Cosmic Queries: Telescopes

About This Episode

In this Cosmic Queries episode, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Colin Jost answer fan questions about telescopes. How large can telescopes be? Could we invent a telescope to observe gravity or dark energy? How would our sun look from a telescope near Deneb? Can amateur astronomers access big observatories or the Hubble? From Arecibo to Atacama, you’ll learn how radio and microwave telescopes work, and why we don’t get nuked making microwave popcorn. Find out why Neil is determined to save the James Webb Space Telescope by “kicking some congressional butt.” Finally, explore the future: a giant array of telescopes floating in space, held in position by laser telemetry, with a baseline wider than Earth’s diameter. Because, as Neil says, “When it comes to telescopes, size matters.”

NOTE: All-Access subscribers can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: Cosmic Queries: Telescopes.