365 Days of Astronomy - Weekly Edition
444 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. 571: Extreme Binaries
May 25, 2020 20:00 - 59 minutes - 27.4 MBStreamed live on May 22, 2020. So we're familiar with regular binary stars. Two stars orbiting each other. Simple. Of course the Universe has come up with every combination of things orbiting other things, and this week we look at some extreme examples.
Astronomy Cast Ep. 570: Discovering Comets
May 18, 2020 20:00Streamed live May 15, 2020. Discovering comets is one of the fields that amateurs can still make a regular contribution to astronomy. But more and more comets are getting found by spacecraft, automated systems and machine learning. This week we'll talk about how comets are discovered and how you can get your name on one!
Ep. 570: Discovering Comets
May 18, 2020 20:00 - 58 minutes - 27.3 MBStreamed live May 15, 2020. Discovering comets is one of the fields that amateurs can still make a regular contribution to astronomy. But more and more comets are getting found by spacecraft, automated systems and machine learning. This week we'll talk about how comets are discovered and how you can get your name on one!
Ep. 567: When Satellites Need A House Call
April 27, 2020 15:44 - 1 hour - 478 MB VideoSpace is really far away, so when you send a satellite out into the void, that's pretty much the last you're going to be able to work on it. And if anything goes wrong, too bad, you're out a satellite. But a new test has shown that it's possible to actually visit and fix a satellite in space. Maybe we don't have to throw them all away after all.
Ep. 566: When Comets Fall Apart
April 20, 2020 02:33 - 1 hour - 57.9 MBAs everyone knows, the Universe owes us a bright comet. There have been a lot of promising candidates, but in the end, they always fail to live up to our expectations. Comets keep on breaking up with us.
Ep. 565: When Worlds Collide
April 13, 2020 16:43 - 59 minutes - 43.3 MBSo much of our Solar System has been shaped by enormous collisions early on in our history. Seriously, the nature of every planet in the Solar System has some evidence of massive impacts during some point in its history.
Ep. 564: Mini Moons
April 06, 2020 17:09 - 1 hour - 58.6 MBLast month astronomers announced that they had detected a tiny asteroid that had been captured by the Earth's gravity well and had been sharing our orbit for a few years. Today, let's talk about the smallest moons in the Solar System.
Ep. 563: White Dwarf Mergers
March 30, 2020 16:54 - 1 hour - 58.4 MBWhite dwarfs are usually about 60% the mass of the Sun, so it was a bit of a surprise when astronomers found one that was almost exactly twice that. What happens when white dwarfs merge?
Ep. 562: Dealing with COVID-19 and the Changes it will Bring
March 23, 2020 20:49 - 1 hour - 44.7 MBPamela and Fraser discuss the implications of COVID-19 and it's changes on the world, and what we all can do during this time.
Ep. 561: Remembering Katherine Johnson
March 06, 2020 23:00 - 1 hour - 42.6 MBWe lost a bright star here on planet Earth last week. NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson passed away at the age of 101, after an incredible career of helping humans land on the Moon. If you saw the movie Hidden Figures, you'll know what I'm talking about.
Ep. 560: Betelgeuse
February 24, 2020 22:30 - 1 hour - 264 MB VideoYou might be surprised to hear that we've never done an episode of Astronomy Cast featuring Betelgeuse. Well, good news, this is that episode. Let's talk about the star, why it might be dimming, and what could happen if it explodes as a supernova.
Ep. 559: The Surface of the Sun
February 17, 2020 04:14 - 58 minutes - 55.4 MBA brand new telescope has completed on Maui's Haleakala, and it has just one job: to watch the Sun in unprecedented detail. It's called the Daniel K. Inouye telescope, and the engineering involved to get this telescope operational are matched by the incredible resolution of its first images.
Ep. 558: Supernova SN 2006gy
February 10, 2020 05:42 - 53 minutes - 49.7 MBWe've been following this story for more than a decade, so it's great to finally have an answer to the question, why was supernova 2006gy so insanely bright? Astronomers originally thought it was an example of a supermassive star exploding, but new evidence provides an even more fascinating answer.
Ep. 557: Red Dwarfs: Friend or Foe
February 03, 2020 20:21 - 54 minutes - 38.7 MBOn the one hand, red dwarfs are the longest lived stars in the Universe, the perfect place for life to hang out for trillions of years. On the other hand, they're tempestuous little balls of plasma, hurling out catastrophic flares that could wipe away life. Are they good or bad places to live?
Ep. 556: Multi Messenger Astronomy
January 27, 2020 22:33 - 1 hour - 43.3 MBFor the longest time astronomers could only study the skies with telescopes. But then new techniques and technologies were developed to help us see in different wavelengths. Now astronomers can study objects in both visible light, neutrinos, gravitational waves and more. The era of multi-messenger astronomy is here.
Ep. 555: Satellite Constellations and the Future of Astronomy
January 19, 2020 23:28 - 29 minutes - 31.1 MBThe other big issue at the AAS was the challenge that astronomy is going to face from all the new satellite constellations coming shortly. There are already 180 Starlinks in orbit, and thousands more are coming, not to mention the other constellations in the works. What will be the impact on astronomy, and what can we do about it?
Ep. 554: Big Telescope Controversy in Hawai'i
January 13, 2020 19:20 - 30 minutes - 30.9 MBThis week we're live at the American Astronomical Society's 235th meeting in Honolulu, Hawai'i. We learned about new planets, black holes and star formation, but the big issue hanging over the whole conference is the protests and politics over the new Thirty Meter Telescope due for construction on Mauna Kea.
Ep. 553: What To Look Forward To In 2020
December 30, 2019 06:07 - 57 minutes - 256 MB VideoIt's hard to believe it, but we survived another trip around the Sun. Now it's time to take the whole journey all over again, but with new news. Let's take a look at some of the space and astronomy stories we're looking forward to in 2020.
Ep. 552: Boyajian's star (and other strange stars)
December 23, 2019 23:47 - 52 minutes - 38.3 MBHuge surveys of the sky are finding more and more planets, stars and galaxies. But they're also turning up strange objects astronomers have never seen before, like Boyajian's star. Today we're going to talk about some unusual objects astronomers have discovered, and why this number is only going to go way way up.
CosmoQuest Hangoutathon Promo
December 20, 2019 21:07 - 1 minute - 2.07 MBHi everyone, Producer Susie here. This weekend, December 21-23, 2019, we will be having our CosmoQuest Hangoutathon. For 40 straight hours, our team will be bringing you guests, science and fun live on our channel. We are raising money to pay for our team to continue to bring you science, and for us to continue our citizen science programs, like the extremely successful Bennu Mappers from this past year, where over 3500 of you wonderful volunteers mapped over 14 million rocks on the aster...
Ep. 551: Missing Epochs - Observing before the CMBR
December 16, 2019 19:09 - 43 minutes - 31.4 MBThe Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation is the earliest moment in the Universe that we can see with our telescopes, just a few hundred thousand years after the Big Bang itself. What will it take for us to be able to fill in the missing gap? To see closer to the beginning of time itself?
Ep. 550: Missing Epochs - Observing the Cosmic Dark Ages
December 07, 2019 01:38 - 38 minutes - 27.8 MBPowerful observatories like Hubble and the Very Large Telescope have pushed our vision billions of light-years into the Universe, allowing us to see further and further back in time. But there are regions which we still haven't seen: the Cosmic Dark Ages. What's it going to take to observe some of these earliest moments in the Universe?
Ep. 549: Stellar nucleosynthesis revisited: In and on and around dead stars
December 02, 2019 21:24 - 34 minutes - 24.2 MBLast week we gave you an update on the formation of elements from the Big Bang and in main sequence stars like the Sun. This week, we wrap up with a bang, talking about the death of the most massive stars and how they seed the Universe with heavier elements.
Ep. 548: Stellar nucleosynthesis revisited: In stellar cores & atmospheres
November 25, 2019 17:59 - 41 minutes - 29.4 MBThe Universe started out with hydrogen and helium and a few other elements, but all around us, there are other, more proton-rich elements. We believe these heavier elements formed in stars, but which stars? And at what points in their lives? Today we'll update our knowledge with the latest science.
Ep. 547: Why Astronomy Still Needs Humans
November 18, 2019 21:24 - 58 minutes - 42.9 MBFew sciences have been able to take advantage of the power of computers like astronomy. But with all this computing power, you might be surprised to learn how important a role humans still play in this science.
Ep. 546: Weird Issues: Planetary Migration
November 11, 2019 20:25 - 50 minutes - 36 MBBefore we discovered other planets, our Solar System seemed like a perfectly reasonable template for everywhere. But now we see massive planets close to their stars, which leads you to the question, how does it all get there. Do the planets form in place or do they migrate around?
Ep. 545: Weird Issues: Are comets asteroids or are asteroids comets?
November 05, 2019 05:51 - 39 minutes - 28.5 MBThings used to be so simple. Comets were snowballs from the outer Solar System, and asteroids were rocks from the inner Solar System. But now everything's all shades of grey. Astronomers have found asteroids that behave like comets and comets that behave like asteroids.
Ep. 544: Weird Issues: Biosignatures
October 28, 2019 20:35 - 56 minutes - 41 MBOnce again, another place where the Universe is going to make this difficult for us. Proving, once and for all that there's alien life on another world. It should be straightforward, look for biosignatures, but it looks like there are natural sources that could explain almost any chemical we could hope to search for.
Ep. 543: Weird Issues: The Habitable Zone
October 20, 2019 02:08 - 1 hour - 44 MBOur series on Universe weirdness marches on. This week we take a look at the habitable zone, and how things aren't as simple as we thought.
Ep. 542: Weird Issues: The Age of the Universe
October 14, 2019 04:51 - 37 minutes - 27.8 MBOur series on Universe weirdness continues, this time we learn how astronomers are struggling to make sense of the age of the Universe.
Ep. 541: Weird Issues: Expansion Rate of the Universe
October 07, 2019 20:29 - 33 minutes - 24.6 MBJust when the Universe was starting to make sense, the cosmos throws a curve ball at us. Astronomers have been trying to accurately measure the expansion rate of the Universe as far back as Hubble. It's been tough to nail down, and now astronomers are starting to figure out why.
Ep. 540: Weird Issues: How Do (or Don't) Planets Form?
September 30, 2019 21:58 - 58 minutes - 41.8 MBAs astronomers started to discover planets orbiting other stars, they immediately realized that their expectations would need to be tossed out. Hot jupiters? Pulsars with planets? We're now decades into this task, and the Universe is continuing to surprise us.
Ep. 539: Weird Issues: Why We Don't Know the Age of Saturn's Rings
September 23, 2019 20:17 - 59 minutes - 43 MBHow old are Saturn's rings? They could be brand new, or they could be as ancient as the Solar System itself. Planetary scientists thought they knew the answer thanks to new data from Cassini, but new ideas are calling even that into question.
Ep. 538: Asteroids: Rubble piles of the Solar System
September 16, 2019 22:08 - 37 minutes - 38 MBThanks to all the work from Hayabusa 2 and OSIRIS-REx, astronomers are getting a much better look at the smaller asteroids in the Solar System. It turns out, they're piles of rubble... but fascinating piles of rubble. Let's talk about what we've learned so far.
Ep. 537: Reusable Rocket Revolution
September 09, 2019 17:21 - 1 hour - 45.4 MBWe took a hiatus this summer, but SpaceX sure didn't, with the tests of the Starhopper prototype. Today we're going to talk about the revolution in reusable rocketry and quest to build a fully reusable two-stage rocket.
Libsyn Survey Request
August 10, 2019 18:53 - 54 seconds - 680 KBPlease help us keep bringing you content by going to http://survey.libsyn.com/astronomycast and filling out the survey, so Libsyn can find us sponsors for Astronomy Cast!
Astronomy Cast on Hiatus until Sept 2019
July 01, 2019 17:21 - 2 minutes - 1.47 MBAstronomy Cast will be on hiatus for July and August. Don't worry, we'll be back in September, and we might just have surprises for you all along this summer! Don't forget you can still catch Pamela with Daily Space, rocket launches and specials on CosmoQuest's Twitch channel, and you can find all the space news and videos from Fraser at Universe Today! We usually record Astronomy Cast every Friday at 3:00 pm EDT / 12:00 pm PDT / 19:00 UTC. You can watch us live on here on AstronomyCast.com...
Ep. 536: Everyday Relativity
July 01, 2019 17:05 - 49 minutes - 46.2 MBRelativity is used in more day to day situations than you may realize. In this episode, we will count (some of) the ways. This episode is brought to you live from the All-Stars Star Party in Indian Wells, California.
Ep. 535: Astronomy-Related Things To Do This Summer
June 24, 2019 19:59 - 58 minutes - 44.1 MBIt's summertime, and time for our annual Astronomy Cast hiatus. But that doesn't mean that the astronomy adventure has to end. Today we'll give you some tips and tricks for astronomy summer adventures.
Ep. 534: Modern South African Astronomy
June 17, 2019 19:27 - 59 minutes - 56.4 MBLast week we talked about some ancient south African astronomy, so this week we'll talk about the state of modern astronomy in the southern part of Africa, which happens to be a great place with nice dark skies and a great view into the heart of the galaxy.
Ep. 533: Indigenous South African Astronomy
June 10, 2019 02:09 - 36 minutes - 33.8 MBLet's move to another continent this week, and look at the astronomy that was going on in southern Africa in ancient times.
Ep. 532: Modern Astronomy of Australia
June 03, 2019 04:28 - 1 hour - 68.4 MBLast week we talked about how well the indigenous Australians followed the night sky. Well, it turns out, Australia is still an amazing place for astronomy. There are so many powerful observatories in Australia, and even more in the works.
Ep. 531: Australian Indigenous Astronomy
May 27, 2019 00:27 - 1 hour - 57.4 MBThis week, we focus on the archaeoastronomy of another part of the world, this time from the indigenous people of Australia. Another group of people whose lives depended on knowing what was happening in the sky from season to season.
Ep. 530: Astronomy of the Andes - Then and Now Pt. 2
May 12, 2019 01:49 - 31 minutes - 28.9 MBSouth America, especially the Atacama Desert in Chile has become one of the best places in the world to put a telescope. It's dry, high, and the nights are clear. Today we'll talk about the monster telescopes already in operation in this region, and the big ones coming soon.
Ep. 529: Astronomy of the Andes - Then and Now Pt. 1
May 06, 2019 19:41 - 28 minutes - 26.2 MBThe Andes mountains in South America are a hotspot of astronomy today, but ancient peoples knew it was a great place for astronomy and lived their lives in tune with the night sky. Today we'll learn all about what they knew, and how they mapped the movements of the stars and planets.
Ep. 528: Modern Astronomy of the American Southwest
April 29, 2019 20:24 - 43 minutes - 41.1 MBLast week we talked about the ancient astronomy of the American Southwest. But this is actually Pamela's stomping grounds, and she's spent many a night perched atop mountains in this region staring in the night sky with gigantic telescopes. How does astronomy get done in this region today?
Ep. 527: Ancient Astronomy of the American Southwest
April 22, 2019 19:58 - 1 hour - 57.5 MBAncient peoples had no light pollution, and they knew the night skies very well. In fact, they depends on them to know when to plant and when to harvest. Today Pamela talks about the archeoastronomical sites of the American Southwest.
Ep. 526: Event Horizon Telescope and the Black Hole at M87
April 15, 2019 20:10 - 57 minutes - 54.1 MBToday, of course, we're going to talk about the announcement from the Event Horizon Telescope and the first photograph of a black hole's event horizon.
Ep. 525: 100 Years of the International Astronomical Union
April 08, 2019 18:54 - 1 hour - 60.9 MBEven though they might be scattered around our planet, astronomers have way to come together to work out issues that face their entire field of study. It's called the International Astronomical Union, and they're the ones who work out the new names for stars, and sometimes de-planet beloved Kuiper Belt Objects.
Ep. 524: Judging Age & Origins, part 3 - Beyond Our System
April 01, 2019 19:44 - 1 hour - 58.2 MBWe learned how to figure out the ages of objects in the Solar System, now we push out into the deeper Universe. What about stars, galaxies, and even the Universe itself? How old is it? This episode is part 3 of a series.