Posted on by Fraser Cain

Astronomy Cast 315 – Particle Accelerators

Who knew that destruction could be so informative? Only by smashing particles together with more and more energy, can we truly tease out the fundamental forces of nature. Join us to discover the different kinds of accelerators (both natural and artificial) and what questions they can help us answer.

Visit the Astronomy Cast Page to subscribe to the audio podcast!

We record Astronomy Cast as a live Google+ Hangout on Air every Monday at 12:00 pm Pacific / 3:00 pm Eastern. You can watch here on Universe Today or from the Astronomy Cast Google+ page.

Posted on by Astronomy Cast

Astronomy Cast Ep. 282: Seasons


Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. These are the seasons we experience here on Earth as our planet completes an orbit around the Sun. But what’s going on? Why do we experience such different temperatures and weather over the course of 365 days? Do other planets experience the seasons like we do?

Click here to download the episode.

Or subscribe to: astronomycast.com/podcast.xml with your podcatching software.

“Seasons” on the Astronomy Cast website, with shownotes and transcript.

And the podcast is also available as a video, as Fraser and Pamela now record Astronomy Cast as part of a Google+ Hangout:

Continue reading “Astronomy Cast Ep. 282: Seasons”

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Astronomy Cast Ep. 269: Mass

Last week we talked about energy, and this week we’ll talk about mass. And here’s the crazy thing. Mass, matter, the stuff that the Universe is made of, is the same thing as energy. They’re connected through Einstein’s famous formula – E=mc2. But what is mass, how do we measure it, and how does it become energy, and vice versa.

Click here to download the episode.

Or subscribe to: astronomycast.com/podcast.xml with your podcatching software.

“Mass” on the Astronomy Cast website, with shownotes and transcript.

And the podcast is also available as a video, as Fraser and Pamela now record Astronomy Cast as part of a Google+ Hangout:

Continue reading “Astronomy Cast Ep. 269: Mass”

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Astronomy Cast Ep. 267: Infinities

Forever is a funny thing. Today we’re going to talk about infinities. That’s right, all the different kinds of possible infinities. How you add them, subtract them, and use them to think about the scale of the Universe.

Click here to download the episode.

Or subscribe to: astronomycast.com/podcast.xml with your podcatching software.

“Infinities” on the Astronomy Cast website.

And the podcast is also available as a video, as Fraser and Pamela now record Astronomy Cast as part of a Google+ Hangout:
Continue reading “Astronomy Cast Ep. 267: Infinities”

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Astronomy Cast Episode 259: Exploration of Venus

Mars gets all the attention, but you might be surprised to know how much Venus has been explored. From initial telescope observations and the early flyby missions, to the landers… yes landers and orbiters. We know quite a lot about Venus, but the planet sure didn’t give up its secrets easily.

You can watch us record Astronomy Cast live every Monday at 12:00 pm PDT (3:00 pm EDT, 2000 GMT). Make sure you circle Fraser on Google+ to see it show up in the feed. You can also see it live over on our YouTube channel.

If you’d like to be notified of all our live events, sign up for our notification email at Cosmoquest. You can check out our calendar here.

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Astronomy Cast, Ep: 258: Viking Landers

Last week we talked about the orbiter portion of the Viking Missions. But that was only half the adventure. Each Viking spacecraft carried a lander as well, which touched down on the surface of Mars, searching for evidence of past and current life. And what they discovered is still up for debate.

We record Astronomy Cast live every Monday at 12 pm PST / 3 pm EST / 2000 GMT. If you want to join in our recording, just make sure you’ve got Fraser circled on Google+, then the show will show up in your stream. You can also watch us live at Cosmoquest.

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Astronomy Cast Ep. 254: Reflection and Refraction

Light can do some pretty strange stuff, like pass through objects and bounce off them; it can be broken up and recombined. In fact, everything we “see” is actually the end result of reflection and refraction of light. Time to understand how it all works.

Remember that we record every episode of Astronomy Cast as a live Google+ Hangout on Mondays at 12 pm PST / 3 pm EST / 2000 GMT. You can watch us record the episode and even jump into the Hangout and ask us some questions. Follow Fraser on Google+ to see when it happens.

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Astronomy Cast Ep. 252: Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle

Quantum theory is plenty strange, but one of the strangest discoveries is the realization that there’s a limit to how much you can measure at any one time. This was famously described by Werner Heisenberg, with his uncertainty principle: how you can never know both the position and motion of a particle at the same time.

We record Astronomy Cast live every Monday at 12 pm PST / 3 pm EST / 2000 GMT. If you want to join in our recording, just make sure you’ve got Fraser circled on Google+, then the show will show up in your stream. You can also watch us live at Cosmoquest.

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Astronomy Cast, Ep. 250: Precision

Wow… 250 episodes.

Accuracy, precision and reproducibility. These are the foundations of science that make our progress possible. How do these play into a scientist’s daily activities? And just how precise can we get with our measurements?

You can watch us record Astronomy Cast live every Monday at 12:00 pm PDT (3:00 pm EDT, 2000 GMT). Make sure you circle Fraser on Google+ to see it show up in the feed. You can also see it live over on our YouTube channel.

If you’d like to be notified of all our live events, sign up for our notification email at Cosmoquest. You can check out our calendar here.

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Astronomy Cast Ep. 249: Schrödinger’s Cat

You’ve probably all heard of Schrödinger’s Cat, that bizarre thought experiment designed by Erwin Schrödinger to show how the strange predictions of quantum theory could impact the real world. No cats will be harmed in the making of this episode, maybe.

You can watch us record Astronomy Cast live every Monday at 12:00 pm PDT (3:00 pm EDT, 2000 GMT). Make sure you circle Fraser on Google+ to see it show up in the feed. You can also see it live over on our YouTube channel.

If you’d like to be notified of all our live events, sign up for our notification email at Cosmoquest. You can check out our calendar here.