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!

This month Dr Jen talks to Dr Phil! Dr Phil Metzger, 30 years at NASA where he has worked on various missions and programmes including the ISS snd Space Shuttle, while more recently he has been investigating how rocket efflux interacts with soil and what this will mean for future landings on the Moon and Mars…

This month we explore the exciting announcements from the European Space Agency as they outline their new missions for the 2030s. LISA, a space based gravitational wave detector and EnVision, a Venus mission that will map the surface and under-surface of that planet in unprecedented detail. 

We have the usual skyguide, chat about recent lunar missions and emails from the listeners.

This episode, it's Jen and a special guest exploring the inexplicable Big Ring, the first proof connecting supernovae to black holes and neutron stars, cyclones on a far-away world, dazzling images of Io, and the true colour of Neptune. We also take a deep dive into humanity's efforts to explore the Moon – the failing Peregrine lander and Artemis pushbacks.  There's also a sky guide for the second half of January, and our discussion topic this time involves a most impossible restaurant. 

Produced by Paul, Jen, Dustin, John & Damien.

Festive silliness (bit naughty!), a review of the Space and astronomy year and a look ahead to what 2024 has in store for us. Not forgetting the outakes!

This month we explore what might have happened to the Planet Theia after it hit the Earth, what Lucy saw on its first asteroid encounter, the mystery of a new double crater on the Moon and what the first images from the Elucid telescope show. 

We have our monthly skyguide, launch round up and emails and questions from listeners.

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

This month Jeni talks to Paul. No not our Paul  Paul Cornish, planetarium and science outreach extraordinaire at Bristols We the Curious. They chat about one of our favourite topics on Awesome, constellation Mythology and this time it has a very Welsh flavour...enjoy!

This month we talk about what might have been in the Arthur C Clarke Awards, the latest weird discovery from JWST, the most detailed simulation of the Universe yet, British space plans, giggle at a Space Force painting, and have a look at what you can see in the sky this month.

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

This month we give you a recording of our live panel show from AstroCamp, held in September. The team answer questions and comments from the public about a range of space and astronomy topics.

This month Paul and Dr Jen talk about the recent astrocamp where yet more Aurora was seen. Later there is a guide to seeing Aurora at lower latitudes.

JWST is at it again with a possible detection of biological signals on an exoplanet, AND breaking and rewriting galaxy morphology history.

There is an autumnal sky guide and the low down on the Bennu return mission OSIRIS-REx.

This month the team talk Comet Olbers, black holes in globular Clusters, the cancellation of Vixen, the ultra calm lakes of Titan, more phosphine news from Venus and look forward to this months Perseids.

Produced by Ralph, Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

This months interview looks at that stunning imagery that JWST took of the Ring Nebula - that familiar Messier planterary nebula in Lyra and favourite of star parties. This new study has revealed new and unexpected details and once again demonstrated the brilliant science of our golden wonder telescope in space.

Dr Jeni talks to Dr Robert Wessen, Research Associate at Cardiff University who has worked on the Ring Nebula data, about what astronomers have revealed as well as talking about his career and life astronomy. He also exclusively reveals what is going to happen next in this area of study. Enjoy!

This month we are joined by special guest Neill Sanders from Go Stargazing who is making a special announcement about astronomy cruise Holidays.

We have news of a new type of star, mud on Mars and JWST breaking cosmology once again. After our skyguide we chat about the recent Indian and Russian moon missions. 

In our discussion topic we have a Battle of the Planets as we decide which should get in the bin, Saturn or Jupiter.

For this podcast extra, we return to NAM 2023, this year held at Cardiff University. We're delighted to bring you the conversational style of Dr Stephen Wilkins, public engagement extraordinaire. Dr Stephen is an STFC Public Engagement Fellow (so you know this talk will be just brilliant) and serves as a Director of Outreach and Public Engagement for the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Sussex. This episode, we have the Tale of Two Telescopes, exploring NASA's new flagship James Webb Space Telescope, and ESA's pioneering Euclid, set to uncover the Dark Universe. Enjoy!

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

This month we have a packed show, with stories about the European space agency launching a new space telescope to study The Dark Universe. India going to the moon with Chandrayaan-3, astereroid boulders, a key ingredient for life just 1 billion years into the Universe's history, measuring a crater with highway seismology, hot lava piles on the moon, and a farewell to Ariane 5.

We discuss observing meteor showers in our monthly skyguide and we ask the important question- where would you let superman take you in the solar system?

Once a year, astronomers descend upon an unsuspecting UK city in the greatest gathering of astronomically curious minds: the National Astronomy Meeting, otherwise known as NAM (no, not that 'Nam, though it is quite the battle of the minds). Jen was lucky enough to attend this year and this episode is the first in a series of talks recorded at NAM 2023. 

We're delighted to bring you the expertise of none other than Dr Becky Smethurst of Oxford University (you may know her as Dr Becky on Youtube). In this talk, Dr Becky teaches us how to grow a supermassive black hole – and it's not as easy as you think! Always picture a black hole as a gigantic hoover, sucking up everything that dares to stray too close? Think again…

It's a summer vacation special with Jeni in the mountains of South America astronomising at altitude and visiting the Vera C Rubin telescope as well as obstech.

We have an interview with a Vera Rubin Observatory astronomer as well as a skyguide and an astronomy news round up.

We chat to Dr Kathy Thornton, nuclear physicist turned NASA astronaut who went on to fly on four Space Shuttle missions. Dr Thornton flew for over 40 days and completed over 21 hours of EVA, including the famous operation to fix the blurry Hubble Space Telescope. We talk about her life as an astronaut, the Hubble fix and that fateful day in mission-control on Columbia's last re-entry.

This month Jeni and Paul talk about the recent supernova in galaxy M101; volcanic exoplanets; the growing observational evidence putting the current Big Bang theory under strain and the history of water on both Earth and Mars.

There is discussions on alien contact; exoplanet detection and how long it would take to accelerate to the speed of light.

Paul does a summer reading book review with three space books to keep you entertained on the beach this summer.

Jeni has a look at the Juice mission, Axiom 2, future space station plans and a round up of launches.

This months skyguide includes discussion noctilucent clouds and deep sky in the centre of our galaxy.

To celebrate the Skylab 50th anniversary here is one our favourite astronaut chats from 2012 where we caught up with Skylab 3 and STS-3 astronaut, Jack Lousma. Jack was also capcom during Apollo 13 and he tells us about taking that ominous 'Houston, we've had a problem' call and how they solved each life-threatening issue in sequence to get the astronauts back alive. He talks about missing out on flying Apollo 20 to the moon, being a crew member on the Skylab space station and taking one of the first space shuttles out for a test drive.

This month Paul and Jeni in astronomy news talk about new data on the M87 blackhole, the architecture of planetary systems, the hottest stars, an impact crater in France and how Mars might not have been oxygen rich.

In exploration news there is the latest on  JUICE and they welcome an old friend back to the show to talk about Starship.

There is a review of the recent AstroCamp where the team witnessed one of the biggest geomagnetic storms of recent times and saw one of the most impressive Auroral displays while standing on a Welsh mountain.

Celebrating 55 years since humans first set foot on the Moon with Project Apollo, in this podcast extra, Dr Jen meets with Benoit Faiveley and Mario Freese, founder and chief engineer of Sanctuary on the Moon, a daring project to leave a legacy of humanity on our nearest celestial neighbour. In the late 2020s, 24 coaster-sized sapphire disks will sail to the Moon as part of NASA's Artemis CLPS program. Engraved upon them will be the essence of humanity. One hundred billion pixels depicting the human genome, the work of masters, and the every day - one pixel for every human that ever lived. It is an exploration of ourselves, our world, and our epoch.

Produced by Ralph, Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

Jeni visits Space Forge for an update on their mission to build reusable satellites to manufacture materials that that are impossible on the ground.

She talks to CEO Joshua Western about that fateful launch from Cornwall on Virgin's Cosmic Girl, how they are getting ready for their next test aboard a Falcon 9, their re-entry tech nicknamed 'Mary Poppins in Space' and the company's future plans to scale up the manufacturing process from grams to tons!

In this episode Jeni and Paul talk about exoplanet atmospheres, the latest thinking on solar system visitor Oumuamua, Vigin Orbit's woes, Relativity's 3D success, and the oldest orbiting satellite.

There is the sky guide for April, a discussion about what new telescope Jeni should buy and listener emails, as well as Paul's miserable weather and Jeni's gala dinner talk for International Women's Day.

Paul takes time out from outreach at the Festival of Tomorrow at the Swindon STEAM museum to chat with Professor Robert Walsh of the University of Central Lancashire, who with artist Alex Rinsler has created a giant representation of the Sun as an outreach and art project that uses the data of the Solar Dynamics Observatory.

They talk about solar science, the coronal heating problem, sounding rockets, space missions professor Walsh has been involved with, space weather and why he has his own Sun.

In this episode Jeni tells us about her TEDx talk, dressing up for Mama Mia and eating insane burgers, while Paul appears to have started a modelling career.

In astronomy news the team explore the latest JWST findings that may have broken cosmology and changed everything we thought we knew about the history of the universe, as well as a potential new explanation for dark energy and black holes.

There is the sky-guide looking at the highlights for March as well as the Messier marathon, while in spaceflight news it is all change on the ISS, Boeing may finally be getting its act together and Starship may be going to orbit.

Emails and questions complete a packed show

Interview with astronomer Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Jeni talks to the legendary discoverer of pulsars, champion of women in science and Oxford University astronomer about her astronomy career, inspirations, motivations and key discoveries.

The Discussion:

• Our dark sky practical astronomy event, AstroCamp
• Farewell Apollo 7's Walt Cunningham
• Comet C2022 E3 ZTF reaches naked eye brightness

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in February, we have:

• Incredible finding: stars have not always been made the same way throughout the history of the Universe
• The debacle of the first space launch from UK soil
• 3 rocky water worlds found by the Kepler Space Telescope

The big news story: a decade-long study finds light pollution is worse than we thought

The Sky Guide:

This month we're taking a look at the large winter constellation of Ursa Major with a guide to its history, how to find it, a few deep sky objects to seek out and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in February.

Q&A:

Does the James Webb Space Telescope have to take calibration frames like I do from Earth - darks, flats, and bias frames to then stack? From our good friend Peter Coates in East Yorkshire.

Bringing back the much-missed Awesome Astronomy interviews with a bang, we're joined by friend of the show Chris Lee.

Chris began his career in the 80s in the UK space industry at British Aerospace, Matra Marconi and SCISYS where he worked on the Hubble Space Telescope, the Giotto mission to Halley's Comet, Beagle 2, Exomars and LISA Pathfinder.

He then became the UK Space Agency's first Head of International Space Policy and then Head of Space Science Programmes before becoming Chief Scientist at the UK Space Agency.

Now retired, he's a keen amateur astronomer with Bristol Astronomical Society, an astroimager and listener to the show that we've been wanting to record a chat with for quite a while.

The Discussion:

• A refreshed format coming to Awesome Astronomy in 2023
• A look back at the festive season

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in November, we have:

• Something in the solar system is producing light that's not unaccounted for
• A leak on the International Space Station's lifeboat
• NASA's Mars lander comes to an end
• A new way to look for aliens

The big news story: As the UK gets ready to launch space vehicles for the first time, we take a look at the long history of UK space activity and the concept of launching to space from aircraft.

The Sky Guide:

As many people will have got new observing equipment this Christmas,  we're taking a look at the beginner-friendly constellation of Taurus with a guide to its history, how to find it, a few deep sky objects to seek out and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in January.

Q&A:

The brightest GRB ever recorded occurred on 9th October 2022. Its effects on the Earth's ionosphere was strong enough to be observed by amateur radio astronomers. How did dust form the expanding halo observed around the GRB source? From our good friend Andrew Thomas.

*** Beware, stiff profanity (phnar phnar) in the outtakes at the end ***

Our Christmas Pantomime sees the Awesome Astronomy crew exploring strange new worlds on the Astronomy Star Ship (ASS) Penetrator.

Between the puerile skits you've come to expect from our end of year shows, we bring you a roundup of the best astronomy and space exploration news from 2022. And, of course, a look forward to the highlights to come in 2023.

To all our listeners, a very merry Christmas, happy holidays and a prosperous 2023 (download or die!).

The Discussion:

• Meteor shower disappointment
• Lecturing course started
• Dr Jen's 30th birthday party karaoke – with audio!
• more resources for astronomy and astrophotography over at nightskypix.com

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in November, we have:

• JWST picks up chemical reactions in an exoplanet atmosphere
• ESA's latest astronaut recruitment
• Virgin Galactic gets go ahead to launch from Cornwall
• UK spaceports pop up all over the place
• Rocket Lab continue chasing the reusable rocket dream

The big news story: What else? Artemis 1 launches to make NASA's return to the moon a reality.

The Sky Guide:

This month we're taking a look at the winter constellation of Perseus with a guide to its history, how to find it, a few deep sky objects to seek out and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in December.

Q&A:

Does the x-ray end of the electromagnetic spectrum have Fraunhofer lines like the visual part? And if not, how is x-ray spectroscopy done? From our good friend Graeme Durden, who we all wish the very best as he continues his radiotherapy treatment.

For all listeners that are male and over 50 or have a dad, brother, husband, partner or friend who is male and over 50, please do take a few seconds to assess your prostate cancer risk at: prostatecanceruk.org/risk-checker

This month the team discuss keeping the elderly Hubble alive with a single gyro, how Starliner is currently marooned in orbit and are usually round up of other news from the cosmos, a skyguide for what to look out for and a this month in astronomy history that explores the life of Henrietta Swan-Leavitt. 

The Discussion:

• Enjoying the recent eclipse (weather permitting)
• Jeni is officially recognised as being great
• Visiting the Herschel Museum

And listeners' emails on:

• Having astronomy on the brain
• Cartoon characters in space
• A reflection of Venus off swamp gas!

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in November, we have:

• Why spiral galaxies seem to line up from our perspective
• The origin story for Saturn's rings
• Still waiting for NASA's first Artemis moon mission
• Farewell Apollo 9's Jim McDivitt
• Boeing's zombie Starliner spacecraft gets a crew

The big news story: Hipparchus' star charts found buried in early Christian parchments

The Sky Guide:

This month we're taking a look at the winter constellation of Andromeda with a guide to its history, how to find it, a few deep sky objects to seek out and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in November.

Q&A:

What are the wispy striated filaments visible in the JWST images of the Carina Cliffs? From our good friend Rachel Kronick

Christmas 1980.

Suffolk, England.

Two US airmen witness what they believe is an aircraft coming down in the forest next to their base.

So begins the story of the UKs most notorious UFO sighting, the Rendlesham Forest incident.

Paul dives head first into a 'Hat of Woo' special as he explores the mysterious forest of Rendlesham on the Suffolk coast and considers what this famous conspiracy story says about time and place and of course what really happened.

Jeni and Paul talk to Professor Mike Edmunds, President of the Royal Astronomical Society  and Emeritus Professor of astrophysics at Cardiff University, who is also Dr Jeni's academic grandfather....

Paul gives a quick look at the sky highlights for October and then Jeni, John and Paul host an open panel discussion at AstroCamp where the audience talk about where space begins, JWST, the worth of Artemis and how the infamous Elephant Trunk nebulae incident happened...

The Discussion:

• Farewell Frank Drake
• It's uncrewed, not unmanned!
• Filming with the BBC again
• Listeners' emails on city astronomy and the missing AweAst show this month

The News:

• JWST unearths a huge cosmic riddle
• Artemis 1 moon launch delays
• Solar astronomers solve one of the great mysteries about the Sun
• A round up of all the incredible things that have happened in space this month (thanks to @jessicaxlis for the inspiration… and much of the content!)

Skyguide:

As we're a little late in the month for a September skyguide, this is a quick guide to the astronomy events to observe over the next few months. Pay attention because there's some great oppositions, occultations, eclipses, meteor showers and possibly even a couple of naked eye comets!

Q&A:
Can red-shift, spectroscopy, mass evaluations etc still be counted on even after the images have been distorted & magnified by foreground galaxies? Can the effect of gravitational lensing be accurately accounted for? From our good friend Alan Beech in the UK.

Hear ye! Hear ye!

• Al Worden (went to the moon on Apollo 15): https://tinyurl.com/56w9rkr4
• Al Bean (walked on the moon on Apollo 12): https://tinyurl.com/2ewb5vj3
• Charlie Duke (walked on the moon on Apollo 16): https://tinyurl.com/5fhacvmk

The Discussion:

• The Perseids meteor shower
• Another heatwave in the UK
• The Orville on Disney+

The News:

• NASA is going back to the moon – this month!
• SpaceX join the companies dropping space debris on Australia
• Northrop Grumman & Firefly's new rocket

The news discussion: Loads of news around the International Space Station

Q&A:
What would we like to see happen to the ISS instead of being deorbited? From our good friend Mindy Scott in South Africa.

The Discussion:

The release of JWST's first images, the press conferences and media coverage.

Emails on astrophotography, Dr Jen's TV appearances and a more politically correct alternative name for JWST.

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in August, we have:

• We now know why Jupiter doesn't have rings like Saturn
• A huge triple star system with a violent past
• A fossil galaxy – one of the first galaxies from the early universe
• Some good news for the prospects for life on Mars

The big news story: What else? It's JWST innit?

The Sky Guide:

This month we're taking a look at the summer constellation of Cygnus 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:

No time for Q&A – we've got JWST to prattle on about!

The Discussion:

• Another heatwave in the UK
• Dr Jen on TV covering the latest JWST news
• The Orville on Disney+
• Night Sky on Amazon Prime

The News:

• Preparations for the launch of Starship and an unexpected explosion!
• Artemis 1 readied for launch to the moon
• The topsy turvy world of international cooperation in space
• Virgin Galactic's next plans

The news discussion: NASA's CAPSTONE mission to lunar orbit

Q&A:
If you let your breath out couldn't you dash across 100m of lunar surface in a damaged spacesuit? From our good friend Ben Harding in the UK.

The Discussion:

• More filming for the BBC
• Longer days and shorter nights L
• Showcasing amateur photography on noctilucent clouds
• Listeners' emails on
• • Less well known cultural names for Ursa Major
  • The current planetary alignment in the sky

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in April, we have:

• The Milky Way once went through a massive rate of star formation
• Solving the riddle of how Mars' storms can be so big and violent
• A new data release from the incredible Gaia space telescope
• Solving the riddle of Barnard's Loop

The big news story: A big boost in the search for life in the universe

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 July.

Q&A:

Will a black hole always look like a donut whichever direction you observe it from? From our good friend Mitch Sevier, presumed to be in the United States.

The Discussion:

• Discrimination in science and academia
• Returning to the Welsh valleys to attempt astronomy
• Free NASA merch from Official NASA Gear
• Listener's comments on Boeing and the state of spaceflight innovation.

The News:

• Assembly of China's Tiangong space station
• Artemis 1 wet rehearsal attempt #2
• France join the Artemis Accord
• NASA outsources moon suit developments
• SpaceX's critical approval for starship flight tests

The news discussion: NASA to formally investigate UFOs – is this wise?

Q&A:
How many people can you get on the International Space Station? From our good friend O G Duddy (@Derry_Man1) in Derry, Northern Ireland.

This month is indulgent and ranty! Well it is summer...Jen waxes lyrical about a night out, Paul has written a book and in amongst it is some astronomy!

There is a big dive into the huge aurora display in May, talk of new exoplanets and old ones vanishing. The usual skyguide and this months history moment is all about X rays.

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

The Discussion:

• You can now watch Jen presenting on BBC TV's Weatherman Walking (from 06:40)
• Walking, astronomy and animal abuse in the New Forest
• NASA find the Awesome Astronomy bunker on Mars!
• Listeners' emails on
• • Obscure names for constellations
  • Podcast editorial suggestions
  • Sending us your astrophotography

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in April, we have:

• A companion star that survived a supernova!
• Galaxies that had their dark matter stripped away
• Everything we thought we knew about galaxy evolution is wrong L
• We were just buzzed by an asteroid a mile wide.

The big news story: Only an image of the black hole region at the centre of our galaxy!

The Sky Guide:

This month we're taking a look at the constellation of Draco 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.

Q&A:

What sites and activities could you recommend for disabled amateur astronomers? From our good friend Ash in Wales.

The Discussion:

• Getting back in the studio
• Watch us recording in our behind the scenes 10th Anniversary show
• Inspiring children to think about careers in science
• Listener's emails about swearing in the podcast and catching objects from space.

The News:

• Our favourite Welsh satellite space company, Space Forge
• Rocket Lab's attempt to catch a falling rocket booster with a helicopter
• More JWST updates
• Jeff Bezos buys every western rocket (that's not owned by Musk) for the next 5 years
• UK Space Energy initiative's concept for a Bond villain style space-based solar power plant

The news discussion: The ongoing saga of Boeing's Starliner spaceship

Q&A:
Blue Origin have New Glenn and New Shepard rockets, named after American pioneers of spaceflight. Assuming that this isn't going to just be the men, does this mean that in the future we can expect a rocket called "New Ride"? From our good friend Andy Burns in the UK.

The Discussion:

• Jeni's magazine article on 'everything JWST'
• UK government's social mobility commissioner gets us wound up
• Listeners' emails on:
• • Professional vs amateur astronomy
  • Artificial Intelligence in consumer telescopes
  • JWST's Early Release Observations

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in April, we have:

• New type of nebula discovered by an amateur astronomer
• Detecting life-giving hydrothermal vents on Saturn's moon Europa
• An exoplanet around a dead star in a potential habitable zone
• 'Impossible' galaxies with no dark matter

The big news story: the Planetary Science Decadal Survey is out!

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:

Will JWST be able to confirm the existence of the Ort Cloud? From our good friend Oren Wyche in Maryland USA.

Also check out our YouTube channel here for much more astronomy and spacey goodness: https://www.youtube.com/awesomeastronomy?sub_confirmation=1

The Discussion:

• Watching a SpaceX Starlink launch
• Tales from this month's AstroCamp star party
• Jeni on the radio and TV again
• A listener's email on JWST's first image.

The News:

• NASA's moon rocket finally undergoes testing for the Artemis 1 moon mission next month!
• Rocket Lab attempt to catch a falling rocket booster with a helicopter
• Further affects of the war in Ukraine to the spaceflight industry
• Jeff Bezos buys every western rocket (that's not owned by Musk) for the next 5 years

The news discussion: The Axiom-1 mission to the International Space Station

Nebulas:
A look at the weird and wonderful nebulae that you can see through telescopes or use to understand the interstellar medium and star formation. This month we close this segment of the show with a focus on Dark Nebulas.