Episodes
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...
Published 04/09/24
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...
Published 04/08/24
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...
Published 04/07/24
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...
Published 04/06/24
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...
Published 04/05/24
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...
Published 04/04/24
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...
Published 04/03/24
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:...
Published 04/02/24
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 ...
Published 04/01/24
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: - The Moon is the Earth's long time dancing partner. This unequal pair revolve about a teeter totter type balance point which in turn orbits the Sun every 365 and a quarter days. A small asteroid has become a third partner in the Earth-Moon dance. - Collisions between...
Published 03/31/24
Paul Hill, Ralph Wilkins and Dr. Jenifer “Dr. Dust” Millard host.  Damien Phillips, John Wildridge and Dustin Ruoff produce. This podcast extra is our (Ralph’s!) full length interview with Dr. Helen Sharman, Britain's First astronaut and the first woman to visit the Russian Mir Space Station in 1991.  In this interview we discuss:  ●  Tim Peake  ●  Access to space during a time of no UK funding  ●  The skills needed to be an astronaut  ●  Training for spaceflight at Star City in Russia ...
Published 03/30/24
From March 13, 2024. As you know, our team loves volcanoes, and since we’ve been focused on Iceland for months, we brought in Dr. Melissa Scruggs (aka VolcanoDoc on Twitch) for a chat about Grindavik and all things volcanic in Iceland.   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 donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon...
Published 03/29/24
Podcater: Loretta Cannon for the AAS-HAD.     Brief description: H’ad astra historia is the official podcast for the Historical Astronomy Division of the American Astronomical Society.  We’re here to share stories from and about the people who study the stars, planets, and the cosmos.  We’ll be hearing from individuals who not only study the history of astronomy, but also those who lived it, who were “in the room” during pivotal events within the last 50 years or so.    Today’s guest: ...
Published 03/28/24
Recorded 15 February, 2024. With a first flight on April 19, 2021, NASA's Ingenuity helicopter broke ground on new capabilities for remote planetary missions. For nearly three years, the little drone far exceeded the originally planned technology demonstration of up to five flights, taking off and landing 72 times! Sadly, damage to the rotor blades has now left Ginny grounded, but the spacecraft has paved the way for future aerial explorers at Mars and, potentially, other space...
Published 03/27/24
From August 7, 2023. Our galaxy likely holds hundreds of billions of planets around other stars but when and how did we begin finding them?  What was the first exoplanet detected?  It turns out that the first discovery wasn’t one, but two planets in the same system.     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 donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with...
Published 03/26/24
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ADUzATkS9g Streamed live on Mar 18, 2024. Last week was one of the most exciting meetings we’ve seen from the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, with hundreds of announcements and discoveries from various missions. One theme kept coming up, the Solar System is more volcanically active than we thought. Today, we’ll explore volcanism on other worlds.   This video was made possible by the following Patreon members: Jordan Young BogieNet Stephen Veit ...
Published 03/25/24
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: - Students and teachers are doing real science by measuring the shadows cast by distant objects in our solar system. - A tough rocky asteroid makes close approaches to the Sun.   We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and...
Published 03/24/24
Hosted by Dr. Jacinta Delhaize & Dr. Daniel Cunnama. Today we are re-running Episode 11 from all the way back in Season 1! Jacinta takes us on a tour of her homeland, into the Australian bush, and chats about pathfinders, precursors and the exciting collaborations between South Africa and Australia!   First, we hear from Dr. Ivy Wong, a researcher at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Perth, about large surveys of neutral hydrogen gas in galaxies and the...
Published 03/23/24
From March 7, 2024. It is possible to buy stickers, sweatshirts, mugs, and other stuff and things emblazoned with the simple phrase, “We are star stuff”. This phrase was popularized by Carl Sagan, and it serves as a gentle reminder that all the complex atoms - by which I mean most everything heavier than helium - found their start either in the nuclear core of a star or in the nuclear explosions of a dying star or stars. But, as with so many things, the truth is much more complicated than...
Published 03/22/24
Hosted by Chris Beckett & Shane Ludtke, two amateur astronomers in Saskatchewan. [email protected]   Bio: Tim Doucette Tim believes that through education and awareness of the Universe, the world can become a better place. Through his passion for Astronomy and his photography, Tim shows us the beauty of the heavens. He was born blind with congenital cataracts. Later these cataracts were surgically removed along with the lenses of his eyes, Tim's unique eye condition leaves him...
Published 03/21/24
Recorded 8 February 2024. Join us for an exciting SETI Live where we’ll explore the wonders beyond Earth. We’re excited to have Dr. Valéry Lainey, a renowned researcher from the Paris Observatory in France, as our guest. Dr. Franck Marchis, our Senior Astronomer, will be guiding the conversation, sharing insights from the universe. It’s set to be an engaging event, and we hope you’ll be part of it!   In a groundbreaking study published in Nature Journal, Valery Lainey and his team have...
Published 03/20/24
How can a “big rip” tear the Universe apart? What does that mean for existence itself? Is it going to happen, and what are we doing to find out? 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: http://www.AskASpaceman.com ...
Published 03/19/24
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfeKfMQUrYw Streamed live on Mar 11, 2024.   You’ve probably heard that the best kind of science is peer-reviewed research published in a prestigious journal. But peer review has problems of its own. We’ll talk about that today.   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 THANK YOU! - Fraser and...
Published 03/18/24
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: - Recently Dr. Michael Gillon of the University of Liege in Belgium and a team of astronomers hypothesized since that approximately 2/3 of the stars in our neighborhood are red dwarf stars and some of them might host inhabitable planets.  - The source of the Geminid...
Published 03/17/24
Hosted by Andy Poniros. Former NASA Astronaut & NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden discusses his growing up as an African American in the segregated US South, & his and other African American’s experiences with and accomplishments to the US Space Program.   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 donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your...
Published 03/16/24