Episode 208.

Today's guest: Professor Thomas Hockey, with the University of Northern Iowa, is the recipient of HAD's 2026 LeRoy E. Doggett Prize, which is awarded biennially to an individual who has significantly influenced the field of the history of astronomy by a career-long effort. In today's episode, our focus is mainly on his more significant books.

H'ad astra historia is the official podcast for the Historical Astronomy Division of the American Astronomical Society. We're here to share stories from and about the people who study the stars, planets, and the cosmos. We'll be hearing from individuals who not only study the history of astronomy, but also those who lived it, who were "in the room" during pivotal events within the last 50 years or so.

Podcast music: "Frost Waltz" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under creative commons: by attribution 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Podcaster:

Loretta Cannon (an AAS affiliate via Rose City Astronomers) is a science-and-word-nerd who really likes outer space and the people who study it. She quite enjoys working as HAD's podcaster, bringing astronomy stories to you.

We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.

Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can!

Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!

Every bit helps! Thank you!

------------------------------------

Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness!

http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.

Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!)

------------------------------------

The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu

Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at [email protected].

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGY4t683Xro

Hosted by: Fraser Cain ( @frasercain ) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay ( @CosmoQuest )

Streamed live on Dec 22, 2025.

Shortly after the big bang there were almost exactly the same amounts of matter and antimatter in the Universe, but there was just enough of a difference that we live in a matter-dominated Universe. But it didn't have to be that way! Explaining this mystery has been one of the great mysteries in astronomy, and today we'll see if there's been any progress! Why is the Universe the way it is? Specifically, why is it made mostly of matter? This is the question we'll look at today!

This show is supported through people like you on Patreon.com/AstronomyCast

In this episode, we'd like to thank: Andrew Poelstra, BogieNet, Brian Cagle, Burry Gowen, David, David Rossetter, Ed, Gerhard Schwarzer, Jason Kwong, Jeanette Wink, Michael Purcell, Sergey Manouilov, Siggi Kemmler, Sérgio Sancevero

We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.

Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can!

Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!

Every bit helps! Thank you!

------------------------------------

Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness!

http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.

Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!)

------------------------------------

The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu

Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at [email protected].

Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( @Nmcanopus ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. travelersinthenight.org

From March 2025.

Today's 2 topics:

- Astronomers have yet to discover any long lasting natural object, beside our Moon, which orbits the Earth, however, occasionally, a small space rock enters into a temporary dance with our home planet.

- My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was asteroid hunting in the constellation of Hydra with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona when a fast moving unknown point of light passed through a set of his images. After Greg reported his observations to the Minor Planet Center for the next 10 days it was tracked by observatories in Arizona, Italy, Hawaii, Australia, and Argentina. Citizen scientist H. A. Güler analyzed these data. The Minor Planet Center published the discovery of the near Earth asteroid 2018 CN41. The discovery was deleted when the object turned out to be a Falcon Heavy Rocket Upper stage with a Tesla roadster attached.

We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.

Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can!

Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!

Every bit helps! Thank you!

------------------------------------

Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness!

http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.

Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!)

------------------------------------

The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu

Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at [email protected].

Hosted by Dr. Jacinta Delhaize, Dr. Tshiamiso Makwela & Dr. Daniel Cunnama.

In this "mid-season special" episode, we introduce you to an extraordinary giant radio galaxy nicknamed "Inkathazo", meaning 'trouble' in isiXhosa and isiZulu. We speak with Kathleen Charlton, a Master's student from the University of Cape Town, about the discovery of Inkathazo and her newly published work on the topic.

Kathleen spoke with us from the University of Oxford, where she was working with team members from the 'MIGHTEE' collaboration. She describes her experiences of first attending the AGN Populations Across Continents and Cosmic Time conference in Durham and then her research visit to Oxford. She also explains her research into both hydrogen absorption and giant radio galaxies.

In her newly published paper, Kathleen uses South Africa's MeerKAT telescope to study the strange physics going on in three giant radio galaxies (or GRGs for short). GRGs are behemoth galaxies spewing out plasma jets spanning millions of light-years. She nicknamed one of these 'Inkathazo', which means 'trouble' in the African Xhosa and Zulu languages, because of its "troublesome" properties. It has unusually bent plasma jets and resides at the center of a galaxy cluster. This raises intriguing questions about how these enormous structures form and evolve.

Kathleen describes how she used MeerKAT to create some of the highest-resolution "spectral age maps" of giant radio galaxies ever made. These maps track the age of the plasma across different parts of the GRG, providing clues about the complex plasma physics at work in these extreme galaxies.

We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.

Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can!

Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!

Every bit helps! Thank you!

------------------------------------

Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness!

http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.

Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!)

------------------------------------

The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu

Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at [email protected].

From January 27, 2021.

It's a day ending in 'y', and planetary formation theories are once again being challenged. This time the challenge comes from a six-planet system with five planets in resonance. Plus a cloudless Jupiter, TRAPPIST-1, volcanoes, and some science of the weird.

We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.

Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can!

Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!

Every bit helps! Thank you!

------------------------------------

Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness!

http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.

Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!)

------------------------------------

The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu

Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at [email protected].

Hosted by Dr. Pamela Gay.

A gentle fancy for the Christmas Season—an oft-told tale with a wistful twistful of Something that left the Earth with a wing and a prayer.

Earlier today, I had the stark realization that at the core of many Christmas stories is a core of sorrow or longing that must somehow be transformed into joy. Scrouge must learn charity. Ralphie longs for a bb gun and is betrayed by his joy. George is on the brink of suicide when his Guardian Angel intercedes. John McClane just needs to keep his wife alive (yes, Die Hard is a Christmas movie). Over and over, the holiday spirit can only enter on the wings of struggle.

This realization came to me as I looked for an old school (aka public domain) science fiction story to narrate for tomorrow's episode of 365 Days of Astronomy. The first story I came across (which I'll personally share tomorrow), was Arthur C Clarke's, "The Star" and it was too dark for that family-friendly podcast. Instead, I read "Second Landing," by Floyd Wallace. This story originally appeared in Amazing Science Fiction Stories.

Read it here: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/24958/pg24958-images.html

Written in 1960 by Floyd L. Wallace, this story is weirdly timeless and felt utterly necessary for this moment. Aliens learn of Earth from our broadcasts, and they fear we are on the verge of destroying ourselves with the bomb. To say more would be to reveal the plot.

I invite you to listen here and find hope in a world of too much darkness.

Merry Christmas.

We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.

Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can!

Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!

Every bit helps! Thank you!

------------------------------------

Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness!

http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.

Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!)

------------------------------------

The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu

Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at [email protected].

Hosted by our Director, Avivah Yamani!

What does "solstice" really mean? In this episode, we unpack the Sun's yearly turning point, the seasonal flip between hemispheres, and the ancient sky-architecture of Stonehenge, from June solstice sunrise to December solstice sunset.

We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.

Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can!

Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!

Every bit helps! Thank you!

------------------------------------

Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness!

http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.

Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!)

------------------------------------

The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu

Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at [email protected].

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE8yHySiJ4A

Hosted by Tony Darnell.

From Sep 21, 2012.

This video was done by request from a Space Fan. Hope it's what you had in mind.

IC 1101 is over one billion light years away in the constellation Virgo, just over the border from Serpens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC_1101

We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.

Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can!

Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!

Every bit helps! Thank you!

------------------------------------

Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness!

http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.

Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!)

------------------------------------

The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu

Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at [email protected].

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uvcumUc6Gc

Hosted by: Fraser Cain ( @frasercain ) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay ( @CosmoQuest )

Streamed live on Dec 15, 2025.

Atomic hydrogen is the raw material for stars, but there's a problem. It's cold & dark, but it can do a very rare trick, releasing a photon in a very specific wavelength, known as the 21 centimeter line. And thanks to this wavelength astronomers have mapped out star forming regions across the Milky Way, the Universe and into the Dark Ages! This forbidden transition of Hydrogen has led to the mapping of galaxy rotation, a cool classroom application of quantum mechanics, and weirdly no Nobel prize. In this episode, Fraser and Pamela take a look at this line's out-of-proportion awesomeness!

This show is supported through people like you on Patreon.com/AstronomyCast

In this episode, we'd like to thank: Andrew Poelstra, BogieNet, Brian Cagle, Burry Gowen, David, David Rossetter, Ed, Gerhard Schwarzer, Jason Kwong, Jeanette Wink, Michael Purcell, Sergey Manouilov, Siggi Kemmler, Sérgio Sancevero

We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.

Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can!

Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!

Every bit helps! Thank you!

------------------------------------

Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness!

http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.

Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!)

------------------------------------

The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu

Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at [email protected].

Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( @Nmcanopus ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. travelersinthenight.org

From October 2025.

Today's 2 topics:

- Friday the 13th appears to continue to be a lucky day for the human race. When astronomers first discovered Apophis in 2004 it appeared possible that this 3 million ton, 1,200 foot diameter asteroid traveling at 8 mi/s could impact our planet creating a crater a several miles diameter and more than a half mile deep. Additional observations over the years have eliminated this possibility as Apophis streaks by closer than the communications satellites on that lucky Friday the 13th. Further, current calculations have reduced the chances of Apophis colliding with Earth in the next 100 years to about one in 100,000. However, over the millennia Apophis is likely to strike the Earth as does one it's size once every 100,000 years or so.

- Finding a meteorite that has traveled billions of miles through space to reach it's present location is exciting. It might even be worth real money.

We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.

Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can!

Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!

Every bit helps! Thank you!

------------------------------------

Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness!

http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.

Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!)

------------------------------------

The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu

Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at [email protected].