PODCAST · science
60-Second Space
by Scientific American
Leading science journalists provide a daily minute commentary on some of the most interesting developments in the world of astronomy and space exploration
Episodes
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Bacteria Got an Early Fix on Nitrogen
New evidence points to the evolution of the ability for bacteria to grab nitrogen from the atmosphere some 3.2 billion years ago, about 1.2 billion years earlier than thought—with implications for finding extraterrestrial life. Lee Billings reports
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Stars Reveal Hidden Galaxy
A dwarf galaxy near the Milky Way may consist of more dark matter than regular matter.* Clara Moskowitz reports
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Space Science Budget Gets Small Lift
NASA has to deal with the unexpected financial consequences of robotic missions that just keep going. Lee Billings reports
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5 Rocky Planets Found in Ancient, Distant Solar System
The oldest group of terrestrial worlds now known formed some 11.2 billion years ago, more than six billion years before our sun and planets. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Long-Lost Lander Found on Mars
New images from a NASA orbiter reveal Beagle 2’s final resting place. Lee Billings reports
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Look Up to See Latest Comet Lovejoy
Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy’s latest comet find is naked-eye visible in the southeast sky until January 24. Clara Moskowitz reports
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SpaceX Will Try Launch, Then Soft-Land Returning Booster
The company hopes to send up a Falcon 9 rocket and then safely land the discarded first stage for reuse. Lee Billings reports
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Humans on Mars Soonish Says NASA Bigwig
John Grunsfeld, the former astronaut who now heads NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, thinks that traveling light could get people to Mars by the 2040s
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UV Light Colors Great Red Spot
Jupiter's Great Red Spot is its particular crimson shade because of the interaction of ultraviolet light and specific chemical compounds in the gas giant's atmosphere. Lee Billings reports
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It’s Hard to Dust in Space
Over the summer researchers identified seven specks of dust returned to Earth by the Stardust spacecraft. But determining their true origin has been difficult. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Comet Reeks of Cat Crap and Rotten Eggs
The Rosetta spacecraft has unexpectedly detected hydrogen sulphide and ammonia coming from Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Lee Billings reports
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Track Cosmic Rays with Smartphone App
Take part in a citizen-science project by helping researchers track high-energy cosmic rays via a network of smartphone users. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Star-Forming Clouds May Spit Out Life’s Building Blocks
Astronomers have discovered one of the largest and most complex organic molecules yet in a gaseous star-forming region of interstellar space. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Dark Matter Looks WIMPy
Data from the International Space Station-based Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment supports the idea that dark matter consists of the invisible particles called weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Forensic Astronomer Dates Monet Vision
Texas State University astronomer Donald Olson combined solar, tidal and weather data to identify the likely moment of the image in the Monet work Impression, Sunrise
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Milky Way's Home Supercluster Found
Astronomers have identified the Milky Way’s cosmic address—inside the supercluster Laniakea, which means “immense heaven” in Hawaiian. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Neptune Visit Hits 25th Anniversary
On August 24th, 1989, the Voyager 2 spacecraft rendezvoused with Neptune, making it the farthest planet to pose for a close-up, a record it still holds today.
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Air Pollution Could Reveal ET's Home
If intelligent aliens are dumb enough to pollute their atmosphere, NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope is powerful enough to spot some of the signs on some exoplanets. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Martian Soil Salts May Make Water Ice All Wet
Within a Mars-like laboratory environment, perchlorate salts known to exist on Mars were able to lower the freezing point enough to get ice to turn to liquid water. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Saturn Probe Ready for Its "Grand Finale"
The Cassini probe readies for its final act with new flight patterns that will get unprecedented views of Saturn and culminate in a final dive into the planet's atmosphere. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Triple Black Hole System Found in Distant Galaxy
A galaxy four billion light-years from us was has three supermassive black holes at its center, with two in a tight formation. Clara Moskowitz reports
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"Extremely Large Telescope" Breaks Ground
The European Southern Observatory broke ground June 19th to build the world's largest telescope atop the Cerro Armazones mountain in Chile. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Seemingly Strange Solar Cycle May Be Sorta Normal
The current solar maximum appears to be weak. But the few previously measured maxes could have been unusually strong. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Dark Matter Shell Saved Wannabe Galaxy
A failed dwarf galaxy called the Smith Cloud apparently survived an ancient collision with the Milky Way because of a protective dark matter cloak. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Pluto Bids to Get Back Planetary Status
Pluto has at least five moons and an atmosphere—and now a new analysis places its diameter as bigger than its outer solar system rival, Eris
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Jupiter's Great Red Spot Now Just Pretty Good
Jupiter's Great Red Spot, once estimated to be 41,000 kilometers across, is just 16,500 kilometers wide in the latest Hubble Space Telescope observations, and the shrinkage seems to be accelerating. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Oddball Eclipse Makes Star Brighter
When a white dwarf passes in front of its binary star system companion every 88 days, it acts like a lens to make the larger star appear brighter to us.
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Galaxy Gave Star Cluster the Boot
The star cluster HVGC-1 had been part of the M87 galaxy, but now it's fleeing that galaxy at more than two million miles per hour. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Chilly, Chilly, Little Star
A brown dwarf only about three to 10 times Jupiter's mass couldn't get fusion going and now sits freezing in space, in the nearby galactic neighborhood. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Help ID Moon Craters from Your Couch
Citizen scientists have helped professional astronomers locate more than 500 million lunar craters by using an app called MoonMappers. Karen Hopkin reports
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Saltine-Sized Satellites Set for Space
More than 100 tiny satellites are set to launch into space on April 14th, in a demonstration of a possible future inexpensive technology that could pave the way for the $1,000 satellite. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Absence (of Weight) Makes the Heart Grow Rounder
After prolonged periods in microgravity, astronauts' hearts became more spherical, according to scans done on the International Space Station. Sophie Bushwick reports
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Rings: They're Not Just for Planets Anymore
The asteroidlike object Chariklo orbits between Saturn and Uranus and has been found to have its own set of rings. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Planet X Gets X'd Out
An exhaustive search by NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer has found no hints of a theorized planet or dwarf star in our neck of the cosmic woods. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Giant Black Hole Spins at Half Light-Speed
The half-the-speed-of-light spin of a giant black hole suggests it grew by digesting another black hole in a galaxy merger. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Moon-Smashing Meteorite Recorded by Astronomers
Spanish astronomers spotted a meteoroid impact at 61,000 kilometers per hour using a telescope network that automatically scans the moon. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Hubble Finds Possible Oldest Object Ever Seen
The Hubble Telescope's new set of Frontier Fields images includes a galaxy some 13-billion light-years away, which makes it a candidate for the most distant object ever seen. Clara Moskowitz reports
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We Celebrate a Galilean Anniversary
Galileo—who, among many accomplishments, was first to use a telescope to discover moons around Jupiter—was born 450 years ago this week. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Wacky World Wobbles Wildly
Exoplanet Kepler 413 b's tilt can vary by as much as 30 degrees over 11 years, leading to extremely erratic seasons. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Faraway Planets May Be Far Better for Life
Astronomers have come up with a shopping list of what a planet needs to support life, perhaps even better than our Earth does, making them "superhabitable." Michael Moyer reports
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Comet Spacecraft Wakes from Slumber
On January 20th the European Space Agency woke its Rosetta probe after two-and-a-half years in hibernation, in preparation for its final approach to a comet
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Astronomers Cluster at Massive Meeting Conjunction
More than 3,000 astronomers assembled last week for the 223rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Weird Supernovae Spin Faster Than Blender Blades
Two recently found supernovae are much farther away and brighter than almost any star explosion ever seen, perhaps because they wound up as rapidly spinning magnetars. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Asteroid-Hunting Satellite Returns from Dead
The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer satellite that went into hibernation in 2011 has been brought to life as an asteroid lookout. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Preadolescent Astronomer Spots Supernova
Ten-year-old Nathan Gray of Nova Scotia officially becomes the youngest person ever to identify a new supernova. Clara Moskowitz reports
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Say I Saw ISON
Don't miss viewing Comet ISON, visible in the east before dawn, with a tail now as long as the bowl of the Big Dipper. Clara Moskowitz reports
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India Targets Red Planet
India aims to become the fourth entity to send a mission to Mars with its launch of the Mars Orbiter Mission, aka Mangalyaan. Clara Moskowitz reports.
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Astronaut Sounds Alarm On Asteroids
At a symposium on the danger of asteroid impacts, Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart said it's time for the planet to develop a strategy should a big rock come our way. Clara Moskowitz reports.
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System Has Multiple Planets Off Kilter
Two of the three known planets around the star Kepler 56 orbit their host out of line with the star's equator. Clara Moskowitz reports.
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Voyager 1 Is Officially out There
Voyager 1's own record of the plasma vibrations in its vicinity conclusively show that it has reached the space between the stars. John Matson reports
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Leading science journalists provide a daily minute commentary on some of the most interesting developments in the world of astronomy and space exploration
HOSTED BY
Scientific American
CATEGORIES
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60-Second Space currently has 168 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
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Leading science journalists provide a daily minute commentary on some of the most interesting developments in the world of astronomy and space exploration
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