The man in the moon, the pyramids on Mars. Every cloud, ever. Humans have a tendency to pattern match when they're looking around the Universe - it's called pareidolia. What causes this behaviour, and how can we use this to debunk some hilarious conspiracy theories?

462: Modeling the Weather Astronomy Cast 462: Modeling the Weather by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

Have you noticed that weather forecasting has gotten much better in the last few years? Thanks to weather satellites, weather stations, and better forecasting techniques. How do scientists predict the weather with any kind of accuracy days or even weeks in the future.

461: Measuring the Weather with Satellites Astronomy Cast 461: Measuring the Weather with Satellites by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

What’s the weather doing? Is it going to rain today? How much? What about temperatures? We depend on modern weather forecasting, thanks, in part to the vast network of weather satellites. What instruments do they have, what orbits do they use.

460: Earth from Afar: Remote Sensing Astronomy Cast 460: Earth from Afar: Remote Sensing by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

The space age has given us the ability to look at every corner of the globe in every wavelength. It’s revolutionized our ability to predict the weather, keep track of environmental damage, and watch the world change. Today we look at what missions and technologies give us the ability to watch our world from afar.

459: Arecibo Observatory Astronomy Cast 459: Arecibo Observatory by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

And now Cassini’s gone. Smashed up in the atmosphere of Saturn. But planetary scientists are going to be picking through all those pictures and data for decades. Let’s look back at some of the science gathered up by Cassini so far, and we can still learn from this epic journey.

458: The Science of Cassini Astronomy Cast 458: The Science of Cassini by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay