Astronomy Cast

In some of the most extreme objects in the Universe, white dwarfs and neutron stars, matter gets strange, transforming into a material that physicists call “degenerate matter”. Let’s learn what it is, how it forms.

When we finally make the jump to fully colonizing the Solar System, we're going to want to use asteroids as stepping stones. We can use them as way stations, research facilities, even as spacecraft to further explore the Solar System. Today we'll talk about the science and science fiction of hollowing out asteroids.

AstronomyCast 381: Hollowing Asteroids

by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

AstronomyCast 380: The Limits of Optics

by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

Astronomers rely on the optics of their instruments, and there are some basic limits that you just can’t avoid. Whatever we look at is distorted by the optics, in fact, a basic property of light means that we’ll never get perfect optics. Here’s why we can’t “magnify and enhance” forever.

When he wasn’t puzzling the mystery of alien civilizations, Enrico Fermi was splitting atoms. He realized that when atoms were split, the neutrons released could go on and split other atoms, creating a chain reaction – and the most powerful weapons ever devised.

AstronomyCast 379: Fermi's Atom Splitting

by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

AstronomyCast 378: Rutherford Atoms,

by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

Physicists knew the interior of the atom contained protons, neutrons and electrons, but they didn’t understand exactly how they were organized. It took Ernest Rutherford to uncover our modern understanding.

AstronomyCast 377: Thomson Finds the Electron

by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay