big bang theory

A few weeks ago came the puzzling discovery of a huge, fully formed galaxy at the edges of the observable universe. Since looking far into the distance means looking way back in time, thanks to the long interval it took for that galaxy’s light to reach us, we’re seeing one of the earliest galaxies. This week: The Big Bang.

Many people are truly imaginative when it comes to thinking of alternatives to established cosmology models. One listener recently asked, “Could the expanding universe be caused by the emptiness on the outside sucking everything in its direction?” Hear countless possibilities offered by alternate universes on the nature of the cosmos.

Hear how Jupiter, now at its very closest to Earth, will be at its brightest until 2034. It will absolutely look great through backyard telescopes when the air is steady, which is the case when stars are not twinkling.

July’s first-ever James Webb Telescope images showed sharper-than-ever scenes of extremely distant objects – some distorted into lines and arcs by the warping of space created by invisibly distant massive objects. The goal is to ultimately see the earliest stars and galaxies being formed, once the universe became transparent 279,000 years after the Big Bang. But if the universe is eternal, the Big Bang could still have happened.

The summer solstice arrived earlier this week, a funny mixture of natural events and government rulings.

We all know the names of the planets. Many people can even recite them in their correct order from the Sun. But actually seeing them in a line – well, that’s something special. And this month we’ll explain how and when that’s happening.

The Big Bang theory, strongly supported by the cosmic microwave background and the cosmic expansion rate, says that starting 13.8 billion years ago, everything initially raced away from everything else like an inflating balloon.

Back in the early 1970s, a new network called National Public Radio hired a young producer out of college who had two special interests: baseball and…

Today's panelists are WAMC’s Alan Chartock, Newsman Ray Graf, and Times Union Associate Editor, Mike Spain.Topics include:Flight 370US SanctionsNYS Senate…