Synopsis
The 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.
Episodes
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Ep. 698: Insights Into the Universe
20/11/2023 Duration: 58minHow 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?
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Ep. 697: Mission Roll Call Part 6: The Outer Solar System and Beyond
13/11/2023 Duration: 45minFinally, we reach the end of our tour through the missions in the Solar System. Out beyond Mars, to Jupiter, the Kuiper Belt and Beyond.
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Ep. 696: Mission Roll Call Part 5: The Science at Mars
06/11/2023 Duration: 58minAnother 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?
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Ep. 695: Mission Roll Call Part 4: Lunar Exploration
30/10/2023 Duration: 01h03minOur 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.
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Ep. 694: Mission Roll Call Part 3: What's Beyond Earth
23/10/2023 Duration: 58minOur 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.
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Episode 693: Mission Roll Call, Part 2: Looking Outward from Earth
16/10/2023 Duration: 52minLast 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.
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Ep. 692: Mission Roll Call Part 1: Earth Orbit
09/10/2023 Duration: 57minIt’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.
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Ep. 691: Jupiter’s Changing Red Spot
02/10/2023 Duration: 52minJupiter’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?
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Ep. 690: Climate on Mars - From Ice Caps to Dust Storms
25/09/2023 Duration: 01h04minStreamed 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 THANK YOU! - Fraser and Dr. Pamela
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Ep. 689 - Our Warming World: 20 Years of Climate Science
18/09/2023 Duration: 01h52sStreamed 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 Gerhard Schwarzer David THANK YOU! - Fraser and Dr. Pamela
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Hiatus Message
10/07/2023 Duration: 04minHiatus 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!
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Ep. 688: What’s Next? Looking Ahead to Season 17
03/07/2023 Duration: 01h01minStreamed 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?
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Ep. 687: Prepping for the Moon
27/06/2023 Duration: 01h01minWe’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?
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Ep. 686: Ice In The Shadows
19/06/2023 Duration: 38minThe 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.
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Ep. 685: Manufacturing In Space
12/06/2023 Duration: 57minLaunching 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?
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Ep. 684: Too Big, Too Soon: Massive Early Galaxies Defy Expectations
05/06/2023 Duration: 56minOne 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?
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Ep. 683: Cosmic Dawn
29/05/2023 Duration: 01h02minAfter 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.
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Ep. 682: Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies & Dark Matter
22/05/2023 Duration: 01h03minAstronomers 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?
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Ep. 681: Kilonovae
15/05/2023 Duration: 37minIn 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.
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Ep. 680: Rogue Black Holes
08/05/2023 Duration: 58minLast 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.