Orbital Path signs off with a site visit to NASA’s mysterious and extraordinary building 29.

Billion-year-old asteroid dust, coming right up!

Astronomers investigate a mystery that is 13 billion years old.

NASA develops a futuristic space laser. Launches it into orbit. And aims it directly back at planet Earth.

Humans! Time to get over your three-dimensional selves. 
Brian Greene — world renowned physicist, bestselling author, NOVA host, and serial Colbert... more

Has a Bronx plumber’s son become the Einstein of our time?

Three billion years ago, there were organic molecules on Mars. But was there life?

Adults don’t have all the answers — or all the questions. In our second edition of TELESCOPE, Michelle grapples with... more

Adam Riess was only 41 when he was named a Nobel Prize winner. The Johns Hopkins distinguished professor of astronomy... more

Adults don’t have all the answers — or all the questions. So Michelle takes on some astronomical queries from 8th-graders.

In the time of the dinosaurs, two stars spiraled to their deaths. And 130 million years later, they taught humans... more

Science for science’s sake may be luxury we can do all without — until, as happened during the 1980s, it... more

In this darkest season of the year, Dr. Michelle Thaller and NASA astronomer Andrew Booth curl up by the fire.... more

NASA has been on the lookout for rogue asteroids for years. Then astronomers in Hawaii glimpsed a massive, cigar-shaped object... more

These days, astrophysicists like Dr. Michelle Thaller use instruments to probe the distant reaches of our galaxy, and far beyond.... more

Almost two years ago, Orbital Path launched with an episode on our fascination with space aliens. But what’s really going... more

Physicists are coming to terms with a strange new concept of Time — strange and new, perhaps, to many western... more

It’s time we get over out three-dimensional selves. 
Brian Greene — world renowned astrophysicist, New York Times bestselling author, NOVA host,... more

Michelle and NASA astronomer Andrew Booth retreat to the comfort of the hot tub — and Andrew reveals one of... more

People have dreamed of making this trip for millennia. Next year NASA launches the first ever voyage to the sun.

NASA astronomer Andrew Booth joins Michelle in the hot tub to drink a glass of chardonnay, and talk weird science.

There was a time before planets and suns. A time before oxygen. You could say there was time, even, before... more

NASA is relying on hi-tech lasers — and some vintage U.S. Navy hand-me-downs — to learn about the polar regions... more

The big one is coming! That is, the total solar eclipse of Aug. 21. Dr. Thaller shares her wisdom on... more

Recently, we’ve started to get the first images back from Juno, which is on a mission to Jupiter. Host Dr.... more

Dr. Michelle Thaller visits the NASA lab that discovered that meteorites contain some of the very same chemical elements that... more

When the Cassini spacecraft blasted into space on October 15, 1997, even the most optimistic scientists would have had a... more

Nearly 100 years after Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves — huge undulations in the fabric of space-time itself... more

Listeners, you requested more episodes, so we present the first of our mini episodes. They’ll arrive two weeks after each... more

Space science can help track what's happening on Earth. In this podcast episode, Orbital Path talks landslides and the satellites... more

Galileo discovered Europa, Jupiter’s fourth-largest moon, in 1610. In 1977, the Voyager spacecraft buzzed past and we realized it was... more

In 1985, the British Antarctic Survey discovered something that shocked scientists around the world: the ozone layer had a hole... more

Going to Mars is hot right now, just ask Matt Damon. But would you go if you knew your bones... more

An Orbital Path episode all about...an orbital path! Planet 9's, to be exact. The replacement for Pluto as our solar... more

Scientific discovery can happen in two ways: "Eureka!" moments of sudden understanding, where researchers glean unexpected insight into new phenomena.... more

The sun can seem like a friendly celestial body. But just as sun decided when life on Earth could begin,... more

When Proxima b's discovery appeared in Nature on August 24, the media breathlessly announced a new Earth-like planet just 4.2... more

The asteroid belt is portrayed in movies as a crowded place with massive rocks bouncing each other like pool balls,... more

Michael Kentrianakis loves eclipses and has seen them from all over the world. Host Michelle Thaller and Mike talk about... more

From space, the view of earth has no boundaries for countries, no barriers to achievement. Michelle Thaller speaks with Aprille... more

In this special Mother's Day episode, Michelle talks with her mom about what it was like raising a space-obsessed daughter... more

Astronomer Michelle Thaller talks with Ashley Davies, a research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, about the importance of volcanoes... more

The most rare objects in the night sky are only visible in some extreme places. Dr. Michelle Thaller introduces us... more

Host Dr. Michelle Thaller talks to Prof. Lisa Randall, a theoretical particle physicist at Harvard, about her new book, Dark... more

Why are humans so quick to attribute unknowns to the work of aliens? Featuring guest Phil Plait, the "Bad Astronomer".