Weekly Space Hangout – February 13, 2015 – Paul Gilster and his “Centauri Dreams”

Host: Fraser Cain (@fcain)
Special Guest: Paul Gilster (centauri-dreams.org / @centauri_dreams),author of “Centauri Dreams”
Guests:
Morgan Rehnberg (cosmicchatter.org / @MorganRehnberg )
Dave Dickinson (@astroguyz / www.astroguyz.com)
Brian Koberlein (@briankoberlein)

This Week’s Stories:

SpaceX news
A (very!) salty ocean for Enceladus?
Cassini begins a year of moon imaging
The February ‘Black Moon’
The Number of Reachable Asteroids has Doubled
Stars formed earlier than we thought
Dark matter seen in center of Milky Way
Neil Armstrong Had a Man Purse and It Was Full of Awesome Stuff From His Moon Trip
Lunar Surface Flown Apollo 11 Artifacts From the Neil Armstrong Estate on loan to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Washington D.C.
Pad 39B to Gain New Flame Deflector and Trench Upgrade
Japan’s Akatsuki Spacecraft to Make Second Attempt to Enter Orbit of Venus in December, 2015
Dark Matter Could Create Halos of Light Around Galaxies
NASA, Space Station Partners Announce Future Mission Crew Members
Has Galaxy X Been Found?
Total Solar Eclipse on March 20, 2015
Europe’s Experimental Mini-Space Shuttle Launch
NASA Titan Submarine Concept
Cassini Data Indicates Enceladus’ Ocean Similar to Soda Lakes on Earth
Russia Steps Up as UAE Launched New Space Agency
Surprise! Earth’s Core has a Core
SDO Turns 5!
Astronomers Capture Birth of Multiple Star System
DARPA to Begin Testing Satellite-Launching Fighter Jet This Year
Dark Matter Exists in the Inner Parts of Our Galaxy
Titan Flyby (T-109): Mapping Titan’s North Pole in Infrared
The Hunt for Gravitational Waves Could Be Nearing Success
Twinkle Twinkle Little Exoplanet [hunter]
Future Space Station Crew Dons Jedi Robes for Star Wars-Inspired Poster

We record the Weekly Space Hangout every Friday at 12:00 pm Pacific / 3:00 pm Eastern. You can watch us live on Google+, Universe Today, or the Universe Today YouTube page.

You can join in the discussion between episodes over at our Weekly Space Hangout Crew group in G+, and suggest your ideas for stories we can discuss each week!