Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Astronomy Cast Ep. 186: History of Astronomy, Part 4: The Beginning of Modern Astronomy

Einstein

With our proper place in the Universe worked out, and some powerful telescopes to probe the cosmos, astronomers started making some real progress. The next few hundred years was a time of constant refinement, with astronomers discovering new planets, new moons, and developing new theories in astronomy and physics.

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History of Astronomy, Part 4: The Beginning of Modern Astronomy shownotes and transcript.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Astronomy Cast Ep. 185: History of Astronomy, Part 3: The Renaissance

Galileo

Now we reach time with names that many of you will be familiar: Galileo, Kepler, Copernicus. This is an age when the biggest names in astronomy used the best tools of their time to completely rearrange their understanding of the Universe, putting the Earth where it belonged – merely orbiting the Sun, and not the center of everything.

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History of Astronomy, Part 3: The Renaissance show notes and transcipt.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Astronomy Cast Ep. 183 & 184: History of Astronomy Parts 1 & 2

Sumerian Cuneiform Tablet

We know you love a good series. This time we’re going to walk you through the history of astronomy, starting with the ancient astronomers and leading right up to the most recent discoveries. Today we’re going to start at the beginning, and in Part 1 we’ll talk about the astronomers who first tried to understand the true nature of the Earth, the planets and our place in the cosmos. In part 2 we’ll talk about the Greeks, who worked out the size and shape of the Earth, the distance to the Moon and Sun, and even had some accurate ideas about our place in the Universe.

Click here to download Episode 183: Part 1, Ancient Astronomy

Episode 183 Show notes and transcript

Click here to download Episode 184: Part 2, The Greeks

Episode 184 show notes and transcript

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Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Astronomy Cast Ep. 182: Astrometry

The Gaia mission.

Astronomers have been cataloging star positions for thousands of years, from the first calculations made by Hipparchus, to the more recent star catalogs made by the spacecraft named after him. This is astrometry; another way to find our place in the Universe.

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

Astrometry show notes and transcipt.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Astronomy Cast Ep. 180: Albedo

Enceladus, the highest albedo in the Solar System. Image credit: NASA/SSI

Why are some objects in the Solar System bright while others are dim? Much of an object’s brightness is caused by its albedo, or how well it reflects radiation from the Sun. If you want to know how big a distant moon, comet, or asteroid is, you’ve got to know its albedo.

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Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Astronomy Cast Ep. 178: Mysteries of the Universe, Part 1

Dark energy expansion of the Universe

The Astronomy Cast team has finished their podcasts on the mysteries of the Solar System and the Milky Way, it’s now time to move on to the biggest mysteries of all: The mysteries of the Universe. Let’s wonder about dark matter and dark energy, and the very nature of reality itself.

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

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

New Edition of “This Week in Space”

This Week in Space, January 15, 2010 from Spaceflight Now on Vimeo.

Miles O’Brien and the This Week in Space team have produced a new edition of their video space news cast. Included in the cast: the space nation awaits direction from President Obama, Endeavour gets ready to deliver a room with a view, how an abandoned McDonalds is being used to restore closeups of the Moon, a space telescope finds new planets, plus an interview with Hubble-Hugger-In-Chief John Grunsfeld.

You can also watch TWIS on their You Tube channel, or on Vimeo.