logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2024
47m 52s

The End of the World

THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
About this episode
The Supermassive Podcast is back for 2024 and putting the "happy" in Happy New Year! What could be a cheerier start to the year than an episode about the End of the World… Astronomically speaking!?

From supernova explosions, to super volcanoes, Izzie Clarke, Dr Becky Smethurst and Dr Robert Massey are running through the checklist of big bad things that put our planet at risk. Special thanks goes to Professor Chris Impey from the University of Arizona and author of How It Ends, and Dr Mike Cassidy from the University of Birmingham.

Things we promised we'd put in the show notes: 
NASA worksheet - https://spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov/earth/10Page5.pdf
Recent Betelgeuse paper - Saio et al. (2023; Betelgeuse in carbon fusion stage) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2306.00287.pdf 

Don't forget to leave us a review, send in your questions ,or share your astrophotography using podcast@ras.ac.uk or find us on Instagram @SupermassivePod. 

The Supermassive Podcast is a Boffin Media production for The Royal Astronomical Society. The producers are Izzie Clarke and Richard Hollingham. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Sep 24
Don't Panic…but a solar storm could be a disaster
It's been 166 years since scientists recorded the world's most powerful solar explosion. Izzie, Dr Becky and Dr Robert Massey are big fans of anniversaries, so they investigate how the Carrington Event affected the Earth - and why something similar today could be devastating.Than ... Show More
47m 22s
Sep 9
BONUS - Are we Living in a Black Hole?
What would happen if the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy disappeared? Dr Becky is back to tackle your toughest of black hole questions. Alongside science journalist Izzie Clarke and Dr Robert Massey, the team also discuss what the night sky would look like in ... Show More
14m 3s
Aug 26
Supermassive Q and A...Live!
We are live at the National Astronomy Meeting in Durham with questions on everything from white holes and fuzzy stars, to solar storms and time travel. Science journalist Izzie Clarke is joined by Dr Ziri Younsi – part of the team that took the first picture of a black hole. Also ... Show More
46m 55s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2016
Signs of life on planets, Royal Society Book Prize, Queen Bee control, Galactic Prom 29
What should we be looking for when searching for life on other planets beyond our solar system? Scientists urgently need to come to a consensus on this as a new suite of telescopes soon begins detecting. The space agency NASA has put together a virtual institute called The Nexus ... Show More
27m 49s
Dec 2020
What If We Settled on an Exoplanet? - with Didier Queloz
Go to www.greenchef.com/WHATIF90 and use code WHATIF90 to get $90 off, including free shipping. It's been a long strange journey for Nobel Prize winning astronomer Didier Queloz. In 1995, he and his team discovered the first "Exosolar Planet" i.e. an Earth-like planet orbiting a ... Show More
34m 49s
Oct 2023
History of the Andromeda Galaxy // Quartz Crystals Discovery // The Sun’s heating Process | S26E128
The Space News Podcast. SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 128 *The dramatic history of the Andromeda galaxy A new study has unveiled the violent history of our nearest neighbouring big galaxy M-31 Andromeda. *Quartz crystals discovered in clouds of hot gas giant Astronomers using NASA’ ... Show More
26m 32s
Mar 2024
Ep. 713: Solar System Volcanoes
Astronomy Cast Ep. 713: Solar System Volcanoes by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Mar 18, 2024. Last week was one of the most exciting meetings we’ve seen from the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, with hundreds of announcements and discoveries from various mi ... Show More
33m 52s
Jun 2024
Ep. 723: Exoplanets by the Numbers
Astronomy Cast Ep. 723: Exoplanets by the Numbers By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Jun 10, 2024. Astronomers have discovered thousands of exoplanets, revealing entirely new types of worlds that we just don’t have in the solar system. It’s enough to start getting a ... Show More
29m 15s
Aug 2020
What If You Lived on a Super Earth? - Guest: Dr. Jack Madden
Sign up for Policy Genius today: https://bit.ly/policy-genius-what-if-discussed The Hubble telescope has helped discover over 4100 exoplanets in recent years, some of those being categorized as "Super Earths". But what exactly does that mean? What makes them so "Super"? Are they ... Show More
29m 28s