© 2025
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Strange Universe With Bob Berman

A stunning celestial display

Set your alarm early this week and look east between 5:00 and 5:30 a.m. to catch a stunning celestial display. Brilliant Venus, the Morning Star, shines high with the bright orange star Aldebaran glowing below. Aldebaran, part of the V-shaped Hyades cluster in Taurus, has a rich astronomical legacy—its position once helped confirm Einstein’s theory of General Relativity. Nearby, you’ll also spot the shimmering Pleiades cluster. Together, these stars create a breathtaking, layered view of the cosmos worth waking up for.

Related Content
  • Strange Universe With Bob Berman
    This Mother’s Day weekend, the night sky offers a celestial tribute to femininity. On Sunday evening, the Moon—La Luna—shines brightly near Spica in Virgo, the zodiac’s only female figure. In the north, Cassiopeia, mother of Andromeda, forms a distinctive W-shape. Before dawn, Venus dazzles in the east, and just to her left, Andromeda adds a graceful touch to this skyward celebration of motherhood.
  • Strange Universe With Bob Berman
    Science shows and websites often explore wild ideas about the cosmos, like multiverses or the possibility that we’re living in a computer simulation. Unlike reliable measurements — such as Mars’ rotation, which is constant and observable — cosmology relies heavily on models built from limited data. Claims like the universe becoming transparent 379,000 years after the Big Bang sound precise but are rooted in theory. With 96% of the universe made up of mysterious dark matter and dark energy, and the rest possibly infinite, our observations cover only a tiny portion. As a result, cosmology builds layered assumptions that frequently shift, like when scientists thought the universe’s expansion was slowing in 1997 — only to find the opposite a year later.
  • Strange Universe With Bob Berman
    Celestial Visitor: Mars. You’ll see a bright "star" near the Moon, Mars — the planet long blamed for alien invasions in fiction. While Martian fears have faded, real space threats remain, like rogue asteroids. In 2013, one zipped past Earth while another exploded over Russia, injuring over a thousand. However, the ultimate doomsday scenario won’t come from space rocks, pandemics, or even climate change — it’ll come from our own Sun. In about 1.1 billion years, the Sun’s growing heat will boil Earth’s oceans, ending life as we know it. So, enjoy the night sky… while you can (you've got time).