About this episode

The episode explores new explanations for mysterious cosmic phenomena involving black holes and discusses observations of Uranus's rings.

Mysterious bright blue flashes from relatively empty parts of the universe have a new possible explanation involving, what else, black holes. We explore this new idea to explain Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transients (LFBOTs) with black hole collisions, take a peek at the black hole in our own Milky Way, and discuss some puzzling observations of two of the rings of Uranus. Plus, we have a stupid stumper, exoplanet trivia, space news, and a top quark hot take!

People in this episode

Hosts: Joshua Colwell, Adrienne Dove, James Cooney

Topics covered

• black holes
• Uranus rings
• Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transients
• space news
• exoplanets
• trivia

Keywords

• black hole collisions
• LFBOTs
• Uranus
• space news
• exoplanet trivia
• top quark

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Milky Way, Uranus

More episodes of Walkabout the Galaxy

• Distant Quasars and Earth's Quasi-Moon · July 9, 2026 · 43 min
• I See a Big Moon Rising and a Bright Radio Sky · July 1, 2026 · 42 min
• Europa's Disappearing Plumes · June 24, 2026 · 49 min
• Second Generation Black Hole Mergers and Solar System Chaos · June 3, 2026 · 47 min
• Little Plutino Has An Atmosphere and Making Sense of Saturn · May 13, 2026 · 47 min
• Superkilonova and Artemis II Recap · April 28, 2026 · 45 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Walkabout the Galaxy podcast page.