The Cool Universe

The Cool Universe is the name astronomers give to the matter between the stars.These great clouds of dust and gas are not hot enough to be detected by optical telescopes.But over the last few decades, they have increasingly become the focus of infrared telescopy.Astronomers had long encountered dark, apparently starless patches in the night sky. When they discovered that these were actually areas obscured by dust, they found a way to see through these vexing barriers, using infrared telescopes, to the light beyond.However, more recently, the dust itself has become a source of fascination.The picture now being revealed by infrared astronomy is of a universe that is dynamic.In this dynamic universe, matter is recycled - and so the dust and gas of the Cool Universe play a vital role. They are the material from which the stars are created, and into which they finally disintegrate, enriching the reservoir of cool matter from which new stars will eventually be formed. As a result of the new research, we are now beginning to see first-hand the way our planet was formed when the solar system was born.

→ Listen on BBC Sounds website

Guests

• Carolin Crawford 20 episodes
  Member of the Institute of Astronomy, and Fellow of Emmanuel College, at the University of Cambridge
• Paul Murdin 5 episodes
  Visiting Professor of Astronomy at Liverpool John Moores University's Astronomy Research Institute
• Michael Rowan-Robinson No other episodes
  Professor of Astrophysics at Imperial College, London

Related episodes

• The Universe’s Shape
  
  7 Feb, 2002 520 Astronomy
• Dark Matter
  
  12 Mar, 2015 520 Astronomy
• Dark Energy
  
  17 Mar, 2005 520 Astronomy
• The Multiverse
  
  21 Feb, 2008 520 Astronomy
• The Death of Stars
  
  9 Jun, 2022 520 Astronomy
• The Sun
  
  1 Jan, 2015 520 Astronomy
• The Vacuum of Space
  
  30 Apr, 2009 530 Physics
• Solar Wind
  
  23 Jan, 2020 520 Astronomy
• Plasma
  
  13 Oct, 2016 530 Physics
• Galaxies
  
  29 Jun, 2006 520 Astronomy

Experimental. For more related episodes, visit the visual explorer.

---

Programme ID: b00s7b6r

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s7b6r

Auto-category: 520 (Astronomy & allied sciences)

Hello (First sentence from this episode)

Hello. Over the last few decades, astronomers have been using infrared telescopes to make visible the matter between the stars, immense clouds of dust and gas that are not hot enough to be seen with optical equipment.