Awesome Astronomy

What to look out, and up, for in May. Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: The ever-brightening Mars Jupiter at opposition on 9th May Venus in the evening sky The Lyrid meteor shower Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year. Ralph – The plethora of summer objects in Sagittarius Paul – Globular Cluster, Messier 5, in Serpens Jen - M57, The Ring Nebula, in Lyra And we finish this sky guide with May’s moon phases.

Welcome to AstroCamp! In this podcast extra episode, we welcome you to the practical astronomy arm of the Awesome Astronomy empire, as we take a run through what people can expect at our AstroCamp star party in the Brecon Beacons International Dark Sky Reserve on the extended weekend of 14-17th April 2018. We also take a look at the social and educational aspects of star parties and round everything off with some of our favourite solar system and deep sky objects visible this spring to observe for yourself. If you haven't booked a place yet and would like to come, head over to www.astrocamp.org.uk We're taking bookings all the way up to the 13th April 2018. See you under the stars!

The Discussion: The Beast from the East makes practical astronomy difficult and we take a look at listeners’ emails that accuse us of imperialism, suggest we throw away some solar filters, provide an alternative look at solar system creation and reveal their own astronomy outreach experiences. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: China’s space station is about to fall out the sky Genetic sequencing looks at an alien find Did a year in space alter Mark Kelly’s DNA? More delays to the James Webb Space Telescope A new European Space Agency telescope gets the green light Famous Astronomer: This month we give you a primer on an upcoming podcast extra on the life of recently departed Stephen Hawking. Q&A: Listeners’ questions via email, Facebook & Twitter take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity. This month we take a look answering difficult questions: I live in a part of the World with

What to look out, and up, for in December. Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: The features visible on Mars Jupiter visible in the morning sky Venus in the evening sky The Lyrid meteor shower Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year. Ralph – The Beehive and King Cobra open clusters in Cancer Jen - M82, The Cigar Galaxy, and M81, a starburst galaxy in Ursa Major Paul – A tour of the Virgo cluster of galaxies and Markarian’s Chain And we finish this sky guide with April’s moon phases.

An extended Hat of Woo if you like, but for this podcast extra episode we dip our hands back into the festering corners of Paul’s hat to take a look at the root causes and the psychology of belief in conspiracy theories. Not why are they wrong but why do humans believe in conspiracy theories at all? Do we shoot ourselves in the foot through our educational policies and methods of teaching? Are we just hardwired to believe in falsehoods, whether more elaborate or more simple than the truth?

The Discussion: Jeni and her Welsh brethren suffered an Earthquake and Ralph takes a look through listeners emails which prompts a discussion about the range of educational outreach that AweAst listeners undertake. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: A new and pointless star ‘graces’ our night sky We wave goodbye to the concept of the Late Heavy Bombardment Astronomers publish results on the oldest supernova detection Astronomy Concept: We delve into the wide array of visual observation and astrophography filters in response to John Lonergan’s request. Q&A: Listeners’ questions via email, Facebook & Twitter take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity. This month we take a look at the nature of black holes: 1) I heard in the reporting that the black hole had a physical spin. Does that support the idea that a black hole cannot be a singularity/point since it has a physical spin? 2) Th

What to look out, and up, for in March. Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: Prepare for this year’s Mars opposition as it increases in brightness Jupiter at 21 degrees in the pre-dawn sky Bright Venus, Mercury and the moon in conjunction on 18th March Comet 2016 R2 PANSTARRS in Perseus A lunar conjunction with the Hyades Cluster and occultation of Aldebaran. Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year: Ralph – Messier 81 & 82, Bode’s Galaxy & The Cigar Galaxy in Ursa Major Jen - Messier 3, globular cluster in Canes Venatici Paul – The Leo 1 group of Galaxies in the constellation Leo And we finish this sky guide with March’s moon phases.

This Awesome Astronomy episode is inspired by last week’s incredible SpaceX launch and listeners’ requests to talk a bit more about SpaceX and the advances in commercial spaceflight. In this Podcast Extra, we’re joined by spaceflight aficionado Gavin Price (@pilliarscreatio) to discuss: The inaugural Falcon Heavy launch and what it achieved Was the launch awesome or all hype? How good is the Falcon Heavy really? Will Falcon Heavy or Elon’s next ambitious rocket make NASA’s rocket redundant? How about other organisations? (ULA/Arianne/Blue origin etc) Where do the commercial companies leave the likes of Soyuz? (TsSKB-Progress) Where do we see access to space in ten, fifteen, twenty years time? Will Elon make good on his plan to colonize Mars?

The Discussion: Friend of the show and lecturer at Jeni’s Cardiff University, Dr Ed Gomez is launching a Kickstarter project to create and distribute a children’s comic book to encourage children to take an interest and career in science. Jeni tells us about Ada’s Adventures in Science, which you can give your support to at http://kck.st/2DI43hg. Paul suffers the adverse effects of being travelling science salesman and Ralph reads out some listeners’ emails - including one interesting email that suggests ‘Kim Jen Un’ may be getting into peoples’ heads. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: An update from Cassini on the strange orbits of Saturn’s moon Janus and Epimetheus and a look at a research paper shedding light on the ring they create around the gas giant. We mourn the loss of yet another Apollo astronaut as we say goodbye to John Young with a look back at his NASA career. Recent analysis of Martian meteorites and current Martian atmospheric constituents tempers our

What to look out, and up, for in February. Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: Track Mars’ passage through Scorpius & Ophiuchus Jupiter in Libra gives us a shadow transit and a look at its Great Red spot Dwarf Planet Ceres at opposition on 1st February & Comet Heinze in Pegasus Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year: Ralph – Open clusters Messier 67 and the Beehive Cluster in Cancer Jen - Messier 101, the Pinwheel Galaxy, in Ursa Major Paul – NCG 40, the Bow Tie nebula, in Cepheus And we finish this sky guide with February’s moon phases.

In this podcast extra episode, we're joined again by The Essex Space Agency's Phil St Pier as we take another sideways diversion into science fiction movies as we cast a critical eye over the recent big sci-fi blockbusters: Star Wars: The Last Jedi Blade Runner 2049 This episode is dedicated to Matt & Ali's arrival of their daughter Evangeline Rosa Kingsnorth.

The Discussion: Paul avoids the big freeze with astronomy cheats, Ralph reads out the latest good and bad reviews, while Jeni becomes a ‘Who’s Who’ question at Cardiff University! The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: Voyager 1 shows it still has the skills and prolongs its own life An update on the extrasolar asteroid that just buzzed our solar system Physicists observe a reversal of the arrow of time in laboratory experiments The European Southern Observatory image convective cells on another star NASA reveals its next two major planetary exploration missions Science Concept: This month we return to astronomy-related concepts as we delve back into the quantum world for a primer on the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and why you cannot know both the position and velocity of a particle. Q&A: Listeners’ questions via email, Facebook & Twitter take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity.

What to look out, and up, for in January! Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: The Red Planet Mars, makes a welcome return to our skies The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks on the night of 3rd/4th January Dwarf planet Ceres is at opposition on 31st January in Cancer Mercury is at greatest wester elongation on 2nd January And comet C/2017 T1 Heinze reaches mag 7-9 on 6th January Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year: Ralph – Messier 42, the Great Nebula in Orion Jen – NGC 2244 and the Rosette Nebula in Monoceros. Paul – NCG 2903, Barred Spiral Galaxy in Leo And we finish this sky guide with January’s moon phases.

There’s trouble in paradise as Christmas evening in the Cydonia bunker turns ugly. Alcohol may be the culprit. But equally, the blame may lie with suffering a whole day of pretending to like one another and f***ing Christmas songs! So, while tensions rise and arguments flare, Ralph, Paul and Jen run through the memorable space and astronomy events of 2017 and look forward to the treats in store for 2018. Then there’s the small matter of John’s annual outtake reel specifically designed to embarrass the hosts and push the bounds of decency as far as politeness will allow! Main music courtesy of Star Salzman Additional free music archive tracks: Silent Night by Hyson Christmas on Mars (Dance Mix) by Spinningmerkaba

In this podcast extra we begin a series, suggested by listener Sean Smith, of explaining the considerations involved in choosing practical astronomy equipment. This first in the series discusses one of the most important items in your amateur astronomy tool kit: Eyepieces. This discussion takes in: Why eyepieces are important The differences between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ eyepieces Choosing the right price point Our suggestions for good quality cheap and expensive eyepieces Don't forget our end of year review and Newtonmass panotmime will be available to download on Christmas Day.

The Discussion: Jeni gets her name in lights – well, bold print, as she contributes (what else but graphs) to a published research paper and Ralph takes a look at Ben Cacase’s very own new asterism in the heart of Auriga and reads a defiant message from Michelle of ‘ze resistonce’. The News: It’s a very rocky month as we round up the following space and astronomy news stories: Earth’s moon had an atmosphere thicker than Mars’ for more than 70 million years Observations suggest Proxima Centauri has a Kuiper Belt and maybe a Oort Cloud A sci-fi like asteroid from another star system is now passing through the inner solar system Hat of Woo/Astronomy Concept mash-up: This month Paul’s festering Hat of Woo is a little less fetid as we discuss a plausible but untested concept that has just a faint whiff of woo about it. This month we look at The Nemesis ‘Theory’ which suggests the sun has a brown dwarf companion which causes periodic extinction events – and, of course, we’re long overdue an extinction and

What to look out, and up, for in December. Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: The Geminid meteor showers peaking on 13/14th December Uranus sitting in the constellation Pisces Mars & Jupiter lunar conjunctions Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year: Ralph – A binary star, a planetary nebula and 4 open clusters in Gemini Jen - The Pleiades open cluster in Taurus Paul – The Crab Nebula supernova remnant also in Taurus And we finish this sky guide with December’s moon phases.

In this podcast extra episode Jeni discusses the recent detection of two colliding neutron stars and their observation in both gravitational waves and all areas of the electromagnetic spectrum. Jeni chats with Dr Edward Gomez, Education Director at the Las Cumbres Observatory and Cardiff University’s Gravitational Physics Research Group Leader, Professor Patrick Sutton about the historic observations, what we can learn from these events, the future of gravitational wave astronomy and how this new window into the universe can help us improve some of the fundamentals of our knowledge of space and time. We also put listeners’ questions on these subjects from Raoul Van Eindhoven, @FuzzySemi and @calcomega to Patrick.

The Discussion: Britain shows that it won’t just roll over and let America take the lead in intimidating academic freedom and Jen recounts her gravitational waves research conference in Brighton in October. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: Astronomers make the 1st observation of a neutron star collision Astronomers discover a missing chunk of the universe 3D videos of aurora that you can see at http://www.iap.fr/aurora3d/ The Interview: This month Cardiff University’s Professor Mark Hannam tells us more about the recent observation of colliding neutron stars and this window into a new realm of astronomy. Q&A: Listeners’ questions via email, Facebook & Twitter take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity. This month we’re tackling a question about the Drake Equation: “It strikes me that the Drake equation sets the probability of life at either (1) pretty close to zero - in which ca

What to look out, and up, for in November. Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: A last look at Saturn for 2017 in the early evening sky A very impressive Jupiter/Venus conjunction on the 13th of November The Taurid meteor showers peaking on the 5th and 21st November and the Leonids on the 18th November Comet 2017 O1 ASASSN1 for binocular and telescope observers Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year: Ralph – Messier 42, the Orion Nebula in the constellation Orion Jen - Messier 13, The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules Paul – NCG 404, Mirach’s Ghost in the constellation Andromeda And we finish this sky guide with November’s moon phases.