Mysteries from the Final Frontier

Space: the final frontier, a deep dark realm full of questions and mysteries - many of which science can't yet satisfactorily answer. But that won't stop the Curious Cases team! In a special edition recorded in front of an audience at the BBC Radio Theatre in London, Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain team up with a panel of guests who know their way around the universe: presenters from the world's longest running science TV show, The Sky At Night. With the intergalactic expertise of George Dransfield, Chris Lintott and Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Hannah and Dara tackle a slew of space-related questions put forward by the listeners - exploring topics ranging from the sound of stars and the shape of the universe, to the search for alien life. To submit your question to the Curious Cases team, please email: curiouscases@bbc.co.uk SPACE AUDIO CLIPS: - Maggie's Choice: In 2005, the European Space Agency's Huygens probe descended to the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. Microphones aboard Huygens recorded the sounds of descent and landing, then The Planetary Society and scientists at the University of California helped ESA process the audio. CREDIT: European Space Agency (Huygens probe) / HASI-PWA Team (instrument and data) / The Planetary Society (processing) - George's Choice: The black hole at the centre of the Perseus galaxy cluster has been associated with sound for years, since astronomers discovered that pressure waves sent out by the black hole caused ripples in the cluster's hot gas that could be translated into a note. This new sonification was released for NASA's Black Hole Week in 2022. CREDIT: NASA - Chris's Choice: In 2023, the Planck space telescope picked up echoes left by soundwaves that travelled through the early Universe. This primordial hum was then translated into frequencies we can hear. CREDIT: NASA Producer: Lucy Taylor Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem A BBC Studios Production

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Mysteries from the Final Frontier is an episode from The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry by BBC.

This episode is 28:39 long.

This episode was published on Nov 21, 2025.

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