What better way to commemorate International Dark Sky Week than by talking with Kelly Beatty, a former editor of Sky and Telescope Magazine and light pollution activist. He tells us how big an issue our disappearing dark skies are, his thoughts on the new Starlink constellation of satellites from SpaceX and what we can all do to help combat the lightening of our night.
We have limited information about the effects of alcohol in space, but there's no doubt that it is a very important cultural feature for many of us. Chris Carberry, the CEO of Explore Mars and author of "Alcohol in Space" joins us to talk about the role alcohol can play, if not in space survivability, then at least in coping with space travel. We also discuss the latest efforts to get to Mars and whether we can get there by the 2030's.
Taking high quality images of our nearest celestial neighbor is harder than you think. Luckily we've brought Robert Reeves back to our podcast to help you take the best possible images of the moon. He's also shared a lot of high quality images of his own in the link below: http://bit.ly/3f0NXAN
One of the most important activities that professional astronomers are engaged in is looking for objects out there that might hit the Earth and in THAT task, they can use all the help they can get. With today's amateur equipment it is now possible to engage in professional-level sky searches for asteroids that help keep tabs on all the big rocks out in the solar system, some of which are potentially hazardous to us. Mike Forslund, aka Asteroid Hunters has set up an automated system in his drivew...
Arelius Mitty and Griffin Haisman are two young amateurs just getting started in our exciting hobby. Both have worked closely with Dustin to produce some of the most amazing images we've ever seen. In this episode we dive into what got them interested in the hobby as well as some insights into what barriers they faced. We also look into the future of these two talented young imagers.
Don Pettit is a chemical engineer from Silverton, Oregon who also happens to be an astronaut! An avid amateur astronomer, he is a veteran of three flights into space: once on a space shuttle flight, and two more aboard the ISS where he logged more than six months in space. Don brings his expertise and interest in amateur astronomy to everything he does, including conducting some observations from orbit and as the oldest active NASA astronaut, has a lot of wisdom and experience to share.
Astrobin was created as a labor of love with the goal of providing context to astro images that astrophotographers could appreciate and use. Salvatore Lovene, the founder and creator of this resource joins us to talk about why he started the project and how it will serve the astrophotography community.
Passion for anything is a powerful motivator, our guest today channels our innate passion for our place in the universe as a driver to improve science education and literacy. Rachel Freed is an avid amateur astronomer, professional scientist and educator who is dedicating herself to improving education using astronomy.
I can't tell you how many times I get called out calling The Big Dipper a constellation. "It's not a constellation, it's an ASTERISM!" OK, fine. So, what's the difference? Listen to this podcast to find out!
Josh Walawender is a staff astronomer at Keck Observatory and joins Dustin and Tony to give us some insights into working at a leading astronomical facility. Josh is also involved in Project Panoptes, a citizen science initiative that makes the hunt for planets around other stars accessible to amateur astronomers.
Did you get some new gear for the holidays? Are you just starting out in this great hobby? Then this episode is for you. Dustin and Tony are joined by Brian Fulda, an instructor at OPT University, to discuss how to get started with your new scope and how to overcome some common hurdles that beginners sometimes face.
As I post this episode, we are two hours away from midnight Eastern Time. I for one, will be glad to see this year go. In this episode, Dustin and Tony talk about the year just past and what's ahead for 2021 in our wonderful hobby.
Molly Wakeling, aka AstronoMolly has only been imaging for five years and in that short time has made a name for herself in the astro-imaging world. In addition to her studies as a graduate student in physics, she is also actively involved in science communication.
Tom Bramwell is the Director of Operations in the U.S. for Prima Luce Lab and joins us to talk about his journey into amateur astronomy and his move from Apple to Prima Luce Labs. We streamed this recording live and have included some of your questions and comments.
Binoculars are a great way to get introduced into the hobby of amateur astronomy. In addition to being useful for other activities like bird watching, sporting events and any outdoor activity, they are also amazing tools for looking up into the night sky. Dustin and Tony discuss using binoculars to get acquainted with our amazing hobby and we'll teach you about many of the particulars of binocular characteristics.
Tripods, fork arms, equatorial, polar aligning... what does all this mean and what do you need to know when buying a telescope? Telescope mounts are a critical component and Dustin and Tony de-mystify all of this for you.
Radian Telescopes is releasing a new APO refractor designed for imaging that will change the way astrophotography is done. Small, lightweight and with high quality optics, the Radian Raptor 61 is poised to make a real difference in your wide field imaging. In this episode, Dustin and Trevor go through the design concepts and testing to make this telescope easy to use and enable you to get good results on your first night out astro imaging.
Observing the Sun through proper solar filters has never been better - or cheaper. Amateurs have within their grasp solar filters and telescopes that allow us to see detail and activity on the Sun previously available only to professionals. In this episode, Dustin and Tony discuss getting into solar observations and imaging with Fay Roman, Ben Lombard and Brian Stephens - the team at Lunt Solar Systems that bring high quality solar gear to you.
David Rowe's optical designs are in some of the best telescopes available to amateur astronomers today. He designed the Corrected Dall-Kirkham (CDK), a telescope that allows unprecedented wide-field images; he is also the 'R' in the RASA telesccope from Celestron. Listen to Dave's story in today's episode!
In this episode, Dustin and Tony continue their discussion of astro-imaging cameras, specifically, which ones are best for different types of imaging. Whether you want to take wide-field space scapes, high magnification planetary images, or deep sky objects, we'll cover all of that and more.
Today's astronomy camera selection is amazing, comprehensive and overwhelming! The imaging capabilities manufacturers make available at amateurs has never been more sophisticated. Nowadays, you can do virtually any night sky imaging you can imagine with off-the-shelf equipment. This selection is a double-edged sword though, because while you can do anything and everything these days, knowing where to start can be challenging - and expensive. This mini-series of episodes features all you'll ever ...
Thanks to advances in sensors, software and the implementation of the smartphone, amateur astronomy as a hobby is under going a renaissance. Complete beginners can now enter the hobby and capture amazing views of the night sky faster and share them with the world easier. This new class of telescopes also helps the visual observer overcome the inexorable loss of our dark skies due to light pollution. In this episode, Dustin and Tony discuss their experiences using both telescopes and Dustin also ...
We are lucky enough to live in a time when amateur astronomers using off-the-shelf equipment can make meaningful contributions to professional astronomy. Advances in equipment, detectors and software allow anyone with the interest, to track asteroids, comets and even measure exoplanet light curves. In this episode, we talk with this new breed of amateur who, from his garage observatory, is helping NASA track asteroids.
How old were you when you first got interested in space and astronomy? What did you do to pursue that interest? In this episode we meet Abigail Bollenbach, a young student just starting out in our hobby who has jumped in with both feet. When she's not giving presentations at her local astronomy club in Oklahoma or creating planetarium shows, she can be found creating astronomy videos with Astronomy Magazine. In this episode, she tells Tony and Dustin her story of adventure in exploring space and...
Radian Telescopes is a new company founded by OPT that strives to solve problems of amateur astronomy. Driven to identifying needs and meeting them with high-quality hardware, Radian is a company all amateur astronomers need to know about. In this episode, Dustin tells the story of how the company started, its values and what's coming in the future.
Does Mars have the most overpriced real estate ever? While going to Mars would be great from a scientific standpoint, would you really want to live there? Should we go to Mars? Fraser Cain joins us for the third in a series of episodes discussing life in the universe.
What is life? Where should we look for it outside of Earth? Is life common or rare? These questions and many more are the daily job of Graham Lau, an astrobiologist who has joined us for this episode of Space Junk!
This week Dustin and Tony go deep and talk about the nature of reality, what knowledge is and how we can colonize the stars.
Skye Schwartz has a remarkable story to tell, one filled with obstacles overcome and dreams coming into focus. Skye shares these stories with Tony and Dustin in this episode and we hope you'll find her as amazing as we did.
Our guest in this episode works for Planewave Instruments and travels the globe instaling the meter-class telescopes they produce in some of the most amazing locales. Learn all about his experiences and we take some of your questions from our first-ever live stream of the podcast recording.
