Space and astronomy news
Even though they might be scattered around our planet, astronomers have way to come together to work out issues that face their entire field of study. It’s called the International Astronomical Union, and they’re the ones who work out the new names for stars, and sometimes de-planet beloved Kuiper Belt Objects.
Continue reading “Ep. 525: 100 Years of the International Astronomical Union”
We learned how to figure out the ages of objects in the Solar System, now we push out into the deeper Universe. What about stars, galaxies, and even the Universe itself? How old is it? This episode is part 3 of a series.
Continue reading “Ep. 524: Judging Age & Origins, part 3 – Beyond Our System”
Today we push our aging curiosity out into the Solar System to ask that simple question: how old is it and how do we know? What techniques do astronomers use to age various objects and regions in the Solar System?
This is part two of a series.
Continue reading “Ep. 523: Judging Age & Origins, Pt. 2 Across the Solar System”
Recorded during the Astrotour to Costa Rica, Fraser talks to Dr. Paul Matt Sutter about the nature of dust and BICEP 2’s claim of discovering primordial gravitational waves.
Continue reading “Astronomy Cast Bonus Episode: Dust with Dr. Paul Sutter”
People always want to know how old everything is. And more specifically, they want to know how we know how old everything is. Well, here at Astronomy Cast, it’s our job to tell you now only what we know, but how we know what we know. And today we’ll begin a series on how we know how old everything is.
This is part one of a double episode.
Continue reading “Astronomy Cast Ep. 522: Judging Age & Origins, part 1 – Earth Rocks”
We always focus on the missions, but there’s an important glue that holds the whole system together. The Deep Space Network. Today we’re going to talk about how this system works and how it communicates with all the spacecraft out there in the Solar System.
Continue reading “Astronomy Cast Ep. 521: The Deep Space Network”
This is our second episode in a two part series where we look at Transients in astronomy. In last week’s episode, we talked about things that change here in our own Solar System. Now we’ll talk about everything else in the Milky Way and beyond.
Continue reading “Astronomy Cast Ep. 520: Transients: What They Are and Why They Matter Part 2”
Astronomers have found that sometimes the Universe changes. Things move, things explode, things get brighter or dimmer. In fact, knowing this has helped astronomers discover some very important aspects of the Universe. Today we begin a two part series on Transients and their role in astronomy.
Continue reading “Astronomy Cast Ep. 519: Transients: What They Are and Why They Matter”
We always say the Universe is trying to kill us. But there was this one time, when the Universe used our own fear of nuclear attack against us, nearly setting off a global nuclear war. Nice try Universe, we’re on to you now.
Continue reading “Astronomy Cast Ep. 518: When the Universe tried to Declare War”
One of the most influential astronomers in the 20th Century was Fritz Zwicky. He had his hand in the discovery of dark matter, gravitational lensing, supernovae and neutron stars. And he also worked on a few more controversial ideas like, uh, tired light. Let’s learn more about Zwicky.
Continue reading “Astronomy Cast Ep. 517: Fritz Zwicky and the Zwicky Transient Facility”