Ep. 792: Star Wars Science

Astronomy Cast

Natural Sciences, Science, Astronomy

4.8 • 3.4K Ratings

🗓️ 4 May 2026

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Astronomy Cast Ep. 792: Star Wars Science By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live April 29, 2026. May the fourth be with you! Isn't that what people say on the international holiday known as Star Wars Day? Today we're gonna talk about the science in everyone's favorite sci-fi fantasy stories. Which of it is real, and which is essentially magic? Let's find out! Let's look at the science of a galaxy long ago and far away. (Did you just hear the theme music in your head? We heard it start in our head!) This show is supported through people like you on Patreon.com/AstronomyCast In this episode, we'd like to thank: Andrew Poelstra, Burry Gowen, David, David Rossetter, Ed, Eric Lee, Gerhard Schwarzer, Jason Kwong, Jeanette Wink, Joe McTee, Michael Purcell, Sergey Manouilov, Siggi Kemmler

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm
0:02.0	Oh
0:03.0	Oh Thank you. I'm Astronomycast, Episode 792, The Science of Star Wars.
0:53.8	Welcome to Astronomycast, our weekly facts-based journey through the cosmos.
0:57.0	We'll help you understand not only what we know, but how we know what we know.
1:00.0	I'm Fraser Kane.
1:00.6	I'm the publisher of the universe today.
1:01.8	With me, as always, is Dr. Pamela Gay, a senior scientist for the Planetary Science Institute
1:06.3	and the director of Cosmo Quest.
1:08.4	Hey, Pam, how you doing?
1:09.3	I am well, and my allegiance is to the Republic, to democracy.
1:16.2	Yeah.
1:16.5	So hopefully if people are seeing the video of the episode that we are recording,
1:22.7	you have Princess Leia hair.
1:25.9	I do.
1:26.6	I do.
1:27.3	And the video is currently working.
1:29.3	We did have a glitch in our pre-show that folks watching on YouTube got to see.
1:34.7	I am wearing my rainbow, rubble t-shirt, the Princess Leia braids, Chris Crossing, which is, I think, about the only hair style she has.
1:46.1	You can actually do with your hair. Everything else requires more hair than human beings have.
1:53.9	So, so I didn't know we were doing this. So I, you know, didn't have a, didn't have a costume.
2:01.9	But, and if I had, I would have pushed back and said, I will do this, but only if we will also do a science of Star Trek and a science of Stargate.
	...

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