Astronomy podcasts

Fraser Cain and Pamela L. Gay examine possible futures of the universe across vastly different timescales. Topics include the Milky Way and Andromeda, cosmic isolation as expansion continues, the fading microwave background, the end of star formation and the era of stellar remnants. They discuss uncertain processes such as proton decay, black-hole evaporation through Hawking radiation, entropy and heat death, alongside alternative outcomes if dark energy evolves. These are model-dependent projections. Pamela Gay is a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute. Published on 21 September 2026, the episode appears in the feed as The Beginning and End of Everything, Part 2. Its original duration is 37 minutes 7 seconds.

Hosted by Fraser Cain, Pamela L. Gay

Fraser Cain and Pamela L. Gay explore what cosmology can establish about the universe’s earliest history and where knowledge remains limited. The discussion covers inflation, the separation of forces, the emergence of particles and nuclei, and density fluctuations that seed later structure. Recombination and the cosmic microwave background lead into the dark ages, the first stars and reionization, with observations including JWST helping test models of the early universe. Pamela Gay is a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute. This Astronomy Cast episode was published on 14 September 2026; its publisher feed labels it The Beginning and End of Everything, Part 1. The original duration is 39 minutes 27 seconds.

Hosted by Fraser Cain, Pamela L. Gay

University of Arizona planetary scientist Daniel Apai joins Tim Swindle to discuss the Pandora Space Telescope and its potential to reveal the properties of exoplanets and their atmospheres. This Arizona Science episode examines the scientific questions addressed by the observatory as it returns data from Earth orbit. Published on 10 September 2026; listen through Arizona Public Media’s episode page.

Hosted by Tim Swindle

The Supermassive team revisits an interview with Meg Schwamb about the Kuiper Belt and the small bodies beyond Neptune. The conversation explores what these distant objects can reveal about the Solar System’s formation and evolution. This is the explicitly labelled revisited edition published in September 2026.

Vitor Cardoso discusses how observations and theory are changing black-hole physics. The conversation covers Hawking radiation, general relativity, gravitational-wave observations and the Event Horizon Telescope, asking what these measurements reveal about black holes and what future observatories could test.

Hosted by Sean Carroll

This Nature Podcast episode reports on a high-speed star whose orbit could enable measurement of the spin of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. The programme also examines how exoskeletons influence human movement and covers other current science stories.

The astro[sound]bites team introduces cohost Vivasvaan and his work on galaxy mergers and machine learning. The discussion explains why mergers are useful probes of galaxy evolution and gives an early-career researcher’s perspective on the field.

Nature reporters discuss evidence for a distant Jupiter-mass exosatellite and the discovery of a rare transmissible cancer in wild catfish.

Interviews with Seshadri Nadathur and Maggie Lieu cover cosmological tensions, DESI observations, galaxy clusters and machine learning. Reports from the Euclid-UK and LSST:UK meetings add perspectives on major surveys and the future of observational cosmology.

Shashank, Cole and Cormac explore Fourier methods in time-domain astronomy through research on time lags in blazar flares and weather on nearby brown dwarfs. The episode page links the underlying Astrobites summaries, making it a useful entry point into the papers and their methods.

Roger Deane, Walter Silima and Sally McFarlane discuss the Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy at its tenth anniversary. Topics include South Africa’s MeerKAT and SKA research capacity, the Ilifu cloud, CARTA, immersive data visualization and training. The episode offers a practical view of the people and infrastructure supporting African radio astronomy.

Harry Bevins discusses REACH, a South African global 21-centimetre experiment, and the proposed lunar-orbit Cosmocube mission. Claire Davies discusses academic experience, while Soheb Mandhai describes simulation research and postdoctoral work at Manchester.

Cole, Cormac and new host Sanika discuss gravitational-wave astrophysics: neutron-star and black-hole mergers, LIGO and Virgo observations, and future detectors including LISA. The conversation introduces both the scientific signals and the research questions driving the field.

Håkon Dahle discusses observations from the James Webb Space Telescope and what researchers have learned from them. Conversation in Norwegian.

Sean Carroll and astronomer Natalie Batalha discuss the transition from discovering individual exoplanets to systematically understanding planetary populations. They explore how frequently stars host planets, how planetary sizes and orbital distances are distributed, and what observations can reveal about atmospheres and possible habitats for life. Batalha draws on her experience with NASA's Kepler mission to explain what researchers have learned and which questions future observations may answer.

Hosted by Sean Carroll

Øyvind Grøn discusses gravitational waves, their detection by LIGO and what these measurements reveal about distant cosmic events. Conversation in Norwegian.

Martin Kermit and Håkon Dahle discuss amateur astronomy, observing techniques and imaging the night sky. Conversation in Norwegian.

Håkon Dahle discusses the James Webb Space Telescope and the astronomical questions its instruments were designed to investigate. Conversation in Norwegian.

Øyvind Grøn discusses black holes, their prediction by relativity and the observations used to study them. Conversation in Norwegian.

Øystein Elgarøy discusses the development of Big Bang cosmology and evidence about the history of the universe. Conversation in Norwegian.