S10:E06, “An Edition of Magnitude”, with Kimberly Arcand and Megan Watzke (audio)

Posted by jnshaumeyer on 12 December 2017

Streamed live on 7 December 2017.

Think about this: the Hubble Space Telescope has 300 times the mass of a golden retriever. Or this: Hally’s Comet has 10⁹ times the mass of a blue whale. Surprised? NOT surprised?

Welcome to the fun world of magnitude: the sizes, masses, speed, and most anything else you can measure about all the stuff in the universe, both big and small, all presented with more interesting comparisons, startling facts, and fascinating and informative graphics in Magnitude: The Scale of the Universe, by Kimberly Arcand and Megan Watzke. We talked to Kimberly and Megan about their passion for making science interesting and accessible, how their outlook is influenced by their careers, and how they came to write this book, as well as their previous book, Light: The Visible Spectrum and Beyond.

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