Astrophiz Podcasts

Astrophiz 38: Richard Stephenson 'Talking with Spacecraft' by Astrophiz

Astrophiz 37: Robert Arrowsmith 'The 8metre Dish' For our special anniversary episode, we are re-interviewing our very first guest, Robert Arrowsmith from Melbourne, Australia, who is now leading the construction of an 8 metre radio telescope for the Astronomical Society of Victoria. Rob is one of the leaders in the Radio-Astronomy arm of the ASV and in Episode #1 he described the work being done at the ASV Leon Mow Radio Observatory, which is located in a RF quiet zone site about 90 minutes north of Melbourne in SE Australia In this episode we're also celebrating our first 12 months of Astrophiz, so we have reprised our intro from Episode #1 which was posted on 29 June 2016. Since then we have published 37 episodes and it looks like our diversity and social media policies are working well, for we’ve featured 15 male and 22 women astrophysicists, astronomers, rocket scientists, mission scientists and instrument scientists from the UK, Spain, India, Norway, Japan, Russia, Romania, Germany, Canada, the US and

Our feature interview is with Danielle DeLatte who is a PhD Student in Aeronautics & Astronautics, University of Tokyo. Danielle is an aerospace engineer who has worked at NASA Goddard as part of the Satellite Servicing Projects Division working on instruments for the Canada arm on the ISS. She runs ISU Space Cafe Tokyo, a monthly public space talk in Shimokitazawa where the themes range from space science/engineering to space policy and business strategies. In our regular observing and astrophotography segment Dr Ian 'Astroblog' Musgrave tell us what's up in the night sky this week, and how we are starting to discover ringed exoplanets. In the news this week: The 'Wow signal', and how it was probably not caused by a comet

Our feature interview is with Dr Jean-Pierre Macquart – Senior research fellow at Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), Perth, Australia. He explains new discoveries about the mysterious FRBs (Fast Radio Bursts) and his team's use of the CSIRO ASKAP array to use the latest FRB discoveries to better understand the properties of the intergalactic medium. Dr Ian 'Astroblog' Musgrave - For astrophotographers and naked-eye and binocular observers, 'What's up Doc' tells us what to look for in the night sky this month, and includes an update on the recent impact of an object on Jupiter, and the 'apogee moon'. News update: NASA's Parker Solar probe, Citizen Scientists Identify Prehistoric Supernova and astrophysicists solve mystery of how most anti-matter in the Milky Way forms.

Our feature interview is with Dr. Anthony Horton – Instrument Scientist at the AAO who tells us all about life as an Instrument Scientist for AAO and the Huntsman Telescope and the Space-Eye CubeSat telescope project. In our regular Astrophotography and observing feature, Dr Ian ‘astroblog’ Musgrave gives us the skinny on the great current conditions for observing our Gas Giants. In the News: 1. Vale Harold Weaver, 99, discoverer of Masers in space. 2. Renegrade Supermassive Black Hole hunted down 3. The smallest (oxymoronic) Supermassive Black Hole 4. The first image of a black hole (almost)

Our feature interview is with Dr Elodie Thilliez. Elodie is a Data Scientist at the Deakin University Software and Technology Innovation Laboratory in Melbourne Australia, and completed her PhD at the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing at Swinburne University. Elodie tells us about her research into debris disks and the role of big data in modern astronomy. Follow Elodie on Twitter as @ET_Astro Dr Ian Musgrave in his regular feature “What’s Up Doc” tells us when and where to find our planets, how to catch the Eta Aquariid meteor shower this weekend, exoplanets and rings around asteroids. Check out Ian’s excellent Astroblog (just google it) or follow @ianfmusgrave on Twitter. In the News: With the Cassini mission all over the internet, we instead give you the background on Cassini the scientist. Follow @Astrophiz on Twitter and Astrophiz on Facebook

Astrophiz32: Manisha Caleb Nails Fast Radio Bursts ~ Dr Ian Musgrave “What’s Up Doc?" Out now on iTunes and Soundcloud. Our special guest is PhD candidate Manisha Caleb who has just made a wonderful breakthrough by using the revamped Molongo Observatory Synthesis Telescope to bring us breakthrough knowledge about mysterious FRB’s - Fast Radio Bursts In our regular segment, we feature Dr Ian Musgrave of ‘Astroblog’ fame, and he tells us what to look for in the night and morning skies over the next few weeks. Watch for Jupiter, Saturn, Comets and rogue asteroids! And for Australians … get thee to the Warrumbungles. In the News: Supermassive black holes collide revealing baby stars, by guest reporter Lara O’Brien, Dark Matter in the Bullet Cluster, via Cosmos magazine

Astrophiz 31 is out now on iTunes and Soundcloud. Our feature interview is with Dr Elisabetta Barberio who explains a new Dark matter Experiment deep in a goldmine in South Eastern Australia. Elisabetta is a member of the Experimental Particle Physics Group at the University of Melbourne. Previously, she was a staff researcher at CERN, the European laboratory of Particle Physics. She was involved with data analysis in the OPAL experiment at the Large Electron Positron Collider at CERN, and has worked on the Higgs Boson and ATLAS, which is a particle physics experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. Dr Ian Musgrave in our regular feature, ‘What’s up Doc?’ tells us what to look for in the night sky this week using naked eye, binoculars or telescopes, and Jupiter is ruling our skies. In the news: Dr Brad Tucker and ANU astronomers launch a Citizen Science project and public search of the southern skies for the elusive 'Planet Nine’ using data from the Skymapper telescope at Siding Springs in Austra

Astrophiz30: Out now on iTunes and Soundcloud. Dr Elizabeth Tasker Debunks Earth 2.0 is in the Trappist1 system, Dr Ian Musgrave “What’s Up Doc" Our feature interview is with Dr Elizabeth Tasker who gives a reality check to the claims that ‘7 earth-like planets' have been found around TRAPPIST-1, a small star about 40 light years away, and in her most recent paper, calls for a more accurate definition of our use of the term ‘habitability'. Elizabeth is a British astrophysicist who works at JAXA, the Institute of Space and Astronomical Science, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Our regular segment features Dr Ian Musgrave of ‘Astroblog’ fame, and he tells us what to look for in the night and morning skies over the next few weeks. In the news: 1. The Explosive beginnings of a supernova spotted for the first time (via Amy Middleton reporting for cosmosmagazine) and she writes about a new paper in Nature Physics about the spectacular transformation of a star, assumed to have been a red supergiant, into

Our feature interview is with Dr Ángel López-Sánchez, who is originally from the beautiful city of Córdoba in Spain, and now with the Australian Astronomical Observatory and Department of Physics and Astronomy of Macquarie University, Sydney”. He researches galaxies with star-formation activity, and even the features of the very massive Wolf-Rayet stars are detected sometimes. He was the first Spanish astronomer to host an astronomy blog. It is fantastic, and our listers can find it easily just by googling ‘the lined wolf’. It comes up as number one in search results (in Spanish and in English). Ángel is passionate about outreach and amateur astronomy. Dr Ian Musgrave in our regular feature, ‘What’s up Doc?’ tells us what to look for in the night sky this week using naked eye, binoculars or telescopes. This week, Jupiter and Saturn, and a chance encounter with a comet. Just google ‘Astroblog’ to see his fabulous weekly observing blog. In the News: In the News: 1. ‘Big Data’ Updating the supercomputing

Astrophiz 28 is out now on iTunes and Soundcloud. Our feature interview is with Fiona Panther who is a PhD student and the Joan Duffield Scholar at the Australian National University's Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics in Canberra, Australia. Fiona is using computational astrophysics and working on using peculiar supernova to try and understand how positions are created in excess in our Galaxy. Fiona also explains Fermi Bubbles Dr Ian Musgrave in our regular feature, ‘What’s up Doc?’ tells us what to look for in the night sky this week using naked eye, binoculars or telescopes, and all the action is currently down near the horizon. In the news: NASA, working with Spitzer, Hubble and the ESO’s VLT, have just announced that 7 exoplanets have been discovered in the habitable zone around TRAPPIST-1, a dwarf star only 39 light years away. Galaxies being stripped of their star-forming matter

Astrophiz 27 out now on iTunes and Soundcloud. Our first feature interview after our fabulous summer break is with Dr Amanda Bauer, who has just been appointed as the new Head of Education and Public Outreach at the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope which is high up in the mountains in Chile in South America. Amanda has worked at the Max Planck Institute and on the famous Sloan Digital Sky Survey and she now specialises in Galactic Evolution and Astronomical Outreach. Dr Ian Musgrave in our regular feature, ‘What’s up Doc?’ tells us what to look for in the night sky this week using naked eye, binoculars or telescopes. Comet 45P and Vesta observations. In the news: Our Milky Way is being pushed and pulled around every which way, Orphan Black Holes and a ‘Red Nova’ predicted for 2022.

While we are on our summer holiday break we are reprising a few of our previous episodes. Listen as Dr Elizabeth Tasker debunks the over-hyped 'habitability' claim for Proxima Centauri b, and explains what we actually know about this nearby exoplanet. Dr Nadezhda Cherbakov explains the ‘Radio Window’ Part 11 and for Aurora Hunters she plays the sounds of Jupiter's Auroras from NASA's Juno mission. In the news: NASA's JUNO pics of Jupiter's North Pole, Worst Science 'journalism' Ever, Brightest Magnetar detected, NASA designs sub to send to Titan, Another 'Dyson Sphere' star detected.

This week over our summer break, on the heels of the sad news of Vera Rubin's passing, we reprise the segment from Episode 11 which features Dr Nadezhda Cherbakov, where she tells us about Vera Rubin’s historic discovery of Dark Matter and how she is still being denied a well-deserved Nobel Prize.

Astrophiz 24 is out now on iTunes and Soundcloud. Solstice Special and Cuberider Liftoff. Feature interview: We interview Solange Cunin, CEO of Cuberider, an Edutech company which has just launched 100 experiments up to the ISS via JAXA, stoking the dreams, imagination, hard work and Python coding of hundreds of Australian students and teachers from 54 schools. Congratulations! More info at cuberiderDOTcom Dr Nadeshzda Cherbakov Skypes in from Tver in Russia to tell us more about stellar evolution and explains the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram Dr Ian Musgrave in ‘What’s up Doc?’ tell us what to look for in the night sky this week using naked eye, binoculars or telescopes. In the news: 6 brief items and we elaborate on solstices See you next on February 9 2017. Happy Holidays everyone!

Yay! Astrophiz 23 is out now on Soundcloud or subscribe in iTunes. Meet Asteroid Hunters Daniel Bamberger and Guy Wells. Astrophotographer Dr Ian ‘Astroblog’ Musgrave in ’What’s up Doc’ tells us what to look for in the night sky this week. Feature Interview: Daniel Bamberger & Guy Wells, who have set up the rapidly expanding and recognised Northolt Branch Observatory, explain how they image and verify orbits of asteroids and other NEOs. (Near earth Objects) Dr Nadezhda Cherbakov has been incommunicado, so we will have to wait for next week to look at the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram “What”s Up in the Sky this Week” with Dr Musgrave: The planets of the morning sky, the evening sky and the Geminids meteor shower under a full moon. In the News: 1. The Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR), the antennas are receiving radio signals that have travelled billions of years to get here, from the depths of the cosmos. 

2. Another citizen science project turns up remarkable pulsar science via the einstein@home project. 3. D

Astrophiz 22 is out now on Soundcloud or subscribe in iTunes Part II: The Parkes ‘Dish’ interrogates pulsars to expose gravity waves. We interview Operations Scientist John Sarkissian at the CSIRO Parkes Radio Observatory. He explains how the ‘Spider Dipoles’ that make up the Murchison Widefield Array in remote Western Australia contribute to SKA, how Parkes chase down gravity waves and has detected most of the world’s FRBs (fast radio bursts of unknown origin), after being distracted by ‘perytons’ and microwave ovens. And yes, ‘The Dish’ is searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence in the international SETI ‘Breakthrough Listen’ project. We’re not saying they’re searching for Aliens ….. but Aliens! Dr Nadezhda in Part I of Stellar Evolution explains how the mass of a star determines its evolutionary path, and next week we will look at the Hetsprung-Russell Diagram “What”s Up in the Sky this Week” for Northern Hemisphere observers and astrophotographers, and for Southern Hemisphere Listeners, December is

Black Hole Investigator and Norwegian-born PhD candidate Natalia Sommer explains her novel technique of interrogating the echoes from active galactic nuclei to develop a standardisable candle to measure the distances to galaxies far far away. Dr Nadezhda Cherbakov Skypes in from Tver in Russia to tell us about Red Shift, Blue Shift and the Doppler Effect. In the News: Fast Radio Bursts and the oldest woman in space and most travelled NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson. What to look for in the night sky this week, the ecliptic explained and the Astrophotography Challenge.

It is with profound sadness that we announce that Jack, the eldest son of Dr Ian Musgrave, has died as a result of an accident. We will not be presenting our regular podcast this week, and we do not expect Ian will be on the podcast for the foreseeable future. This week’s program is a simple tribute to Jack, in the form of my daughter Lara’s arrangement of the Led Zeppelin classic ‘Stairway to Heaven’ on piano. She is accompanied by her friend Emma Amery on violin, and her brother Tom on Cello. We extend our deepest condolences to Ian and Peta, Mikey and their youngest son, from Astrophiz listeners and the O’Brien family. The message from Ian is a simple one: Parents, hug your kids.

Astrophiz 18 out now on iTunes and Soundcloud. ‘The Acceleration of the Expanding Universe’ is beautifully explained by Dr Brad Tucker. Brad is an Astrophysicist/Cosmologist, and currently a Research Fellow and PhD supervisor at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Mt. Stromlo Observatory at the Australian National University. Dr Nadezhda Cherbakov Skypes in from Tver in Russia to tell us more about the Cosmic Microwave background Radiation. Dr Ian Musgrave in ‘What’s up Doc?’ tell us what to look for in the night sky this week using naked eye, binoculars or telescopes. Oh yes, and he takes down ’Suuupermoons’ In the news: An update on the SKA, the Square Kilometre Array, our planet’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope