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The Supermassive Podcast: Daily Summaries Delivered
by The Royal Astronomical Society
Science journalist Izzie Clarke and astrophysicist Dr Becky Smethurst whizz through the universe to explore the latest research with leading experts, dive into history from the society’s archives and take on your weird and wonderful questions about all things space. Can we gravitationally hitch-hike out of the solar system? Do we live in a multiverse? What is time? Plus Dr Robert Massey is on hand with his top star-gazing tips. The producers are Izzie Clarke and Richard Hollingham.
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- 2 days ago54 min
BepiColombo's Massive Mission to Mercury
Eight years after its launch, BepiColombo is finally reaching the planet Mercury!Join Dr Becky Smethurst, Izzie Clarke and Robert Massey as they explore how BepiColombo is going to study Mercury’s surface and what it hopes to reveal about the planet’s magnetosphere.🛰️ ESA's Professor Geraint Jones explains the science of BepiColombo's TWO orbiters; ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter.👀 Dr Valentina Galuzzi explains how the instrument SIMBIO-SYS, aka 'the eyes' of MPO, will give us a detailed view of Mercury's weird surface.Watch The Supermassive Podcast on YouTube and for ad-free listening, join The Supermassive Club on Supporting Cast. Every paying member helps keep the show running.Send us your astronomy attempts and curious questions 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.
- 2 weeks ago23 min
Has dark matter been discovered? Disc or doughnut? And why black holes are black
@DrBecky, Izzie and Dr Robert Massey return for another bonus Q and A tackling some of the biggest questions in cosmology. This time, questions on the formation of the solar system, dark matter experimental results and why you can’t escape from a black hole.For ad-free listening, join The Supermassive Club on Supporting Cast. Every paying 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 @RasOrgUk. The producers are Izzie Clarke and Richard Hollingham. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Oct 5, 202652 min
Antimatter is Bananas!
In yet another mind-bending episode, we take on antimatter – What is it? How do you make it? And can you use it to power a spaceship? Dr Becky, Izzie and Dr Robert Massey (he’s back!) are joined by Professor Jeffrey Hangst from CERN in Switzerland, home of an antimatter factory. We also discover that every time you eat a banana, antimatter is being destroyed.For ad-free listening, join The Supermassive Club on Supporting Cast. Every paying member helps keep the show running, so thank you!https://supermassive.supportingcast.fm/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 in partnership with the Royal Astronomical Society. The producers are Izzie Clarke and Richard Hollingham. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Sep 21, 202626 min
More space vampires and tea in orbit
The bonus Q and A that tackles some of the biggest questions in cosmology including: How many space vampires would you need to explain dark matter? and can you make a decent cup of tea on a space station? Dr Becky, Izzie and producer Richard also tackle questions on neutrinos, Lagrange points and black hole stars. Becky’s cake recipe in strange science units is here.For ad-free listening, join The Supermassive Club on Supporting Cast. Every paying 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.
- Sep 3, 202646 min
The Kuiper Belt...Revisited
Yes, it’s a welcome return for the giant doughnut at the edge of the solar system filled with lumpy space potatoes. Dr Becky and Izzie are joined by Meg Schwamb from Queen’s University to discuss all things Kuiper Belt, the New Horizons mission, Rubin telescope and mysterious planet 9. For ad-free listening, join The Supermassive Club on Supporting Cast. Every paying 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.
- Aug 20, 202628 min
Colanders and is space a stew?
How many colanders can you fit in a field? In, yet another, bonus episode Izzie Clarke, @DrBecky and producer Richard Hollingham share their experiences of the eclipse. Plus is space a stew? Pocket universes, and how fit do you have to be to be an astronaut? For ad-free listening, join The Supermassive Club on Supporting Cast. Every paying member helps keep the show running, so thank you! Here is the visualisation of space that Becky mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrwgIjBUYVc 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.
- Aug 7, 202625 min
Top Tips To See The Eclipse
There's an eclipse on Wednesday 12th August 2026. So where can you see it? And how do you do that safely? Izzie Clarke, Dr Becky Smethurst and Dr Robert Massey from have it covered. Plus, The Supermassive Book Club makes a return for your summer reading. We're (finally) on Youtube, watch us here. For ad-free listening, join The Supermassive Club on Supporting Cast. Every paying member helps to keep the show running, so thank you!Send us your eclipse photos, 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. Hayley Wilson is the video editor. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Jul 24, 202649 min
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.
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About The Supermassive Podcast
Science journalist Izzie Clarke and astrophysicist Dr Becky Smethurst whizz through the universe to explore the latest research with leading experts, dive into history from the society’s archives and take on your weird and wonderful questions about all things space. Can we gravitationally hitch-hike out of the solar system? Do we live in a multiverse? What is time? Plus Dr Robert Massey is on hand with his top star-gazing tips. The producers are Izzie Clarke and Richard Hollingham.
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