The Discussion: Ralph channels his inner Churchill, while Jen goes on about Tiger King and her upcoming Cafe Scientifique talk. And we hear from listener Mark Grundy about the Welsh Room in the Cathedral of Learning in Pittsburg. The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have: China’s mission to Mars and the patch that suggests further ambitions Musings on Starlink visibility and what is being done to help astronomers. Commercial Crew Launch 27th May News about disaster and ...
May 15, 2020•49 min
The Discussion: The live recording of our monthly astronomy show to provide a bit of extra entertainment and interactivity while people are cooped up at home sitting out the coronavirus. We discuss a burgeoning love -hate relationship with Starlink, Jeni being the BBC’s go to person for Starlink and meteor showers, and Apollo 13 filling up Twitter timelines and giving us a bit of a respite from coronavirus The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have: A round up of astronomy-based...
Apr 30, 2020•1 hr 19 min
You can watch the video of this recording (and our live Episode 95 recording on 27th April) at https://www.youtube.com/user/AwesomeAstroPod/videos (midday PST, 3pm EST, 8pm UK, 9pm Central Europe) This show is a response to the many requests we get to do an episode dedicated to answering listeners’ space & astronomy questions. Producer John thought lockdown would be the perfect time to do it, when we can try and help ease the stress, boredom and isolation. The Guests: We invited some of our ...
Apr 18, 2020•1 hr 41 min
Don’t forget to join us for our live shows on 16th and 27th April at https://www.youtube.com/user/AwesomeAstroPod/videos (midday PST, 3pm EST, 8pm UK, 9pm Central Europe) The Discussion: Jen fangirling on The British Interplanetary Society and acing the Soyuz ISS docking simulator at the Student Space Conference; a ramble about Wales; the TV show For All Mankind, our live Q&A show, our poor etiquette and listener shout-outs. The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have...
Apr 14, 2020•1 hr 6 min
We're hosting a live Q&A on Thurs 16th April. Go to awesomeastronomy.com to see how to watch & get involved! The Discussion: Jeni’s sent the final proofs off for her research paper which is now on archive at https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.01727 and will soon be in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Sadly, we have to say goodbye to Apollo 15 command module pilot Al Worden. The Cradle of Aviation Museum cancel their Apollo 13 anniversary event, but you can relive Apollo 13 ...
Apr 01, 2020•1 hr 22 min
(Warning: please skip this episode if you're offended by occasional Tesla-based puerile humour) The Discussion: Balancing the argument between love and hate of SpaceX and drawing a line under the argument over when the current decade starts and what constitutes a decade. The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have: SpaceX is cleared for a crewed launch in April Further problems for Boeing Christina Koch takes the female spaceflight record. The dullest space news story eve...
Mar 14, 2020•53 min
The Discussion: Paul’s favourite bit of the coronavirus, the Cradle of Aviation Museum’s upcoming Apollo 13 anniversary event, a @CunningCosmos space art exhibition and a talk from Jen in Bromsgrove for British Space Week, from the sublime to the ridiculous with the passing of Katherine Johnson and Mad Mike Hughes, and listeners’ emails. The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have: Finding the remnants of the progenitor star after a Type 2b supernova Solving the puzzle of giant p...
Mar 01, 2020•1 hr 10 min
The Discussion: The reason we have leap years; a look at Ad Astra, Lucy in the Sky and Picard; and the history of the Stonewall Riots (don’t think it’s just astronomy here – you get a fully rounded education, dear listener); and a look at your reviews and emails. The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have: Direct TV’s ticking timebomb in space DARPA’s XS-1 reusable spaceplane gets cancelled ESA’s Solar Obiter heads off to the sun NASA ask you to vote for the official nam...
Feb 14, 2020•59 min
The Discussion: Ralph visits and records from The Cradle of Aviation Museum in Long Island, New York, we enjoyed some great skies with good weather in the UK, Betelgeuse still hasn’t gone pop – though we’re still watching, and NASA have an open day that you can attend. The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have: An evidence based look at Starlink Tracking molecules from birth to arrival in our solar system An enigmatic Type 1a supernova An interesting 14 millisecond gravitationa...
Feb 01, 2020•1 hr 3 min
This is the history of flight told from the perspective of the amateurs and hobbyists who allowed humankind to slip the surly bonds of Earth and set out towards the stars. To tell this story Ralph journeyed to the Cradle of Aviation museum in Garden City, New York, to get a tour of the early flight and exhibits from the museum’s curator and speak with an engineer who worked on the lunar modules before they flew. Our thanks in making this episode goes to the wonderful people at https://www.cradle...
Jan 22, 2020•1 hr 12 min
The Discussion: New Year resolutions, veganism, a little spoiler-free chat about the latest/last Skywalker movie and the new series of Dr Who, before some listeners’ emails. The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have: Christina Koch racks up a flight time record on the ISS China’s moon rover breaks a lunar endurance record Ethiopia becomes the 10th African nation to send a satellite into orbit ESA launches their CHEOPS Exoplanet characterising spacecraft Space Force is g...
Jan 14, 2020•55 min
The Discussion: As we begin the new decade we struggle to find a consensus on whether it actually is a new decade. We discuss the busy Xmas period and thank any listeners who helped Dartmoor Skies reach their funding target for a new telescope. Then we take a look at a few listeners’ emails and tweets. The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have: An old galaxy containing as much dust as one third the amount of its stars Mapping the magnetic fields around the Whale Galaxy An inter...
Jan 04, 2020•57 min
A pantomime look back at the biggest and most exciting news and events from 2019; a look forward to the best astronomy and space exploration events of 2020; the science of Santa’s deliveries and the traditional outtakes.
Dec 24, 2019•1 hr 12 min
The News: Sharing our news picks from the space exploration and astronomy world this month we have: A late risk of Exomars being cancelled Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft abort test and cost controversies Sierra Nevada’s Dreamchaser shuttle gets a trailer Main news story: Far from being unlikely, Tatooine worlds turn out to be very common The Interview: This month Jeni has a sit down chat about the discovery of the collapsed neutron star from supernova 1987a with Dr Phil Cigan of Cardiff Universit...
Dec 14, 2019•56 min
The Discussion: A look at the BBC’s new Martian invasion documentary, The War of the Worlds; the recent transit of Mercury; Celestron’s new phone adapter; Jen’s upcoming talks in Wales, an update on Jen’s research paper, a new research project and a debate over the start and end of a decade. Then we take a look at a couple of listeners’ emails. The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have: Water vapour geysers on Europa Ultima Thule loses its Nazi moniker Locating the stellar remn...
Dec 01, 2019•59 min
The Discussion: Ralph’s been in Washington – which, of course, means a visit to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, we say goodbye to Russian cosmonaut, Alexi Leonov, and take a look at listeners’ emails. The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have: James Webb Space Telescope inches ever closer The USAF’s autonomous space plane sets a new record SpaceX are back on the right path with its crew capsule NASA are sending a viper to the moon and an orbiter to Pluto Plans a...
Nov 14, 2019•50 min
The Discussion: Before we start the show proper, we discuss Jeni’s encounter with Nobel Laureate Kip Thorne, her new research paper undergoing a painfully slow peer review and we take a look at Chris Lintott’s book, The Crowd and the Cosmos: Adventures in the Zooniverse. Then it’s over to the listeners for a few emails suggesting cooler names for the phenomenon of the Pair Instability Supernova. The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have: An enigmatic radio burst opens up a new ...
Nov 01, 2019•1 hr 6 min
The Discussion: As a reward for good behavior, we’ve dispensed with wittering on about us and gone straight into the news. The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have: The last of the Delta IV mediums India’s Vikram lunar lander failure ESA move a satellite to avoid crashing with a SpaceX satellite NASA award funding for a Lunar Gateway pathfinding cubesat Australia & Japan commit to supporting NASA’s moonshot, Project Artemis NASA place orders for the first of possib...
Oct 15, 2019•54 min
The Discussion: A look back at our 50th anniversary of the moon landings-themed dark sky star party, AstroCamp, and some wonderful suggestions as an alternative name for a ‘pair instability supernova’. The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have: Discovery of an exoplanet stripped of its atmosphere Understanding more about the features you can observe in Jupiter’s storms Gaia tells us more about the evolution of open clusters Chandra probes black hole clusters Planet 9 (groan…) c...
Sep 30, 2019•1 hr 13 min
The Discussion: Nuking hurricanes and the lessons of Chernobyl. The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have: A new adaptor on the ISS making two emergency exits Russia sends a gunslinging robot into space (no, really!) ESA’s ExoMars mission is in hot water again NASA’s Europa Clipper on track to meet its mid-2020s launch window The companies being funded to develop tech for NASA’s moonshot Ramping up of commercial assistance to Project Artemis Main news stories: A NASA as...
Sep 15, 2019•52 min
The Discussion: A good old British whinge about the weather and looking forward to our biannual dark sky star party, AstoCamp. The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have: An experiment in an underground lab in London to understand dark energy Eight new repeating fast radio burst source Help us come up with a cooler name than a pair-instability supernova The late accretion phase of the formation of the solar system The discovery of interstellar radioactive iron in the Antarctica ...
Sep 01, 2019•1 hr 7 min
The Discussion: Following on from last month’s 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, we take a look at the recent movies and documentaries & social media: High Life, 8 Days to the Moon and Back, Apollo 50th, ApolloinRealTime.org. The ongoing inspiration of Apollo, the build-up of Project Artemis, saying farewell to Flight Director Chris Kraft and Mandla Maseko, and an email from our good friend Lee Stevens. The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have: Japan’...
Aug 14, 2019•56 min
The Discussion: Space education at science fairs, sweating in space suits, the public attitude towards space exploration while there are so many relevant shows on TV. A correction from a listener and a lesson in Dutch. The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have: A young stellar system showing us moons being formed around exoplanets Pinpointing a Fast Radio Burst to understand what it actually is An update on the Hubble Constant Neptune-like exoplanets How do stars merge in a sta...
Aug 01, 2019•51 min
In this podcast extra episode we talk to Karen Masters, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Haverford College, Pennsylvania about The Hubble Tuning Fork and Galaxy classification. But it’s not only about that canonised galaxy classification system; it’s also about how citizen science, astronomy done by absolutely anybody from their homes, can and do change the accepted wisdom and advance science.
Jul 19, 2019•17 min
The Discussion: An Apollo-fact filled episode to commemorate the 50th anniversary of humanity venturing onto the surface of another body. Paul works on an Oscar performance; we congratulate Jess Wade on receiving a BEM award and we take a look at the latest movie to lionise the efforts of Apollo 11. The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have: NASA plan to open up the International Space Station to commercial uses & ownership NASA fund two concepts to explore moon cra...
Jul 09, 2019•1 hr 10 min
The Discussion: Paul pulls a drowning child out of a river and we discuss the BBC’s current astronomy-themed TV programme, The Planets. A drunken and sarcastic Jen is a good Jen and a rather pleasant surprise from listener Lee Stevens The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have: Taking Spitzer out “like a dog on the moor with a shotgun” The International Astronomical Union launches a competition to name an exoplanet in each of the countries it operates, at nameexoworlds.iau.org T...
Jul 01, 2019•1 hr 3 min
Download Episode! The Discussion: The privations of a PhD student, listeners’ comments sparking a couple of corrections from the last episode, another bout of potaytoes/potartoes and we hear that new revelations about space mirrors cult sci-fi. The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have: Damage to cartilage from microgravity The big debate in space exploration appears to be ‘is Daniella Westbrook the ideal astronaut experiment’? ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter kills the exciteme...
Jun 14, 2019•50 min
The Discussion: Pint of Science in Cardiff targets canines, Ralph makes a schoolboy error while in Florida and we all eagerly await the publication of a research paper by Jen. The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have: More disturbing news about the climate on Earth-analogue, Venus TESS discovers a planetary system around a visual binary star in Fornax. The Andromeda & Triangulum galaxies are hiding quasars New research shows the mechanism by how Pluto could harbour oceans ...
May 30, 2019•59 min
The Discussion: Your last chance to get tickets to join Jen’s at Pint of Science on 20-22nd May in Cardiff, a couple of corrections for the last episode, listeners’ comments about our Moon 2024 musings and a listener’s email takes us into classic 50s sci-fi territory. The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have: NASA’s new robot assistants and ‘Astrobees’ on the International Space Station Portugal launches its national space agency in the Azores and plans an environmenta...
May 15, 2019•1 hr 15 min
U: Recording from the Mars/Earth-analogue biome cottage at the AstroCamp starparty in the Welsh Brecon Beacons, we start off by discussing stargazing during a hurricane(!) and get ready for Jeni’s Pint of Science events this month. The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have: The rate of the universe’s expansion is 9% greater than we thought? Greater understanding about the lakes of methane on Saturn’s moon Titan. LIGO gets its jiggy on; giving us gravitational wave detections EV...
May 01, 2019•1 hr 7 min
