Galaxy Quenching

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

Science, Natural Sciences, History, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.6 • 43.5K Ratings

🗓️ 1 August 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week: the story of astrophysicist Charity Woodrum. Charity is an extragalactic astronomer who studies the life and death of galaxies, why some galaxies burn bright and others dim and sputter out. And in the midst of an unthinkable grief in her personal life, she discovers something in the sky – a new kind of light that would guide her path forward. Special thanks to Megan Stielstra, Jad Abumrad, Michael Woodrum, Gina Vivona, and Clair Reilly-Roe. EPISODE CREDITS: Reported by - Lulu MillerProduced by - Jessica YungFact-checking by - Diane Kelly Radiolab | Lateral uts:Our episode The Darkest Dark (https://radiolab.org/podcast/the-darkest-dark) could be of interest to those seeking the deepest unknowns. EPISODE CITATIONS:Music -Clair Reilly-Roe’s song “Sky Full of Ghosts” (https://zpr.io/JgauhRnj7qpX) Articles -A new documentary on Charity Woodrum’s story: Space, Hope and Charity (https://www.spacehopecharityfilm.com/) Signup for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today. Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected]. Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Wait, you're listening.
0:03.1	Okay.
0:04.4	All right.
0:05.6	Okay.
0:07.0	All right.
0:08.5	You're listening to Radio Lab.
0:11.4	Radio Lab.
0:11.9	From W. N. Y.
0:13.9	C.
0:14.8	See?
0:15.1	Yeah.
0:19.2	The place I really want to start is I wonder if you can tell me about all the different ways a galaxy can die.
0:31.4	Okay, so a galaxy can die or quench in a variety of different ways.
0:37.8	Wait, and I'm already going to stop you because that weird quench.
0:40.9	Yeah.
0:41.6	Does that mean like galaxy dimming, galaxy dying?
0:45.2	Yeah, we call it death in kind of a way or a dimming of sorts, yeah.
0:49.0	Got it.
0:49.8	So I would define it as any process that prevents star formation from happening.
0:56.4	Okay.
0:56.9	And for stars to form, you need cold, dense gas.
1:01.8	You can think of cold, dense gas, mostly hydrogen, as the fuel for star formation.
	...

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