Allan I Carswell Observatory Presents: York Universe

This week's episode is all about Artemis! Join Maheen and Sunna as they discuss the historic Artemis II mission to the Moon, as well as the history and future of crewed Lunar exploration.

Image: Artemis II Earthset, NASA

As the seasons progress through the year, they also progress through observing targets. This week, we talk about Easter and observing galaxies from home or by visiting our observatory. We also look at some Apollo history, the upcoming Artemis II Mission, and more data than you can possibly imagine from the Vera C. Rubin behemoth!

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This exciting episode features special guest Dr. Rachel Ward-Maxwell from the Ontario Science Center (https://www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/). We cover mysterious Aurora, lunar launches, a bit of Artemis and of course a discussion of the newest science and sci-fi crossovers, the film Hail Mary. Observing tips and science tricks, we even discuss how to break the optical illusion that we all face in our lunar companion.

Image Credit: Rachel Ward-Maxwell, AICO, KPPO, 2025

An extra Northern Lights explainer from Ontario Science Center: https://www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/science-at-home/explore-more/discover-the-northern-lights

Dark matter and dark energy can sound gloomy but there's no need to worry in this episode as Maheen Hemani and Dr. Elaina Hyde talk about dark matter in history, dark matter in the news, dark matter in the Milky Way…. and get very excited! The more we find out about this exciting topic, the less it seems we understand but that doesn't mean we're not going to try!

Image Credit: JWST, from March 14th, 2023 A prelude to a supernova the Wolf-Rayet star WR 124 is shown in all it's glory

Tune into this week's episode to learn about the history of the Voyager and Cassini missions, and important discoveries about Uranus! This week's hosts also discuss several recent news headlines, including an update on the Artemis program and the Vera Rubin Observatory.

Image: Supernova 1987A by JWST. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA

We look at this week in history and have a discussion on Artemis II and other worthy news items!

Please note that we had a bit of a technical glitch on the recording near the beginning of the show but all the important bits are there.

Illustration of Orion in Low Earth Orbit - Image Credit: ESA

A possible Challenge to Cold Dark Matter?

A sad anniversary for the Space Shuttle Challenger

Hubble solves the mystery of Blue Straggler stars

Groundhog Day!

This week, we look at astronomy and space history, including important events in space exploration. We then follow up on the restoration of NASA and other science funding by US Congress, and give updates on manned space exploration.

Image: Veritas Spacecraft in orbit around Venus - Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Here we touch on some brief history and then go onto what kind of astronomy we are looking forward to in 2026 including the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope, Artemis as well as the Pandora and Plato missions to find exoplanets.