AWESOME ASTRONOMY – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In our second episode of the month we chat about the weird mess that is now the Artemis Programme, whether there is even a new space race and what strange shenanigans rogue planets are up to!

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

Time for a Comet 3I ATLAS deep dive, a chat about Paul's recent visit to the Cerne Abbas Starparty and our new extended skyguide.

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

We try to keep it upbeat this month with tales of blackholes, definitions of moons, and solar system science but unfortunately the fate of NASA and American science currently hangs in the balance...

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

The Discussion:

• Binocular observing
• Do you want Ralph's 115 triplet refractor & goto mount?
• The Wiltshire Audio Anomaly
• Listeners emails on historical images and refractor rivalry

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news in February, we have:

• An update on that life on Venus story
• Life around Proxima Centauri is in for a blast
• More data to add to the universe's expansion rate conundrum
• Was Oumuamua really an interstellar comet?

Main News story: The US' Fermi National Accelerator follows CERN with a muon discovery that also hints at a big anomaly in the Standard Model of Physics.

The Sky Guide: This month we're taking a look at the constellation of Ursa Major with a guide to its history, how to find it, a couple of deep sky objects and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in May.

Q&A: I'm getting into my 50s, and hearing Ralph say what good times we're in as regards gaining knowledge of the Universe leads me to wonder.... what will I be around for? From our good friend Peter Jeal from London, UK.

This week we saw the first ever powered flight on another planet. So this is a podcast extra episode to mark this remarkable achievement, explain what happened and why this is such a paradigm shift for future space exploration.

The Discussion:

• The 'Wiltshire Audio Anomaly'
• 20% off the book Vera Rubin – A Life for US listeners using url: hup.harvard.edu/exhibits/HX7578
• @StargazerRob's alternative astrophotographer of the year award
• Listeners' emails

The News:

• April Fools research papers
• Commemorating 60 years since Yuri Gagarin's 1st Spaceflight
• An update on @NASA's Mars Ingenuity copter
• Rounding up @SpaceX's metal toilet roll tube developments & explosions
• NASA's Artemis program update and presidential priorities for NASA
• Cluttered & congested orbits leading to satellite collisions

Moons of the Solar System: Our show segment exploring the discovery, exploration and our knowledge of the solar system's moons. And we move onto Jupiter's 75 less fashionable moons.

Q&A: 'How are satellite licences awarded and by who? And can/should they make requirements of companies to make them responsible for their space junk and their impact on ground based astronomy?' From our good friend Matt Rayment in London, UK.

The Discussion:

• Jen finally becomes Dr Jen – bow down pitiful Earthlings!
• Binocular astronomy
• Get the book Vera Rubin - A Life by Jacqueline and Simon Mitton with 25% off by emailing cs-books@wiley.com, and quoting the discount code H0350 (mentioning Awesome Astronomy probably wouldn't go amiss too)
• Emails from listeners correcting a possible error and posing a teasing question about US refractors.

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news in February, we have:

• UCL researchers unravel the mystery of the Antikythera mechanism
• The Event Horizon Telescope improves the image of a supermassive black hole by revealing its magnetic fields
• Confirming the existence of the furthest major solar system object
• An exoplanet that lost its atmosphere and then gained another one!

Main News story: CERN's LHC spots a quirky quark that hints at a big anomaly in the Standard Model of Physics

The Sky Guide: This month we're taking a look at the constellation of Coma Bereneces with a guide to its history, how to find it, a couple of deep sky objects and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in April.

Q&A: You mentioned recently that a comet was a long period comet? What does this mean? How do we know if a comet is a long period comet? From our good friend Arliss Evans in Texas, USA.

The Discussion:

• Vaccination cometh to Awesome Astronomy
• The UK's unorthodox meteor sample return mission
• A listener's email follow up to last month's Q&A

The News: Rounding up the space exploration news we have:

• SpaceX launch and land a 13 storey Starship
• Japan joins NASA's moon programme
• NASA releases its science goals for Project Artemis
• Northrop Grumman begins work on NASA's Mars sample return
• The OSIRIS-REx mission prepares for May asteroid departure

Moons of the Solar System: Our show segment exploring the discovery, exploration and our knowledge of the solar system's moons. And we move onto Jupiter and the four Galilean moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Calisto. Jupiter's other moons next month.

Q&A: 'Do you think the first crewed Mars mission will be to land or would it make any sense to do an Apollo 8 (or indeed 10) stylee close approach?' From our good friend Alex Bell in Bath, UK.

The Discussion:

• Paul becomes the new Vice President of Wycombe Astronomical Society
• Jen gets a date for her PhD viva
• Jen promoting NASA's Perseverance rover on the BBC
• Get ready for Teentech Live on 5th March
• Emails from listeners highlighting the good and bad in Awesome Astronomy

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news in February, we have:

• The Cygnus X-1 black hole must be much bigger than we thought
• A single neutrino detection reveals a super-supermassive blackhole
• Was the impact that killed the dinosaurs an asteroid or comet?
• Earth's regular magnetic pole reversals may be catastrophic to life

Main News story: A return to the mythical Planet 9 and a new paper casting further doubt on the evidence in favour of an undiscovered massive object in the outer solar system.

The Sky Guide: This month we're taking a look at the constellation of Gemini with a guide to its history, how to find it, a couple of deep sky objects and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in March.

Q&A: Wouldn't it be awesome if there was some sort of collective effort to digitise and share the historic astronomical records held in observatories' glass plates? From our good friend Tony Horton in the UK.

As the European Space Agency gears up to opening its next recruitment campaign from 31 March to 28 May 2021, we take you through:

• The entry requirements
• The selection process
• The missions successful candidates are expected to fly
• The first astronaut recruitment trawl for candidates with physical disabilities

If you want to take a look and see if being an astronaut suits you, go to www.esa.int/YourWayToSpace. 

If you want to apply, applications should be submitted to the ESA Careers website, from 31 March, at https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Careers_at_ESA