Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Strange Stuff in Space: Astronomy Cast at Dragon*Con 2011

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This is an impromptu episode of Astronomy Cast that was recorded during Dragon*Con 2011. Pamela was scheduled to speak with a panel about strange things in space, but she ended up being the only person there. So Fraser jumped in, and this was what we did. We mostly talked about unusual things in the Solar System, but a few things in the rest of the Universe. Presented raw for your amusement.

Click here to download the episode.

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

“Strange Stuff in Space: Astronomy Cast at Dragon*Con 2011″ on the Astronomy Cast website.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Astronomy Cast Ep. 233: Radar

USSR's Pluton Radio Array

Radar is one of the those technologies that changed everything: it allows boats and aircraft to “see” at night and through thick fog. But it also changed astronomy and ground imaging, tracking asteroids with great accuracy, allowing spacecraft to peer through Venus’ thick clouds and revealing secrets beneath the Earth’s shifting sands.

Click here to download the episode.

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

“Radar” on the Astronomy Cast website.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Astronomy Cast Ep. 232: Galileo Spacecraft

Galileo Spacecraft

In our last thrilling cliff hanger, we talked about astronomer superhero Galileo Galilei. Will a mission be named after him? The answer is yes! NASA’s Galileo spacecraft visited Jupiter in 1995, and spent almost 8 years orbiting, changing our understanding of the giant planet and its moons.

Click here to download the episode.

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

“Galileo Spacecraft” on the Astronomy Cast website.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Astronomy Cast Ep. 229: The Cassini Mission

Cassini Mission. Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI

Last week we talked about the Italian astronomer Giovanni Cassini. This week we’ll talk about the mission that shares his name: NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft. This amazing mission is orbiting Saturn right now, sending back thousands of high resolution images of the ringed planet and its moons.

Click here to download the episode.

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

Cassini Mission on the Astronomy Cast website.

Posted on by Jason Major

Shedding Some Light on a Dark Discovery

Artist's rendering of TrES-2b, an extremely dark gas giant. Credit: David Aguilar (CfA)

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Earlier this month astronomers released news of the darkest exoplanet ever seen: discovered in 2006, the gas giant TrES-2b reflects less than 1% of the visible light from its parent star… it’s literally darker than coal! Universe Today posted an article about this intriguing announcement on August 11, and now Dr. David Kipping of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is featuring a podcast on 365 Days of Astronomy in which he gives more detail about the dark nature of this discovery.

Listen to the podcast here.

The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is a project that will publish one podcast per day, for all 365 days of 2011. The podcast episodes are written, recorded and produced by people around the world.

“TrES-2b is similar in mass and radius to Jupiter but Jupiter reflects some 50% of the incident light. TrES-2b has a reflectivity less than that of any other planet or moon in the Solar System or beyond. The reflectivity is significantly less than even black acrylic paint, which makes the mind boggle as to what a clump of this planet would look like in your hand. Perhaps an appropriate nickname for the world would be Erebus, the Greek God of Darkness and Shadow. But what really is causing this planet to be so dark?”

– Dr. David Kipping

David Kipping obtained a PhD in Astrophysics from University College London earlier this year. His thesis was entitled ‘The Transits of Extrasolar Planets with Moons’ and David’s main research interest revolves around exomoons. He is just starting a Carl Sagan Fellowship at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

The paper on which the the podcast is based can be found here.

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Jason Major is a graphic designer, photo enthusiast and space blogger. Visit his website Lights in the Dark and follow him on Twitter @JPMajor and on Facebook for more astronomy news and images!

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Now Available: 30 Free Lectures by Noted Astronomers

We just received a note from Andrew Franknoi and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific that they are making available, free of charge, 30 audio and video podcasts from talks given by distinguished astronomers on the latest ideas and discoveries in the field. Speakers include:

* Frank Drake, who began the experimental search for intelligent life among the stars,
* Mike Brown, who discovered most of the dwarf planets beyond Pluto (and whose humorous talk is entitled “How I Killed Pluto and Why it Had it Coming”),
* Natalie Batalha, project scientists on the Kepler Mission to find Earths around other stars,
* Alex Filippenko (national professor of the year) on finding black holes.

Recent topics added to the offerings include: multiple universes, Saturn’s moon Titan (with an atmosphere, rivers, and lakes), our explosive Sun, and whether we should expect doomsday in 2012.

The talks are part of the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures, jointly sponsored by NASA’s Ames Research Center, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the SETI Institute, and Foothill College.
They are available via the web and ITunes. For a complete list and to begin listening, go to:
http://www.astrosociety.org/education/podcast/

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

365 Days of Astronomy Needs a Little Help From Their Friends

As many of our readers know, I also work with the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast. This award winning daily podcast that was supposed to last for only one year — the International Year of Astronomy — is now in its third year. Unfortunately, the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast is in trouble due to a lack of funding and audio. We’ve done over two and a half years — 959 podcasts so far — all on a shoestring and by the generous donations of audio and funds by our listeners. But things are looking a little grim, and we’d at least like to make it to the end of the year. As Pamela Gay said in her blog post about this, “At a certain level, it is hard to walk away from something feeling like it is halfway done. This is the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast, and we’d like to complete the 2011 calendar year.”

Each 365 Days of Astronomy podcast gets at least 3,000 downloads — some get as many as 10- 15,000 downloads. It’s a wonderful way to have your voice heard, your story told. As Phil Plait has mentioned, 365 DoA is a great venue to not only educate people about astronomy, but to get them personally involved. If you would, please consider submitting audio or making a donation to help us keep a good thing going. We know times are tough, but will appreciate any help you can provide.

Thanks!

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Podcast: A Look at NASA’s Future Through an Astronaut’s Eyes

NASA astronaut Dr. Yvonne Cagle. Credit: NASA

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While at the 2011 Lunar Forum last month, which was sponsored by the NASA Lunar Science Institute, I had the chance to talk with NASA astronaut Dr. Yvonne Cagle. I asked her how she sees NASA’s future without the space shuttle as well as her view of commercial space companies providing access to the ISS. We also talked about the challenges of doing medical procedures in zero-g and more.

You can listen to the podcast on today’s episode on the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast. Here’s the link to the website where you can listen, or you can download the episode here.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Astronomy Cast Ep. 227: The Big Dipper

IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine (Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg)

We wanted to spend a few shows talking about some of the most recognizable constellations in the night sky. We’ve chatted about Orion the Hunter, but now we’re going to talk about the Big Dipper, also known as Ursa Major, or the Great Bear – apologies to our southern hemisphere listeners.

Click here to download the episode.

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

Ice in Space on the Astronomy Cast website.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Astronomy Cast Ep. 226: Weather

Hurricane observed from Earth orbit. Credit: NASA

How’s the weather? Maybe a better question is… why’s the weather? What is it about planets and their atmospheres that create weather systems. What have planetary scientists learned about our Earth’s weather, and how does this relate to other planets in the Solar System. What is the most extreme weather we know of?

Click here to download the episode.

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

Weather on the Astronomy Cast website.