Cosmic Vertigo

Dark Matter flies through solid walls like a ghost. Humans have buried super-sensitive crystals to try and detect it - and our Universe doesn’t make any sense without it.

Science fiction movies make it pretty clear that black holes are terrifying, all-consuming monsters. For astronomers there’s no cooler place to try and see.

It's a patchy, pale river in the sky - and a twirling spiral of 400 billion stars. It’s also headed for a dazzling intergalactic train wreck. Welcome to our Milky Way.

Alan and Amanda debate the number of civilisations that might be out there, get the maths wrong, and argue about whether our biggest barriers to coexistence would be linguistic or… dietary.

The science of exoplanets is stupendously fast-moving. The more we look for alien worlds, the more of them we find. Thousands and thousands of them, all with terrible names.

What makes a star a star? When will Betelgeuse explode? Amanda explores what "any day now" means in astronomy and Alan starts measuring mass in millions of marsupials.

Our Solar System started out as a chaotic Primordial Pancake. Now it hosts the eight planets we know and love, plus poor old Pluto, plus some other stuff. Like asteroids with their own moons.

It’s drifting away from Earth at the same rate that your fingernails grow, but the Moon is still our closest neighbour - so close, that we’ve left quite a lot of litter on its surface…

Meet your hosts, astronomers Dr Amanda Bauer and Dr Alan Duffy.

This is the final episode of Name That Space Sound, our mini-episode in which Karlie plays a mysterious space sound and Corey does his best to guess what it is. This week, the Dysons of the sky... Presenters: Karlie Noon, Corey Tutt Producer: Ivy Shih Executive Producer: Joel Werner Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite Podcast tile art by Molly Hunt

Karlie Noon is the first Indigenous student to obtain a Masters of Astronomy and Advanced Astrophysics, and is currently doing a PhD in Astronomy at the Australian National University. Corey Tutt is the CEO of Deadly Science, a charity that provides science books and early reading material to remote schools in Australia. Our Cosmic hosts have accomplished STEMM careers. But the path to their success was littered with obstacles. Presenters: Karlie Noon, Corey Tutt Producer: Ivy Shih Executive Producer: Joel Werner Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite Podcast tile art by Molly Hunt

It’s time for Name That Space Sound! Each Friday we’re going to drop a mini-episode in which Karlie plays a mysterious space sound and Corey does his best to guess what it is. This week, Sk8er Boi. Presenters: Karlie Noon, Corey Tutt Producer: Ivy Shih Executive Producer: Joel Werner Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite Podcast tile art by Molly Hunt

What inspires someone to become a scientist? How to fall -- and stay -- in love with STEMM (that’s Science Technology Engineering Maths Medicine) in spite of the many barriers you might meet along the way. With special guest and best friend of the show Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith. Guest: Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith Astrophysicist (UNSW), Author, Australian Government Women in STEM Ambassador Presenters: Karlie Noon, Corey Tutt Producer: Ivy Shih Executive Producer: Joel Werner Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite Podcast tile art by Molly Hunt

It’s time for Name That Space Sound! Each Friday we’re going to drop a mini-episode in which Karlie plays a mysterious space sound and Corey does his best to guess what it is. This week, a wheel that is running on metal. Presenters: Karlie Noon, Corey Tutt Producer: Ivy Shih Executive Producer: Joel Werner Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite Podcast tile art by Molly Hunt Jupiter Sounds 2001 ByNASA is licensed under (CC BY-NC 3.0)

A mystery of astronomical proportions! A lonely night… A strange signal… But who -- or what! -- was the culprit? Presenters: Karlie Noon, Corey Tutt Producer: Ivy Shih Executive Producer: Joel Werner Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite Podcast tile art by Molly Hunt Law, Casey, 2016, "The Sound of Fast Radio Burst FRB 121102",https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/QSWJE6, Harvard Dataverse, V1

It’s time for Name That Space Sound! Each Friday we’re going to drop a mini-episode in which Karlie plays a mysterious space sound and Corey does his best to guess what it is. This week, The Barking Man. Presenters: Karlie Noon, Corey Tutt Producer: Ivy Shih Executive Producer: Joel Werner Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite Podcast tile art by Molly Hunt Golden Record: Tame Dog By NASA is licensed under (CC BY-NC 3.0) Golden Record: Australia, Aborigine songs, "Morning Star" and "Devil Bird," recorded by Sandra LeBrun Holmes by NASA/ JPL-Caltech

For the people of many cultures, including Indigenous Australians, the Pleiades constellation tells the story of the Seven Sisters. This ancient story, thought to be up to 100 00 years old, continues to provide insights to modern day astronomy. Presenters: Karlie Noon, Corey Tutt Producer: Ivy Shih Executive Producer: Joel Werner Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite Podcast tile art by Molly Hunt

It’s time for Name That Space Sound! Each Friday we’re going to drop a mini-episode in which Karlie plays a mysterious space sound and Corey does his best to guess what it is. This week, a 12-year-old playing Frozen on the recorder underwater. Presenters: Karlie Noon, Corey Tutt Producer: Ivy Shih Executive Producer: Joel Werner Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite Podcast tile art by Molly Hunt Sonification: pillars of creation  NASA/CXC/SAO/K. Arcand, M. Russo & A. Santaguida

Australia has a space agency! The Australian Space Agency (ASA) was founded in 2018 -- but what does it do? And how did it come to be? Karlie and Corey are joined by friend of the show Dr Space Junk (aka Associate Professor Alice Gorman) to get the low down on ASA. Guest: Associate Professor Alice Gorman College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University Presenters: Karlie Noon, Corey Tutt Producer: Ivy Shih Executive Producer: Joel Werner Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite Podcast tile art by Molly Hunt

It’s time for Name That Space Sound! Each Friday we’re going to drop a mini-episode in which Karlie plays a mysterious space sound and Corey does his best to guess what it is. This week, a pirate ship surrounded by balloons. Presenters: Karlie Noon, Corey Tutt Producer: Ivy Shih Executive Producer: Joel Werner Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite Podcast tile art by Molly Hunt Sounds of Perseverance Mars Rover Driving – Sol 16 (90-second highlights) By NASA/JPL-Caltech is licensed under (CC BY-NC 3.0)

There are about 130 million pieces of space junk in orbit around Earth -- and Dr Space Junk knows most of them on a first name basis! Associate Professor Alice Gorman joins Karlie and Corey to chat all things space junk -- from old school satellites that resemble Dr Who props, to red convertibles, and back again. Guest: Associate Professor Alice Gorman College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University Presenters: Karlie Noon, Corey Tutt Producer: Ivy Shih Executive Producer: Joel Werner Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite Podcast tile art by Molly Hunt

It’s time for a brand new Cosmic Vertigo segment... Name That Space Sound! Each Friday we’re going to drop a mini-episode in which Karlie plays a mysterious space sound and Corey does his best to guess what it is. This week, teenage Corey gets his heart broken. Presenters: Karlie Noon, Corey Tutt Producer: Ivy Shih Executive Producer: Joel Werner Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite Podcast tile art by Molly Hunt Sinister Sounds of the Solar System ByNASA is licensed under (CC BY-NC 3.0)

Back in 2017 a mysterious, cigar-shaped rock roared into and out of our solar system in a flash! Christened ‘Oumuamua’ it was the first interstellar visitor we’ve seen in our neck of the woods. But this cool observation exposed a not-so-cool side to the astronomy community. Guest: Associate Professor Alice Gorman College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University Presenters: Karlie Noon, Corey Tutt Producer: Ivy Shih Executive Producer: Joel Werner Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite Podcast tile art by Molly Hunt

Friend of the show, cosmologist Professor Tamara Davis lights up the studio with a chat about all the dark stuff in the universe... Guest Professor Tamara Davis School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland Presenters: Karlie Noon, Corey Tutt Producer: Ivy Shih Executive Producer: Joel Werner Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite Podcast tile art by Molly Hunt

To do incredible things -- like take a picture of a black hole -- astronomers rely on telescopes. Telescopes are undeniably cool, and the science people do with them is great -- but they’re not without their problems... Presenters: Karlie Noon, Corey Tutt Producer: Ivy Shih Executive Producer: Joel Werner Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite Podcast tile art by Molly Hunt Video footage of Arecibo Observatory collapse from National Science Foundation.

Back in 2019 a network of radio telescopes called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) took a picture of a black hole for the very first time. Presenters: Karlie Noon, Corey Tutt Producer: Ivy Shih Executive Producer: Joel Werner Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite Podcast tile art by Molly Hunt

Everyone’s favourite astronomy podcast is back! And this season, there’s new hosts in the hotseats -- Gomeroi astronomer Karlie Noon, and Deadly Kamilaroi scientist Corey Tutt. Presenters: Karlie Noon, Corey Tutt Producer: Ivy Shih Executive Producer: Joel Werner Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite Podcast tile art by Molly Hunt

Their humanity-defining mission accomplished, it's almost time to come home.

They've done their experiments, jumped for the camera and planted the flag. The walk is nearly over.

Six hours of patience and preparation, and Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong are ready to open the hatch.

After their dramatic landing, the astronauts' scheduled rest was never going to happen.

This is it. Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong begin their descent to the lunar surface. But all does not go to plan...

As the Apollo 11 crew finalise their lunar orbit, they drift around to the far side of the moon - and out of radio contact...

So far on their journey to the moon, the Apollo 11 astronauts haven't been inside the Lunar Module - that's about to change...

As they continued their trip to the moon, the Apollo 11 astronauts had to figure out how to live in space

Exactly 50 years ago, the three Apollo 11 astronauts were on their way to the moon - and they shared their view with those watching closely back on Earth.

50 years after the Apollo 11 mission successfully landed humans on the moon, hear about the journey's crucial moments - and the near misses.

We join two observers for a total eclipse of the sun.

The International Space Station is travelling in low Earth orbit at a leisurely 7.66km per second (approx). Moving at that speed, the crew of the ISS witnesses a sunrise and sunset every 90 minutes.

The search for alien life continues but at what point do we declare that we are alone in the Universe?

You'd think we'd notice thousands of explosions in the night sky. Shorter than a millisecond, these bursts were first recorded in 2007 and while scientists know they're there, we are still unsure of their origin.

If you wait long enough, would another Universe spontaneously arise in front of you? Chances are it won’t happen in your lifetime… But it could.

A serving of Globular Clusters and Amanda's favourite milkshake (it's not chocolate).

Temperature levels across the Universe vary wildly. The Boomerang Nebula is the coldest known object, but back on Earth scientists are working towards achieving absolute zero. It doesn't get any cooler than that.

The hottest thing in the Universe isn't the core of a planet, or the centre of an exploding star. It's created here on Earth by scientists working at the Large Hadron Collider.

Could there be a time when we look up at the night sky and see more objects, planets and stars, than dark space? Join Alan and Amanda as they tackle another of your Cosmic Queries.

Stargazing Live on ABC TV gathered astronomers and astrophysicists for three nights of discoveries and record-breaking observation. Join Alan as he explores the Siding Spring Observatory, where Amanda worked, and asks these professional stargazers (plus one red-haired comedian) what makes them feel Cosmic Vertigo. Featuring Karlie Noon, Fred Watson, Becky Smethurst, Greg Quicke, Andrea Boyd, Amalia Sicardi, Tim Minchin and Kumi Taguchi.

We’re told space is a vast empty vacuum. But how empty can it be, if we know it’s full of stars and black holes, nebulas and galaxies? Alan and Amanda hop aboard a space elevator and rise through the Earth's atmospheric layers to explore our not-so-empty Universe.

Imagine the mass of the sun crushed into something the size of the earth – what you're picturing is a white dwarf. But things can get much more dense than that. Amanda and Alan deliver a lesson in density with a side of salt and aioli (BYO chips).

In Season one, Amanda and Alan took an inventory of what we've left on the Moon: golf balls, a couple of flags, 96 bags of human waste ... But Ashton, a listener, wonders whether any robots (or humans) are up there.

Zooming right in from the decommissioned dwarf planet Pluto to the humble yet powerful atom helium, Amanda and Alan measure up the smallest things in the Universe — with the aid of a strand of your hair.

The biggest things in the Universe don't necessarily last the longest. Massive swollen stars, hundreds of times bigger than our own sun, burn through their fuel and either explode into a supernova or become a black hole.

Cosmic Vertigo is back — and when they're not discussing the extremes of the Universe, Alan and Amanda are answering the big questions. Your questions. This week, it's the little issue of water on Mars.

Cosmic Vertigo season 2 is COMING SOON! And we need your help. Want to share your own personal experience of Cosmic Vertigo? Or do you have a spacey question you're burning to ask Alan and Amanda? Grab a smartphone, and use the inbuilt audio recorder to record your message. Then email that file to cosmicvertigo@abc.net.au

Cosmic Vertigo producer Joel Werner has a new podcast! Sum of All Parts tells extraordinary stories from the world of numbers. The episode featured here is.. 'Phoenix + Electron'.. Melbourne, 1989. Two teenagers hack Australia's recently established internet connection, and infiltrate some of the world’s most secure computer networks. Listen online or wherever you get your podcasts.. iTunes (AU) iTunes (US) Pocket Casts RSS

Amanda and Alan are back (for a hot minute) to celebrate the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017!

Missing Cosmic Vertigo? Well, check out this story about a telescope so powerful it listens to time..

Surprise! Bonus episode! Take a trip behind the scenes in the making of Cosmic Vertigo - LIVE! from the 2017 World Science Festival in Brisbane, Australia.

It’s amazing what you find when you try to see the dawn of time. This season of Cosmic Vertigo ends at the very beginning: the Big Bang.