365 Days of Astronomy - Weekly Edition
442 episodes - English - Latest episode: 5 days ago - ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsThe weekly podcast from the International Year of Astronomy 2009. This podcast comes out weekly and includes each daily episode of the 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast.
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Episodes
Ep. 716 - The God**** Particle - Remembering Peter Higgs
April 22, 2024 20:00 - 59 minutes - 27.2 MBLast week, we learned about the death of Peter Higgs, a physicist and discoverer of the particle that bears his name. The Large Hadron Collider was built to find and describe the particle. Today, we’ll look back at the life of Peter Higgs and his particle.
Ep. 715: Total Eclipse of the Science: Experiments During the Eclipse
April 08, 2024 20:00 - 54 minutes - 25.1 MBHow to watch a solar eclipse and do some science! The next great eclipse is upon us, with viewers across North America witnessing the moon passing in front of the Sun. It’s an amazing experience, but also an opportunity to do science. Let’s talk about what we can learn from this momentous event.
Ep. 714: Orbital Resonances
April 01, 2024 20:00 - 1 hour - 29.2 MBSeveral of the planets and moons in the Solar System are in orbital resonance, orbiting in a geometric lockstep. And not just the Solar System, astronomers have found the same resonances in other star systems.
Ep. 713: Solar System Volcanoes
March 25, 2024 20:00 - 1 hour - 30.4 MBLast week was one of the most exciting meetings we’ve seen from the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, with hundreds of announcements and discoveries from various missions. One theme kept coming up, the Solar System is more volcanically active than we thought. Today, we’ll explore volcanism on other worlds.
Ep. 712: How Peer Review Fails
March 18, 2024 20:00 - 58 minutes - 27.1 MBYou’ve probably heard that the best kind of science is peer-reviewed research published in a prestigious journal. But peer review has problems of its own. We’ll talk about that today.
Ep. 711: NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC)
March 11, 2024 20:00 - 4 KBNASA works on many missions using tried and true technology, but they also invest in creative ideas that could drive the future of space exploration. It’s called NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts or NIAC.
Ep. 710: NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Program
March 04, 2024 21:00 - 1 hour - 28.6 MBIn the olden days, NASA developed its missions using a variety of in-house engineers and external suppliers. As more commercial companies are targeting the Moon, NASA is working with partners to deliver its payloads to the lunar surface. Today let’s talk about NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Program.
Ep. 709: Space Weapons
February 26, 2024 21:00 - 1 hour - 29.6 MBStreamed live on Feb 19, 2024. [My apologies for Fraser’s audio dropouts. We’re not sure how it happened as it wasn’t happening at his studio. Audio is a black art, IMHO. Rich) Last week we learned that Russia might be planning nuclear weapons to take out satellites in space. What is the current and future possibility of weapons in space and what are the treaties designed to prevent them?
Ep. 708: What Goes Into Sample Return Missions From Asteroids & Comets?
February 19, 2024 21:00 - 1 hour - 31.1 MBLast week we talked about sample return missions from the Moon and Mars, but scientists have retrieved samples from other objects in the Solar System, including comets and asteroids. What does it take to return a piece of rock from space, and what have we learned so far?
Ep. 707: What Goes Into A Sample Return Mission? Moon & Mars
February 12, 2024 21:00 - 1 hour - 30.7 MBWe’ve sent robots to other worlds, but the amount of science we can deploy to another planet can’t compare with the vast science labs we have on Earth. That’s why more and more missions are for a sample return, bringing pieces of alien worlds back to Earth, where we study them with proper equipment.
Ep. 706: China’s Space Program
February 05, 2024 21:00 - 1 hour - 28.9 MBWe’re so familiar with NASA’s exploration efforts in space, but you might be surprised to learn that China launches almost as many rockets as the US. They’ve got their own space exploration program that could soon bring humans to the surface of the Moon. Let’s give a brief overview of China’s space exploration plans.
Ep. 705: Water Worlds - Looking For Life Beyond Earth
January 22, 2024 21:00 - 1 hour - 28.1 MBWherever we find liquid water on Earth, we find life, so it makes sense to search for water across the Universe, and hopefully we can find evidence of life. But what about worlds which are completely covered in water, oceans hundreds of kilometers deep. Can there be too much water?
Ep. 704: NASA's Juno Releases New Images
January 15, 2024 21:00 - 54 minutes - 25 MBNASA’s Juno spacecraft has completed dozens of flybys of Jupiter, seeing the planet from many angles and delivering some of the most beautiful images we’ve ever seen of the Jovian world. Now it’s focusing in on Io, sending home images of the tiny volcanic world from just 1,500 km away. And the best is yet to come.
Ep. 703: Solar Maximum of Doom? Maybe
January 08, 2024 21:00 - 53 minutes - 24.4 MBStreamed live on Dec 20, 2023. Solar cycle 25 is shaping up to be a doozy, with plenty of flares and coronal mass ejections blasting off the Sun. As the solar activity continues to rise, how are things shaping up?
Ep. 702: Moonshot 2024 - Go or No Go?
December 18, 2023 21:00 - 52 minutes - 24.3 MBStreamed live on Dec 11, 2023. With Artemis 1 completing its robotic flight around the Moon, we know that the SLS works. Next comes Artemis 2, with a crew of astronauts flying past the Moon. If that’s successful, we could see humans set foot on the Moon in December 2025. But there is a long list of challenges to consider that could delay things considerably. Go or no go for launch‽
Ep. 701: Space Science We Look Forward to in the Next 700 Episodes
December 11, 2023 21:00 - 55 minutes - 25.5 MBLast week we looked back at some of the ideas that science has changed its mind about. This week we look forward, into the future, at some of the big ideas that astronomers are making progress in. What space science are we looking forward to?
Ep. 700: The Things We Got Wrong
December 04, 2023 21:00 - 52 minutes - 24.2 MBAstronomers talk about all the amazing discoveries they’re making but sometimes, it turns out, they were wrong. After decades and centuries of discoveries, how have they changed their minds?
Ep. 699: Holiday Gift Giving Ideas for Astronomy and Space Fans
November 27, 2023 21:00 - 56 minutes - 26 MBJust a warning, the holidays are rapidly approaching. It’s time, once again, to think about what to buy all the space nerds on your lists. Here’s what we like.
Ep. 698: Insights Into the Universe
November 20, 2023 21:00 - 58 minutes - 27 MBHow the time flies. It’s been over a year since JWST went operational, with other missions joining the fun. What new insights have we gained about the Universe thanks to these powerful new tools?
Ep. 697: Mission Roll Call Part 6: The Outer Solar System and Beyond
November 13, 2023 21:00 - 45 minutes - 21 MBFinally, we reach the end of our tour through the missions in the Solar System. Out beyond Mars, to Jupiter, the Kuiper Belt and Beyond.
Ep. 696: Mission Roll Call Part 5: The Science at Mars
November 06, 2023 21:00 - 58 minutes - 26.9 MBAnother week, another review of space missions in the Solar System. Today we set our sights on the red planet. What are all the active missions at Mars today?
Ep. 695: Mission Roll Call Part 4: Lunar Exploration
October 30, 2023 20:00 - 1 hour - 29.3 MBOur journey through missions continues, this time we focus on the Moon. There are many nations on the Moon, near the Moon, around the Moon, traveling to the Moon. It’s a lot. We’ll talk about it today.
Ep. 694: Mission Roll Call Part 3: What's Beyond Earth
October 23, 2023 20:00 - 58 minutes - 27 MBOur journey through space missions continues. Now we move away from the Earth to the rest of the solar system. What’s out there orbiting, roving and flying on other worlds and in interplanetary space. Today we look inward and we’ll talk about the missions studying the Sun, Mercury and Venus.
Episode 693: Mission Roll Call, Part 2: Looking Outward from Earth
October 16, 2023 20:00 - 52 minutes - 24 MBLast week, we brought you up to speed on the spacecraft which are helping to study Earth from above. Many of our missions are in Earth orbit but looking outward to study the Universe. Today, we’ll talk about the missions close to home, helping us understand our place in the cosmos.
Ep. 692: Mission Roll Call Part 1: Earth Orbit
October 09, 2023 20:00 - 57 minutes - 26.2 MBIt’s time for another series! This time we’re gonna look at the missions that’re currently in place across the solar system. Today we’ll start with the key missions here on Earth, studying the planet from above and looking out into the Universe.
Ep. 691: Jupiter’s Changing Red Spot
October 02, 2023 20:00 - 52 minutes - 24.1 MBJupiter’s Great Red Spot is one of its most iconic features. First seen hundreds of years ago. Although it’s certainly long lasting, it’s been changing in size over the last few decades. Shrinking, changing in color. Is it fading away? And what can the changes tell us about storms on giant planets?
Ep. 690: Climate on Mars - From Ice Caps to Dust Storms
September 25, 2023 20:00 - 1 hour - 29.9 MBStreamed live on Sep 18, 2023. We’ve looked at Earth’s changing climate, now let’s see what it’s like for another world: Mars. Much looks familiar, but some of it is totally alien, from ice caps of frozen carbon dioxide to planetary dust storms that can obscure the entire world from view. This video was made possible by the following Patreon members: Stephen Veit Jordan Young Jeanette Wink Andrew Poelstra Brian Cagle David Truog BogieNet Gerhard Schwarzer David TH...
Ep. 689 - Our Warming World: 20 Years of Climate Science
September 18, 2023 20:00 - 1 hour - 28 MBStreamed live on Sep 11, 2023. It’s official! June and July were the warmest we’ve seen since records began over a century ago. Fires are rampant across Canada, and we’re seeing record droughts around the world. Today we’re going to look at 20 years of climate science, how well does reality match up with the predictions. This video was made possible by the following Patreon members: Stephen Veit Jordan Young Jeanette Wink Andrew Poelstra Brian Cagle David Truog BogieNet...
Hiatus Message
July 10, 2023 20:00 - 4 minutes - 2.17 MBHiatus Message Once again, we’ve reached the end of a season here on Astronomy Cast, and it’s time for the summer hiatus. See you in September!
Ep. 688: What’s Next? Looking Ahead to Season 17
July 03, 2023 20:00 - 1 hour - 28.2 MBStreamed live on Jun 26, 2023. Once again, we’ve reached the end of a season here on Astronomy Cast, and it’s time for the summer hiatus. But the Universe never takes a break. What can we expect to happen over the summer while we’re catching up on our reading, building our gardens and planning for Season 17?
Ep. 687: Prepping for the Moon
June 27, 2023 02:56 - 1 hour - 28.1 MBWe’re going back to the Moon. In the next few years humans will set foot on the Moon again, ideally this time to stay. But this will be different than the Apollo era, going to the scientifically fascinating, and difficult southern pole of the Moon. What needs to be done to prepare the way back to the Moon?
Ep. 686: Ice In The Shadows
June 19, 2023 20:00 - 38 minutes - 17.7 MBThe permanently shadowed craters on the Moon are the focus of so much research. That’s because they seem to contain vast reserves of water ice. Water we could use for oxygen, propellant and so much more, but also, to help us understand where the Earth’s water came from.
Ep. 685: Manufacturing In Space
June 12, 2023 20:00 - 57 minutes - 26.5 MBLaunching satellites from Earth is counter-productive. You’ve got to make a satellite that can handle Earth gravity, then the brutal flight to space, then deployment in orbit. What if you could build your spacecraft in space?
Ep. 684: Too Big, Too Soon: Massive Early Galaxies Defy Expectations
June 05, 2023 20:00 - 56 minutes - 26 MBOne of JWST’s top jobs is to peer deeper into the Universe than ever before, watching as the first galaxies came together. Surprisingly, astronomers found galaxies that seemed much more mature than expected, much earlier than it was believed possible. What’s going on and what does it mean for cosmology?
Ep. 683: Cosmic Dawn
May 29, 2023 20:00 - 1 hour - 28.7 MBAfter the cosmic microwave background radiation was released, the Universe returned to darkness, cloaked in this clouds of primordial hydrogen and helium. Gravity pulled these vast clouds into the first stars, and then the first galaxies. This is Cosmic Dawn, and JWST will help us probe this mysterious time in the Universe.
Ep. 682: Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies & Dark Matter
May 22, 2023 20:00 - 1 hour - 29.3 MBAstronomers first noticed the strange behaviors of rotating galaxies almost 100 years ago, suggesting there’s an invisible dark matter hold them together with gravity. Or maybe we just don’t understand how gravity works at the largest scales. Observations are much better now, and astronomers have found examples of galaxies that are almost entirely made of dark matter. Does this tell us anything?
Ep. 681: Kilonovae
May 15, 2023 20:00 - 37 minutes - 17.5 MBIn 2017, astronomers detected the gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation from colliding neutron stars. This had been long theorized as one of the causes of a certain type of gamma-ray burst. By studying the event and its afterglow, astronomers have learned a tremendous amount about the formation of the heaviest elements in the Universe.
Ep. 680: Rogue Black Holes
May 08, 2023 20:00 - 58 minutes - 27.1 MBLast week we talked about rogue stars. This week we’re going to take things up a notch and talk about an even more extreme event. Rogue black holes. Astronomers recently discovered a supermassive black hole on an escape trajectory, leaving newly forming stars in its wake. It’s wonderful, terrible, nightmare fuel.
Ep. 679: High(per) Velocity Stars
May 01, 2023 20:00 - 1 hour - 28.8 MBMost stars in the Milky Way are trapped in here with us, doomed to orbit around and around and around. But a few have found a way out, an escape into the freedom of intergalactic space. How do stars reach escape velocity, never to return?
Ep. 678: World Building: Planet Formation, Growth & Ejection
April 24, 2023 20:00 - 1 hour - 27.7 MBOkay sci-fi writers, today we’re going to give you a guided tour of building planets. How they form, how they grow, and how things can go horribly horribly wrong. [Editor’s Note: Google HL Tau, click on the Wikipedia link and see planets forming!]
Ep. 677: The Answer is Always Dust
April 17, 2023 20:00 - 1 hour - 29.1 MBWhenever astronomers discover something surprising, the answer often turns out to be dust. Dust obscuring our view, dust changing the polarity, dust warming things up, dust cooling things down. It’s always dust. Until it isn’t.
Ep. 676: Other Things With Rings
April 10, 2023 20:00 - 1 hour - 28.9 MBWe’ve spent a lot of time gushing about Saturn’s rings, but there are other places with ring systems. And not just Jupiter and the ice giants, but asteroids, dwarf planets, centaurs and even exoplanets. Today let’s gush about them!
Ep. 675: Exotic Forms of Ice
April 03, 2023 20:00 - 1 hour - 29.1 MBIce is ice, right? You know, what you get when water freezes. Well, maybe here on Earth. But across the Universe, water can be squeezed together at different temperatures and pressures, leading to very different structures. Today we’ll talk about the different forms that ice can take.
Ep. 674: Asteroid Early Warning Systems
March 27, 2023 20:00 - 58 minutes - 26.8 MBThe asteroid apocalypse is one of those existential crises that keep astronomers up at night. But the DART mission showed us that we can push an asteroid off its trajectory if we have enough warning. Today we’ll talk about how humanity is building early warning systems to give us time to respond to a dangerous asteroid.
Ep. 673: How to See Satellites (or Avoid Seeing Them)
March 20, 2023 20:00 - 1 hour - 27.8 MBIf you’re in dark skies and look up, you’re certain to see a satellite. Lots of them. But how can you know which one you’re seeing, and how can you improve your chances of a sighting? Today we’ll talk about how to see satellites, or avoid seeing them.
Ep. 672: Space Debris Removal
March 13, 2023 20:00 - 1 hour - 28.8 MBWe’ve talked about the rising problem of space junk. Okay, we know it’s an issue. So what can be done about it? Today we’ll talk about ideas to remove space junk, making sure space is open to use for the centuries to come.
Ep. 671: The Consequences to Breaking Space Laws
March 06, 2023 21:00 - 48 minutes - 22.2 MBLast week we talked about the laws that govern space exploration. This week the rubber hits the road. What are the consequences for actually breaking these rules? Are they really going to stop anyone?
Ep. 670 - Governing Space: The 1967 Outer Space Treaty & More!
February 20, 2023 21:00 - 58 minutes - 27 MBStreamed live on Feb 13, 2023. The Universe was inaccessible for most of human history, but the first tentative steps to space in the 20th Century made humanity realize that science fiction was becoming science reality. New rules would have to be written to govern how we used this limitless expanse. Today we’ll talk about the Outer Space Treaty of 1967.
Ep. 669: Challenges to Dark Energy
February 13, 2023 21:00 - 1 hour - 27.8 MBIt’s been over 20 years since astronomers first discovered that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating thanks to dark energy. And in these decades, astronomers still don’t have much evidence for what could be causing the increased expansion rate. Maybe there’s something else going on to explain it.
Ep. 668: The Crisis In Cosmology
February 06, 2023 21:00 - 59 minutes - 27.3 MBAstronomers have made extremely accurate measurements of the expansion rate of the Universe and come up with different results. And the error bars for the observations don’t overlap, so there’s something strange going on. What’s the answer and how can the Crisis in Cosmology be resolved?