AWESOME ASTRONOMY – Détails, épisodes et analyse

A bit different this month as Paul is joined by Dustin as they chat about aurora on Ganymede, starliner, Polaris Dawn, Blue Origin and Dustin shares an interview at a local astronomy Festival.

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

In this podcast extra for Awesome Astronomy in August 2024, we bring you two of the Plenary Sessions from the British Planetary Science Conference 2024, hosted by Space Park Leicester and the National Space Center. The first, from Dr Aprajita Verma, discusses the upcoming Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), and the second, from Dr Steve Banham, gives you a new view of Mars Evolution, based on Curiosity’s work at Gale Crater. Keep an ear out for activities to get involved with!

This month our intrepid crew of the good ship Awesome investigate sub surface oceans on the moons of the solar system, smoking stars, distant blackholes, oversized structures and of course tippy over lunar landers. There is also the monthly skyguide and a look at the astro history of March!

The Discussion:

• Jen on the radio discussing the Perseids
• Starlink satellites flaring over our heads
• TV shows From the Earth to the Moon and For All Mankind
• Sputnik V
• Jeni’s latest paper is submitted for journal review
• Submit your experiences of how diversity is perceived in the amateur astronomy community at tinyurl.com/y28ebdu2

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

• Protecting other worlds from our germs and bugs
• Space Force’s Star Trek-esque logo
• The Curiosity rover celebrates its 8th year on Mars
• New Zealand’s Rocketlab pursue reusability
• Skyrora begin rocket testing in Iceland
• SpaceX’s Starship prototyping and testing continues

Main news story: America gets back to launching people into space

Q&A: Will the James Webb Space Telescope actually launch and will it still be worth launching? Lana Visser from Heerenveen in the Netherlands.

The Discussion: This month astrologers are getting upset about their tattoos; why the Babylonians are at fault for ruining the majesty of astrology; Jeni spreads the astronomy word on the BBC; her latest research paper nears peer review; Paul continues promoting space education in schools and we have a chat about sparking science interest in kids.

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have:
- ESO image two gas giants orbiting their star
- Have we solved the mystery of why the sun’s atmosphere is hotter than the surface?
- Using old methods as new measures of the age of the universe
- Another way to measure the Hubble constant suggests there may be something a bit strange with our part of the universe or we need new physics to explain it
- Unravelling how supermassive black holes form.

Main News story: The latest on Comet NEOWISE and how to see it for yourself

The Sky Guide: This month we’re taking a look at the constellation of Aquarius 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 August.

Q&A: What’s the dumbest misreported science you've ever seen in a newstory? From our good friend Brochyn James.

The Discussion:

• What Einstein would have made of an iPhone
• The goods and ills of social media
• Free teaching for teachers to teach space and astronomy
• Jeni talking Pluto on the BBC
• A trip down technology Memory Lane
• And get out and look at Comet Neowise!

The News: Rounding up the space exploration news we have a Mars launch window and NASA storming ahead with Artemis plans so this month is all about the moon and Mars:

• The Kennedy Space Centre takes delivery of rocket engines for their SLS rocket
• Funding for more SLS moon rockets
• A new lunar rover to help plan human missions
• New modules for the lunar orbiter
• NASA innovation funding for new long duration mission capabilities
• United Arab Emirates’ Mars orbiter launching this month
• China’s Tianwen-1 Mars mission with an orbiter, lander and rover

Main news story: Getting ready to launch the biggest ever rover to Mars

The Electromagnetic Spectrum: The visible light part of the spectrum. How telescopes were developed and became ever more powerful.

Q&A: Do you think we will see humans space exploration beyond Mars in our lifetimes? Pieter Johnson @Nascothornet on Twitter.

The Discussion: This month Jeni’s getting frustrated with the politics of peer review, Paul’s seen an uptick in noctilucent cloud hunting and public interest in astronomy in general during lockdown. We ask ‘Is Starlink actually a good thing for astronomy outreach and public engagement?’, while Paul wonders if Elon Musk is aware of the fate of the Duke of Buckingham. And we delve into listeners’ emails about the future of AstroCamp in a pandemic and collaborations with other podcasts.

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have:

• Have gravitational waves revealed the first ‘Black Neutron Star’?
• Jen sees the error of her ways about Betelgeuse’s recent dimming
• Odd white spots on Saturn’s moon Titan could be dried up methane lake beds
• Hunting for the first ever stars in the universe
• CERN’s next generation supercollider

Main News story: Has NASA discovered parallel universes?

The Sky Guide: This month we’re taking a look at the constellation of Sagittarius 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 July.

Guide to the Electromagnetic Spectrum: In this series we take a look at the electromagnetic spectrum, what, it is, what is shows us and why it’s so important to astronomers. This month we explain the visible part of the spectrum and its relevance to astronomy.

Q&A: What are arc seconds? How do we know how far away things are like planets and galaxies? What’s the measuring system? From our good friend Jeremy Hanson.

The Discussion:

• Struggling to get the media excited about astronomy
• How history will record the clusterf**k that is 2020
• Skyrora looking to join the smallsat launch market
• SpaceX’ Teletubby costumes

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

• Starship prototype goes Kablooey
• Britain returns to rocketry
• Goodbye to Japan’s ISS resupply spacecraft
• The European Space Agency look to ‘natural resources’ for moonbases
• Virgin Orbit attempt to slash the cost of launching to Low Earth Orbit
• NASA chooses 3 commercial consortia to develop lunar landers

Main news story: American commercial crewed launches have finally arrived

Q&A: Will the Lunar Gateway be visible from Earth? From Alex Bell @BLT_Astro on Twitter.

The Electromagnetic Spectrum: The near and mid-infrared part of the spectrum. How it became so important for astronomy and by whom.

The Discussion:

• The wonderful generosity of amateur astronomers
• trying to get the name Pair Instability Supernova changed to your suggestions
• Jen’s talk for Café Scientific, which you can watch here
• Jeni talking about SpaceX’ historic crewed flight with the BBC
• History 101 and looking forward to Space Force on Netflix
• What beginners should and shouldn’t do to get started in stargazing

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have:

• The first galaxies seemed to form in about half the time we originally thought
• Finding the nearest stellar mass black hole to Earth
• How normal or unusual is our sun?
• A star orbiting a black hole like Mercury does to the sun
• More gravitational waves from a black hole merger

Main News story: Capturing a huge exoplanet – or a low mass star - forming in Auriga.

The Sky Guide: This month we’re taking a look at the constellation of Serpens 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 June.

Guide to the Electromagnetic Spectrum: In this series we take a look at the electromagnetic spectrum, what, it is, what is shows us and why it’s so important to astronomers. This month we explain the near infrared part of the spectrum and its relevance to astronomy.

Q&A: Is there life on Mars? From our good friend Dave in Australia.

The Discussion: Ralph channels his inner Churchill, while Jen goes on about Tiger King and her upcoming Cafe Scientifique talk. And we hear from listener Mark Grundy about the Welsh Room in the Cathedral of Learning in Pittsburg.

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

• China’s mission to Mars and the patch that suggests further ambitions
• Musings on Starlink visibility and what is being done to help astronomers.
• Commercial Crew Launch 27th May
• News about disaster and success at SpaceX with Starship

Main news story: NASAs proposals for how Artemis Moon missions will work and go much further than Apollo

The Electromagnetic Spectrum: The Far IR and Sub millimeter part of the spectrum. How it became so important for astronomy and by whom.

Q&A: A brief return for the Hat of woo dispelling the 5G coronavirus conspiracy From @LynchSeanP  on Twitter.