Astronomy Cast

Astronomy Cast Ep. 633: Weirdly Habitable Places by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay We've always assumed that habitable planets would need to be like Earth; a terrestrial planet orbiting a sunlike star. But now astronomers have been discovering planets in the habitable zone around very much non-sunlike stars. What strange places could be habitable?

Astronomy Cast Ep. 632: Building Images: Optical vs Radio by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay A recent image from the South African MeerKAT Telescope blew our minds. It was a high resolution image of the center of the Milky Way showing delicate filaments and other structures. What was so mind blowing is that this was an image from a radio telescope. Today we’re gonna talk about why this was such an accomplishment and what the future holds for radio astronomy.

Astronomy Cast Ep. 631: All The Uses Of Pulsars (Including Murder) by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Pulsars are the rapidly spinning degenerate husks of dead stars, turning hundreds of times a second. But they're also handy clocks, spinning with such certainty and accuracy that astronomers can use them for all kinds of stuff. We might even use them to navigate the cosmos.

Astronomy Cast Ep. 630: Things We Can Look Forward To by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay In a rare moment of weakness, Pamela has decided she's open to the possibility that a future exists. That missions, telescopes and spacecraft are going to be built and they're going to do science. Today we'll talk about what we're looking forward to before she changes her mind and my naive optimism for the future.

Astronomy Cast Ep. 629: The Cost of Delays by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay With all the success of James Webb so far, it's looking like science's huge gamble is going to pay off, but there were years of delays and budget overruns. What impacts did these delays have on science, careers, and the future of space exploration?

Astronomy Cast Ep. 628: The Sun Revisited by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Once again, it's time to take a look at the Sun. You know, the ongoing thermonuclear explosion of fusing hydrogen that's right over there. Fortunately, there's a fleet of spacecraft and ground observatories ready to give our best ever view of the Sun, so we can watch it. Always watching…

Astronomy Cast Ep. 627: Mercury Revisited by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay It’s been about a thousand years since since we last looked at Mercury. So we figured it’s time for an update. What new things have we learned about Mercury? Or even new questions! Fortunately there’s a mission on the way to help us get some answers.

Astronomy Cast Ep. 626: Terrestrial Planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth & Mars by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay We continue our refreshed tour of the solar system, checking in on the inner terrestrial planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. What have we learned about the formation, evolution and what they might tell us about planets across the Universe.

Astronomy Cast Ep. 625: End of the Year Review by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay We've reached the end of 2021 and this is the last episode of the year. Let's look back at the big space events of the last year and talk about what we're looking forward to in 2022.

Astronomy Cast Ep. 624: Small Rocky Bodies (Including Phobos & Deimos) by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay We've talked about the icy objects of the Solar System, today let's talk about space rocks. There's a surprising variety of rocky material in the Solar System, and each object has a story to tell about the history and formation of the planets, moons and other rocky bodies.