Space Junk

TagBackTV is a popular gaming streamer on YouTube who has incorporated his love of astrophotography into his streams, introducing a new audience to amateur astronomy

What better way to commemorate International Dark Sky Week than by talking with Kelly Beatty, a former editor of Sky and Telescope Magazine and light pollution activist.  He tells us how big an issue our disappearing dark skies are, his thoughts on the new Starlink constellation of satellites from SpaceX and what we can all do to help combat the lightening of our night.

We have limited information about the effects of alcohol in space, but there's no doubt that it is a very important cultural feature for many of us.  Chris Carberry, the CEO of Explore Mars and author of "Alcohol in Space" joins us to talk about the role alcohol can play, if not in space survivability, then at least in coping with space travel.

We also discuss the latest efforts to get to Mars and whether we can get there by the 2030's.

Taking high quality images of our nearest celestial neighbor is harder than you think.  Luckily we've brought Robert Reeves back to our podcast to help you take the best possible images of the moon.  He's also shared a lot of high quality images of his own in the link below:

http://bit.ly/3f0NXAN

One of the most important activities that professional astronomers are engaged in is looking for objects out there that might hit the Earth and in THAT task, they can use all the help they can get.  With today's amateur equipment it is now possible to engage in professional-level sky searches for asteroids that help keep tabs on all the big rocks out in the solar system, some of which are potentially hazardous to us.  Mike Forslund, aka Asteroid Hunters has set up an automated system in his driveway that assists astronomers in locating and tracking asteroids.  In this episode, Mike updates us on what's changed for him (turns out it's a lot!) since our last time together.

Arelius Mitty and Griffin Haisman are two young amateurs just getting started in our exciting hobby.  Both have worked closely with Dustin to produce some of the most amazing images we've ever seen.  In this episode we dive into what got them interested in the hobby as well as some insights into what barriers they faced.  We also look into the future of these two talented young imagers.

Don Pettit is a chemical engineer from Silverton, Oregon who also happens to be an astronaut!  An avid amateur astronomer, he is a veteran of three flights into space: once on a space shuttle flight, and two more aboard the ISS where he logged more than six months in space.  Don brings his expertise and interest in amateur astronomy to everything he does, including conducting some observations from orbit and as the oldest active NASA astronaut, has a lot of wisdom and experience to share.

Astrobin was created as a labor of love with the goal of providing context to astro images that astrophotographers could appreciate and use.  Salvatore Lovene, the founder and creator of this resource joins us to talk about why he started the project and how it will serve the astrophotography community.

Passion for anything is a powerful motivator, our guest today channels our innate passion for our place in the universe as a driver to improve science education and literacy.  Rachel Freed is an avid amateur astronomer, professional scientist and educator who is dedicating herself to improving education using astronomy.

I can't tell you how many times I get called out calling The Big Dipper a constellation.  "It's not a constellation, it's an ASTERISM!"  OK, fine.  So, what's the difference?  Listen to this podcast to find out!