AWESOME ASTRONOMY

Bringing back the much-missed Awesome Astronomy interviews with a bang, we're joined by friend of the show Chris Lee.

Chris began his career in the 80s in the UK space industry at British Aerospace, Matra Marconi and SCISYS where he worked on the Hubble Space Telescope, the Giotto mission to Halley's Comet, Beagle 2, Exomars and LISA Pathfinder.

He then became the UK Space Agency's first Head of International Space Policy and then Head of Space Science Programmes before becoming Chief Scientist at the UK Space Agency.

Now retired, he's a keen amateur astronomer with Bristol Astronomical Society, an astroimager and listener to the show that we've been wanting to record a chat with for quite a while.

The Discussion:

• A refreshed format coming to Awesome Astronomy in 2023
• A look back at the festive season

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in November, we have:

• Something in the solar system is producing light that's not unaccounted for
• A leak on the International Space Station's lifeboat
• NASA's Mars lander comes to an end
• A new way to look for aliens

The big news story: As the UK gets ready to launch space vehicles for the first time, we take a look at the long history of UK space activity and the concept of launching to space from aircraft.

The Sky Guide:

As many people will have got new observing equipment this Christmas, we're taking a look at the beginner-friendly constellation of Taurus with a guide to its history, how to find it, a few deep sky objects to seek out and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in January.

Q&A:

The brightest GRB ever recorded occurred on 9th October 2022. Its effects on the Earth's ionosphere was strong enough to be observed by amateur radio astronomers. How did dust form the expanding halo observed around the GRB source? From our good friend Andrew Thomas.

*** Beware, stiff profanity (phnar phnar) in the outtakes at the end ***

Our Christmas Pantomime sees the Awesome Astronomy crew exploring strange new worlds on the Astronomy Star Ship (ASS) Penetrator.

Between the puerile skits you've come to expect from our end of year shows, we bring you a roundup of the best astronomy and space exploration news from 2022. And, of course, a look forward to the highlights to come in 2023.

To all our listeners, a very merry Christmas, happy holidays and a prosperous 2023 (download or die!).

The Discussion:

• Meteor shower disappointment
• Lecturing course started
• Dr Jen's 30th birthday party karaoke – with audio!
• more resources for astronomy and astrophotography over at nightskypix.com

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in November, we have:

• JWST picks up chemical reactions in an exoplanet atmosphere
• ESA's latest astronaut recruitment
• Virgin Galactic gets go ahead to launch from Cornwall
• UK spaceports pop up all over the place
• Rocket Lab continue chasing the reusable rocket dream

The big news story: What else? Artemis 1 launches to make NASA's return to the moon a reality.

The Sky Guide:

This month we're taking a look at the winter constellation of Perseus with a guide to its history, how to find it, a few deep sky objects to seek out and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in December.

Q&A:

Does the x-ray end of the electromagnetic spectrum have Fraunhofer lines like the visual part? And if not, how is x-ray spectroscopy done? From our good friend Graeme Durden, who we all wish the very best as he continues his radiotherapy treatment.

For all listeners that are male and over 50 or have a dad, brother, husband, partner or friend who is male and over 50, please do take a few seconds to assess your prostate cancer risk at: prostatecanceruk.org/risk-checker

The Discussion:

• Enjoying the recent eclipse (weather permitting)
• Jeni is officially recognised as being great
• Visiting the Herschel Museum

And listeners' emails on:

• Having astronomy on the brain
• Cartoon characters in space
• A reflection of Venus off swamp gas!

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in November, we have:

• Why spiral galaxies seem to line up from our perspective
• The origin story for Saturn's rings
• Still waiting for NASA's first Artemis moon mission
• Farewell Apollo 9's Jim McDivitt
• Boeing's zombie Starliner spacecraft gets a crew

The big news story: Hipparchus' star charts found buried in early Christian parchments

The Sky Guide:

This month we're taking a look at the winter constellation of Andromeda with a guide to its history, how to find it, a few deep sky objects to seek out and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in November.

Q&A:

What are the wispy striated filaments visible in the JWST images of the Carina Cliffs? From our good friend Rachel Kronick

Christmas 1980.

Suffolk, England.

Two US airmen witness what they believe is an aircraft coming down in the forest next to their base.

So begins the story of the UKs most notorious UFO sighting, the Rendlesham Forest incident.

Paul dives head first into a 'Hat of Woo' special as he explores the mysterious forest of Rendlesham on the Suffolk coast and considers what this famous conspiracy story says about time and place and of course what really happened.

Jeni and Paul talk to Professor Mike Edmunds, President of the Royal Astronomical Society and Emeritus Professor of astrophysics at Cardiff University, who is also Dr Jeni's academic grandfather....

Paul gives a quick look at the sky highlights for October and then Jeni, John and Paul host an open panel discussion at AstroCamp where the audience talk about where space begins, JWST, the worth of Artemis and how the infamous Elephant Trunk nebulae incident happened...

The Discussion:

• Farewell Frank Drake
• It's uncrewed, not unmanned!
• Filming with the BBC again
• Listeners' emails on city astronomy and the missing AweAst show this month

The News:

• JWST unearths a huge cosmic riddle
• Artemis 1 moon launch delays
• Solar astronomers solve one of the great mysteries about the Sun
• A round up of all the incredible things that have happened in space this month (thanks to @jessicaxlis for the inspiration… and much of the content!)

Skyguide:

As we're a little late in the month for a September skyguide, this is a quick guide to the astronomy events to observe over the next few months. Pay attention because there's some great oppositions, occultations, eclipses, meteor showers and possibly even a couple of naked eye comets!

Q&A: Can red-shift, spectroscopy, mass evaluations etc still be counted on even after the images have been distorted & magnified by foreground galaxies? Can the effect of gravitational lensing be accurately accounted for? From our good friend Alan Beech in the UK.

Hear ye! Hear ye!

• Al Worden (went to the moon on Apollo 15): https://tinyurl.com/56w9rkr4
• Al Bean (walked on the moon on Apollo 12): https://tinyurl.com/2ewb5vj3
• Charlie Duke (walked on the moon on Apollo 16): https://tinyurl.com/5fhacvmk

The Discussion:

• The Perseids meteor shower
• Another heatwave in the UK
• The Orville on Disney+

The News:

• NASA is going back to the moon – this month!
• SpaceX join the companies dropping space debris on Australia
• Northrop Grumman & Firefly's new rocket

The news discussion: Loads of news around the International Space Station

Q&A: What would we like to see happen to the ISS instead of being deorbited? From our good friend Mindy Scott in South Africa.