Looking Up

In 2019 we all celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first humans to walk on the moon, but August 2021 brings us an arguably more impressive 50th anniversary first on the moon: driving.

Venus is often an easy to spot highlight as we get into the dog days of summer, but Deans got a few other lesser profiled happenings and constellations in the late summer skies that are worth pointing your telescope toward to provide tips for. We also dive deep into the mysterious Norwood UFO Report of 1949. Several carnival goers insisted they saw UFO activity happening all over the skies over Norwood, Ohio... but what was it really? We're also excited to welcome host of Infinity and Beyond , a

Looking Up: Exploring the Diet of Black Holes

The summer months bring longer days with more sunlight and warm temperatures many of us love... but maybe not so much for astronomers uninterested in staying up all night. On this episode Dean and Anna discuss some of the pros and cons of summer stargazing as well as previews of what to look for in these coming months because there's always an eclipse to be chasing somewhere! We are also joined by co-host of Science Rules! with Bill Nye, and former Editor at Discover Magazine, Corey Powell (@coreyspowell) to talk about the importance of science education as well as the numerous international space missions happening these days that may not have made it onto your radar.

From monkeys, to turtles, to dogs, and more (for better or worse) humans have used animals to test different aspects of space travel since its earliest days. This week, Dean and Anna discuss some of those missions along with the their pitches for what signs of life we are most likely to potentially discover within our own solar system as well as what they hope we might find some day. We are also joined by Head Keeper at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens, Cody Sowers to discuss their recent decision to name their latest baby penguins Mars and Rover, as well as other tie ins between zoo keeping and astronomy.

We all want to believe in the possiblity of extra terrestrial life and there's lots of compelling UFO documentation and videos coming from the Pentagon these days... but what are the odds of actual contact with alien life in the near future? In this episode, Anna is ready to believe, while Dean, ever the astute man of science he is, explains some of his skepticism.

Dean and Anna continue their coverage and discussion of the Mars Perseverance Rover's exciting mission discussing its latest success: flight on another planets atmosphere! They offer their impressions of the Ingenuity Helicopter's first flight last month, the challenges of accomplishing such a feat, and what to expect moving forward.

Pink Moons, Red Moons, Blood Moons, Harvest Moons, and on and on... Just how many different "moons" are there? It seems there's an awful lot of names for allegedly unique full moons these days. On this episode Dean and Anna will explore all of these. They'll also layout some upcoming eclipses so you know what to expect and where to view them.

Dean and Anna are joined by Sampling Science Systems Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (and Cincinnati raised!), Robert Moeller. He shares some of his journey from his younger days in Cincinnati suburb, Reading, Ohio to working at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as an engineer for the Mars Perseverance Rover mission. Together they celebrate the succesful landing of Perseverance in late February, while taking a look forward to what's next for the misison.