Awesome Astronomy

The Discussion: Jeni’s bizarrely decided that a holiday is preferable to being locked in a bunker with two megalomaniacal Martians, so you’re left with an exhausted Paul and a jetlagged Ralph this month. What could go wrong? We discuss outreach at science festivals and a happy resolution to the light pollution issue in the Brecon Beacons dark sky reserve. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: The new Doctor is upsetting some people (get over it!) The hunt Planet 9 takes another turn Have astronomers discovered the smallest possible star? A deep dive on the Great American Eclipse on August 21st And an update on the gravitational wave data debate Astronomy You’ve Probably Never Heard Of: This month we give Paul’s festering Hat of Woo and airing as we kick start another occasional feature looking into the science progress in areas (or astronomers) you’ve probably never heard of. This month we look at cosmology and the expanding universe from the perspective of the much-o

Download Episode! What to look out, and up, for in August. Ralph & Paul pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: Dwarf Planet Ceres for small telescopes in the constellation Gemini Saturn in the evening, Venus at dawn and Uranus high up in Pisces The long anticipated total solar eclipse for observers in the United States The Perseid meteor shower peaking on the night of 12/13th August. Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year: Ralph – Globular Cluster Messier 56 between Lyra & Cygnus Paul – Peculiar Galaxy NGC7727 in Aquarius. And we finish this sky guide with August’s moon phases.

Download Episode! In this podcast extra, Jeni recalls her most recent research trip at the Japanese Infrared Survey Facility (IRSF) situated outside Sutherland in South Africa. This research trip continues Jeni’s endeavours to collect exoplanet transit data. In this episode we cover: The IRSF observatory The life of a research astronomer The heartbeat of professional astronomy equipment Future research for Jen

Download Episode! The Discussion: Combating light pollution for the AstroCamp in the Welsh Brecon Beacons and fighting to help the National Park retain its International Dark Sky Reserve status. Then we turn our attention to politics in space science and listeners’ views on politics in podcasts. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: Another gravitational wave detection and what we’re learning from it The European Space Agency’s latest mission approvals NASA’s last exoplanet data dump from the Kepler mission China’s experiment observing long distance quantum entanglement Britain’s ambitious space ambitions and Europe freezing out the UK Has the origin of the Wow Signal finally been solved? How common are the ingredients for life in the universe? The Hat of Woo: This month we look at EM drives and NASA’s cover up hiding the warp drive they’ve developed at their super-secret Eagleworks and aren’t using but they definitely, definitely have it. Honestly.

Download Episode! What to look out, and up, for in July. July is here and the summer solstice is just behind us, meaning we’re on the glide slope to every lengthening nights. So the team’s here to pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the planets on offer to observers and imagers: Ralph – Saturn shows off its moons and favourably tilted rings Jeni – Mercury is low in the sky but nicely placed to observe this July Paul – Comets C/2015 er61 Panstarrs and C/2015 V2 Johnson Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year: Ralph – The Eagle Nebula in the constellation Serpens Jeni - Colourful binary star Albireo in Cygnus Paul – Messier 8, The Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius And we finish this sky guide with July’s moon phases.

Download Episode! The Interview: On the discovery of only humanity’s third black hole merger by the incredible Laser Interferometry Gravitational wave Observatory (LIGO), Jeni’s speaks with Professor Patrick Sutton, Head of Cardiff University’s Gravitational Physics Group and member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration who develops new strategies to detect gravitational wave bursts and creates techniques for locating these sources on the sky for modelling and simulations. In this interview Jeni asks Patrick about: The latest gravitational wave detection What we can know about these events and the objects that created them The strength and weakness of these signals The Announcement: For a physics deep dive into the analysis, the data and the modelling of the new black hole merger detected by LIGO this month, LIGO Governing Council member Professor Sathyaprakash (Sathya to his friends) delivers the first lecture on this discovery. Return to the Interview: In this segment we return to Professor Patric

The Discussion: Jeni’s returns from her South African research using the Infrared Survey Facility telescope, Paul calls time on the Principia Mission and we go through a couple of readers emails to discuss Caroline Herschel, the Woomera Test Range and Australian space funding. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: Is there any evidence for other universes in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation? An update on Tabby's Star (It's NOT an alien megastructure). Are we already creating our own defence against Coronal Mass Ejections by chance? A run through NASA's 2018 budget proposal The Interview: This month we speak to former test pilot and astronaut - and one of only 6 remaining people to have walked on the moon - General Charlie Duke. Practical Astronomy: The Hat of Woo takes a rest this month as we introduce an occasional look into areas of interest to the practical amateur astronomer with topics requested by you. This month we take a look at an essential piece o

What to look out, and up, for in June. Jeni returns from astronomy research in South Africa so the gang’s back together to pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the planets on offer to observers and imagers: Ralph – Saturn reaches opposition this month and coincides with a nearby meteor shower Jeni – Jupiter in prime viewing conditions with some lovely Galilean transits Paul – We still have comet C/2015 V2 Johnson in the skies for a nice alternative distraction Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year: Ralph – The Double Double binary Alpha Lyrae Jeni - The Whirlpool Galaxy Messier 51 Paul – Globular Clusters Messiers 10 & 12 in Ophiuchus And we finish this sky guide with June’s moon phases.

This podcast extra episode comes from this year's Big Bang Fair and Jeni & Paul grabbed an interview with a Gaia mission data scientist to talk data and the efforts taken in the less-glamorous, but absolutely critical, background to provide us with the discoveries and refinements we crave from the European Space Agency's latest space-based astrometry mission. So while Paul and Jeni were there as the Sirius Space Agency explaining the science behind a mission into space on the Star Stage, they spoke to a post-doctoral researcher at Cambridge University's Data Processing Centre for the Gaia Mission. In this interview we bring you: the timelines to data capture, recovery, capture and analysis the rapid pulication of results from Gaia data a surprising discovery about the Milky Way's satellite galaxies - the Magellanic Clouds a new star cluster found hiding behind a star

The Discussion: Jeni’s missing this month as she collects transiting exoplanet data in South Africa using the SIRIUS camera on the Japanese 1.4 metre Infrared Survey Facility telescope. So Paul & Ralph take the helm and record from the AstroCamp starparty in the Welsh Brecon Beacons, discussing light pollution, the wonder of starparties and take a look at the countries which only have a solitary Awesome Astronomy downloader. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: Astronomers use gravitational lensing to calculate intergalactic distances The Event Horizon Telescope gathers its data for an image of our supermassive black hole Space X demonstrates the first relaunch of previously used rocket Cassini begins its swan song in glorious style The Interview: This month we speak to Dr Dave Abergel at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics to discuss the merit (or otherwise) of the recent creation of a substance with negative mass. Q&A: Listeners’ questions via

Download Episode! What to look out, and up, for in May. Jeni's abandoned us this month in favour of research-grade instrumentation so only Paul and Ralph pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the planets on offer to observers and imagers: The planets Jupiter in the evening and Saturn in the morning Three meteor showers peaking this month A pair of comets to observe with amateur telescopes or binoculars Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year: Ralph – The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules Paul – The Globular Cluster Messier 5 in the constellation Serpens And we finish this sky guide with May's moon phases.

A teaser for the weekend stargazing under the über dark skies of the Brecon Beacons International Dark Sky Reserve at this spring’s AstroCamp. We’ll take you through the events and activities which turn beginners into experts and fill up the eyepiece of those who are already experts – and, of course, whet your appetite for this friendliest of starparties! Whether you’re joining us in the Welsh village of Cwmdu on the weekend of 22-25th April or not, we’ve included a seasonal sky guide of our favourite night sky objects to dazzle and amaze you visually or astrophotographically: Ralph The Leo Triplet of galaxies The Needle Galaxy in Come Berenices The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules Paul Spiral Galaxy, Messier 94 in Canes Venatici Double star Cor Caroli in Canes Venatici Globular Cluster M3 in Canes Venatici The Coma Star Cluster in Coma Berenices Messier 53 Globular Cluster in Coma Berenices Damien The King of Planets, Jupiter 2 rare AstroCamp comets in Hercules, Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresa

The Discussion: Paul and Jen packed out the Star Stage at this year’s Big Bang Fair in Birmingham as Sirius Astronomy ran experiments to explain how rockets and space suits work and how space capsules protect astronauts from the heat of re-entry. Jen updates us on her astronomy research trip to South Africa next month and Ralph reviews the latest space-based sci-fi thriller, Life. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: A schoolboy who spotted an error in NASA data Are the Van Allen radiation belts weaker than always thought? Was Earth’s atmosphere like Titan’s 2.4 billion years ago? Using the sun as a gravitational lens NASA’s heading for Mars & evidence of an ancient Mars tsunami The Interview: This month we have a couple of interviews with the children taking part in science challenges at the Big Bang Fair and clips of Paul & Jen creating fire hazards and projectiles around an undefended audience… Hat of Woo: Following your comments by email and online, we’

What to look out, and up, for in April. Our highlights of this month’s skies with the planets on offer to observers and imagers: A pair of comets to observe with amateur telescopes or binoculars The planets Mercury and Jupiter in the evening The Lyrid meteor shower Next up, we each take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year: Ralph – Pinwheel Galaxy in Ursa Major Paul – The Black Eye Galaxy in Coma Berenices Jen – The Ring Nebula in Lyra And we finish this sky guide with April's moon phases.

Following a recent NASA press conference – a regular event that fills us with dread as we anticipate an anticlimax – this time NASA really get us excited with the announcement of seven rocky Earth sized planets around a star 40 light years away. Three of these planets are in that star system’s habitable zone. Luckily our own resident exoplanet researcher, Jeni, is on hand to take us through the hunt and explain the science! In this podcast extra we discuss: The NASA announcement The international collaboration that made this discovery How exoplanets are discovered The significance of the find What this star system looks like Could life exist on any of these worlds? What the environmental conditions could be like so close to their parent star (image credit: NASA)

The Discussion: Jeni’s been teaching the teachers of Wales how to include astronomy in their classroom exercises as part of the school curriculum. Ralph takes us on a historical tour of the King’s Observatory in Richmond which was the original Prime Meridian before it found its home in Greenwich. While Paul and Jen have a date this month at the Big Bang Fair in Birmingham. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: Hubble spies a comet breaking up around a distant white dwarf star A very special exoplanet discovery The Event Horizon Telescope takes aim Isolated extremophiles on Earth help with our search for alien life Is NASA accelerating its manned spaceflight programme? The Interview: This month we welcome back the European Space Agency’s project scientist on the Rosetta mission to Comet Churyumov Gerasimenko, Matt Taylor, to discuss the end of the mission, the data gathered, the discovery of Philae and what’s next for ESA. Q&A: Listeners’ questions via email, Fac

What to look out, and up, for in March. Our highlights of this month’s skies with the planets on offer to observers and imagers: The moon, Mercury and Mars close together on the 29th The King of Planets returns to our skies 4 comets to observe with amateur telescopes or the naked eye Next up, we each take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year: Jen – The Owl Nebula in Ursa Major Paul – The Virgo Supercluster and Markarian’s Chain of galaxies Ralph – Messier 67 and the Beehive Cluster in Cancer

This podcast extra takes a look back at the extraordinary life of navy aviator, test pilot and astronaut Gene Cernan who tragically died last month at the age of 82. In this memoriam we discuss: Gene's stellar career Pioneering rendezvous and spacewalking techniques on Gemini 9A The final test run for a moon landing on Apollo 10 Commanding the last ever moon landing mission on Apollo 17 The last footprints on the moon

The Discussion: Paul continues his herculean travels around the UK promoting the European Space Agency and teaching people about the science of spaceflight. Ralph’s waxing lyrical about a waxing moon and Venus, while Jen has a big announcement regarding her PhD research. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: Another asteroid hits the news as NASA look elsewhere for future missions ESO’s ALMA array turns its attention to the Sun Making refinements on the age of the Moon A new star to look out for in the sky in 2022 Hat of Woo: With the hat now empty and the world still full of loons, we reach out to you to tell us what you’d like to see replace this segment of the show. Q&A: Listeners’ questions via email, Facebook & Twitter take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity. This month we take a look at a listener’s submitted graph and explain the Roche Sphere: Can you please explain why the

What to look out, and up, for in February. Our highlights of this month’s skies with the planets on offer to observers and imagers: A last chance look at Mercury in the morning sky Mars a few degrees from Venus Jupiter in Virgo Saturn in the early morning sky Next up is the return of a couple of comets to our observing tick list: Comet 45P at its best on the 11th February in Hercules Comet 2P Encke returns to our skies in the constellation Pisces Then we each take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year: Ralph – the Rosette Nebula and open cluster NGC2244 in the constellation Monoceros Paul – open cluster M93 in Pupis Jeni – supernova remnant, Messier 1 – the Crab Nebula - in Taurus And we finish this sky guide with February’s moon phases, a conjunction with the Hyades Cluster on the 5th and a penumbral eclipse on 10th/11th February.