Looking Up

Turning the Milky Way into Music (with Mara Helmuth)

When NASA and other space agencies release sounds from space, what are we actually hearing? The answer: data sonifications. Scientists take data from telescopes, often ac

Launching a Probe into the Sun (with Dr. Joe Westlake)

The sun is our closest laboratory for understanding how stars work. Decades of space missions have studied the sun, yet its outer atmosphere, the corona, remains a myster

Downloading the Universe (with Dr. Mario Jurić)

Astronomers say the shiny new Vera C. Rubin Telescope will be able to map the entire universe with remarkable precision in no time. Already, it has located tens of thousa

Who Voted to Demote Pluto? (with Dr. Bob Stencel and Dava Sobel)

What really happened when Pluto was demoted? Twenty years after the International Astronomical Union's 2006 vote, Dean Regas revisits the decision that reshaped our solar

A Total Eclipse of Dean's Heart (with Gísli Sigurðsson)

Chasing solar eclipses is a great excuse to travel. In 2026, August 12th's eclipse presents a challenge: which beautiful destination offers the best view? The path of tot

Posing for a Picture with the Earth (with astronaut Tracy Dyson)

Still buzzing with excitement from the Artemis II launch, Dean Regas waxes poetic about that special view of our home planet that only astronauts get to see. A chat with

What did NASA find on Asteroid Bennu? (with Dr. Daniella Mendoza DellaGiustina)

What is a potentially hazardous asteroid like? Up close and personal? Very few space missions have visited asteroids and fewer still have touched an asteroid and brought

Bringing the universe down to Earth (with Kat Troche)

How do you feel about the universe? Is it scary, you know with how large it is? How far way everything is? Is it intimidating when astronomers talk about time in millions

Is most of the universe actually invisible? (with Dr. Stacy McGaugh)

By some counts as much as 96% of everything in the universe comes from dark matter and dark energy. And, up to now, both are completely invisible. Few in the field questi

3000 Astronomers, One Thrilling Event

What happens when 3000 astronomers gather in one place? The annual American Astronomical Society meeting puts this question to the test. In this episode, Dean Regas share

FROM THE ARCHIVE: Can Elon Musk Even Go to Mars? (with Oliver Morton)

With Artemis II's recent launch, we are revisiting this conversation. Dean gets to the root of this question with guest Oliver Morton, Senior Editor for The Economist and

FROM THE ARCHIVE: Problem Solving in Space (with Andy Weir)

With the recent release of the "Project Hail Mary" film adaptation, we are revisiting a favorite episode of "Looking Up." Dean chats with science fiction novelist Andy We

Ancient Martian microbes left behind a chemical "fingerprint" (with Dr. Katie Stack Morgan)

Last fall, NASA announced that it found something incredible in a rock on Mars. A core sample obtained by the Mars Perseverance rover discovered a potential biosignature.

Searching for Life in Mars' Watery Past (with Dr. Andy Czaja)

What was the planet Mars like in the past? Was it a dry desolate world like the one we see today, or was it a watery oasis filled with oceans, lakes, and rushing rivers?

Somewhere Over the Moonbow (with Jeff Pfaller)

What is a moonbow, and what does it take to get a picture of one? And do rare events in the night sky lose their appeal after you've seen a bunch of them? Dean chats with

How a 1925 Airship Crash Shaped an Ohio Town (with Kendall Crawford)

What might it be like to watch an alien spacecraft fall from the sky? Residents of Ava, Ohio, in 1925 experienced something close to this, when the USS Shenandoah, a nava

Eating Like an Astronaut (with Mark Borison)

How do you eat in space? Simple everyday chores like sleeping or going to the bathroom take on all new challenges when you're weightless and floating in mid-air. Dean is

Early Astrophotography was Controversial (with Anika Burgess)

The question seems completely absurd to us in the 21st century: should we use cameras to help with astronomical research? Well, of course. Why wouldn’t we? But in the ear

Trappist-1 is Not Like Our Sun (with Dr. Néstor Espinoza)

The universe is enormous and time to observe it is limited. This means planet-hunters have to be extra picky in their search for habitable worlds. Dean chats with Dr. Nés

The Martian Craze of the Gilded Age (with David Baron)

Mars and Martians. They go together in the public's mind. The Earthling fascination with "alien invaders" goes back a long time. But why? And what does it say about all o