16: Mysteries of the Kuiper Belt

“It’s like the evidence left over after a crime.”   This month Izzie and Dr Becky venture into the outer Solar System to explore a sea of weird rocks, a squashed snowman and ice volcanoes on a demoted planet.    They are joined by Dr Meg Schwamb from Queen’s University Belfast and Alice Bowman, Mission Operations Manager for the New Horizons mission at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.   Becky also explains the science behind a possible ‘fifth force of nature’ and Dr Robert Massey takes on your questions and tells us what to look out for in the spring night sky.    You can send your questions or space book club recommendations to [email protected] or tweet @RoyalAstroSoc using #RASSupermassive.    The Supermassive Podcast is a Boffin Media Production by Izzie Clarke and Richard Hollingham.