Astronomy Cast
By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay
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Podcast Description
Astronomy Cast offers you a fact based journey through the cosmos. Each week Fraser Cain (Universe Today) and Dr. Pamela Gay (SIUE / Slacker Astronomy) take on topics ranging from the nearby planets to ubiquitous dark matter.
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Weekly Space Hangout - May 31, 2012 | In this episode of the Weekly Space Hangout, we're joined by special guest Robert Nemiroff from Astronomy Picture of the Day. We also talked about the return of the SpaceX Dragon capsule, a manned mission to Venus, nomadic planets and the announcement of | 5/30/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Weekly Space Hangout - May 17, 2012 | This week, we talk about: Building a real starship Enterprise, preparations for the annular solar eclipse, investigation into the Gaia theory, fuel for black holes, Hubble and the transit of Venus. We're joined by Amy Shira Teitel, Jason Major, Nancy Atki | 5/16/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Weekly Space Hangout - May 3, 2012 | In this episode we talked about asteroid mining, SpaceX delays, Shuttle retirement, killer black holes, supermassive planets (aka brown dwarfs), Enceladus/Dione flybys, and missions to Jupiter. | 5/2/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 260: The Technology of Lasers and Masers | Just when you think you understand it, light will do some amazing things. Just look at the discovery of lasers, and their use in almost every technology you can think of: from cutting, to transmitting information to, yes, astronomy. And nature has figured | 4/8/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 259: Exploration of Venus | Mars gets all the attention, but you might be surprised to know how much Venus has been explored. From initial telescope observations and the early flyby missions, to the landers… yes landers and orbiters. We know quite a lot about Venus, but the planet | 4/1/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 258: Viking Landers | Last week we talked about the orbiter portion of the Viking Missions. But that was only half the adventure. Each Viking spacecraft carried a lander as well, which touched down on the surface of Mars, searching for evidence of past and current life. And wh | 3/25/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 257: Viking Orbiters | Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity get all the news now, but it was NASA's Viking Missions that gave us our first close up view of the surface of Mars. These twin missions, both made of orbiter and lander set the stage for the exploration of Mars, demonstr | 3/18/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 256: Resolution | When it comes to telescopes, astronomers really just care about resolution: how much can you see? Your resolution defines how much science you can get done, and it depends on your gear, wavelength, and conditions. Putting a telescope in space really helps | 3/11/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Weekly Space Hangout - Mar 8, 2012 | In this episode of the Weekly Space Hangout, we talk about two different asteroid close passes, the solar storms buffeting the Earth, a recent space exploration conference, and a team of amateur astronomers flashing the space station. We're also joined by | 3/7/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 255: Observing Hydrogen | Hydrogen is the most common element in the Universe, formed at the beginning of everything in the Big Bang. It's the raw material of stars, gathering together through mutual gravity into vast nebulae. Astronomers can learn so much looking for hydrogen in | 3/4/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Weekly Space Hangout - Mar 1, 2012 | Another week, another space roundup. This week we talk about the redefinition of the term "Earthlike", salty soil on Mars, how you can participate in SETI, asteroid dust from Hayabusa, and the dangers of a warp drive. | 2/29/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep 254: Reflection and Refraction | Light can do some pretty strange stuff, like pass through objects and bounce off them; it can be broken up and recombined. In fact, everything we "see" is actually the end result of reflection and refraction of light. Time to understand how it all works. | 2/25/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Weekly Space Hangout - Feb 23, 2012 | In this edition, we talk about the non-discovery of faster-than-light neutrinos, the possibility of quakes on Mars, and explanation for the ridge on Iapetus, the 25th anniversary of SN1987A, and a steamy water world. | 2/22/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 253: Rayleigh Scattering | Next time a kid asks you, why is the sky blue? Answer them: because of Rayleigh scattering. If they’re not happy with that answer, feel free to expand based on the knowledge we’re about to drop today, right into your brain. | 2/19/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Weekly Space Hangout - Feb 16, 2012 | The Weekly Space Hangout for Feb. 16, 2012 with special guest Alan Stern, Principal Investigator for NASA's New Horizons spacecraft on its way to Pluto. We also talk about NASA's new budget, Chang'e Moon maps, a Swiss plan to remove space junk and the fir | 2/15/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 252: Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle | Quantum theory is plenty strange, but one of the strangest discoveries is the realization that there’s a limit to how much you can measure at any one time. This was famously described by Werner Heisenberg, with his uncertainty principle: how you can nev | 2/12/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Weekly Space Hangout - Feb 9, 2012 | This week we talk about possible methods of interstellar communications, supermassive black holes eating asteroids, a stratospheric skydive, | 2/8/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 251: Messier Catalog | Have you ever looked into the sky and noticed a fuzzy blob? That’s a Messier Object, carefully cataloged by Charles Messier to make it easier to find comets. We’ll learn about the history of the catalog, Messier’s criteria and some of the prominent | 2/5/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Weekly Space Hangout - Feb 2, 2012 | In this week's space hangout, we talked about the search for super earths, the non-discovery of life on Venus, new images from the far side of the Moon, nature versus nurture in star formation, and the tests of SpaceX's new rocket system. | 2/1/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 250: Precision | Accuracy, precision and reproducibility. These are the foundations of science that make our progress possible. How do these play into a scientist’s daily activities? And just how precise can we get with our measurements? | 1/29/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Weekly Space Hangout - Jan. 26, 2012 | Another edition of our weekly space hangout. This week we talked about a week of space remembrance, solar storms, Newt's plans for a 2020 lunar base, arsenic and old news, black holes and their galaxies and the death of Phobos-Grunt. | 1/25/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 249: Schrödinger’s Cat | You’ve probably all heard of Schrödinger’s Cat, that strange thought experiment designed by Erwin Schrödinger to show how the strange predictions of quantum theory could impact the real world. No cats will be harmed in the making of this episode, ma | 1/22/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 248: Carina Constellation | Time for another detailed look at a constellation; one of the most fascinating in the sky, but hidden to most of the northern hemisphere: Carina. Home to one of the most likely supernova candidates we know of: Eta Carinae. Let’s talk just about this con | 1/15/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 247: The Ages of Things | This is going to be one of the “how we know what we know” kind of shows. How do scientist determine the age of things? How do we know the age of everything from stone tools, to the age of the Earth, to the age of the very Universe. | 1/8/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 246: What If Something Was Different? | The number of moons, the age of the Sun, and our placement in the Milky Way all had an impact on the formation of the Earth and the evolution of life on our planet. But what if things were different? What would be the implications? | 1/1/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 245: Calendars | Our lives are ruled by calendars. And calendars are ruled by astronomy. As we near the end of 2011, and get ready to ring in the new year, let’s discover the astronomy underlying the days, weeks, months and years that segment our lives. | 12/25/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 244: Io | If you want to see one of the strangest places in the Solar System, look no further than Io, Jupiter's inner Galilean moon. The immense tidal forces from Jupiter keep the moon hotter than hot, with huge volcanoes blasting lava hundreds of kilometres into | 12/18/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 243: Tunguska Event | On June 30th, 1908 “something” exploded over the Tunguska region of Siberia, flattening thousands of square kilometres of forest, and unleashing a force that rivalled the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated. What was it? What could unleash tha | 12/11/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 242: Torino Scale | When you hear of a looming asteroid strike, do you wonder what to do? Should you go into your underground bunker, evacuate the state, or leave the planet? Fortunately, astronomers have developed the Torino Scale – a handy measurement that incorporates b | 12/4/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 241: Astrophotography, Part 3: Image Processing | Time for part 3 of our tour through the hobby of astrophotography. You’ve set up your gear, taken some clear images. Now we’re going to help you turn that raw data into the kind of amazing photographs you see in books and on the web. | 11/27/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 240: Astrophotography, Part 2: Techniques | In the first episode, we talked about the gear you'll need for your expensive astrophotography hobby. This week we continue our discussion, and talk about the techniques you'll use to get those amazing photographs. Bring a hot drink, and get ready for som | 11/20/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 239: Astrophotography, Part 1: The Gear | No matter how good your telescope is, you're never going to see the same detail and colours as the photographs. To take amateur astronomy to the next level, you really need to attach a camera to your telescope. Welcome to the hobby of astrophotography. Fa | 11/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 238: Solar Activity | The Sun looks like a harmless burning ball of fire in the sky: warm, life-giving and forever unchanging. But we know better, don’t we. It’s really a massive ball of churning hydrogen plasma, encased in twisting magnetic field lines, speckled with suns | 11/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 237: Spooky Space Sounds | To help you out with your halloween parties, we’ve collected together the spooky sounds of space. Every piece of audio we’re about to play might sound like it comes from a terrifying nightmare dimension, but it’s really just a natural space phenomen | 10/30/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 236: Einstein Was Right | At least once a week we get an email claiming that Einstein was wrong. Well you know what, Einstein was right. In fact, as part of his theories of Special and General Relativity, Einstein made a series of predictions about what experiments should discover | 10/23/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 235: Einstein | What can we say about Einstein? Albert Einstein! Lots, actually. In this show we’re going to talk about the most revolutionary physicist… ever. He completely changed our understanding of time, and space, and energy, and gravity. He made predictions ab | 10/16/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Astronomy Cast at Dragon*Con 2011: Strange Stuff in Space | This is an impromptu episode of Astronomy Cast that we recorded during Dragon*Con 2011. Pamela was scheduled to speak with a panel about strange things in space, but she ended up being the only person there. So Fraser jumped in, and this was what we did. | 10/14/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 234: Lunar Phases | The Moon is a stark reminder that we actually live in a Universe filled with stars and planets and moons. The changing phases of the Moon show us the relative positions of the Earth, the Sun and the Moon as they interact with one another. Let's learn abou | 10/9/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 233: Radar | Radar is one of the those technologies that changed everything: it allows boats and aircraft to “see” at night and through thick fog. But it also changed astronomy and ground imaging, tracking asteroids with great accuracy, allowing spacecraft to peer | 10/2/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 232: Galileo Spacecraft | In last season’s thrilling cliff hanger, we talked about astronomer superhero Galileo Galilei. Will a mission be named after him? The answer is yes! NASA’s Galileo spacecraft visited Jupiter in 1995, and spent almost 8 years orbiting, changing our und | 9/25/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 231: Galileo Galilei | It’s hard to imagine a more famous astronomer than Galileo Galilei. He’s widely recognized as the very first person to point a telescope at the skies and then study what he saw. Galileo discovered the moons of Jupiter, the phases of Venus, and much mo | 5/1/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 230: Christiaan Huygens | And now we finish our trilogy of Saturnian astronomers and missions with a look at the Dutch astronomer and mathematician, Christiaan Huygens. It was Huygens who discovered Titan, and figured out what Saturn’s rings really are, so it makes sense that a | 4/24/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 229: Cassini Mission | Last week we talked about the Italian astronomer Giovanni Cassini. This week we’ll talk about the mission that shares his name: NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft. This amazing mission is orbiting Saturn right now, sending back thousands of high resolution ima | 4/17/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 228: Giovanni Cassini | Another two parter, coming at you. This week we talk about the Italian astronomer, Giovanni Domenico Cassini, best known for discovering Saturn's moons and the biggest division in Saturn's rings. Cassini made many other important discoveries in the Solar | 4/10/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 227: The Big Dipper | We wanted to spend a few shows talking about some of the most recognizable constellations in the night sky. We've chatted about Orion the Hunter, but now we're going to talk about the Big Dipper, also known as Ursa Major, or the Great Bear - apologies to | 4/3/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 226: Weather | How's the weather? Maybe a better question is... why's the weather? What is it about planets and their atmospheres that create weather systems. What have planetary scientists learned about our Earth's weather, and how does this relate to other planets in | 3/27/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 225: Ice in Space | A huge part of the Solar System is just made of ice. There are comets, rings, moons and even dwarf planets. Where did all this ice come from, and what impact (pardon the pun) has it had for life on Earth? | 3/20/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 224: Orion | Most people know how to find two constellations: the Big Dipper, and Orion the Hunter. You can teach a small child to find Orion, and at the right time of year, they'll find it in seconds. There's so much going on in this spectacular constellation, from t | 3/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 223: The Transit of Venus | Since the planet Venus is closer in to the Sun than Earth, there are rare opportunities to see it pass directly in front of our parent star. This is known as a planetary transit, and thanks to the geometry of the Earth and Venus, they only happen a couple | 3/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 222: The Decadal Survey | In episode 198 we explained how space missions are chosen, and introduced the Decadal Survey. Since the time we recorded that episode, the full Decadal Survey for planetary science has been released, explaining the science goals for planetary geologists o | 2/27/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 221: Geomorphology | When we look around our planet, we see a huge variety in landforms: mountains, valleys, plateaus, and more. Continents rise and fall over the eons, providing geologists with a history of the planet's evolution. The study of these changes is known as geomo | 2/20/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 220: Mass Extinction Events | The Earth seems like a safe place, most of the time. But we have evidence of terrible catastrophes in the ancient past. Times when almost all life on Earth was wiped out in a geologic instant. What could have caused so much devastation? And will something | 2/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 219: Planck Mission | Another mission named after a famous physicist. This time we're looking at the Planck mission, designed to study the Cosmic Microwave Backgorund Radiation over the entire sky. Like the previous WMAP mission, this will help astronomers understand the first | 2/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 218: Max Planck | It's time for another action-packed double episode, where we meet a man and his mission. This time around its German physicist Max Planck, considered to be the father of quantum theory - he was later granted a Nobel Prize for just that discovery. Let's ta | 1/30/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 217: Stellar Classification | Have you ever heard an astronomer utter these words? Oh be a fine girl and kiss me. They’re not being romantic, they’re trying to remember the different ways to organize stars, as detailed nicely on a Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. Let’s learn what | 1/23/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 216: Archaeoastronomy | The Sun, Moon, stars and planets are visible to the unaided eye, and so they have been visible to astronomers since before recorded history. Some of the earliest records we do have tell us what the ancient astronomers thought about the heavens, and how th | 1/16/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 215: Light Echoes | Just as sound can echo off distant objects, light can echo too. And the echoes of light bouncing off stellar remnants, black hole accretion disks, and clouds of gas and dust provide astronomers with another method of probing the distant cosmos. | 1/9/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 214: Space Tourism | Have you ever wanted to go to space, but lacked the... everything... to be an astronaut? A whole new industry of space tourism will take you where you need to go. There are new companies offering zero-G flights, sub-orbital flights, and there have even be | 1/2/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 213: Supermassive Black Holes | It's now believed that there's a supermassive black hole lurking at the heart of every galaxy in the Universe. These monstrous black holes can contain hundreds of millions of times the mass of our own Sun, with event horizons better than the Solar System. | 12/26/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 211: Celestial Navigation | Before there was GPS, navigators had to rely on the Sun and the stars to find their way around the Earth. It's easier than it sounds, if you've got the right instruments, clear skies, and a really accurate clock. Let's examine the history of celestial nav | 12/12/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 210: Mars Exploration Rovers | The twin Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have been crawling around the surface of Mars since early 2004 – years longer than they were expected to live. And what they have discovered there on Mars has given scientists their best understa | 12/5/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 209: Exotic Life | We don’t like cover news on Astronomy Cast, but sometimes there’s a news story that’s interesting, complicated, and rapidly unfolding – and it happens to cover an area that we haven’t talked much about. So today we thought we’d talk about the | 11/28/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 208: Spitzer Space Telescope | Last week we talked about Lyman Spitzer, and this week we’ll take a look at the orbiting observatory that bears his name: the Spitzer Space Telescope. Designed to see into the infrared spectrum, Spitzer has returned images of objects that were previousl | 11/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 207: Lyman Spitzer | Time for another action-packed double episode of Astronomy Cast. This week we focus on the Lyman Spitzer, a theoretical physicist and astronomer who worked on star formation and plasma physics. Of course, this will lead us into next week’s episode where | 11/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 206: Fission | Last week we talked about fusion, where atoms come together to form heavier elements. This week, everything comes apart as we talk about nuclear fission. How it occurs naturally in the Universe, and how it has been harnessed by science to produce power, a | 11/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 205: Fusion | When the Universe formed after the Big Bang, all we had was hydrogen. But through the process of fusion, these hydrogen atoms were crushed into heavier and heavier elements. Fusion gives us warmth and light from the Sun, destruction with fusion bombs, and | 10/31/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 204: Temperature | Now we're going to answer a question that a 4-year old might ask - what is temperature? Why are things hot and why are they cold? How hot or cold can they get? And how is this all important for astronomy? | 10/24/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 203: Europa | Europa is the smallest of the Jovian satellites, but it might be one of the most exciting spots in the Solar System. When NASA’s Voyager spacecraft flew past the moon, they discovered huge cracks in its icy surface. Is it possible that Europa has a huge | 10/17/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 202: The Planets at Gliese 581 | With the discovery of a planet in the habitability zone of Gliese 581, the chances of finding life on other worlds is just getting better and better. Let’s take a look at the discoveries made at Gliese 581, provide some perspective on the real chances o | 10/10/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 201: Titan | Titan is Saturn’s largest moon, and the second largest moon in the Solar System. It’s unique in the Solar System as the only moon with an atmosphere. In fact, scientists think that Titan’s thick atmosphere – rich in hydrocarbons – is similar to | 10/3/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 200: The Mariner Program | The first interplanetary series of missions was the American Mariner program. These successful spacecraft visited Mercury, Venus, and Mars, and laid the groundwork for the US missions to the outer planets. Let's take a look at the program and their incred | 9/26/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 199: The Voyager Program | Launched in 1977, the twin Voyager spacecraft were sent to explore the outer planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Because of a unique alignment of the planets, Voyager 2 was the first spacecraft to ever make a close approach to Uranus and Neptune | 9/19/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 198: How is a Space Mission Chosen? | Space missions are expensive to build and launch, so there’s a lot of planning that goes into choosing exactly what’s going to be shot into space. Space scientists and engineers recently went through the process of deciding on their science goals, so | 9/12/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 197: Astronomy Cast Live from Dragon*Con 2010 | In this special live Dragon*Con 2010 episode of Astronomy Cast we welcomed special guest Les Johnson, Deputy Manager for NASA’s Advanced Concepts Office to talk about the state of human space exploration. And then we opened up the show to some amazing q | 9/5/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 196: Luminosity and Magnitude | Astronomers measure the brightness of stars as magnitude. But this brightness depends on the distance to the star as well as the total amount of energy it's pumping out into space. And from our vantage point here on Earth, appearances can be deceiving. | 6/27/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 195: Planetary Rings | Saturn is best known for its rings. This huge and beautiful ring system is easy to spot in even the smallest backyard telescope, so you can imagine they were a surprise when Galileo first noticed them. But astronomers have gone on to find rings around the | 6/20/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 194: Dwarf Planets | In 2006, the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto out of the planet club. But they also started up a whole new dwarf planet club, with Pluto, Eris and the asteroid Ceres as charter members. Let’s find out what it takes to be a dwarf planet, an | 6/13/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 193: Astronomy with the Unaided Eye | We talk a lot about telescopes here on Astronomy Cast, but you really don't need any special equipment to appreciate what the night sky has to offer. Just head outside with some sky charts, maybe a planisphere, some friends and hot chocolate, and you're g | 6/6/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 192: Chandra X-Ray Observatory | The Chandra X-Ray Observatory is the third of NASA's Great Observatories, sent into space aboard the space shuttle to view the Universe in high energy X-ray radiation. This is the territory of supernovae, supermassive black holes and neutron stars; some o | 5/30/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 191: Chandrasekhar | The first half of the 20th Century was a productive time for astronomy, with theorists working out much of the science that we take for granted today. One of these astronomy stars was Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who determined the maximum mass of a white | 5/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 190: Kepler Mission | Last week we studied Kepler the man, and this week we take a look at Kepler, the mission. Launched in March, 2009, this is a spacecraft designed to search for Earth-like planets orbiting other stars. Let's take a look at the history this mission, the laun | 5/16/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 189: Johannes Kepler and His Laws of Planetary Motion | Nicolaus Copernicus changed our understanding of the Universe when he rearranged the Solar System to put the Sun at the center, with the Earth becoming just another of the planets orbiting it. But the movement of the planets didn't really match the theory | 5/9/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 188: The Future of Astronomy | We spent 5 episodes telling the story of astronomy so far, how we got from the work of the Babylonians to the modern discoveries made in the last decade. But now we want to look forward, studying the current space missions and experiments to uncover the m | 5/2/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 187: History of Astronomy, Part 5: The 20th Century | Many of the modern ideas in astronomy happened in just the 20th century: dark matter, the Big Bang, inflation, quasars, black holes. So many discoveries in one important century. | 4/25/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 186: History of Astronomy, Part 4: The Beginning of Modern Astronomy | With our proper place in the Universe worked out, and some powerful telescopes to probe the cosmos, astronomers started making some real progress. The next few hundred years was a time of constant refinement, with astronomers discovering new planets, new | 4/18/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 185: History of Astronomy, Part 3: The Renaissance | Now we reach time with names that many of you will be familiar: Galileo, Kepler, Copernicus. This is an age when the biggest names in astronomy used the best tools of their time to completely rearrange their understanding of the Universe, putting the Eart | 4/11/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 184: History of Astronomy, Part 2: The Greeks | With the earliest astronomers out of the way, we now move to one of the most productive eras in astronomy; the ancient Greeks. Even though they didn't have telescopes, the Greeks worked out the size and shape of the Earth, the distance to the Moon and Sun | 4/4/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 183: History of Astronomy, Part 1: The Ancient Astronomers | We know you love a good series. This time we're going to walk you through the history of astronomy, starting with the ancient astronomers and leading right up to the most recent discoveries. Today we're going to start at the beginning, with the astronomer | 3/28/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 182: Astrometry | Astronomers have been cataloging star positions for thousands of years, from the first calculations made by Hipparchus, to the more recent star catalogs made by the spacecraft named after him. This is astrometry; another way to find our place in the Unive | 3/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 181: Rotation | Everything in the Universe is spinning. In fact, without this rotation, life on Earth wouldn't exist. We need the conservation of angular momentum to flatten out galaxies and solar systems, to make planets possible. Let's find out about the physics involv | 3/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 180: Albedo | Why are some objects in the Solar System bright while others are dim? Much of an object's brightness is caused by its albedo, or how well it reflects radiation from the Sun. If you want to know how big a distant moon, comet, or asteroid is, you've got to | 3/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 179: Mysteries of the Universe, Part 2 | Today we tackle more thrilling mysteries of the Universe. And by tackle, we mean, acknowledge their puzzling existence. Some mysteries will be solved shortly, others will likely trouble astronomers for centuries to come. Join us for part 2. | 2/28/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 178: Mysteries of the Universe, Part 1 | All finished with the Milky Way, it's time to move on to the biggest mysteries of all. The mysteries of the Universe. Let's wonder about dark matter and dark energy, and the very nature of reality itself. | 2/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 177: Mysteries of the Milky Way, Part 2 | We survived our first group of mysteries, so now we move onto our second set of stuff of amazing Milky Way mysteries. How many spiral arms does our galaxy have, and why does everything keep dying every 60 million years or so? | 2/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 176: Mysteries of the Milky Way, Part 1 | We've wrapped up our Solar System mysteries and now we move onto the Milky Way mysteries, and the some of the general mysteries of galaxies. From blue stragglers to Eta Carinae... what's going on? | 2/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 175: Mysteries of the Solar System, Part 2 | Apparently this is at least a 2 part series. This week we continue examining some of the baffling mysteries of the Solar System, where we fill your head with more questions than answers. Sometimes we've just got to share the enjoyment of not knowing the a | 1/31/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 174: Mysteries of the Solar System, Part 1 | We know a lot about our Solar System, but there's an awful lot that's a complete and total mystery. Today we're going to begin a series of unknown length examining some of these mysteries, and explain the best theories astronomers have so far. | 1/24/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 173: Herschel Space Observatory | Last week we talked about Herschel the people – William Herschel, his sister Caroline, and his son John. This week we look at the Herschel Space Observatory, a mission launched in 2009 to reveal the coldest and dustiest regions in the Universe. | 1/17/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 172: William Herschel | Ancient astronomers knew of 5 planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn - 6 if you count Earth. But then in 1781, William Herschel discovered an entirely new planet, boosting the number of planets to 7. Let's learn about Herschel, his equipment, h | 1/10/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 171: Solar System Movements and Positions | Even in ancient times, astronomers realized there was something different about the planets - they move! The movement of the planets and their moons are governed by gravity. And as we all know, gravity can do some funny things. | 1/3/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 170: Coordinate Systems | This is going to be one of those weeks where we tackle something you're mentally avoiding. You know all those astronomical terms, like alt-azimuth, right ascension and declination, arc seconds and arc minutes? Of course not, your mind has blocked them out | 12/27/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 169: Fermi Mission | Last week we talked about Fermi the man, now we're going to talk about Fermi the space telescope. That's right, Enrico Fermi made such an impact in the astronomy and physics community that he got a space telescope named after him. Let's take a look at wha | 12/20/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 168: Enrico Fermi | Today's episode of Astronomy Cast is about another famous physicist: Enrico Fermi. We've already taken a look at one of Fermi's most famous ideas, the Fermi Paradox - or, where are all the aliens? But let's meet the man behind the ideas, the namesake for | 12/13/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 167: Future Civilizations | Let's assume that humans survive the next few hundred years without destroying ourselves, or the planet, and we actually become a space faring civilization. What kinds of challenges will we face, and what projects will we build to expand ourselves out int | 12/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 166: Multiverses | What if our universe was just one in an infinite number of parallel universes; a possible outcome from the specific predictions of quantum mechanics. The idea of multiple universes is common in science fiction, but is there any actual science to back this | 11/29/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 165: Doppler Effect | You know how a police siren changes sound when it passes by you? That's the doppler effect. It works for sound waves and it works for light waves. Astronomers use the doppler effect to study the motion of objects across the Universe, from nearby extrasola | 11/22/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 164: Inside the Atom | We've talked about the biggest of the big, now let's focus in on the smallest of the small. Let's see what's inside that basic building block of matter: the atom. You probably know the basics, but with ever more powerful particle accelerators, physicists | 11/15/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 163: Auroras | When the Sun's solar winds crash into the Earth's magnetosphere, we get to enjoy an incredible light show called auroras, or the Northern and Southern Lights. Let's learn about what causes these incredible phenomena, and the best times and places that you | 11/8/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 162: Edwin Hubble | You might know the name "Hubble" because of the Hubble Space Telescope. But this phenomenal observatory was named after one of the most influential astronomers in modern history. Hubble discovered that galaxies are speeding away from us in all directions, | 11/1/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 161: Launch Facilities | Launching a rocket into space requires a big effort on the ground. Space agencies have built up huge infrastructures to store, prepare and launch rockets. Let's take a look at what's involved on the ground at a place like Cape Canaveral. What happens befo | 10/25/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 160: Eclipses | Every now and then, the Moon destroys the Sun. Okay, not destroys, covers. Well, not really covers, but from here on Earth, sitting inside the shadow of the Moon, that's what it sure looks like. These events are called eclipses, or more precisely, transit | 10/18/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 159: Planet X | Astronomers have been searching for the mysterious Planet X for hundreds of years. It was the search for a theoretical planet beyond Uranus that turned up Neptune, and then again for Pluto. And even now there are some astronomers who think there's a more | 10/11/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 158: Pulsars | Imagine an object with the mass of the Sun, crushed down to the size of Manhattan. Now set that object spinning hundreds of times a second, blasting out powerful beams of radiation like a lighthouse. That's a pulsar, one of the most exotic objects in the | 10/4/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 157: Constellations | Did you know there are 88 constellations in the night sky? Let's learn about the constellations and other star formations, their history, their connection to the zodiac, and how to find some of them. | 9/27/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 156: Famous Stars | This week we're going to talk about famous stars. But not those boring human ones you read about in People magazine. No, we're talking about those hot balls of plasma across the distant Universe. The close ones, the bright ones, the massive ones, the gian | 9/20/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 155: Dwarf Stars | We think we live near an average star, but that's not the case at all. Compared to most stars in the Universe, the Sun is a giant! Let's look at the small end of the stellar spectrum, to stars with a fraction of the size and mass of our own Sun. There are | 9/13/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 154: Dragon*Con Live with Seth Shostak | This week we step away from our regular programming to bring you a live show from Dragon*Con in Atlanta. Pamela shares the stage with SETI researcher Seth Shostak. Together they discuss the technology and science of searching for intelligence, And answer | 9/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 153: Dark Skies | If you live in a city, it's possible that you've never seen the Milky Way with your own eyes. To really appreciate everything the night skies have to offer, you've got to get out of the city, away from the lights, where the skies are really dark. But thos | 8/30/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 152: Binary Stars | Did you know that our Solar System is a rarity with its single star. Astronomers believe that most star systems out there actually contain 2 or more stars – imagine seeing a sky with 4 suns. These binary and multiple star systems are a great target for | 8/23/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 151: Atmospheres | Take a quick breath. There, that's what we're going to talk about today – the atmosphere. And not just the Earth's familiar atmosphere, but the strange, exotic and deadly atmospheres we find in the Solar System and surrounding extrasolar planets. | 8/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 150: Telescopes, the Next Level | We've explained how to get into astronomy and buy your first telescope. Now we're going to take things to the next level and get you drooling about bigger and better telescopes. If you're serious about astronomy, what kinds of telescopes will give you the | 8/9/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 149: Constellation Program | It's been more than 40 years since humans first set foot on the Moon. But plans are in place to return humans to the surface of the Moon, and maybe even to asteroids and the planet Mars. New rockets, landers and flight technology are all under development | 8/2/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 148: Astronomy and New Media | Astronomy is one of the scientific fields that have been completely shaken up by new media. The Internet has enabled communication between researchers in a dramatic new way, creating new collaborations, removing obstacles, and drawing in an army of enthus | 7/26/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 147: How to Be Taken Seriously By Scientists | For those non-scientists trying to get their original ideas accepted by the scientific community, you've got to have thick skin. It might seem like there's a vast conspiracy, or a general attitude that drives away original, but unorthodox ideas. But that' | 7/19/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 146: Astronomy Research from Idea to Publication | Have you ever wondered how astronomers do their research? How do they go from idea or question, to gathering their data, to publishing the research. What are all the hoops they have to jump through, the paperwork to fill out, and the cool toys they get to | 7/12/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 145: Interstellar Travel | In science fiction it's easy to hop into your spaceship and blast off for other stars. But the true distances between stars, and the limits of relativity make interstellar travel almost impossible with our current technology. What would it really take to | 7/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Imaging Extrasolar Planets, Infinite Universe, Inside a Black Hole | What will we eventually be able to see on extrasolar planets? What does an infinite Universe mean? And what's down there, inside a black hole? If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to info@astronomycast.com and we'll try | 7/1/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 144: Space Elevators | If you want to travel into the Solar System, you have to get off the Earth. Traditionally, that meant blasting off in a rocket. But there's another strategy for escaping the Earth's gravity. Climb to the top of an extremely tall tower, and just jump away. | 6/28/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Matter Balance, Jumping Light Speed and Black Hole Star Formation | Why was there a difference between the amount of matter and antimatter at the beginning of the Universe? Mathematics lets us travel faster than light speed, so why can't we? And are there stars forming around black holes? If you've got a question for the | 6/24/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 143: Astrobiology | We know there's life in the Universe. We see it all around us here on Earth. But is there life anywhere else? By studying the extremes that life can take here on Earth, scientists are learning just how hardy and adaptable life can really be. And if you co | 6/21/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Black black holes, Unbalancing the Earth, and Space Pollution | Why are black holes black? Can a huge mass of humanity make the Earth wobble? And what's so bad about space pollution anyway? If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to info@astronomycast.com and we'll try to tackle it for | 6/17/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 142: Plate Tectonics | The surface of the Earth feels solid under your feet, but you're actually standing on a plate of the Earth's crust. And that plate is slowly shifting across the surface of the Earth. Over geologic timescales, plate tectonics has totally resurfaced our pla | 6/14/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Avoiding the Heat Death, Orbiting Galaxies, and the Dangers of Space Radiation | Will robots be able to avoid the heat death of the Universe? Can galaxies orbit each other like binary stars? And what are the dangers of space radiation to astronauts on the Moon? If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in t | 6/10/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 141: Volcanoes, Hot and Cold | You're familiar with volcanoes, eruptive vents where hot magma escapes the Earth's interior – sometimes with disastrous effects. But did you know that volcanoes have shaped many of the planets and moons in the Solar System, not just our own Earth? And j | 6/7/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Galileoscope, Black Hole Time, and What Exactly is Energy? | How can you get a Galileoscope of your very own? What happens to time inside a black hole? And what exactly is energy anyway? If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to info@astronomycast.com and we'll try to tackle it for | 6/3/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 140: Entanglement | One of the most amazing aspects of quantum mechanics is quantum entanglement. This is the strange behavior where particles can become entangled, so they're somehow connected to one another – no matter the distance between them. Interact with one particl | 5/31/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Telescope Suggestions, Black Hole Energy, and Universal Time | What starting telescope equipment does the Astronomy Cast team suggest? How much energy does a black hole generate? And how do we measure time outside the Earth? If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to info@astronomycas | 5/27/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 139: Energy Levels and Spectra | Last week we took a peek into the tiny world of quantum mechanics, and its unintuitive, but very accurate mathematical predictions. And although we all appreciate the physics lesson, you're probably wondering what this all has to do with astronomy. Well, | 5/24/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: An Unlocked Moon, Energy Into Black Holes, and the Space Station's Orbit | What would happen if the Moon wasn't tidally locked to the Earth? What happens to all that mass and energy disappearing into a black hole? And how can we explain the space station's crazy orbit? If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please | 5/20/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 138: Quantum Mechanics | Quantum mechanics is the study of the very tiny; the nature of reality at the smallest scale. It's a science that defies common sense, and delivers no helpful analogies. And yet it delivers the goods, making scientific predictions with incredible accuracy | 5/17/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Hidden Fusion, the Speed of Neutrinos, and Hawking Radiation | Are new stars dark until their photons reach the surface? How fast do neutrinos travel? And what’s the story with Hawking Radiation? If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to info@astronomycast.com and we'll try to tack | 5/13/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 137: Large Scale Structure of the Universe | This week we’re going to think big. Bigger than big. We’re going to consider the biggest things in the Universe. If you could pull way back, and examine regions of space billions of light-years across, what would you see? How is the Universe arranged | 5/10/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: The Source of Atmospheres, the Vanishing Moon, and a Glow After Sunset | How do planets get their atmospheres? What would happen to the Earth if the Moon just disappeared? And what’s that strange glow we see after sunset? If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to info@astronomycast.com and w | 5/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 136: Gamma Ray Astronomy | And now we reach the end of our tour through the electromagnetic spectrum. Last stop: gamma rays. These are the most energetic photons in the Universe, boosted up to incredible energies in the most violent places in the Universe. Gamma rays are tricky to | 5/3/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Dangerous Solar Flares, Higgs Boson Insights, and Light Speed Flashlights | Can our Sun generate a solar flare that would wipe out life on Earth? Has the Large Hadron Collider answered any questions about the Higgs boson? And what would happen if you shined your flashlight out the front window of a spaceship going almost the spee | 4/29/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 135: X-Ray Astronomy | If you've ever broken a bone, X-rays are a part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Doctors use X-rays to study the human body, and astronomers use X-rays to study some of the hottest places in the Universe. So let's put on our X-ray specs, and see what we c | 4/26/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: NorthEast Astronomy Forum (NEAF) | Pamela was lucky enough to attend the NorthEast Astronomy Forum, and while she was there she held a live questions show. And now you get to join in an hear the interesting questions, and Pamela's interesting answers. If you've got a question for the Astro | 4/22/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 134: Ultraviolet Astronomy | Our next visit in this tour through the electromagnetic spectrum is the ultraviolet. You can't see it, but anyone who's spent a day out in the hot sun without sunblock has sure experienced its effects. Ultraviolet radiation is associated with the birth of | 4/19/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 133: Optical Astronomy | Optical astronomy; now this is the kind of astronomy a human being was born to do. In fact, until the last century, this was the only kind of astronomy anybody ever did. Now we've got the whole electromagnetic spectrum to explore, but our heart still belo | 4/12/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Undoing Inflation, Searching for Water, and Seeing Everything a Black Hole's Ever Eaten | If there was enough mass to cause a big crunch, would inflation go backwards too? How do spacecraft know that hydrogen is bonded to water? And why can't we see everything that's ever fallen into a black hole? If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cas | 4/8/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 132: Infrared Astronomy | Today we continue our unofficial tour through the electromagnetic spectrum, stopping at the infrared spectrum - you feel it as heat. This section of the spectrum gives us our only clear view through dusty material to see newly forming planetary systems an | 4/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 131: Submillimeter Astronomy | Last week we examined the largest wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum: radio. This week we get a little smaller… but not too small! And look at the next step in the spectrum, the submillimeter. Astronomers have only recently began exploiting this | 3/29/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Decelerating Black Holes, Earth-Sun Tidal Lock, and the Crushing Gravity of Dark Matter | This week we wonder if you can made a black hole by accelerating a mass, but then can you un-make it again? Will the Earth ever be tidally locked to the Sun? And can dark matter crush an unsuspecting space ship? If you've got a question for the Astronomy | 3/25/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 130: Radio Astronomy | Astronomers are very resourceful, when it comes to light, they use the whole spectrum - from radio to gamma rays. We see in visible light, but that's just a tiny portion of the spectrum. Today we're going to celebrate the other end of the spectrum; the ra | 3/22/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Multiple Big Bangs, Satellite Collisions and the Size of the Universe | This week we wonder if the Universe is going to collapse and then expand again, how satellites can have such different velocities, and the size of the observable Universe. If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to info@as | 3/11/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 129: Interferometry | When it comes to telescopes, bigger is better. But bigger is more expensive. Way more expensive. To keep the costs reasonable while improving the sensitivity of their instruments, astronomers use an amazing technique called interferometry. Instead of buil | 3/8/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Shooting Lasers at the Moon and Losing Contact with Rovers | This week we find out how hard it is to hit the Moon with a laser, and if scientists lose contact with the Mars rovers when they go behind the Sun. If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to info@astronomycast.com and we'l | 3/4/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 128: Dust | You can't make a Solar System without a whole lot of dust. And that's the problem. This dust has blocked astronomers views into some of the most fascinating parts of the cosmos. It shields the galactic core, enshrouds newly forming stars and their planets | 3/1/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 127: The US Space Shuttle | You’ve heard us talk about capsules, you’ve heard us talk about space suits, well today we take a look at the only currently in use reusable space craft. It’s a not a bird, its not a plane – It’s the US Space Shuttle. And to make it interesting | 2/15/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 126: From Skeptics Guide with Questions | Orbiting black holes generate gravity waves. This week Bob Novella of Skeptics Guide to the Universe is going to pepper Pamela with questions, testing her ability to leap from tides to gravitational waves to Higgs bosons. We'll see where this takes us on | 2/8/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 125: A Zoo of Extrasolar Planets | Dreaming up new planets is a favorite pastime of science fiction writers, but the universe often has them beat – coming with planets in place and forms that we had quite thought to imagine. Today we know of 228 stars orbiting alien stars, and in this ep | 2/1/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Moons and the Drake Equation, Stars in the Void, and Rings Around Stars | This week we find out if moons around other planets could support life, if there's anything out there between galaxies, and whether stars form rings. If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to info@astronomycast.com and we | 1/21/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 124: Space Capsules, Part 1 - Vostok, Mercury and Gemini | The space capsule has been around for almost 50 years, when Yuri Gagarin headed to space in 1961. There have been many programs that used capsules by both the Americans and the Russians, and even the Chinese are using them now for their spaceflight progra | 1/18/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 123: Homogeneity | As astronomers discovered that we live in a great big universe, they considered a fundamental question: is the universe the same everywhere? Imagine if gravity was stronger billions of light years away… Or in the past. It sounds like a simple question, | 1/11/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 122: How Old is the Universe | We did a wildly popular three part series about the center, size and shape of the Universe. But every good trilogy needs a 4th episode. This week we look at age of the Universe. How old is the Universe, and how do we know? And how has this number changed | 1/4/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Questions Show: Stellar Roche Limits, Seeing Black Holes, and Water on Mars | This week we find out when stars get torn apart from gravity, how we can see supermassive black holes, how liquid water could have existed on Mars in the past, and much more. If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to info | 12/31/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 121: Spacesuits | As we've mentioned before, the Universe is trying to kill you. And for astronauts, that's truer than ever. One step out into the vacuum of space would be a world of hurt for an unprotected astronaut: the freezing cold temperature, the lack of atmospheric | 12/28/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 120: The Christmas Star | With Christmas just around the corner, we thought we'd investigate a mystery that has puzzled historians for hundreds of years. In the bible, the birth of Jesus was announced by a bright star in the sky that led the three wise men to his birthplace. What | 12/21/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Different Fields of Astronomy, Our Sibling Stars, and Hidden Lagrange Points | This week we find out the difference between an astronomer, an astrophysicist, and a cosmologist, the search for the stars that shared our nebula, hidden objects in Lagrange points, and much more. If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, plea | 12/17/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 119: Robots in Space | Space is totally inhospitable. If the freezing temperatures don't get you, the intense radiation will kill you. Or the vacuum, or the lack of breathable atmosphere, or meteoroid impacts. Well… you get the idea. That's why most space exploration is done | 12/14/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Distance in Space, Changing Earth's Orbit, and Different Sized Stars | This week we find out the distance between Betelgeuse and Bellatrex, how astronomers measure distance between objects, the possibility that an object could mess up the orbit of Earth, and the reason for different sizes of stars. | 12/10/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 118: Sky Surveys | In the old days, astronomers had to beg for telescope time. They'd put together a proposal, convince observatories to gather data for them, crunch that data and release the results. No telescope, no results. But everything's different now. Fleets of robot | 12/7/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 117: Time | Today, time rules our lives. We live each day with the moments broken up into hours, minutes and seconds. We never seem to have enough time. But can you imagine not being able to tell time at all, where the movements of the Sun and the stars was the only | 11/30/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 116: Molecules in Space | As part of her trip to England, Pamela had a chance to sit down with Oxford astrophysicist Chris Lintott and record an episode of Astronomy Cast. From the first stars to the newest planets, molecules and the chemistry that allows them to form affects all | 11/23/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 115: The Moon, Part 3: Return to the Moon | It's time for a third lunar chapter. We've talked about the physical characteristics of the Moon, and the exploration. Now we're going to talk about the plans to return to the Moon. From the upcoming lunar reconnaissance orbiter to the plans to have human | 11/16/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Spiral Arms, Seismic Waves on the Sun, and our Favorite Gear | This week we explore galactic spiral arms, seismic quakes on the Sun, and our picks for astronomy gear. If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to info@astronomycast.com and we'll try to tackle it for a future show. Please | 11/12/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 114: The Moon, Part 2 - Exploration of the Moon | Let's continue on our journey to the Moon. Last week we talked about the physical characteristics of the Moon, its appearance in the sky and how it interacts with the Earth. This week we're going to take a look at how scientists have expanded our understa | 11/9/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Ice in Space, Expansion of the Universe, and Death from the Skies | Another week, another batch of questions. If ice disappears in your freezer, how can it last in space? How can the Universe be expanding faster than the speed of light? And what is the risk from a coronal mass ejection in an airplane? All this and even mo | 11/5/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 113: The Moon, Part 1 | Hey, here's a topic we haven't gotten around to yet... the Moon. Today we look at our closest astronomical companion: the Moon. What impact does the moon have on our lives, where did it come from, who walked on it, and are we ever going to walk on it agai | 11/2/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Orbit of the Planets, Green Stars, and Oort Cloud Contamination | We're back to a themeless questions show. We're right across the Universe this time. Why are the planets lined up in a nice flat plane? Why are there no green stars? And is the Oort Cloud contaminating our understanding of the cosmic microwave background | 10/29/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 112: Death from the Skies, Interview with Phil Plait | We say it all the time here on Astronomy Cast: the Universe is trying to kill us. This week, Pamela is joined by Dr. Phil Plait to discuss his new book, Death from the Skies. Phil and Pamela talk about asteroid strikes, solar flares and gamma ray bursts. | 10/26/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Relativity, Relativity and More Relativity | Everyone loves a theme. And this week we've collected together some of your questions about relativity. More light speed spacecraft, twin paradoxes, and the mixing up of gravity, time and mass. If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please | 10/22/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 111: Nebulae | When you think about the best pictures in astronomy, almost every one is a nebula; the pillars of creation in the Eagle Nebula, or the complex Helix Nebula - or my personal favorite, the Ring Nebula. They're beautiful, wispy clouds of gas and dust that si | 10/19/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show: Galactic Dust, the Speed of Photons, and the Big Bang Calculations | Another week, another roundup of your questions. This week listeners asked: what is galactic dust anyway, and where does it come from? Why can photons move at the speed of light? And how can astronomers know what happened right after the Big Bang? And the | 10/18/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 110: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence | You know what this show needs? More aliens. Since we don't seem to have any visiting right now, we're going to have to find some. SETI is an acronym. It stands for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. But there's more to SETI than just putting up | 10/12/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show - Alignment with the Galactic Plane, Destruction from Venus, and the Death of the Solar System | Another week, another roundup of your questions. This week listeners asked: are we all going to die in 2012 when the solar system passes through the galactic plane? Did Venus make the Moon? And what will extraterrestrials see when the Sun is dead and gone | 10/8/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 109: The Life of Other Stars | Last week we looked at the complete life of the Sun, birth to death. But stars can be smaller, and stars can get much much larger. And with a change in mass, their lives change too. Let's start the clock again, and see what happens to the smallest stars i | 10/5/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show - Running Out of Gravitons and Hitting the Brakes at Light Speed | Another week, another roundup of your questions. This week listeners asked: if forces are communicated through particles, can we run out? If you were traveling at light speed, when would you know to stop? And there's even more. If you've got a question fo | 10/1/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 108: The Life of the Sun | We've talked about the Sun before, but this time we're going to look at the entire life cycle of the Sun, and all the stages it's going to go through: solar nebula, protostar, main sequence, red giant, white dwarf, and more. Want to know what the future h | 9/28/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show - light speed, Andromeda galaxy, dark matter and black holes | Another week, another roundup of your questions. This week listeners asked: will reaching light speed destroy the Universe? When is Andromeda going to look really, really cool with the unaided eye? Why didn't dark matter all turn into black holes? And the | 9/25/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 107: Nucleosynthesis: Elements from Stars | Look around you. Breathe in some air. Everything you can see and feel was formed in a star. Today we'll examine that long journey that matter has gone through, forged and re-forged in the hearts of stars. In fact, the device you're using to listen to this | 9/21/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Questions Show - Black Hole Surfaces, Magnetic Field Strengths, and the Speed of Gravitons | As you know, we wanted to answer listener questions regularly, but we found it was taking away from the regular weekly episodes of Astronomy Cast. So we've decided to just split it up and run the question shows separately from the regular Astronomy Cast e | 9/17/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 106: The Search for the Theory of Everything | At the earliest moments of the Universe, there were no separate forces, energy or matter. It was all just the same stuff. And then the different forces froze out, differentiating into electromagnetism, the strong force and the weak force. Today we'll look | 9/14/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Student Questions Show: Leelanau School | This is our forth installment in our series of student questions shows and these questions come to us from Leelanau High School. | 9/13/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 105: The Strong and Weak Nuclear Forces | After a quick Dragon*Con break, we're back to our tour through the fundamental forces of the Universe. We've covered gravity and electromagnetism, and now we're moving onto the strong and weak nuclear forces. We didn't think they'd really need to be separ | 9/7/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 104: Science Fiction at Dragon*Con with Plait and Grazier | Pamela left Fraser behind (with sorrow) and took on Dragon*Con and the facts (or lack there of) in Science Fiction. Helping her out were special guests Phil Plait and Kevin Grazier. | 8/31/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 103: Electromagnetism | Our series on the basic forces of the cosmos continues! Last week we discussed gravity, and this we'll handle electromagnetism. Electricity and magnetism are just two aspects of the same force, and you can't talk about astronomy without understanding thes | 8/24/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 102: Gravity | You seem to like a nice series, so here's a new one we've been thinking about. Over the course of the next 4 weeks, we're going to cover each of the basic forces in the Universe. And this week, we're going to start with gravity; the force you're most fami | 8/17/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 101: Advanced Propulsion Systems | Last week we talked about rockets. How they work and their limitations. This week we're going to look at the future of propulsion systems. From the ion engines that are already working to explore the Solar System to the prototype solar sails to futuristic | 8/10/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 100: Rockets | To move around in space, you need some kind of propulsion system. And for now, that means rockets. Let's learn the underlying science of rockets, and how they work. And learn why a rocket will never let us reach the speed of light. | 8/3/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 99: The Milky Way | The Milky Way is our home. An island of stars in a universe of other galaxies. But you might be surprised to learn that astronomers have only known the Milky Way's true nature for just a century. Let's learn the history of discoveries about the Milky Way, | 7/27/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 98: Quasars | Last week we talked about galaxies in general, and hinted at the most violent and energetic ones out there: active galaxies. Quasars have been a mystery for half a century; what kind of object could throw out more radiation than an entire galaxy? A black | 7/20/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 97: Galaxies | This week we're going to look at some of the biggest objects in the Universe: galaxies. It was the discovery of galaxies in the early 20th century that helped astronomers realize just how big the Universe is, and how far away everything is. Let's learn ho | 7/13/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 96: Humans to Mars, Part 3 - Terraforming Mars | And now we reach the third part of our trilogy on the human exploration and colonization of Mars. Humans will inevitably tire of living underground, and will want to stretch their legs, and fill their lungs with fresh air. One day, we'll contemplate the p | 7/6/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 95: Humans to Mars, Part 2 - Colonists | After astronauts make the first tentative steps onto the surface of Mars, a big goal will be colonization of the Red Planet. The first trailblazers who try to live on Mars will have their work cut out for them, being in an environment totally hostile to l | 6/29/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 94: Humans to Mars, Part 1 - The Scientists | We're learned about the failed missions to Mars in the past, and the current spacecraft, rovers and landers currently exploring the Red Planet. But the real prize will come when the first human sets foot on Mars. Robots are cheaper, but nothing beats havi | 6/22/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 93: Missions to Mars, Part 2 | I know last week was a bit of a dry history lesson, but we wanted to give you some understanding of past efforts to explore Mars. Now we'll look at the missions currently in orbit, and crawling around the surface of Mars, and help you understand the scien | 6/15/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 92: Missions to Mars, Part 1 | With last month's safe arrival of the Phoenix Mars Lander, Mars enthusiasts breathed a collective sigh of relief… phew. Now it's time to search for evidence of organic molecules in the ice at Mars' north pole. But this is just the latest in a long serie | 6/8/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 91: The Search for Water on Mars | With the successful touchdown of the Phoenix Lander, NASA is continuing its quest to find evidence of past and present water on Mars. This week we discuss the geologic history of Mars, and explain why NASA thinks the story of water on Mars is so important | 6/1/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 90: The Scientific Method | You've heard us say it 90 times: "How we know what we know." But how do we know how we know what we know? So astronomers like all scientists use the scientific method. Without the scientific method we'd probably still think the Earth is flat, only a few t | 5/25/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 89: Adaptive Optics | Since the dawn of humanity, astronomers have wished to destroy the atmosphere. Oh sure, it's what we breathe and all, but that stupid atmosphere is always getting in the way. Since destroying the atmosphere is out of the question, astronomers have figured | 5/18/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 88: The Hubble Space Telescope | Our understanding of the cosmos has been revolutionized by the Hubble Space Telescope. The breathtaking familiar photos, like the Pillars of Creation, pale in comparison to the astounding amount of science data returned to Earth. Hubble's getting old, tho | 5/11/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 87: The End of the Universe Part 2: The End of Everything | Hopefully you've all recovered from part 1 of this set, where we make you sad about the future of the humanity, the Earth, the Sun and the Solar System. But hang on, we're really going to bring you down. Today we'll look far far forward into the distant f | 5/4/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 86: The End of the Universe Part 1: The End of the Solar System | This is a show we wanted to do since we started Astronomy Cast but we always thought it was too early. We wanted you to know that we're positive, happy people with enthusiasm for astronomy and the future. It's time for some sadness. It's time for a grim l | 4/27/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 85: Detectors | Our senses can only detect a fraction of the phenomena happening in the Universe. That's why scientists and engineers develop detectors, to let us see radiation and particles that we could never detect with our eyes and ears. This week we'll go through th | 4/20/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 84: Getting Around the Solar System | Have you ever wondered what it takes to get a spacecraft off the Earth and into space. And how managers at NASA can actually navigate a spacecraft to another planet? And how does a gravity assist work? And how do they get them into orbit? And how do they | 4/13/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 83: Wave Particle Duality | Have you ever heard that photons behave like both a particle and a wave and wondered what that meant? It's true. Sometimes light acts like a wave, and other times it behaves like a little particle. It's both. This week we discuss the experiments that demo | 4/6/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 82: Space Junk | We're polluting every corner of our own planet, so it only makes sense that we'll take our trashy habits out into space with us. This week we look at the myriad of ways we're messing up space, from the trash orbiting the planet to the radiation we're leak | 3/30/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 81: Questions on the Shape Size and Centre of the Universe | As predicted we got a lot of questions from people about our trilogy of shows on the size, shape and centre of the universe. Today we'll do our best to clear them all up.As always, if you're still confused drop us an email to info at astronomycast dot com | 3/23/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 80: Craters | Pamela's attending the 39th Lunar and Planetary Sciences Conference, and you know what that means: the Moon… and planets! When you think of the Moon, you think of craters. In fact, that's a big theme this week at the conference, so Pamela took it as ins | 3/16/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 79: How Big is the Universe? | We’re ready to complete our trilogy of discovery about the universe. We’ve learned that it has no center; rather everywhere is its center and nowhere. We discovered that the universe seems to be flat. It not open, it is not closed, it is flat. If that | 3/9/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 78: What is the Shape of the Universe? | Some of the biggest questions in the universe depend on its shape. Is it curved? Is it flat? Is it open? Those may not make that much sense to you, but in fact it’s very important for astronomers. So which is it? How do we know? How did we figure it out | 3/2/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 77: Where is the Centre of the Universe? | There are some people – I’m not naming names – who think the universe revolves around them. In fact, for most of humankind, everybody thought that. It’s only been in the last few hundred years that scientists finally puzzled out that the Earth isn | 2/24/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 76: Lagrange Points | Gravity is always pulling you down, but there are places in the solar system where gravity balances out. These are called Lagrange points and space agencies use them as stable places to put spacecraft. Nature is on to them and has already been using them | 2/17/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Student Questions: Curtis High School | This is our second installment in our series of student questions shows and these questions come to us from Curtis High School. | 2/15/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 75: Stellar Populations | After the big bang, all we had was hydrogen, a little bit of helium, and a few other trace elements. Today, we’ve a whole periodic table of elements to enjoy, from oxygen we breathe to the aluminium cans we drink from to the uranium that powers some peo | 2/10/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 74: Antimatter | Sometimes, we don’t get to decide what our show’s about. So many threads come together at the same time driving the decision for us. This is one of those situations. We’ve gotten so many questions from listeners in just the last week about antimatte | 2/3/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 73: Questions Show #8 | We’ve been so crazy following our own whims through the universe that we’ve neglected your questions. That ends today. It’s time to dig deep into our overflowing email box to retrieve the puzzling questions our listeners have sent in. | 1/27/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 72: Cosmic Rays | We’re going to return back to a long series of episodes we like to call: Radiation that Will Turn You Into a Superhero. This time we’re going to look at cosmic rays, which everyone knows made the Fantastic Four. These high-energy particles are streami | 1/20/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 71: Gravitational Waves | When he put together his theories of relativity, Einstein made a series of predictions. Some were confirmed just a few years later, but scientists are still working to confirm others. And one of the most fascinating is the concept of gravitational waves. | 1/13/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ep. 70: How to Win a Nobel Prize | Just a couple of shows ago, we showed you how to get a career in astronomy. Now that you've got your career in astronomy, obviously the next goal is to win a Nobel prize. We're here at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin, which is just one | 1/6/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Student Questions: Farmersburg School | Thanks to GLAST, Astronomy Cast is now able to provide equipment to send to high school teachers who want to Pamela and Fraser to do a special questions show just for their class. We will be making this shows available on the feed on days other than Monda | 1/5/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 69: The Large Hadron Collider and the Search for the Higgs-Boson | When it was first developed, the standard model predicted a collection of particles, and thanks to more and more powerful colliders, physicsists have been able to find them all except one: the Higgs-Boson. It's an important one because it should explain h | 12/30/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 68: Globular Clusters | This week we're going to study some of the most ancient objects in the entire Universe; globular clusters. These relics of the early Universe contain hundreds of thousands of stars, held together by their mutual gravity. Since they formed together, they g | 12/23/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 67: Building a Career in Astronomy | With all the enthusiasm that’s being generated with astronomy, it’s had a bit of a strange side-effect. We’ve been causing some of our listeners to have midlife crises about their careers. We’ve had other people who just want advice – they’re | 12/16/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 66: How Amateurs can contribute to Astronomy | Astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs make meaningful contributions to discoveries. Many professional researchers work hand-in-hand with teams of amateurs to make discoveries that just wouldn't be possible without this kind of collaboration. | 12/9/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 65: The End of Our Tour Through the Solar System | All good things come to an end - we now find ourselves in the outer reaches of the solar system where our Sun is hard to distinguish from the other bright stars in the sky. But we're not done with the solar system, there's some stuff that's leftover. This | 12/2/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 64: Pluto and the Icy Outer Solar System | It's been a long journey, 64 episodes, but now we're back where we began: Pluto. Last time we talked about how Pluto lost its planethood status, so we won't go over all that again. This time we're going to talk about Pluto, its moons, the Kuiper belt, and | 11/25/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 63: Neptune | We’ve reached Neptune, the final planet in our tour through the solar system – but don’t worry! The tour’s not over, but after this week we’ll be all out of planets. Neptune has a controversial story about its discovery, some of the strongest wi | 11/18/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 62: Uranus | This week, we're on to the next planet in the solar system. We don't know a whole lot about this blue gas planet, but today we'll cover some of the neat stuff we do know, including it's faint rings, sideways axis of rotation and its rocky core - a first i | 11/11/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 61: Saturn's Moons | We know that delaying this show one more week would be too dangerous, so here you go: Saturn's moons. These are some of the most interesting objects in the Solar System, from the spongy Hyperion, to the geysers on Enceladus, to the rainy, misty, oceany Ti | 11/4/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 60: Questions on Inflation | It's about time for a question show again, so we'll have one last interruption to our planetary tour, to deal with the questions that arose from our inflation show.So if you still don’t understand inflation, take a listen to this week's show and as alwa | 10/28/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 59: Saturn | Returning to our journey through the solar system, let's voyage away from the largest planet to the second largest, Saturn. Once again, we'll break up our visit because there's lots to talk about. This week, we talk about Saturn and its famous rings. Next | 10/21/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 58: Inflation | We interrupt this tour through the solar system to bring you a special show to deal with one of our most complicated subjects: the big bang. Specifically, how it's possible that the universe could have expanded faster than the speed of light. The theory i | 10/14/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 57: Jupiter's Moons | Last week we talked about Jupiter and we could sense right away it would be too much to handle. This week, we'll talk about Jupiter's moons - how many are there? What makes them so interesting? Is it true that the most likely place in the solar system to | 10/7/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 56: Jupiter | Last week we talked about rubble, this week we're going to dig into the largest planet in the Solar System: Jupiter, but will it all just be hot gas? There's so much to talk about, we've decided to break this up into two shows. This week we're going to ju | 9/30/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 55: The Asteroid Belt | In the last few weeks we've had many emails saying that our tour of the solar system would not be complete without a show on the asteroid belt. Your wish is our command! We talked about Mars in episode 52, and now that we're back on track our next stop is | 9/23/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 54: Questions Show #6 | It's been a while, so let's catch up with the listener questions. We've got some easy ones, some hard ones and probably some impossible ones. We talk about our universe as a black hole, tidal locking of planets like Uranus, colours of stars at different a | 9/16/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 53: Astronomy in Science Fiction | This is a very different episode of Astronomy Cast. As we mentioned last week, Pamela recently attended the Dragon*Con science fiction convention in Atlanta, Georgia. While she was there, she participated in a special live edition of Astronomy Cast with s | 9/9/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Special Episode: Panspermia | As a reward to the all the dedicated fans who completed our demographic survey, we released this special episode of Astronomy Cast. As promised, we're now releasing this episode to all of our subscribers. Panspermia is a controversial theory that life on | 9/3/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 52: Mars | Today we consider Mars, the next planet in our journey through the Solar System. Apart from the Earth, it's the most explored planet in our Solar System. Even now there are rovers crawling the surface, orbiters overhead, and a lander on its way. It's a co | 9/2/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 51: Earth | So, another week, another planet. Last week we discussed Venus, and that means this week it is time for our home planet - Earth. | 8/26/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 50: Venus | Last week we talked about Mercury, so this week our planetary parade proceeds to Venus. It's the brightest object in the sky, the hottest object in the solar system, and it's probably one of the most deadly places to go and visit. | 8/19/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 49: Mercury | We're still digging through the thousands of comments and suggestions from the listener survey but we hear your requests and suggestions, and now you get to start reaping the benefits. Today we start our survey of the solar system with Mercury. What myste | 8/12/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 48: Tidal Forces Across the Universe | Last week we talked about tidal forces within our solar system. This week we're going to expand our view and encompass the entire universe. Some of the most dramatic events originate from tidal forces caused by gravity: other worlds, galaxies, black holes | 8/5/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 47: Tidal Forces | Consider the following: we've got tides here on Earth, the Moon only shows one face to the Earth, we've got volcanoes on Io, and ice geysers on Enceladus. All these phenomena originate from a common cause: the force of gravity stretching across space to t | 7/29/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 46: Stellar Nurseries | We've discussed star formation in the past, but now we wanted to talk about the different kinds of stellar nurseries we see across the Universe. We know where our Sun came from because we can look out and see different stellar neighborhoods at every stage | 7/22/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 45: The Important Numbers in the Universe | This week we wanted to give you a basic physics lesson. This isn't easy physics, this is a lesson on the basic numbers of the Universe. Each of these numbers define a key aspect of our Universe. If they had different values, the Universe would be a change | 7/15/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 44: Einstein's Theory of General Relativity | If you remember way back to Episode 9, we covered Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity. Well, that's only half of the relativity picture. The great scientist made an even more profound impact on physics with his theory of general relativity, replacing | 7/8/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 43: Questions, Questions #5 | It's time to answer the questions again. And this time we've got some doozies. Is the Universe rotating? Is space something, or is it nothing? Is dark energy evenly distributed? What would happen if an astronaut went out the airlock, without a spacesuit. | 7/1/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 42: Magnetism Everywhere | You probably don't realise it, but magnetic fields are everywhere. We're not talking about the magnets in your speakers, your electronic equipment or on the fridge door. We're talking about the gigantic magnetic fields that surround planets, stars, galaxi | 6/24/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 41: The Rise of the Supertelescopes | The last decade has been the golden age of astronomy, with new observatories and space telescopes pushing out our understanding of the Universe. We can see billions of light years away, watch dynamic events unfold in almost real-time, and see into every c | 6/17/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 40: American Astronomical Society Meeting, May 2007 | Once again, Pamela does her duty as an astronomer and joins her colleagues at the American Astronomical Society's meeting, held in May, 2007 on Honolulu, Hawaii. With all that sand, surf and sun, how did anyone get any science done? Pamela tracked down th | 6/10/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 39: Astrology and UFOs | While Pamela's away at the American Astronomical Society meeting, we brought in a special guest to help debunk some of the pseudoscience that people mistake for astronomy. Dr Steven Novella from the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe gets to the bottom of as | 6/3/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 38: Neutron Stars and their Exotic Cousins | Huge stars become black holes, and small stars become white dwarfs. But medium-sized stars can become neutron stars; exotic objects that overcome the nuclear force holding protons and electrons apart. What was once the size of a star is compressed down to | 5/27/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 37: Gravitational Lensing | Astronomers are always trying to get their hands on bigger and more powerful telescopes. But the most powerful telescopes in the Universe are completely natural, and the size of a galaxy cluster. When you use the gravity of a galaxy as a lens, you can pee | 5/20/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 36: Gamma-Ray Bursts | Gamma ray bursts are the most powerful explosions in the Universe, releasing more energy in a few seconds than our Sun will put out in its lifetime. It's only been in the last few years that astronomers are finally starting to unravel the cataclysmic even | 5/13/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 35: Questions Show #4 | We know there's matter, and we know there's anti-matter. If there's dark matter, is there an anti-dark matter? How come gravity can escape from a black hole? Do black holes capture dark matter? Can a moon have a moon? Can a planet have two stars? If you'v | 5/6/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 34: Discovering Another Earth | What a week! Astronomers announced the discovery of an Earth-sized planet orbiting the nearby star Gliese 581. We talk about the technique used to discover the planet, the possibilities of finding even smaller planets, and what the future holds for findin | 4/29/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 33: Choosing and Using a Telescope | Buying your first telescope can be a nerve-wracking experience filled with buyer's remorse. This week we discuss the basics of purchasing your first binoculars and telescope. What to look for, how to clean older equipment, and how to use it for the first | 4/22/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 32: The Search for Neutrinos | Trillions of neutrinos are produced in our Sun through its nuclear reactions. These particles stream out at nearly the speed of light, and pass right through any matter they encounter. In fact, there are billions of them passing through your body right no | 4/15/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 31: String Theory, Time Travel, White Holes, Warp Speed, Multiple Dimensions, and Before the Big Bang | We get questions every week about string theory and topics popularized by science fiction. Here's the problem. There's just no evidence. Each of these is based on wonderful and well-formed mathematical equations, or wishful thinking, but they're very hard | 4/8/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 30: The Sun, Spots and All | It's Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and that means the Sun is back. But it's more than just a free heat lamp for your garden, it's an incredible, dynamic nuclear reaction complete with flares, coronal mass ejections, twisting magnetic fields and the s | 4/1/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 29: Asteroids Make Bad Neighbors | This week we're talking about asteroids. And not just any asteroids, but Near Earth Objects. How do astronomers find these things, why are they buzzing around the Earth, what are the chances we'll actually get hit, and what would happen if we did get hit? | 3/25/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 28: What is the Universe Expanding Into? | Come on, admit it, you've had this question. If the Universe is expanding from the Big Bang, what is it expanding into? What's outside the Universe? Ask any astronomer and you'll get an unsatisfying answer. We give you the same unsatisfying answer, but re | 3/18/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 27: The Third Question Show | The questions are piling up, so it's time to get through them. We've got a great collection this week. How can our eyes collect so many photons? What's the speed of gravity? Shouldn't the light from the cosmic microwave background radiation passed us by? | 3/11/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 26: The Biggest Structures in the Universe | This week we continue the story of galaxy formation, learning how groups of galaxies come together to form the biggest structures around - galaxy superclusters. And when you look at the Universe at this scale, environment is everything. | 3/4/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 25: How Galaxies Form | Our Milky Way is a complex and majestic barred spiral galaxy. But 13.7 billion years ago it began, like all galaxies, from the elementary particles formed in the Big Bang. How did our galaxy grow from nothing to the hundreds of billions of stars we see to | 2/25/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 24: Fermi Paradox | We live in a mind bogglingly big Universe filled with countless stars. We know intelligent life evolved here on Earth. It must be common across the Universe, right? But if there's life out there, how come we haven't been visited by aliens yet? Why haven't | 2/18/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 23: The Drake Equation | If you're wondering how many extraterrestrials there are in our galaxy, you just have to use a simple equation developed by astronomer Frank Drake in 1961. Just find out how many stars there are, how many support life, how many advanced societies form, an | 2/11/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 22: Variable Stars | Our Sun has been around for billions of years, and will last for billions more. We're lucky, it's pretty stable and regular as stars go, only changing in brightness a little now and then. But there are stars out there that change dramatically; astronomers | 2/4/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 21: Black Hole Questions Answered | Our episode on black holes generated many many questions from listeners. We dip into this bottomless pool of questions and start dealing with them. Are really big black holes like the Big Bang? How can black holes evaporate? What would it look like to sta | 1/28/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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283 |
Episode 20: What We Learned from the American Astronomical Society | It's astronomical society get together time, and we send Pamela to investigate and record. Hear the latest news that will make your text books out of date. Find out where all the dark matter is collecting, the identity of Kepler's supernova, and new insig | 1/21/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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284 |
Episode 19: Comets, Our Icy Friends from the Outer Solar System | The sudden brightening of Comet McNaught has reminded us what a treat it can be to see a comet with the unaided eye. A diffuse ball with a long tail stretching across the sky. There's nothing else in the night sky that can compare to a bright comet. But w | 1/14/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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285 |
Episode 18: Black Holes Big and Small | We're finally ready to deal with the topic you've all been waiting for: Schwarzschild swirlers, Chandrasekhar crushers, ol' matter manglers, sucking singularities - you might know them as black holes. Join as as we examine how black holes form, what they | 1/7/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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286 |
Episode 17: Where does the Moon Come From? | We take the Moon for granted, but its effect on the Earth is very important; possibly even critical for the formation of life. But where did it come from? Did the Earth and Moon form together? Or did the Earth capture a wayward Moon? Or was there a more c | 12/31/06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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287 |
Episode 16: Across the Electromagnetic Spectrum | We see the Universe in visible light with our photon detecting eyes. We can feel infrared heat with our photon detecting hands, and we get sunburns with our ultraviolet photon detecting skin (ouch). But there's a whole spectrum of photons out there, from | 12/24/06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 15: Listener Questions Answered | We finally get organized enough deal with several listener questions: isn't dark matter just regular stuff we can't see? how can parts of the Universe be expanding faster than the speed of light? what will Betelgeuse look like when it explodes as a supern | 12/17/06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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289 |
Episode 14: We're All Made of Supernovae | No more suspense. This week we blow the biggest stars up. Kaboom. Want more details? Then you've got to listen. | 12/10/06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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290 |
Episode 13: Where do stars go when they die? | We've celebrated the birth of new stars, but the stellar lifecycle doesn't end there. Stars like our Sun will spend billions of years fusing together hydrogen and pumping out energy. And when the fuel runs out, their death is as interesting as their birth | 12/3/06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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291 |
Episode 12: Where Do Baby Stars Come From? | Most parents have had that uncomfortable conversation with their children at some point. Mommy, Daddy, where do stars come from? You hem and haw, mumble a few words about angular momentum and primordial hydrogen and then cleverly change the subject. Well, | 11/26/06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 11: A Universe of Dark Energy | The discovery of dark energy was one of the biggest surprises in astronomy. Instead of a nice, predictable expanding Universe, acted on only by gravity, astronomers turned up a mysterious repulsive force accelerating the expansion of the Universe. Fraser | 11/19/06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 10: Measuring Distance in the Universe | You hear distances all the time in astronomy. This star is 10 light-years away; that galaxy is 50 million light-years away; that Big Bang over there happened 13.7 billion years ago. But how did astronomers actually figure out how far away everything is? I | 11/12/06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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294 |
Episode 9: Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity | 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 | 11/5/06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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295 |
Episode 8: Meteor Showers. Yes, the sky is falling. | Dress warmly, gather some friends and family, and head outside to watch sand burn in the upper atmosphere. There's nothing like a good meteor shower. Fraser and Pamela explain this beautiful phenomenon: what causes them, the best storms and showers to wat | 10/29/06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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296 |
Episode 7: Getting Started in Amateur Astronomy | Got your eye on that $40 telescope at Walmart? Wait, hear us out first! Fraser and Pamela discuss strategies for getting into amateur astronomy - one of the most worthwhile hobbies out there. We discuss what gear to get, where to look, and how to meet up | 10/22/06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 6: More Evidence for the Big Bang | Last week's episode started out with a bang- a Big Bang. This week we continue our discussion into the beginning of everything. We present three additional lines of evidence that have led astronomers to the conclusion that our Universe started out as a si | 10/15/06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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298 |
Episode 5: The Big Bang and Cosmic Microwave Background | As a tribute to John Mather and George Smoot, the two leaders of the Cosmic Microwave Background Explorer (COBE) satellite science team, and winners of this year's Nobel Prize for Physics, we head back to the beginning of everything- the Big Bang. Follow | 10/8/06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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299 |
Episode 4: The Search for Dark Matter | Dark matter . . . What is it? Nobody knows for sure, but it's definitely there. Or maybe it's not there, and we just need some redefinition of gravity at vast scales. Join Fraser and Pamela as we discuss the discovery, detection, and possible explanations | 10/1/06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Episode 3: Hot Jupiters and Pulsar Planets | You have lived on the Earth all your life, so you'd think you know plenty about planets. As usual though, the Universe is stranger than we assume, and the planets orbiting other stars defy our expectations. Gigantic super-Jupiters whirling around their pa | 9/24/06 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 300 Episodes |
Customer Reviews
Great for Amateurs
If you're like me, you have an ongoing interest in astronomy but don't have the time to pursue it much. And then there's the advanced physics and math to contend with! Astronomy Cast is an excellent review of what's happening in the world of astronomy for those of us who need a clear and condensed version. Fraser Cain acts as the host of the podcast while Dr. Pamela Gay, of Slacker Astronomy fame, gives us the scoop on such varied topics as the Big Bang, planethood, and the search for dark matter. The discussion is not "dumbed down" by any means but is simply put forth in a manner that is easily understood by all. Give it a listen! I think you'll be impressed.
Astronomy for the general population
Fraser asks the questions we wonder about and Dr. Gay answers them in terms that make sense and don't require an advanced math degree. I look forward to each episode as it brings a mental voyage of discovery. The podcast is put together with expertise. The sound quality is great and the voices of Fraser and Dr. Gay are easy on the ears and mind.
The Best Podcast... EVER!
I always loved astronomy... that is until I took my first (and last) Astronomy class in college. I felt I iust didn't have the brain muscle to wield the physics part. Frankly, I was intimidated by all the science. However, I have never let go of the awe and wonder when I looked UP. Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela Gay have made what was for me the inaccessible aspect of astronomy within my reach with this science rich and succint podcast. This podcast has re-ignited my interest and desire to tackle the science without fear. Awesome job!
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