Podcast: The Impending Intergalactic Cloud Collision

Not too far away, there's a giant gas cloud drifting towards the Milky Way galaxy. Known as the Smith Cloud and made up mostly of hydrogen, it should merge with our home system in about 30 million years. On this week's podcast, I spoke with Jay Lockman, the lead scientist at the NRAO's Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia who told me about this mysterious object. A false-color image of the Smith Cloud, showing it's comet-like appearance.Image: NRAO/AUI/NSF As big as a small galaxy, scientists ...