Astronomy Cast

We can thank Arthur Eddington for much of our current understanding of stars. He provided some of the breakthrough concepts that explain what's going on, deep inside the hottest places in the Universe. Sadly, the spacecraft associated with his name wasn't so successful.

This week we talk about: Black Holes as particle detectors, New advances in Chinese space exploration, Asteroid research, History of women in space. We're joined by Amy Shira Teitel, Alan Boyle, Ian O'Neill, and Michael Wall. Hosted by Fraser Cain

This week we talk about: Lakes on Titan, Mars Curiosity landing, Earth-type worlds more common, NuSTAR Mission launch. We are joined by Amy Shira Teitel, Emily Lakdawalla, and Nicole Gugliucci

AstronomyCast 264: The Hazards of Space Flight, by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

An object at rest tends to stay at rest. An object in motion tends to stay in motion. Isaac Newton dismantled the traditional idea that objects would tend to slow down over time, and described the concept of inertia: the amount an object will resist changes in its motion.

AstronomyCast 263: Radioactive Decay, by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

AstronomyCast 262: Solar Sails, by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

Last week we talked about energy, and this week we’ll talk about mass. And here’s the crazy thing. Mass, matter, the stuff that the Universe is made of, is the same thing as energy. They’re connected through Einstein’s famous formula – E=mc2. But what is mass, how do we measure it, and how does it become energy, and vice versa.

In this week's Weekly Space Hangout, we talk about the Transit of Venus, the transfer of the space shuttle Enterprise, the future of commercial space exploration, and the new movie Prometheus. We're joined by Alan Boyle from http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/ and Amy Shira Teitel from http://www.amyshirateitel.com/

AstronomyCast 261: Lasers & Masers in Astronomy, by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay