ScienceAstronomyNatural Sciences

Cosmic Coffee Time with Andrew Prestage

Andrew Prestage

It's cosmology in a cup! - Cosmic Coffee Time is bite sized podcasts making sense of space, astronomy, life, and the universe, best enjoyed with a coffee. A down to earth look at what's up there, and it's just for you spacefans. Grab a coffee and see where in the universe we go this time. Follow on Twitter @CosmicCoffTime

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S1 · E97
September 30 · 10 min
#97 Nancy Grace Roman: The new space telescope beginning a remarkable journey to map the universe, hunt for exoplanets and unravel cosmic mysteries
Send us Fan Mail NASA has launched the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, opening a new chapter in our exploration of the universe. We discover who Nancy Grace Roman was, and the remarkable career that led her to become one of NASA’s most influential astronomers. We follow Roman’s spectacular launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy and its journey towards the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point. We explore how this powerful infrared observatory will survey enormous areas of sky, investigate dark energy and dark matter, discover thousands of exoplanets, and search for clues that could fundamentally change our understanding of the universe. Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content X.com/CosmicCoffTime Email us! cosmiccoffeetime@gmail.com You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you.
S1 · E96
August 31 · 11 min
#96 The James Webb Space Telescope: The world’s most powerful space telescope, with a 6.5-metre mirror and infrared instruments in a distant orbit. Discover how this remarkable observatory could transform our view of the universe.
Send us Fan Mail The James Webb Space Telescope is the most powerful space telescope ever built, designed to look deeper into the universe and further back in time than ever before. Let's check out the technology behind Webb, from its enormous 6.5-metre mirror and infrared vision to its extraordinary location in space. We'll see some of Webb’s remarkable discoveries, including ancient galaxies, newborn stars and the atmospheres of distant exoplanets. Most importantly, Webb is helping answer some of astronomy’s biggest questions: how the universe began, how galaxies and planetary systems formed, and whether the ingredients for life are common throughout the cosmos. Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content X.com/CosmicCoffTime Email us! cosmiccoffeetime@gmail.com You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you.
S1 · E95
July 31 · 8 min
#95 Of the enormous number of things that happen in the universe, a few of them throw up some really interesting coincidences. Let’s take a look at some of these.
Send us Fan Mail There are a few really interesting coincidences in space science. From Earth, the sun and moon appear the same size, that’s super unlikely. Earth seems to made for us, well, if it didn’t, we wouldn’t be here have the discussion I guess. And our lifetimes overlap with the Apollo Moonwalkers, the first humans to set foot on another world. The chances of that were incredibly slim. These coincidences don’t have any special meaning, in fact it would be weird if there weren’t a few interesting coincidences. Just for a few minutes, let’s set aside the billions of things that aren’t coincidences, and look at some amazing things that are! Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content X.com/CosmicCoffTime Email us! cosmiccoffeetime@gmail.com You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you.
S1 · E94
June 30 · 8 min
#94 The Artemis III crew has been selected. Who are they, what are their skills, and what will they do on the next Artemis flight?
Send us Fan Mail NASA has announced the four astronauts who will fly Artemis III, the first crew assigned to test the lunar landing hardware in Earth orbit. They’ll test the rendezvous, docking and spacecraft systems that future lunar landings will depend on. In this episode, we take a closer look at the newly announced crew, why these astronauts were chosen, what Artemis III will actually accomplish, and why the announcement has already sparked debate about the future of human space exploration. Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content X.com/CosmicCoffTime Email us! cosmiccoffeetime@gmail.com You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you.
S1 · E93
May 31 · 10 min
#93 What can we do to stop another dinosaur extinction asteroid smashing into Earth?
Send us Fan Mail 66 million years ago, an asteroid smashed into Earth and caused a mass extinction, including nearly all of the dinosaurs. What would we do if another extinction level asteroid was heading to Earth? The good news is we’re monitoring the skies to identify them early. And there are some incredible strategies for managing high risk objects, and we look at a dramatic test from 2022. Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content X.com/CosmicCoffTime Email us! cosmiccoffeetime@gmail.com You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you.
S1 · E92
May 19 · 28 min
#92 Particle physicist and author Dr. Sarah Alam Malik joins us to explore the history of astronomy and the universe. Her new book A Brief History of the Universe takes us from ancient astronomers to modern physics, and the future of the cosmos.
Send us Fan Mail Particle physicist and author Dr. Sarah Alam Malik stops by for an expansive conversation about astronomy, the history of scientific discovery, and our endless fascination with the night sky. In her new book, A Brief History of the Universe, And Our Place in It, Dr. Sarah explores how our understanding of the cosmos has evolved from ancient observers tracking the stars, through the revolutionary ideas of Copernicus and Newton, to modern discoveries about dark matter and the origins of the universe itself. Why do humans feel compelled to explore? What does it mean to confront the scale of the universe, and how can astronomy change the way we see ourselves here on Earth. Dr. Sarah also reflects on her own path into physics, the moments of awe that still stay with her, and the discoveries she hopes for in the coming decades. This is a conversation about curiosity, perspective, and the incredible human need to understand where we came from, and what the distant future of the universe might hold. Check out A Brief History of the Universe at Harper Collins (USA) Check out A Brief History of the Universe at Simon & Schuster (UK) Check out A Brief History of the Universe at Simon & Schuster (Australia) sarahalammalik.com Email us! cosmiccoffeetime@gmail.com You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you.
April 30 · 7 min
#91 What’s next for the Artemis program? Artemis 2 was incredible, but let’s take a look at what Artemis 3 & 4 will achieve in the next couple of years. (It’s amazing!)
Send us Fan Mail Artemis 2 was was a breathtaking moment for us all. We were mesmerised by the four astronauts and the images they sent back to Earth. But so much lies ahead, and that’s the really exciting part. Artemis 3 will orbit the Earth and try out some of the equipment and manoeuvres that we just can’t test on Earth. Artemis 4 will be truly amazing. That’s the mission that’s going to take people back to the surface of the Moon for the first time since 1972. Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content X.com/CosmicCoffTime Email us! cosmiccoffeetime@gmail.com You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you.
S1 · E90
April 21 · 24 min
#90 An Australian backyard astronomer helped NASA find 100 planets! Astronomy award winner Chris Stockdale used his home observatory in Churchill, Victoria to track distant stars and find the planets in their orbit. What a chat.
Send us Fan Mail Chris Stockdale is an award winning astronomer in the Gippsland area of Australia. His contribution to NASA's exoplanet research earned him the Berenice and Arthur Page Medal from the Astronomical Society of Australia. And he's an amateur. Chris uses an observatory in his own backyard to monitor candidate stars from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and studies their brightness over time. If the light dims by as little as half a percent, he's found another exoplanet, a planet that orbits a star in another part of the galaxy. His exoplanet data also helps guide the James Webb Space Telescope, 1.5million km away in solar orbit. Incredible! We had a chat with him about his observatory, NASA's TESS program, and some of the most fascinating planets in the solar system
S1 · E89
March 31 · 11 min
#89 Rogue planets! It's possible that most planets in our galaxy don't orbit a star, like we do with our sun. Rogue planets float through interstellar space in the cold darkness. How do they form? And how do we find a planet at interstellar distances?
Send us Fan Mail We instinctively think of planets as rocky or gaseous bodies orbiting a star like our sun, with sunrise, sunset, heating and maybe even seasons. But what if a planet didn't orbit a light source? What if it just floated through space vaguely orbiting the centre of the galaxy, but tugged this way and that way by nearby stars and stellar systems. These are rogue planets. No sunrise, no sunset, no heat from an outside source. Just starlight and blackness as it wandered aimlessly through lonely interstellar space. And they just might be the most common type of planet in our galaxy. Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content X.com/CosmicCoffTime Email us! cosmiccoffeetime@gmail.com You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you.
S1 · E88
February 28 · 12 min
#88 Is the Universe Infinite? It’s almost an instinctive question, but maybe it’s unknowable.
Send us Fan Mail Most people have looked to the skies and wondered if the universe has a boundary, or maybe it goes on for ever. The universe might be finite, with and end somewhere. Or, it might be infinite, with an infinite amount of space and matter. Both of thos throw up some mind bending questions, and maybe even real life duplicates of ourselves. Problem is, we would never be able to observe them, or even test for their presence, or even know if they exist. So does it matter? Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content X.com/CosmicCoffTime Email us! cosmiccoffeetime@gmail.com You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you.
S1 · E87
January 31 · 7 min
#87 The next crewed Moon mission is ready for launch. Let’s preview the historic Artemis II flight, sending humans to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years.
Send us Fan Mail The launch window for Artemis II opens on 6 February 2026. Humans will fly a test mission, swinging around the far side of the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. There won’t be a landing, but just like Apollo 8 tested systems in the lunar vicinity before Apollo 11, Artemis II will test the modern systems under the same conditions the landing missions. There will be a crew of 4 including the first person of colour, the first woman and the first non American to fly beyond low Earth orbit. It really is a historic flight in so many ways. Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content X.com/CosmicCoffTime Email us! cosmiccoffeetime@gmail.com You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you.
S1 · E86
Dec 31, 2025 · 9 min
#86 We all love the Moon, but it hasn’t always been there. Where did it come from, and when did that happen?
Send us Fan Mail The Moon has a history longer than any of the features on Earth, but it isn’t as old as Earth. The Giant Impact hypothesis says that a Mars sized protoplanet collided with earth Billions of years ago and threw out enough of earth’s mantle to make the Moon. It’s an incredible story, and it might just have been the luckiest thing that ever happened for us. Without the Moon, life as we know it might never have existed. Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content X.com/CosmicCoffTime Email us! cosmiccoffeetime@gmail.com You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you.
S1 · E85
Nov 30, 2025 · 8 min
#85 Skywatch December 2025. Geminid Meteor Shower, Supermoon vs. Pleiades and Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
Send us Fan Mail As the year winds down, let’s take a look at what the night sky has on offer in December 2025. The highlight has to be the Geminid Meteor Shower. Over a couple of nights this month, Earth crashes through the debris trail of asteroid 3200 Phaethon, producing a spectacular meteor shower. There’s a Supermoon in close proximity to the Pleiades star cluster, and we say goodbye to an interstellar traveller in 3I/ATLAS. Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content X.com/CosmicCoffTime Email us! cosmiccoffeetime@gmail.com You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you.
S1 · E84
Oct 31, 2025 · 9 min
#84 Before exoplanets comes a protoplanetary disc, we’ve found heavy water in one of these. What does this mean for the history of planetary water?
Send us Fan Mail We’ve detected many exoplanets and exoplanetary stems, they orbit stars in other parts of the galaxy. These planets form the same way our planetary did, they coalesce from a protoplanetary disc of gas and dust. Scientists have recently found a useful kind of substance - heavy water in one of these protoplanetary discs, and it’s told us a lot about how water might end up in planetary systems. Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content X.com/CosmicCoffTime Email us! cosmiccoffeetime@gmail.com You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you.
S1 · E83
Oct 7, 2025 · 7 min
#83 Two black holes collided a billion light years away, we detected it on Earth just this year, and it was the biggest ever recorded.
Send us Fan Mail A billion light years away, a billion years ago, two black holes spiralled toward each other and collided, we detected its gravitational waves in January 2025. We’ve detected many of these before, but this one was different. It was such a strong, clear signal that we could test laws of physics that had been proposed many decades earlier. It even put Einstein to the test. Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content X.com/CosmicCoffTime Email us! cosmiccoffeetime@gmail.com You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you.
S1 · E82
Aug 31, 2025 · 8 min
#82 Apollo-Soyuz at 50! It’s been a half century since this incredible project. The first international space mission.
Send us Fan Mail In 1975, an incredible and unlikely partnership resulted in the docking of a NASA Apollo capsule and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft in Earth orbit. The cold war opponents worked together to overcome not only engineering challenges, but the rivalry and suspicion of the cold war. This cooperation led to the Shuttle-Mir program in the 90s and the present day International space station. They all began with the spirit of cooperation from Apollo-Soyuz. Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content X.com/CosmicCoffTime Email us! cosmiccoffeetime@gmail.com You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you.
S1 · E81
Jul 31, 2025 · 9 min
#81 After centuries of Earth’s rotation slowing down, it’s now speeding up and making the days shorter. But you’d never notice.
Send us Fan Mail Earth’s days had been getting longer since observations began. Every century, the length of the day would increase by about two milliseconds. Like… clockwork. In recent years, something strange has been happening, the days have started getting shorter as the rotation of the Earth has been speeding up. Even more strangely, we don’t really understand why. Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content X.com/CosmicCoffTime Email us! cosmiccoffeetime@gmail.com You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you.
S1 · E80
Jun 30, 2025 · 8 min
#80 Plants on the Moon. An Australian team of biologists and engineers are really sending a mini greenhouse to the Moon.
Send us Fan Mail An Australian team of botanists and engineers are working on a project that might make or break the future of long term, long distance space occupation. They're growing plants. Not that unusual, but they're trying to grow them on the Moon. Plants produce oxygen and they are food, essential elements of living away from Earth. Let's check out the plan to experiment with germinating seeds in shoebox sized 'lunariums' on the Moon within the next 12 months. Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content X.com/CosmicCoffTime Email us! cosmiccoffeetime@gmail.com You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you.
S1 · E79
May 31, 2025 · 11 min
#79 Launched in 1972 for Venus, Kosmos 482 failed to escape Earth orbit — and finally returned in May 2025, after 53 years in space
Send us Fan Mail Kosmos 482, was a Soviet spacecraft launched in 1972 on a mission to Venus, but a technical glitch meant it never made it past Earth orbit. Designed to withstand the hellish surface of Venus, its lander remained in space for over 50 years, but this relic of Cold War space exploration has finally returned, re-entering Earth’s atmosphere decades after its failed journey. Though the mission never reached Venus, Kosmos 482’s dramatic, delayed descent closes a half-century chapter in space history. Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content X.com/CosmicCoffTime Email us! cosmiccoffeetime@gmail.com You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you.
S1 · E78
Apr 30, 2025 · 8 min
#78 The Andromeda Galaxy is a cosmic neighbour that’s going to collide with our Milky Way Galaxy. Should we panic?
Send us Fan Mail No need to panic. Yet! We’ll be fine for the next 4 or 5 billion years, but Andromeda is heading our way. The Andromeda Galaxy was the first object to be identified as being outside our own galaxy, and it introduced us to extragalactic astronomy. And that’s not all. It can teach us more about dark matter and it could be home to billions of planets. It’s a very cool neighbour, but one day - it’s kinda going to move in! Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content X.com/CosmicCoffTime Email us! cosmiccoffeetime@gmail.com You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you.

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