Strange Universe

Strange Universe With Bob Berman

Bob Berman

Researchers recently found the farthest-ever galaxy, a smudge at a distance of 13 billion light years.But when light travels a long time through an expanding universe, bizarre things happen.

This image was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), a highly efficient wide-field camera covering the optical and near-infrared parts of the spectrum. While this lovely image contains hundreds of distant stars and galaxies, one vital thing is missing — the object Hubble was actually studying at the time! This is not because the target has disappeared. The ACS actually uses two detectors: the first captures the object being studied — in this case an open star cluster known as NGC 299 — while the other detector images the patch of space just ‘beneath’ it. This is what can be seen here. Technically, this picture is merely a sidekick of the actual object of interest — but space is bursting with activity, and this field of bright celestial bodies offers plenty of interest on its own. It may initially seem to show just stars, but a closer look reveals many of these tiny objects to be galaxies. The spiral galaxies have arms curving out from a bright centre. The fuzzier, less clearly shaped galaxies might be ellipticals. Some of these galaxies contain millions and millions of stars, but are so distant that all of their starry residents are contained within just a small pinprick of light that appears to be the same size as a single star! The bright blue dots are very hot stars, sometimes distorted into crosses by the struts supporting Hubble’s secondary mirror. The redder dots are cooler stars, possibly in the red giant phase when a dying star cools and expands.

Numbers & Stars

Bob Berman

April 15th is this week. That’s when taxpayers and accountants join astronomers as being obsessed with endless numbers. Although, can anyone really grasp galaxies being millions of lightyears away?

The Gaia Hypothesis

Bob Berman

It’s now a half century since James Lovelock originated the Gaia Hypothesis – which says that our planet’s biosphere is an intelligent entity that self-regulates conditions for the mutual benefit of all. Though many mainstream biologists hated it and still do, maybe Gaia doesn’t even go far enough. Why not the entire cosmos?

A Meteoric Anniversary

Bob Berman

This week marks the anniversary of the biggest exploding meteor of our lives – and the only one to cause multiple injuries. That daylight explosion was the largest extraterrestrial body impacting the Earth since the Tunguska event in 1908.

Groundhog Day

Bob Berman

Bob Berman speaks on the science of Groundhog Day.Bob Berman speaks on the science of Groundhog Day.

Space Disasters

Bob Berman

Bob talks of the trials and tribulations of space exploration and missions.

Sun's Polarity

Bob Berman

Late sunrises, dark mornings, and the sun's polarity.

Preview of 2026

Bob Berman

Bob Berman takes a look at what we can look forward to in 2026.

Vox Pop

Astronomy with Bob Berman and Dr. Valerie Rapson 10/23/25

Astronomers Bob Berman and Dr. Valerie Rapson join us to discuss recent space news and answer your questions. Ray Graf hosts.

Strange Universe With Bob Berman

Closest point to Earth

Bob Berman

If you're hearing this on Sunday, Saturn is at its closest point to Earth, and its rings appear as a straight white line due to their edge-on alignment — a rare event that occurs every 15 years during its equinox. Earth’s own equinox arrives Monday at 2:10 PM, marking the start of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. This equinox often falls on the 22nd or 23rd because, as Kepler explained, Earth speeds up in its orbit when closer to the sun in January and slows down in July. That means winter is shorter than summer by about a week — a fact disguised by our calendar and the uneven placement of long and short months.