Secrets of Size - Going Big

This deep dive takes listeners on a mind-expanding journey through the true scale of the universe, guided by Jim Al-Khalili’s exploration of size from our solar system to the largest known cosmic structures. Starting with the surprising emptiness and vastness of the solar system, the episode travels outward through the heliosphere, the Oort cloud, the Milky Way, dark matter halos, supermassive black holes, galaxy clusters, and finally Laniakea, the immense supercluster we call home. Along the way, it explores how astronomers use tools like Cepheid variables, spectroscopy, infrared imaging, and cosmic mapping to reveal hidden structures far beyond human perception. It is a story of gravity, light, scale, and mystery, ending with the provocative question of whether the universe itself is even stranger, larger, and less uniform than our current theories can explain.