millions of years ago. That suggests they were born together before heading their separate ways. The study also found hundreds of stars between the groups that had belonged to one of the groups in the past. Today, the groups and loners are spread across 2,000 light-years of space – the Giant Pleiades Complex. Look for the Pleiades high overhead at nightfall. It looks like a tiny dipper – the heart of a once larger family of stars. Script by Damond Benningfield

In an area which is about 1/400th of the entire sky, the NASA Kepler spacecraft has discovered 30 Earth like planets which are likely to have liquid water on their surfaces orbiting distant stars. These planets are likely to represent a tiny sample of the habitable planets which exist in the Milky Way. In spite of our efforts to find them, the question remains where are the alien civilizations? In a recent talk given at the Division of Planetary Sciences meeting Dr. Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute suggests that perhaps the majority of worlds with biology and intelligent civilizations exist on interior water ocean worlds where their existence is hidden by the thick layers of rock and ice which separate them from the hostile vacuum of space. We know that in our solar system alone the moon of Jupiter Europa, Saturn's moon Enceladus, and perhaps several other small worlds are likely to have oceans of nutrient rich liquid water covered by a thick layer of rock and ice. We also know that Whales and Dolphins have larger brains than humans, communicate with each other, and exhibit other forms of intelligence. Advanced civilizations existing in ice covered seas may know little of the greater Universe, may find it difficult to consider transporting enough water to travel beyond their worlds, and may not think that it is possible to communicate with others of their kind who are similarly hidden under miles and miles of radiation absorbing ice and rock.

In this powerful message from Billy Carson, discover how Great Awakening is unfolding right now through galactic alignment with the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. As our solar system crosses the galactic equator, supercharged particles are penetrating Earth, re-encoding DNA, and triggering a massive consciousness shift for humanity. This isn't the end—it's the beginning of the Fifth Age, where chaos is actually the masses waking up to their divine nature.

Family members don’t always stay close together – they can be separated by thousands of miles. But one member of the Milky Way Galaxy’s family takes the separation to extremes. It’s 300,000 light-years from the center of the galaxy – one of the most distant residents of the Milky Way yet seen. NGC 2419 is a globular cluster – a group of about a million stars. They form a dense ball a few hundred light-years across. Any star near the middle of the cluster would have thousands of neighbors within a few light-years. Compare that to our own neighborhood – only three stars reside less than five light-years from the Sun. NGC 2419 is one of the Milky Way’s oldest family members. The cluster was born more than 12 billion years ago – not long after the galaxy itself. All of its big, bright stars burned out long ago. So almost all of the remaining stars are much less massive than the Sun. The cluster follows a highly stretched-out orbit around the center of the Milky Way. That’s led to suggestions that it was born elsewhere, then captured by the Milky Way. But there’s no confirmation of that idea. So NGC 2419 is still considered a far-away relative of the rest of the Milky Way. The cluster is in the uber-faint constellation Lynx, which is in the east-northeast at nightfall. NGC 2419 is an easy target for just about any telescope. Script by Damond Benningfield

The star cluster M79 is messy. It’s shedding some of its stars, creating a “tail.” Over the eons, in fact, the cluster might have lost most of the stars it was born with. Messier 79 is a globular cluster – a ball-shaped family of about 150,000 stars. The cluster is more than 11 billion years old, so its stars are among the oldest in the entire Milky Way Galaxy. There’s a trail of stars behind the cluster. The stars probably were stripped away by the gravity of the rest of the galaxy – especially its dense core. Today, M79 is about 42,000 light-years from the Milky Way’s heart. But its orbit might bring it within just a few hundred light-years of the center. At that distance, the gravity of the galaxy’s core overpowers the gravity of the cluster. So stars in M79’s outskirts are pulled away. Eventually, they move away, and follow their own paths across the galaxy. Some simulations have suggested that M79 has lost up to 85 percent of its original population of a million stars or so. And every future passage through the heart of the galaxy will pull away more stars – leaving only a glimmer of M79’s original glory. M79 is in Lepus, the hare. The constellation is close to the lower right of bright Orion, in the southeast at nightfall. M79 is below the outline of the rabbit. You need binoculars to pick it out. Script by Damond Benningfield

Sponsor Link:This episode is brought to you with thanks to Squarespace. Bring your stories to life with Squarespace, the easiest way to create an exceptional website, blog, portfolio, or online store. To take up our great offer and help support the show, just visit www.squarespace.com/spacetime or use the Promo Code SPACETIME at checkout.SpaceTime with Stuart Gary Gary - Series 29 Episode 13In this episode of SpaceTime, we uncover the hidden violent past of the Milky Way's supermassive black hole, delve into the origins of water on Jupiter's Galilean moons, and explore how meteor impacts are triggering dust avalanches on Mars.The Violent History of Sagittarius AFor years, Sagittarius A, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, has been perceived as a quiet entity. However, new research published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters indicates that it may have experienced dramatic flares in the past. Observations from the CRISM Space Telescope reveal X-ray emissions from a gas cloud near Sagittarius A, suggesting a history of explosive activity that alters our understanding of supermassive black hole evolution and the history of our galaxy.Water Origins of Jupiter's Galilean MoonsA groundbreaking study has determined that the contrasting water content of Jupiter's four large Galilean moons was established during their formation rather than evolving later. This research sheds light on the stark differences between Io, which is dry and volcanically active, and Europa, believed to have a subsurface ocean. The findings suggest that the primordial environment around Jupiter played a crucial role in shaping these moons' compositions.Meteor Impacts Trigger Dust Avalanches on MarsNew evidence indicates that meteor impacts on Mars are causing dust avalanches, creating dark streaks on the planet's surface. An analysis of images from the European Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter reveals that these avalanches occur primarily due to dry processes, driven by seasonal dust and wind activity, rather than water-related phenomena. This discovery enhances our understanding of Martian surface dynamics and the impact of meteor activity.www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com✍️ Episode ReferencesAstrophysical Journal LettersNature CommunicationsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-your-guide-to-space-astronomy--2458531/support.(00:00:00) Sagittarius A's hidden violent past revealed(00:12:45) Origins of water on Jupiter's Galilean moons(00:25:30) Meteor impacts causing dust avalanches on Mars(00:35:00) February night sky highlights and celestial events.(00:00:00) This is space time series 29, episode 13 for broadcast on 30 January 2026(00:00:47) X ray emissions from the Crism Space Telescope suggest Sagittarius A flared(00:07:59) A new study claims dust avalanches caused by meteor impacts are creating Martian streaks(00:10:22) February is the second month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars(00:12:03) February's Orion meteor showers usually peak around February 8th(00:22:18) Blue supergiant Rigel is the second brightest star in the constellation Orion(00:31:08) Rygel: Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky(00:35:09) February is a great time to look for bright stars in the night sky(00:38:04) The night sky is sparse with the old planets at the moment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxgdcG_NQyA Hosted by Fraser Cain. And a happy robin. From May 3, 2018. The European Space Agency just dropped an enormous amount of data onto the scientific community. The location and position of 1.7 billion stars in the Milky Way.    We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.  Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!  Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.  Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org.

From snowstorms ❄️ and weekend prep

Halloween

In tonight's dead letter, listener Chris and his wife venture to the highest point east of the Rockies for a night of stargazing under the Milky Way. While lying on the summit of Black Elk Peak, Chris decides to put out a silent, mental invitation to the universe to see if anything might respond. The atmosphere shifts dramatically during their descent, leading to an incident in the dark woods that leaves the couple questioning the nature of the "entities" Chris had called upon. Scott and Forrest discuss the spiritual history of this sacred Lakota location and whether Chris unintentionally followed a protocol that opened a door to the unexplained. Reference Links Black Elk Speaks: The Complete Edition BFRO - Bigfoot Legends UFO Reality by Jenny Randalls In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen CE5 Protocols The Oz Factor Thunderheart (1992 Film) The Age of Disclosure