Nimbly combining the tools of art and science, SETI Institute Artist in Residence Xin Liu expresses what it means to be human through a diverse body of work that includes frost-coated sculptures, a bubbling fountain of crude oil, and a performance in outer space.    In a new body of sculptures exhibited at Pioneer Works in New York City, the artist considers her fears around having her eggs frozen, creating warped, skeletal, frost-covered sculptures that propose a human body transformed...

Many people feel that it’s very important for humanity’s long term survival that we become a multiplanet species.  Traveling to and possibly even inhabiting other planets in our solar system is not only possible with our current levels of technology, but compared to going to the stars, it’s downright easy.   But what about traveling to exoplanets?  Can we reach the stars?   We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.  Just...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaZEiNaz2CQ Streamed live on Apr 15, 2024. Last week, we learned about the death of Peter Higgs, a physicist and discoverer of the particle that bears his name. The Large Hadron Collider was built to find and describe the particle. Today, we’ll look back at the life of Peter Higgs and his particle.   This video was made possible by the following Patreon members: Jordan Young BogieNet Stephen Veit Jeanette Wink Siggi Kemmler Andrew Poelstra Brian...

Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( @Nmcanopus ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. travelersinthenight.org Today's 2 topics: - A faint shooting star or meteor streaking across the sky is produced when a tiny bit of rock or dust enters the Earth's atmosphere and burns up some 60 miles above us. NASA scientist Dr. Marc Fries and his collaborators have used Doppler Weather Radar to track twenty...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzlJ9yzki08 The Beginner's Gateway to the Cosmos, Even in the City! From  Sep 28, 2023. Here is the Deep Astronomy Review of the Dwarf II smart telescope from Dwarflabs. If you're looking to buy one, here's my affiliate link: https://dwarflab.com/products/dwarf-2-smart-telescope?aff=43   We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.  Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and...

From April 10, 2024. This week’s episode is brought to you by last week’s terrible weather. While experiencing hail and thunder IRL, we also saw press release after press release and article after article discussing climate change. This one-two punch of new science and the need for a new roof means we will touch on climate change in our closer look this week. We apologize in advance; it’s not pretty out there -- unless you like storm chasing, then it’s kind of the stuff of dreams at the...

Hosted by Chris Beckett & Shane Ludtke, two amateur astronomers in Saskatchewan. [email protected] Our guest today is Peter Jedicke who was National President of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada from 2004 to 2006 and is now a Fellow of the RASC. He is also Honorary President of the RASC London Centre. His favourite astronomical topic, both astrophysically and as an observer, is globular clusters and co-authored the RASCC Observer’s Handbook section on Star Clusters. Peter...

Only eight times in history have scientists found an asteroid, tracked its trajectory toward Earth, and caught the resulting fireball on cameras. The latest of these eight events happened in January 2024, with the discovery of asteroid 2024 BX1, a mere three hours before impacting the atmosphere over Europe. And of course, the SETI Institute's own Dr. Peter Jenniskens was hot on the trail, flying to Germany to help search for meteorite fragments. Within the week, several pieces were...

What’s the most distant thing we can see with the naked eye? What about with a telescope? What about at other wavelengths? Is there anything more to see? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!   This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/spaceman and get on your way to being your best self. Visit BetterHelp to get 10% off your first month!   Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:...

https://www.astronomycast.com/2006/11/einsteins-theory-of-special-relativity/ From November 6, 2006. It’s all relative. How many times have you heard that? Well, when you’re traveling close to the speed of light, everything really is relative; especially the passage of time. This week, Fraser and Pamela give you the skinny on Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity. After listening to a few thought experiments, you too should be able to wrap your head around this amazing theory.   We've...

Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( @Nmcanopus ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. travelersinthenight.org Today's 2 topics: - Ten hours and 46 minutes after my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard discovered a Toyota RAV4 sized space rock, now named 2018 UA, streaking through the constellation of Pegasus at 8.8 miles/second, this tiny asteroid passed less than 1/2 the distance of the...

Using archival data from the Gemini North telescope, a team of astronomers have measured the heaviest pair of supermassive black holes ever found. The merging of two supermassive black holes is a phenomenon that has long been predicted, though never observed. In this podcast, Dr. Roger Romani discusses the discovery of this system and what we can learn about massive black hole pairs from this system.   Bios:  - Rob Sparks is in the Communications, Education and Engagement group at NSF’s...

From March 29, 2024. One of our recurring topics is “Planet formation is not well understood,” and a trio of new papers is making it clear why planet formation continues to... not be well understood. Put simply: the Universe likes to create more diverse solar systems than an entire planet’s worth of sci-fi writers can imagine.   We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.  Just visit:...

Paul Hill and Dr. Jenifer “Dr. Dust” Millard host.  Damien Phillips, John Wildridge and Dustin Ruoff produce. This month Dr. Jen is off to the US for the Solar Eclipse while Paul is just back from Goonhilly Earth Station. We chat about the imminent demise of the Chandra Space Telescope, more news on the Hubble tension, and of course the Great North American Eclipse.  Chinese Lunar ambitions, Starship making it to space and the first Boeing Starliner crew make the news while in this month’s...

Throughout human history, comets have fascinated us. They have gone from signs and portents of bad things to come to well-studied and even visited "dirty snowballs". Every year, observers search the skies, hoping to discover the Next Big Comet - Halley, Hyakutake, Hale–Bopp, McNaught. From SOHO and LINEAR to ATLAS and IRAS, numerous observatories have continued to add to the count of discovered comets.  But it doesn't require expensive hardware or spacecraft to make similar observations from...

From August 8, 2023. A massive, Jupiter-sized exoplanet has been discovered orbiting a small, low-mass star and this discovery is challenging theories on how planets form around their stars. The planet, called TOI-4860 b, is about the same size as Jupiter and orbits its star once every 1.5 Earth days, classifying it as a warm Jupiter. This is unusual because planets this large are not supposed to form around low-mass stars.   We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvWaJrxhS0g Streamed live April 1, 2024. NO JOKES! How to watch a solar eclipse and do some science! The next great eclipse is upon us, with viewers across North America witnessing the moon passing in front of the Sun. It’s an amazing experience, but also an opportunity to do science. Let’s talk about what we can learn from this momentous event.   This video was made possible by the following Patreon members: Jordan Young BogieNet Stephen Veit Jeanette...

Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( @Nmcanopus ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. travelersinthenight.org Today's 2 topics: - Asteroid hunters are developing the equipment and skills which enable them to predict the impact of tiny space rocks. Thus in the future you may have the opportunity to witness the light show an impactor creates and perhaps even obtain clues which will enable you to...

April 2024: Finally the month of the eclipse! A wonderful experience for North America, the Lyrid Meteor Shower, and lots of planetary action makes April of 2024 one of THE best months in a LONG time.   I’m Rob Webb, your Last Minute Astronomer, bringing astronomy to normies and nerds, with little time to spare. As usual, we’ll start by talking about where the naked eye planets are this month, move on to the lunar phases, and finish up with a calendar of events, so you can plan ahead better...

This episode was recorded on March 14, 2024. Earlier in March, Congress voted into place the FY2024 budgets for multiple agencies, including NASA. The agency is being asked for an overall 2% cut. Combined with inflation rates over 3%, we are looking at a fairly significant cut to the U.S. budget for space science. Dr. Pamela Gay breaks down what these cuts will affect, including people and missions, as we move forward with this already stressful fiscal year.   We've added a new way to...

Hosted by Chris Beckett & Shane Ludtke, two amateur astronomers in Saskatchewan. [email protected] The Actual Astronomy Podcast presents The Observer's Calendar for April 2024. In this episode we’ll talk about the possible Nova of T-Corona Borealis, Mars, Saturn and Moon forming a Triangle in the Eastern Sky, the April 8th Solar Eclipse. Chris and Shane also discuss the Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks but since recording both have viewed it in binoculars.   April 1 - Zodiacal light...

Communications specialist Beth Johnson chats with Dr. Phil Plait about his latest book and just what wonders await us in our solar system and out amongst the stars.   Phil Plait, aka the Bad Astronomer, has been communicating and correcting space science since the turn of the century (sorry, Phil!). His first book, "Bad Astronomy", tackled numerous misconceptions and myths about astronomy and space missions.    His second book, "Death from the Skies!", took a look at a variety of ways the...

What is “emergence” in physics and why is it a big deal? What would it mean for gravity to be emergent? How would we have to rewrite the laws of physics? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!   This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/spaceman and get on your way to being your best self. Visit BetterHelp to get 10% off your first month!   Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEW-13DJlIY Streamed live on Mar 25, 2024. Several of the planets and moons in the Solar System are in orbital resonance, orbiting in a geometric lockstep. And not just the Solar System, astronomers have found the same resonances in other star systems.   This video was made possible by the following Patreon members: Jordan Young BogieNet Stephen Veit Jeanette Wink Siggi Kemmler Andrew Poelstra Brian Cagle David Truog Ed David Gerhard Schwarzer ...