StarTalk

Science, pop culture, and comedy collide on StarTalk! Astrophysicist and Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, celebrity guests, and scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up! Click here for more information.

Apr 30, 2024 – Season 15 Episode 26

Low-Mass Mania with Emily Rice

Could we find life around low-mass stars? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice find out why life might be more likely around low-mass stars, what makes brown dwarfs, galactic archeology, and more with astronomer Emily Rice.

This artist's conception illustrates the brown dwarf named 2MASSJ22282889-431026. NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes observed the object to learn more about its turbulent atmosphere. Brown dwarfs are more massive and hotter than planets but lack the mass required to become sizzling stars. Their atmospheres can be similar to the giant planet Jupiter's. Spitzer and Hubble simultaneously observed the object as it rotated every 1.4 hours. The results suggest wind-driven, planet-size clouds.

Apr 23, 2024 – Season 15 Episode 24

Debating Pluto’s Planethood with Alan Stern

Will Neil take back what he said about Pluto? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice explore planets, dwarf planets, and the Kuiper belt with planetary scientist and principal investigator for the New Horizons Mission, Alan Stern.

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft captured this high-resolution enhanced color view of Pluto on July 14, 2015. The image combines blue, red and infrared images taken by the Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera (MVIC). Pluto’s surface sports a remarkable range of subtle colors, enhanced in this view to a rainbow of pale blues, yellows, oranges, and deep reds. Many landforms have their own distinct colors, telling a complex geological and climatological story that scientists have only just begun to decode. The image resolves details and colors on scales as small as 0.8 miles (1.3 kilometers). The viewer is encouraged to zoom in on the image on a larger screen to fully appreciate the complexity of Pluto’s surface features.

Apr 16, 2024 – Season 15 Episode 23

Eyes in the Sky with Larissa Rodrigues & Jennifer Holm

How is new tech helping protect the rainforest? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice learn how space technology is helping uncover illegal gold mines and protecting the Amazon, with illegal mining expert Larissa Rodrigues and Earth researcher Jennifer Holm.

Image of Illegal Gold Mine located in the Amazon Basin in Roraima Brazil

Apr 12, 2024 – Season 15 Episode 22

Cosmic Queries – Black Hole Time Cloak with Charles Liu

Are black holes places or objects? Neil deGrasse Tyson and cohosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly answer grab-bag questions about distorting spacetime, Olbers’ Paradox, singularities, the shape of the universe, and more with astrophysicist Charles Liu.

$A vast galaxy cluster lurks in the centre of this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Like a submerged sea monster causing waves on the surface, this cosmic leviathan can be identified by the distortions in spacetime around it. The mass of the cluster has caused the images of background galaxies to be gravitationally lensed; the galaxy cluster has caused a sufficient curvature of spacetime to bend the path of light and cause background galaxies to appear distorted into streaks and arcs of light. A host of other galaxies can be seen surrounding the cluster, and a handful of foreground stars with tell-tale diffraction spikes are scattered throughout the image.This particular galaxy cluster is called eMACS J1823.1+7822, and lies almost nine billion light-years away in the constellation Draco. It is one of five exceptionally massive galaxy clusters explored by Hubble in the hopes of measuring the strengths of these gravitational lenses and providing insights into the distribution of dark matter in galaxy clusters. Strong gravitational lenses like eMACS J1823.1+7822 can help astronomers study distant galaxies by acting as vast natural telescopes which magnify objects that would otherwise be too faint or distant to resolve.$

Apr 9, 2024 – Season 15 Episode 21

Things You Thought You Knew – The Geometric Universe

How do we get spacecraft out of orbit? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice break down the things you thought you knew about spheres in the universe, navigating the sky, and taking spacecraft out of orbit.

The world on Robinson projection. 15° graticule. Imagery is a derivative of NASA's Blue Marble summer month composite with oceans lightened to enhance legibility and contrast. Image created with the Geocart map projection software.

Apr 2, 2024 – Season 15 Episode 20

Cosmic Queries – Planck Lengths to Supermassive Black Holes with Matt O’Dowd

Is space infinitely stretchable? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice explore fan grab bag questions about supermassive black holes, Planck lengths, and the gravitational wave background with extragalactic astrophysicist and host of PBS Spacetime, Matt O’Dowd.

The European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera on board NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has provided astronomers with the most detailed image ever taken of the gravitational lens G2237 + 0305 — sometimes referred to as the Einstein Cross. The photograph shows four images of a very distant quasar which has been multiple-imaged by a relatively nearby galaxy acting as a gravitational lens. The angular separation between the upper and lower images is 1.6 arcseconds.

Mar 26, 2024 – Season 15 Episode 19

Staying Curious with William Shatner

What is the value of curiosity? Neil deGrasse Tyson sits down with William Shatner to explore the nature of spacetime, Star Trek, human curiosity, loneliness, and more. How would warp drive work?

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice in Neil’s Office at The American Museum of Natural Histor

Mar 19, 2024 – Season 15 Episode 17

Cosmic Queries – Infinite Quarks

What happens to quarks during spaghettification? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice answer fan questions about positrons, how we got the speed of light, where the Big Bang took place, and more!

The Orion Nebula (Messier 42, M42), located in the Orion constellation 1270 light-years away, is one of the brightest and most beautiful nebulae in the night sky. It is a star-forming region, where new stars and star systems are born. The structure of this nebula is sculpted by a group of stars that release a large amount of radiation known as "The Trapezium", this cluster of stars is located in the central and brightest area of the image and is named after the figure formed by its stars.

Mar 12, 2024 – Season 15 Episode 16

Do We Have Free Will? with Robert Sapolsky

Is there a quantum reason we could have free will? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice explore the concept of free will and predetermination with neuroscientist, biologist, and author of Determined: The Science of Life Without Free Will, Robert Sapolsky.

Mar 5, 2024 – Season 15 Episode 14

Breaking Down Oppenheimer with Brian Greene

What do two physicists think about the movie Oppenheimer? Neil deGrasse Tyson sits down with theoretical physicist Brian Greene to discuss Robert J. Oppenheimer’s work on the Manhattan Project, the science in Christopher Nolan’s film, and the dawn of quantum physics.