#59 - May 2017

The Discussion: Jeni’s missing this month as she collects transiting exoplanet data in South Africa using the SIRIUS camera on the Japanese 1.4 metre Infrared Survey Facility telescope.

So Paul & Ralph take the helm and record from the AstroCamp starparty in the Welsh Brecon Beacons, discussing light pollution, the wonder of starparties and take a look at the countries which only have a solitary Awesome Astronomy downloader.

The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:

• Astronomers use gravitational lensing to calculate intergalactic distances
• The Event Horizon Telescope gathers its data for an image of our supermassive black hole
• Space X demonstrates the first relaunch of previously used rocket
• Cassini begins its swan song in glorious style

The Interview: This month we speak to Dr Dave Abergel at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics to discuss the merit (or otherwise) of the recent creation of a substance with negative mass.

Q&A: Listeners’ questions via email, Facebook & Twitter take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity. This month we take a look at radio telescopes:

I‘d like to know how a radio telescope comes up with an image Samuel Wertz, Pennsylvania, USA.