AWESOME ASTRONOMY

In this podcast extra episode, there was only one thing playing on all our minds - Space Force. What is it? Why is it? What will it look like? Just like us, I'm sure you'll be none the wiser after this in-depth look into:

• President Trump's plan to create the US Space Force
• The lesser known Welsh Force
• The International Space Treaty
• A few diversions into the future of aircraft technology

The Discussion: Jeni tells us about her more recent astronomy conferences in Eastbourne and Copenhagen. Paul gives us a round up of his astronomy outreach with interesting facts from and a rooftop star party. And Awesome Astronomy gets in deeper than intended with the Alan Bennet/Thora Hird gag that far outstayed its welcome.

The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:

• AMI in the Sky with Diamonds!
• Farewell Apollo 12 moonwalker, Alan Bean
• An old mystery about our moon is solved
• Has the Mars Opportunity rover bitten the dust?

The Interview: This month Jeni speaks to Dr Tana Joseph about the MeerKAT telescope and how outreach is impacting science in South Africa.

Q&A: Listeners' questions via email, Facebook & Twitter take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity. This month we take a look at solar physics:

Will the Parker Solar Probe really touch the surface of the sun and what science will it do? Mark De Vriij in Poland

What to look out, and up, for in July.

With no Jen this month (she's off sciencing), it's just Paul & Ralph's highlights for this month's skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers:

• Mars at its most favourable opposition since 2003
• Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto
• A super-long lunar eclipse

Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year.

• Ralph – Messier 16, The Eagle Nebula
• Paul - NGC 6822, Barnard's Irregular

And we finish this sky guide with July's moon phases.

In this podcast extra episode, released during Pride month, we return to this April's European Week of Astronomy and Space Science where we spoke to Dr Ashley Spindler to find out more about:

• Galaxy evolution, the evolution of galaxy structures and star formation from the MaNGA project using Sloan Digital Sky Survey data
• South East Physics Network placement opportunities for post graduate students
• The challenges and obstacles that still exist for the LGBT community in the workplace and education efforts to make science environments more open and welcoming to all people.

Ashley can also be found at @Ashley_Nova_ on Twitter.

The Discussion: Jeni's talking science conferences while Paul's doing impressions from his Who's Who of Yorkshire legends. Ralph runs through this month's pick of listeners tweets & emails with a focus on exoplanets and a big congrats to listener Dustin Ruoff

The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:

• The earliest stars formed earlier than we thought!
• NASA's latest wow-piece is a helicopter on Mars
• The first interstellar immigrant settles in our solar system

The Interview: This month we have two short interviews - something for the adults, something for the kids: Astronomy on Tap and International Astronomical Youth Camp.

Q&A: Listeners' questions via email, Facebook & Twitter take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity. This month we take a look climate change (don't groan!):

What do you think the general (or astronomy/space) science community's approach to the problem of climate change should be? Are you optimistic? Alan Travelbea in Vancouver, Canada.

What to look out, and up, for in June.

Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month's skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers:

• Asteroid Vesta at opposition
• Saturn
• An overview of Venus, Jupiter and Mars
• Comet 21P - Giacobini–Zinner in Cygnus

Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year.

• Ralph - The Double Double, Epsilon Lyrae, in Lyra
• Paul - Globular Clusters available to view in Ophiuchus
• Jen – Colourful binary star Albireo in Cygnus

And we finish this sky guide with June's moon phases.

This podcast extra is a re-release of our full length interview with the 4th man to walk on the moon aboard the Apollo 12 mission in 1969.

Alan Bean was not only a fighter pilot, Navy test pilot, astronaut, moonwalker, space station commander and artist, but he was also a very considerate, genuine and self-effacing gentleman. We are hugely saddened by the loss of such a lovely man but heartened that he passed away peacefully surrounded by his family.

In this interview, recorded in October 2015 we discussed:

• journeying to the moon on a Saturn V rocket
• your rocket getting struck by lightening
• the mission's colourful commander (Pete Conrad)
• what the moon looked and felt like underfoot
• the science conducted on the surface of the moon
• the future of human spaceflight
• and the Martian Olympics

Farewell Alan Bean. You leave us with only four humans that have memories of walking on the moon but a rich legacy of technological and scientific accomplishments.

In this podcast extra episode, we take a look back at the extraordinary life and work of Stephen Hawking who died on 14th March 2018, leaving a legacy rich with cosmology insights, humour, altruism, science education and a changed landscape in astronomy.

The Discussion: Jeni, Paul & Ralph survived the wilds of the Brecon Beacon's AstroCamp festival of astronomy, Jeni gathers a whole heap of astronomy interviews from the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science, and we read out a couple of emails requesting advice on amateur astronomy mounts, berating us for our April Fools' Twitter gag and asking for more content relevant to the southern hemisphere.

The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:

• A galaxy containing no dark matter
• NASA launches its new exoplanet hunting satellite
• An exoplanet spotted using amateur astronomy equipment

The Interview: This month Jeni caught up with Dr Jane Greaves & Dr Phil Cigan from Cardiff University to talk about their work finding phosphorus in the Crab Nebula – and why phosphorus is so important to life.

Q&A: Listeners' questions via email, Facebook & Twitter take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity. This month we take a look at atmospheres & the habitability of exoplanets:

I thought red-dwarf stars were typically much more volatile than our g-type star and, as a result, planets in a red-dwarf system would typically be bombarded by solar storms and radiation stripping away their atmospheres and making them unlikely spots for life as we know it to be found. So how is it possible to have atmospheres around rocky planets in the Trappist 1 system? Dave Schlaudt in Michigan, USA

What to look out, and up, for in May.

Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month's skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers:

• The ever-brightening Mars
• Jupiter at opposition on 9th May
• Venus in the evening sky
• The Lyrid meteor shower

Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year.

• Ralph – The plethora of summer objects in Sagittarius
• Paul – Globular Cluster, Messier 5, in Serpens
• Jen - M57, The Ring Nebula, in Lyra

And we finish this sky guide with May's moon phases.