It’s hard to imagine a more famous astronomer than Galileo Galilei. He’s widely recognized as the very first person to point a telescope at the skies and then study what he saw. Galileo discovered the moons of Jupiter, the phases of Venus, and much more. But it was his controversial stance on the nature of the Solar System that brought him into conflict with the church.

And now we finish our trilogy of Saturnian astronomers and missions with a look at the Dutch astronomer and mathematician, Christiaan Huygens. It was Huygens who discovered Titan, and figured out what Saturn’s rings really are, so it makes sense that a probe landing on the surface of Titan was named after him.

Last week we talked about the Italian astronomer Giovanni Cassini. This week we’ll talk about the mission that shares his name: NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft. This amazing mission is orbiting Saturn right now, sending back thousands of high resolution images of the ringed planet and its moons.

Another two parter, coming at you. This week we talk about the Italian astronomer, Giovanni Domenico Cassini, best known for discovering Saturn's moons and the biggest division in Saturn's rings. Cassini made many other important discoveries in the Solar System, and in the fields of physics and astronomy.

AstronomyCast 220: Mass Extinction Events

We wanted to spend a few shows talking about some of the most recognizable constellations in the night sky. We've chatted about Orion the Hunter, but now we're going to talk about the Big Dipper, also known as Ursa Major, or the Great Bear - apologies to our southern hemisphere listeners.

AstronomyCast 219: The Planck Mission, by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

AstronomyCast 217: Stellar Classification, by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

AstronomyCast 218: Max Planck Pt. 1, by Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela Gay

How's the weather? Maybe a better question is... why's the weather? What is it about planets and their atmospheres that create weather systems. What have planetary scientists learned about our Earth's weather, and how does this relate to other planets in the Solar System. What is the most extreme weather we know of?