Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

A Plethora of Recent Astronomy Cast Offerings

Fraser and Pamela recently unleashed their astronomical prowess in a big way with five new episodes of Astronomy Cast. Included are some very thought-provoking topics like astrobiology, space elevators and interstellar travel, not to mention a whole host of other topics covered in a couple of questions shows. So, here’s a chance to immerse yourself in Astronomy Cast!

Episode # 145: Interstellar Travel

Questions Show: Imaging Extrasolar Planets, Infinite Universe, Inside a Black Hole

Episode # 144: Space Elevators

Questions Show: Matter Balance, Jumping Light Speed, and Black Hole Star Formation

Episode # 143: Astrobiology

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Who Flew the Ship When Mike Collins Went to Sleep?

Mike Collins. Credit: NASA

I mentioned in a previous post that upcoming, there would be lots of fun ways to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, and here’s one I hope you enjoy. My latest podcast on the 365 Days of Astronomy is my reminiscences about that event, which includes another song I wrote. It’s about Apollo 11 through the eyes of a young girl, (which I was at the time), with all the interesting questions and the unique viewpoint that children can bring.

Back on July 20 1969, with everyone focusing on whether Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin would make it down to the lunar surface, my thoughts stayed with Mike Collins up orbiting all alone in the command and service module, which is what the song is about. I was inspired and brought back to that time by a children’s book, “The Man Who Went to the Far Side of the Moon: The Story of Apollo 11 Astronaut Michael Collins” by Bea Uusma Schyffert. It’s a wonderful book that focuses on Michael Collins and what he did, and what he saw, and the things he thought about in space.

The book brought me back to that time, and how I sat in front of the TV watching history unfold. I don’t remember exactly what I was thinking or the questions I had, but I’m sure there was a lot going on inside my little head, and likely, that event was part of what brought me to where I am today.

I hope you enjoy it. Apollo 11 Through the Eyes of a Young Girl

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Podcast: Questions Show: An Unlocked Moon, Energy into Black Holes and the Space Station’s Orbit


What would happen if the Moon wasn’t tidally locked to the Earth? What happens to all that mass and energy disappearing into a black hole? And how can we explain the space station’s crazy orbit?

If you’ve got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to [email protected] and we’ll try to tackle it for a future show. Please include your location and a way to pronounce your name.

Click here to download the episode.
Or subscribe to: astronomycast.com/podcast.xml with your podcatching software.

Questions show- Transcript and show notes.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Podcast: Quantum Mechanics


Quantum mechanics is the study of the very tiny; the nature of reality at the smallest scale. It’s a science that defies common sense, and delivers no helpful analogies. And yet it delivers the goods, making scientific predictions with incredible accuracy. Let’s look into the history of quantum theory, and then struggle to comprehend its connection to the Universe.

Click here to download the episode.

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

Quantum Mechanics- Transcript and show notes.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Podcast: Questions Show: Hidden Fusion, the Speed of Neutrinos and Hawking Radiation


Are new stars dark until their photons reach the surface? How fast do neutrinos travel? And what’s the story with Hawking Radiation?

If you’ve got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to [email protected] and we’ll try to tackle it for a future show. Please include your location and a way to pronounce your name.

Click here to download the episode.

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

Questions show- Transcript and show notes.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Podcast: Large Scale Structures in the Universe


We’re thinking big. We’re going to consider the biggest things in the Universe. If you could pull way back, and examine regions of space billions of light-years across, what would you see? How is the Universe arranged at the largest scale? And more importantly… why?

Click here to download the episode.

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

Large Scale Structures in the Universe- Transcript and show notes.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Comes Out of the Closet on 365 Days of Astronomy

The International Space Station. Credit: NASA

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For Universe Today readers who know me only as a journalist, there’s something I’ve never revealed until today. But I tell all on today’s 365 Days of Astronomy podcast. The truth is, I’m a closet musician and songwriter. But while most musicians write songs about love, or love gone wrong, or that kinda stuff, being the space geek that I am, I write songs about things like, well, satellites, spacecraft and space missions. Today’s podcast is about the International Space Station, and I share a song I wrote after I saw the ISS for the first time in the night sky.

The first time I saw the ISS was back in December of 2000, just after the first set of large solar arrays were brought to the station. At that point, the ISS was then big enough and bright enough that I could finally see it in the light polluted skies over Minneapolis, where I lived at the time. But of course we had a couple of weeks of typical Minnesota winter cloudy weather, so I had to wait what seemed like an eternity until I could finally see it. But I’ll never forget how awe-inspiring it was to see that bright light moving quickly across the sky, knowing the Expedition 1 crew was on board that point of light.

So anyway, check out today’s 365 Days of Astronomy podcast. A friend of mine, Mike Spainhour, and I threw this recording together in about an hour, but I hope you enjoy it.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Podcast: Optical Astronomy

Optical astronomy; now this is the kind of astronomy a human being was born to do. In fact, until the last century, this was the only kind of astronomy anybody ever did. Now we’ve got the whole electromagnetic spectrum to explore, but our heart still belongs to optical astronomy. Of course, with bigger telescopes, better optics and more sensitive detectors, even optical astronomy has come a long way.

Click here to download the episode.

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

Infrared Astronomy- Transcript and show notes.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Podcast: Questions Show: Undoing Inflation, Searching for Water, and Seeing Everything a Black Hole’s Ever Eaten

If there was enough mass to cause a big crunch, would inflation go backwards too? How do spacecraft know that hydrogen is bonded to water? And why can’t we see everything that’s ever fallen into a black hole?

If you’ve got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to [email protected] and we’ll try to tackle it for a future show. Please include your location and a way to pronounce your name.

Click here to download the episode.

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

Infrared Astronomy- Transcript and show notes.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Podcast: Infrared Astronomy

James Webb Space Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in 2018 may be the first to be capable of detecting biomarker gasses in the atmospheres of extrasolar planets. When an exoplanet passes between its star and Earth, an event called a transit, light that has passed through the planet’s atmosphere can be detected from a vantage point near Earth. When light passes through the exoplanet’s atmosphere, some wavelengths are absorbed and others transmitted. By analyzing the transmitted light spectrum, astronomers can learn the composition of the planet’s atmosphere. Astrobiologists hope to find biomarker gasses indicating the metabolic waste products of life. The oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere is a waste product of photosynthesis in plants and bacteria. The Webb telescope may be capable of conducting this test for planets larger than Earth (super-earths) transiting small stars. Space telescopes capable of conducting such research on a larger scale have been delayed by budget cuts. Credit: NASA

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Today we continue our unofficial tour through the electromagnetic spectrum, stopping at the infrared spectrum – you feel it as heat. This section of the spectrum gives us our only clear view through dusty material to see newly forming planetary systems and shrouded supermassive black holes. And infrared lets us look out to the most distant regions of the observable universe, when the first building blocks of galaxies came together.

Click here to download the episode.

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

Infrared Astronomy- Transcript and show notes.