Podcasts

Podcasts: Our Favorite Space Shuttle Missions

July 16, 2011

UT writer Steve Nerlich and I have collaborated for a couple of podcasts on the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast series where we talk about our favorite space shuttle missions. We actually did the first one last year, and decided to do an encore this year with the end of the space shuttle program upon [...]

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Podcast: Orion

June 30, 2011

Most people know how to find two constellations: the Big Dipper, and Orion the Hunter. You can teach a small child to find Orion, and at the right time of year, they’ll find it in seconds. There’s so much going on in this spectacular constellation, from the star formation in the Orion Nebula to mighty [...]

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Interview and tour with GLXP team Omega Envoy – SpacePod 2011.05.30

May 30, 2011

Spacevidcast’s Jason Rhian had a chance to go behind the scenes with the Google Lunar X PRIZE team Omega Envoy to take a peek at their new facility and the progress of their lunar rover. Omega Envoy is one of nearly 30 teams competing to win part of the $30 million dollar pot for sending [...]

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Podcast: Mass Extinction Events

May 9, 2011

The Earth seems like a safe place, most of the time. But we have evidence of terrible catastrophes in the ancient past, times when almost all life on Earth was wiped out in a geologic instant. What could have caused so much devastation? And will something like this happen again? Click here to download the [...]

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Podcast: Archaeoastronomy

March 5, 2011

The Sun, Moon, stars and planets are visible to the unaided eye, and so they have been visible to astronomers since before recorded history. Some of the earliest records we do have tell us what the ancient astronomers thought about the heavens, and how they used the changing night sky in their daily lives. Click [...]

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Podcast: Light Echoes

March 2, 2011

Just as sound can echo off distant objects, light can echo too. And the echoes of light bouncing off stellar remnants, black hole accretion disks, and clouds of gas and dust provide astronomers with another method of probing the distant cosmos. Download Ep. 215: Light Echoes Or subscribe to: astronomycast.com/podcast.xml with your podcatching software. Light [...]

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Podcast: Space Tourism

March 2, 2011

Have you ever wanted to go to space, but lacked the… everything… to be an astronaut? A whole new industry of space tourism will take you where you need to go. There are new companies offering zero-G flights, sub-orbital flights, and there have even been paying customers who have gone into orbit. Is this going [...]

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Podcast: Supermassive Black Holes

February 10, 2011

It’s now believed that there’s a supermassive black hole lurking at the heart of every galaxy in the Universe. These monstrous black holes can contain hundreds of millions of times the mass of our own Sun, with event horizons better than the Solar System. They’re the source of the most energetic particles in the Universe, [...]

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Podcast: Celestial Navigation

January 19, 2011

Before there was GPS, navigators had to rely on the Sun and the stars to find their way around the Earth. It’s easier than it sounds, if you’ve got the right instruments, clear skies, and a really accurate clock. Let’s examine the history of celestial navigation, learn about the different methods, and then give you [...]

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Podcast: Exotic Life

December 17, 2010

We don’t like to cover news on Astronomy Cast, but sometimes there’s a news story that’s interesting, complicated, and rapidly unfolding – and it happens to cover an area that we haven’t talked much about. So today we thought we’d talk about the discovery of arsenic-based life, and exotic forms of life in general. Maybe [...]

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Podcast: The Spitzer Space Telescope

November 29, 2010

Last week we talked about Lyman Spitzer, and this week we’ll take a look at the orbiting observatory that bears his name: the Spitzer Space Telescope. Designed to see into the infrared spectrum, Spitzer has returned images of objects that were previously hidden to astronomers by thick shrouds of gas and dust. Click here to [...]

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Podcast: Lyman Spitzer

November 22, 2010

Time for another action-packed double episode of Astronomy Cast. This week we focus on the Lyman Spitzer, a theoretical physicist and astronomer who worked on star formation and plasma physics. Of course, this will lead us into next week’s episode where we talk about the mission that bears his name: the Spitzer Space Telescope. Click [...]

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Podcast: Fission

November 14, 2010

Last week we talked about fusion, where atoms come together to form heavier elements. This week, everything comes apart as we talk about nuclear fission. How it occurs naturally in the Universe, and how it has been harnessed by science to produce power, and devastating weapons. Click here to download the episode Fission – Show [...]

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Podcast: Fusion

November 11, 2010

When the Universe formed after the Big Bang, all we had was hydrogen. But through the process of fusion, these hydrogen atoms were crushed into heavier and heavier elements. Fusion gives us warmth and light from the Sun, destruction with fusion bombs, and might be a source of inexpensive energy. We’ll also look into the [...]

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Podcast: More From Tony Colaprete on LCROSS

October 28, 2010

I had the chance to interview LCROSS principal investigator Anthony Colaprete about the latest findings released from the lunar impact of the spacecraft a year ago, and in addition to the article we posted here on Universe Today, I also did a podcast for the NASA Lunar Science Institute. If you would like to actually [...]

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Podcast: Temperature

October 27, 2010

Now we’re going to answer a question that a 4-year old might ask – what is temperature? Why are things hot and why are they cold? How hot or cold can they get? And how is this all important for astronomy? Click here to download the episode Temperature – Show notes and transcript Or subscribe [...]

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365 Days of Astronomy Podcast to Continue in 2011

October 19, 2010

If you’ve been considering contributing a podcast to the 365 Days of Astronomy but just haven’t gotten around to it yet, there’s good news: the project will be continuing for another year — its third — in 2011. As far as we can tell, 365 Days of Astronomy is the most popular and successful user-generated [...]

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Podcast: The Planets at Gliese 581

October 12, 2010

With the discovery of a planet in the habitability zone of Gliese 581, the chances of finding life on other worlds is just getting better and better. Let’s take a look at the discoveries made at Gliese 581, provide some perspective on the real chances of life, and talk about what might come next. Click [...]

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Podcast: Titan

October 6, 2010

Titan is Saturn’s largest moon, and the second largest moon in the Solar System. It’s unique in the Solar System as the only moon with an atmosphere. In fact, scientists think that Titan’s thick atmosphere – rich in hydrocarbons – is similar to the early Earth, and could give us clues about how life got [...]

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