The Supermassive Podcast

Q&A: Could Dark Matter Be Space Vampires?

It's Q&A time! Izzie Clarke, Dr Becky Smethurst and the Royal Astronomical Society's Dr Robert Massey dive into The Supermassive Mailbox to answer your brilliant and ridiculous questions.🌑 Do meteors hit the Moon during showers?⏳ Could black holes create different 'eras' of time?☄️ Where did the Kuiper belt come from?🧛‍♂️ If space telescopes use mirrors and vampires don't have a reflection, could dark matter actually be space vampires?Want more of The Supermassive Podcast? Here are the previous episodes we mentioned and you can now watch us on Youtube!Do We Live in a Multiverse? (December 2023)How to Time Travel (December 2025)What the heck are Neutrinos? (June 2026)For ad-free listening, join The Supermassive Club on Supporting Cast. Every member helps keep the show running, so thank you!Send us your astronomy attempts, questions (and nonsense!) to podcast@ras.ac.uk, on Instagram at @supermassivepod or post in The Supermassive Club.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.

Can Time Travel be sped up? What is the Bootes Void? And G'day to Australians

What is the Bootes Void? Why do we only see one side of the Moon? Can time travel be sped up? And what's the smallest amount of visible space debris? The Supermassive Podcast team answer your questions... And work on their Australian accents!?For the first time ever, you can now watch this episode on YouTube.For ad-free listening, join The Supermassive Club. Every member helps keep the show running, so thank you!Send us your astronomy attempts, questions (and nonsense!) to podcast@ras.ac.uk, on Instagram at @supermassivepod or post in The Supermassive Club.The Supermassive Podcast is a Boffin Media Production, the producers are Izzie Clarke and Richard Hollingham. Hayley Wilson is the video editor. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What the heck are neutrinos?

Is this the toughest subject we’ve ever tackled? Izzie certainly thinks so and it’s even making Dr Becky and Dr Robert's brains hurt. Helping them to make sense of these ‘weird and interesting’ particles are Dr Kirsty Duffy at the University of Oxford and Director of the Paris Astrophysics Institute, Professor Kumiko Kotera. For ad-free listening and to view Izzie's trajectory to becoming a better astronomer, join The Supermassive Club. Every member helps keep the show running, so thank you!Send us your astronomy attempts, questions (and nonsense!) to podcast@ras.ac.uk, on Instagram at @supermassivepod or post in The Supermassive Club.The Supermassive Podcast is a Boffin Media production. The producers are Izzie Clarke and Richard Hollingham. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why Is There Motion in the Universe?

What happens if two diamond core stars collide? Will the Moon drift away from Earth? Why is there motion in the universe? And why we need a space AND time machine. Izzie, Dr Becky and Robert dive into The Supermassive Mailbox to answer your questions. For ad-free listening and to view Izzie's trajectory to becoming a better astronomer, join The Supermassive Club. Every member helps keep the show running, so thank you! Send us your astronomy attempts, questions (and nonsense!) to podcast@ras.ac.uk, on Instagram at @supermassivepod or post in The Supermassive Club. The Supermassive Podcast is a Boffin Media production. The producers are Izzie Clarke and Richard Hollingham. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How Do Space Telescopes Work?

Nancy Grace Roman. Ariel. The next generation of space telescopes are here. Astrophysicist Dr Becky Smethurst and science journalist Izzie Clarke explore how they work, what they can tell us and why they might unravel our current understanding of the universe. Plus Dr Robert has your stargazing tips for June. Thank you to Dr Tom Barclay from NASA's Roman telescope and Dr Chris Pearson from RAL Space. The Supermassive Podcast is a Boffin Media production. The producers are Izzie Clarke and Richard Hollingham. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.