Search Results for Astronomy

10:01

Armed with laser technology, Bay Area engineers are helping create detailed virtual records of the world's great monuments. Their realistic recreation of the Mexican ruins of Chichén Itzá is the basis for "Tales of Maya Skies," a new half-hour film about Maya astronomy designed especially for a planetarium. The film opens at Oakland's Chabot Space & Science Center on November 21. QUEST takes you behind the scenes.

Play this TV Story Air Date: Oct 13, 2009

5:30

NASA scientists in Mountain View are building a spaceship that they will deliberately crash into the moon in 2009, sending up a 37-mile high cloud of debris. Their goal? To possibly find water in the form of ice buried deep within one of the moon's poles.

Play this Radio Report Air Date: Jun 1, 2009

5:30

NASA will soon attempt to launch an unusual satellite. Most satellites are the size of a car, but this one is small enough to fit inside a glove compartment. Mini-satellites are reaching space in increasing numbers, thanks also to a do-it-yourself satellite program at Stanford University.

Play this Radio Report Air Date: May 18, 2009

2:00

In an average lifetime, a person experiences about 936 full Moons. So, how old is the Moon? How was it formed? Take the QUEST Quiz to find out how much you REALLY know about Earth's Moon.

Play this TV Story Air Date: Apr 7, 2009

11:25

Think of them as demolition derby astrophysicists; NASA scientists in Mountain View are hoping to discover if there is water on the moon and crashed an unmanned spaceship onto the lunar surface this morning. Learn more about the LCROSS mission on QUEST.

Play this TV Story Air Date: Apr 7, 2009

5:21

Most scientists agree that using nuclear explosives to deflect an incoming asteroid is a bad idea. But Astrophysicist David Dearborn from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has been heating up the debate with his theories about how nuclear explosives could be used effectively to nudge an asteroid into a new orbit that causes it to miss the Earth entirely.

Play this TV Story Air Date: Mar 24, 2009

11:18

Everyone knows that eight planets orbit the Sun. But thousands of other objects, including icy comets and football field-sized asteroids, are also zooming around our solar system. And some of them could be on a collision course with Earth. QUEST explores how these Near Earth Objects are being tracked and what scientists are saying should be done to prevent a deadly impact.

Play this TV Story Air Date: Mar 24, 2009

5:30

Last week, NASA declared the Mars Phoenix Lander mission completed as the lander succumbed to Martian winter and lost radio contact. NASA scientists are already preparing their next mission: to send a rover to search for evidence of life on Mars. But to help decide what signs to look for, scientists are studying extreme life forms on our own planet.

Play this Radio Report Air Date: Nov 17, 2008

9:56

Meet the Bay Area's eclipse chasers - adventurers who travel the world to witness and document solar eclipses. In these rare moments, the moon covers the sun for a few minutes, leaving only its fiery atmosphere visible. Watch the China 2008 eclipse and learn about an invention that helped researchers photograph the sun's atmosphere in breathtaking detail.

Play this TV Story Air Date: Nov 12, 2008

11:33

Physicists can't see it and don't know much about what it is, but dark energy makes up 70 percent of the universe. Meet one of the country's leading scientists trying to understand dark energy and the role it plays in causing our universe to expand.

Play this TV Story Air Date: Jul 22, 2008

QUEST Schedule

  • QUEST TV:

    Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. on KQED 9 and KQED HD, Comcast 709.
  • QUEST Radio:

    Mondays at 6:30 a.m. & 8:30 a.m. on KQED FM 88.5 and KQEI FM 89.3.
  • Decoding Synthetic Biology/Wetlands Time Machine

  • Tue, Nov 10 at 7:30PM, on KQED 9HD
  • Wed, Nov 11 at 1:30AM, on KQED 9HD
  • Hog Wild/Amateur Astronomers

  • Thu, Nov 12 at 6:30AM, on KQED World
  • Decoding Synthetic Biology/Wetlands Time Machine

  • Fri, Nov 13 at 2:00PM, on KQED 9HD
  • Sat, Nov 14 at 1:30PM, on KQED World
  • Sat, Nov 14 at 3:30PM, on KTEH