365 Days of Astronomy - Weekly Edition
451 episodes - English - Latest episode: 21 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. 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.
Ep. 523: Judging Age & Origins, Pt. 2 Across the Solar System
March 25, 2019 18:06 - 1 hour - 58.9 MBToday we push our aging curiosity out into the Solar System to ask that simple question: how old is it and how do we know? What techniques do astronomers use to age various objects and regions in the Solar System? This is part two of a series.
Ep. 522: Judging Age & Origins, part 1 - Earth Rocks
March 18, 2019 21:58 - 40 minutes - 36.8 MBPeople always want to know how old everything is. And more specifically, they want to know how we know how old everything is. Well, here at Astronomy Cast, it's our job to tell you now only what we know, but how we know what we know. And today we'll begin a series on how we know how old everything is. This is part one of a double episode.
Bonus Episode: Dust with Dr. Paul Sutter
March 17, 2019 20:38 - 21 minutes - 19.4 MBRecorded during the Astrotour to Costa Rica, Fraser talks to Dr. Paul Matt Sutter about the nature of dust and BICEP 2's claim of discovering primordial gravitational waves.
Ep. 521: The Deep Space Network
March 11, 2019 22:38 - 44 minutes - 41.1 MBWe always focus on the missions, but there's an important glue that holds the whole system together. The Deep Space Network. Today we're going to talk about how this system works and how it communicates with all the spacecraft out there in the Solar System.
Ep. 520: Transients: What They Are and Why They Matter, Part 2
March 01, 2019 02:41 - 32 minutes - 29.4 MBThis is our second episode in a two part series where we look at Transients in astronomy. In last week's episode, we talked about things that change here in our own Solar System. Now we'll talk about everything else in the Milky Way and beyond.
Ep. 519: Transients: What They Are and Why They Matter
February 25, 2019 05:01 - 34 minutes - 31.5 MBAstronomers have found that sometimes the Universe changes. Things move, things explode, things get brighter or dimmer. In fact, knowing this has helped astronomers discover some very important aspects of the Universe. Today we begin a two part series on Transients and their role in astronomy.
Ep. 518: When the Universe tried to Declare War
February 18, 2019 03:58 - 1 hour - 56.1 MBWe always say the Universe is trying to kill us. But there was this one time, when the Universe used our own fear of nuclear attack against us, nearly setting off a global nuclear war. Nice try Universe, we're on to you now.
Ep. 517: Fritz Zwicky and the Zwicky Transient Facility
February 11, 2019 20:18 - 58 minutes - 53.5 MBOne of the most influential astronomers in the 20th Century was Fritz Zwicky. He had his hand in the discovery of dark matter, gravitational lensing, supernovae and neutron stars. And he also worked on a few more controversial ideas like, uh, tired light. Let's learn more about Zwicky.
Ep. 516: Polar Vortices
February 04, 2019 03:09 - 43 minutes - 40.3 MBIt's cold right now. Okay, fine, here on Vancouver Island, it's actually pretty warm. But for the rest of Canada and big parts of the US, it's terrifyingly cold. Colder than Mars or the North Pole cold. This is all thanks to the break up of the polar vortex. What are polar vertices, how do they form, and where else to we find them in the Solar System?
Ep. 515: Space Radiation
January 28, 2019 22:41 - 55 minutes - 50.9 MBSpace is a hostile environment in so many ways. But one of its worst features is the various kinds of radiation you can find. When astronauts go back beyond the protective environment of the Earth's magnetosphere, what are the various kinds of radiation they'll encounter. And is there anything we'll be able to do about it?
Ep. 514: Planetary Protection Protocols
January 21, 2019 03:25 - 1 hour - 56.1 MBAs we send rovers and landers to other worlds, we have to think about the tiny microbial astronauts we're sending along with us. In fact, NASA is so concerned about infecting other worlds that it has established the planetary protection protocols. Just to be safe.
Ep. 513: Stellar Fusion
January 14, 2019 07:51 - 55 minutes - 50.7 MBThe Sun. It's a big ball of fire, right? Apparently not. In fact, what's going on inside of the Sun took us some time and knowledge of physics to finally figure out: stellar fusion. Let's talk about the different kinds of fusion, and how we're trying to adapt it to generate power here on Earth.
Ep. 512: Direct Imaging of Exoplanets
January 07, 2019 22:24 - 59 minutes - 54.6 MBFinding planets is old news, we now know of thousands and thousands of the places. But the terrible irony is that we can only see a fraction of the planets out there using the traditional methods of radial velocity and transits. But the new telescopes will take things to the next level and image planets directly.
Ep. 511: Predictions for 2019
December 31, 2018 06:45 - 59 minutes - 54.7 MBWe did it, we made it through 2018 in space. Now let’s look forward to the incredible launches, discoveries and astronomical events happening in 2019.
Ep. 510: 2018 - Year in Review
December 23, 2018 23:33 - 56 minutes - 51.3 MB2018 was an incredible year in space news. Rockets launched, landers landed, spacecraft were born and died. We learned tremendous new things about Universe around us, and today we're here to look back fondly over the last 12 months to review the year in space that was.
Ep. 509: Fiction to Fact: 3D Printers
December 10, 2018 21:23 - 37 minutes - 34.4 MBThe technology of 3D printing is taking off. From tiny home-based 3D printers to larger manufacturing. And of course, 3D printing is going to space with the International Space Station and beyond.
Ep. 508: 2018 Holiday Gift Guide
December 03, 2018 21:00 - 59 minutes - 54.4 MBWe did it, we made it to the end of another year. Once again it's time to wonder what gifts to get your beloved space nerds. We've got some suggestions. Some are brand new this year, others are classics that we just can't help but continue to suggest. Let's get into it.
Ep. 507: From Fiction to Fact : Ion Drive
November 28, 2018 01:50 - 56 minutes - 51.5 MBIon engines are a mainstay of science fiction, featured in both Star Trek and Wars. But this is a very real technology, successfully used on several missions out there in the Solar System right now. How do they work and what are the limits?
Ep. 506: It's not Aliens, Unless it's Aliens
November 18, 2018 21:14 - 31 minutes - 28.5 MBDid you hear that astronomers from Harvard think that the interstellar asteroid Oumuamua was actually an alien solar sail? Is it aliens? Of course it's not aliens. But some day, it'll actually be aliens.
Ep. 505: Seismology
November 12, 2018 19:10 - 58 minutes - 53.5 MBWe're always interested in the surface features of the planets and moons in the Solar System, but that's only skin deep. It turns out, these worlds have an interesting inner life too. Thanks to the science of seismology, we can peer into our planet and learn how it works... inside. And we're about to take that technology to Mars.
Ep. 504: Radar, Lidar, and Sonar
November 05, 2018 13:47 - 39 minutes - 36.2 MBTo really study something, you want to reach out and touch it. But what can you do if you're separated by a huge distance? You reach out with electromagnetic or sound waves and watch how they bounce back. Thanks to radar, sonar and lidar.
Ep. 503: Gravity Mapping
October 29, 2018 18:02 - 32 minutes - 29.9 MBThe Earth looks like a perfect sphere, but down here on the surface we see that there are mountains, rivers, oceans, glaciers, all kinds of features with different densities and shapes. Scientists can map this produce a highly detailed gravity map of our planet. And it turns out, this is very useful for other worlds too.
Ep. 502: No Touching: Determining Composition of Worlds Remotely
October 22, 2018 20:54 - 50 minutes - 46.5 MBHow do you know what something is made of if you can't reach out and touch it? How do we know what planets lights years away have in their atmosphere? What about the rocks all around Curiosity? Or the geysers coming out of Europa and Enceladus? Scientists have a few handy tricks.
Ep. 501: Water Worlds Revisited
October 10, 2018 20:05 - 55 minutes - 50.7 MBWe're not learning that the vast majority of potentially habitable worlds out there are actually icy moons like Europa and Enceladus. Good news, there are hundreds, if not thousands of times more of them than worlds like Earth. Bad news, they're locked in ice. What have we learned about water worlds and their potential for habitability?
Ep. 500: Live Celebration!
September 18, 2018 03:37 - 1 hour - 102 MBWelcome to episode 500 of Astronomy Cast. To celebrate this momentous occasion, we're going to look back 500 years into the past to see what we learned about the Universe. And then we're going to look 500 years into the future. Astronomy Cast celebrated their 500th episode on Sept 15-16, 2018. We broadcasted from our celebration, in front of a live audience! And we debuted our new theme music by composer, fan and friend David Joseph Wesley!
Ep. 499: What is the proposed Hubble-Lemaitre Law?
September 10, 2018 18:34 - 1 hour - 56.5 MBWe started out Astronomy Cast with the controversal decision to de-planet Pluto. And here we are, more than a decade later, at the brink of recording our 500th episode when another big decision is coming down from the IAU: whose name goes on the concept that our Universe is expanding: Hubble or Lemaître? It’s a big deal and Pamela knows all about it.
Ep. 498: Dwarf Galaxy Update
July 01, 2018 22:31 - 1 hour - 55.7 MBThe Milky Way has gobbled up dozens of dwarf galaxies and added them to its structure. Today we're going to look at the ongoing hunt for the wreckage of past mergers. And what we've discovered about dwarf galaxies in general.
Ep. 497: Update on Globular Clusters
June 25, 2018 17:06 - 1 hour - 58.1 MBIs it globular clusters or is it globeular clusters? It doesn't matter, they're awesome and we're here to update you on them.
Ep. 496: Update on Stellar Populations (I, II, & III)
June 18, 2018 16:57 - 55 minutes - 51 MBAnother update show, this time on the various generations of stars, let's get into it.
Ep. 495: Update on Asteroids & Prospects of Asteroid Mining
June 12, 2018 02:55 - 1 hour - 55.6 MBOur knowledge of space is starting to match up with our ability to get out there an explore it. There are several companies working on missions and techniques to harvest minerals from asteroids. What other resources are out there that we can use?
Ep. 494: Icy Moons Update 2018
June 04, 2018 20:10 - 58 minutes - 53.2 MBThanks to Cassini and other spacecraft, we've learned a tremendous amount about the icy worlds in the Solar System, from Jupiter's Europa to Saturn's Enceladus, to Pluto's Charon. Geysers, food for bacteria, potential oceans under the ice and more. What new things have we learned about these places?
Ep. 493: Mars Update 2018
May 28, 2018 17:38 - 1 hour - 56.4 MBIf there's one place we've learned more about in the last 10 years, it's Mars. Thanks to all those rovers, orbiters, landers which are flying overhead, crawling around the surface, and digging into the rich Martian regolith. What have we learned about Elon Musk's future home?
Ep. 492: Comets, Asteroids and KBO’s
May 21, 2018 19:29 - 1 hour - 58 MBAnother topic with plenty of updates. Since we started Astronomy Cast we’ve visited many smaller objects in the Solar System up close, from Ceres and Vesta to Pluto, not to mention a comet. What have we learned?
Ep 491: Exoplanet Update 2018
May 14, 2018 17:47 - 36 minutes - 33.6 MBFinally, a big update. Have there been news in the realm of exoplanets? More news that we can possibly cover. But we'll try our best.
Ep 490: What's New with Supernovae
May 07, 2018 21:16 - 57 minutes - 52.4 MBTime for another update, this time we're going to look at what's new with supernovae. And once again, we've got good news, lots of new stuff to report.
Ep 489: Black Hole Update
April 30, 2018 18:47 - 53 minutes - 49 MBAnother update episode, this time we look at what’s new and changed in the research of black holes. And it’s here that we find a lot of substantial new discoveries in the field, so much has been discovered since we first covered black holes a decade ago.
Ep 488: Dark Energy: 2018 Edition
April 24, 2018 20:17 - 37 minutes - 34.6 MBThe updates continue. Last week we talked about dark matter, and this week we continue with its partner dark energy. Of course, they're not really partners, unless you consider mysteriousness to be an attribute. Dark energy, that force that's accelerating the expansion of the Universe. What have we learned?
Ep 487: Dark Matter: 2018 Edition
April 16, 2018 17:59 - 1 hour - 55.4 MBLast week, we gave you an update in particle physics. This week it's time to see what's new in the world of dark matter. Spoiler alert, we still have no idea what it is, but maybe a few more ideas for what it isn't.
Ep 486: Particle Physics Update
April 09, 2018 17:32 - 59 minutes - 54.5 MBIt's time for a news update. This time from the field of particle physics. It turns out there have been all kinds of new and interesting particles discovered by the Large Hadron Collider and others. Let's get an update from Pamela.
Ep 485: Docking, Refueling, and Transferring
March 30, 2018 17:41 - 49 minutes - 45.4 MBIt's one thing to get to space. But once you've made it there, what do you want to do? You'll probably want to dock with another space ship, deliver cargo, refuel. Today we'll talk about how all that happens.
Ep. 484: Transfer Orbits and Gravitational Assists
March 26, 2018 19:22 - 58 minutes - 53.2 MBIf you want to get around in the Solar System, you'll want to take advantage of natural gravitational speed boosts and transfer orbits. Whether you're heading to the outer Solar System or you want to visit the Sun itself, the planets themselves can help you in your journey.
Ep 483: Stopping in Space
March 19, 2018 18:34 - 57 minutes - 52.3 MBIt's one thing to get from Earth to space, but sometimes you want to do the opposite. You want to get into orbit or touch down gently on the surface of a planet and explore it. How do spacecraft stop? And what does that even mean when everything is orbiting?
Ep 482: Alternative Ways to Space
March 12, 2018 20:20 - 32 minutes - 30.2 MBGetting to space is all about rockets, but people are trying to figure out other methods that could carry payloads to orbit and beyond. Railguns, airplanes, tethers and more. Today we’ll talk about alternative methods of spaceflight.