The 365 Days of Astronomy

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

Streamed live Oct 13, 2017.

What's the weather doing? Is it going to rain today? How much? What about temperatures? We depend on modern weather forecasting, thanks, in part to the vast network of weather satellites. What instruments do they have, what orbits do they use.

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The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by Astrosphere New Media. http://www.astrosphere.org/

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

While you're at it, do support our Learning Space educator training program by going to this site:

https://www.patreon.com/LearningSpace

Please help us keep training the trainers! Learning Space is a weekly G+ Hangout on Air about topics in astronomy education, outreach and other ways to share science both in the school setting and outside it. We bring you interviews, hands-on demonstrations, lists of our favorite educational resources and more!

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.

Today's 2 topics:

- DLR's EU:CROPIS is a mission to test growing tomatoes in orbit in both lunar and Martian gravities. http://www.dlr.de/rb/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-6815/11182_read-40094/

- Greg Leonard discovered asteroid 120 foot diameter 2017 BV93. It is a possible destination for astronauts to visit.

Do go visit http://astrogear.spreadshirt.com/ 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 Astrosphere New Media. http://www.astrosphere.org/

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

While you're at it, do support our Learning Space educator training program by going to this site:

https://www.patreon.com/LearningSpace

Please help us keep training the trainers! Learning Space is a weekly G+ Hangout on Air about topics in astronomy education, outreach and other ways to share science both in the school setting and outside it. We bring you interviews, hands-on demonstrations, lists of our favorite educational resources and more!

Description: Astronomers discovered these mysterious structures called spiders on the south polar region of Mars. In this podcast, Gemini astronomer Meg Schwamb, an assistant scientist at Gemini Observatory in Hilo, Hawaii, describes how a citizen science project at Zooniverse ( https://www.zooniverse.org/ & https://www.planetfour.org/ ) helped astronomers learn more about Martian spiders.

Rob Sparks is a science education specialist in the EPO group at NOAO and works on the Galileoscope project ( www.galileoscope.org ), providing design, dissemination and professional development. He also blogs  at halfastro.wordpress.com.

Do go visit http://astrogear.spreadshirt.com/ 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 Astrosphere New Media. http://www.astrosphere.org/

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

While you're at it, do support our Learning Space educator training program by going to this site:

https://www.patreon.com/LearningSpace

Please help us keep training the trainers! Learning Space is a weekly G+ Hangout on Air about topics in astronomy education, outreach and other ways to share science both in the school setting and outside it. We bring you interviews, hands-on demonstrations, lists of our favorite educational resources and more!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZx7kdvqgko

Streamed live Oct 11, 2017.

Host: Fraser Cain ( @fcain )
Special Guest: Chris Prophet is the author of SpaceX From the Ground Up in which he examines SpaceX's commercial plan to colonise Mars in the 2020's, including their many technical innovations, culminating in the Mars Colonial Transporter. Chris began his career as a semiconductor fabrication design engineer and ultimately went on to specialize in technical acquisitions and publishing. Chris authored numerous periodical stories before graduating to full-length stories with a contemporary Sci-fi influence.

Regular Guests:

Dr. Paul Matt Sutter ( http://www.pmsutter.com/ & @PaulMattSutter )

Dr. Kimberly Cartier ( http://KimberlyCartier.org & @AstroKimCartier )

This week's stories:

- Missing matter is found!

- Maybe an answer on the mystery of Tabby's Star.

- NASA's Moon plans.

Do go visit http://astrogear.spreadshirt.com/ 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 Astrosphere New Media. http://www.astrosphere.org/

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

While you're at it, do support our Learning Space educator training program by going to this site:

https://www.patreon.com/LearningSpace

Please help us keep training the trainers! Learning Space is a weekly G+ Hangout on Air about topics in astronomy education, outreach and other ways to share science both in the school setting and outside it. We bring you interviews, hands-on demonstrations, lists of our favorite educational resources and more!

Episode 11 of the Urban Astronomer Podcast features an interview with Martin Heigan, of Johannesburg, South Africa.  Martin works in the field of 3D VisualFX and motion capture, providing these services for both local and foreign TV and film productions.  But I was more interested in his astrophotography, so I called him about two weeks ago to record this interview. In this recording, we discuss Martin's relatively new career as an astrophotographer, his background in the world of computer graphics, and how a lifetime's experience in photography helped him skip over most of the early learning curve of astrophotography.

Allen Versfeld ( @uastronomer ) is an amateur astronomer, an IT professional, a podcaster, a father of five beautiful kids and a barely competent chess player. He is also the director of the Astrophotography Section of the Astronomical Society of South Africa, where he coordinates and promotes the activities of people who are far better photographers than him.

Do go visit http://astrogear.spreadshirt.com/ 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 Astrosphere New Media. http://www.astrosphere.org/

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

While you're at it, do support our Learning Space educator training program by going to this site:

https://www.patreon.com/LearningSpace

Please help us keep training the trainers! Learning Space is a weekly G+ Hangout on Air about topics in astronomy education, outreach and other ways to share science both in the school setting and outside it. We bring you interviews, hands-on demonstrations, lists of our favorite educational resources and more!

Like a team of real-life Indiana Joneses, scientists have explored our galaxy and found a treasure trove of hidden gems.

OK, Indy wasn't looking for gems specifically. It was historical artifacts he was going for, but work with me here, work with me!

These gems are much more spectacular than the diamonds that Indiana Jones might have hoped to find – they are collections of dazzling stars!

Do go visit http://astrogear.spreadshirt.com/ 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 Astrosphere New Media. http://www.astrosphere.org/

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

While you're at it, do support our Learning Space educator training program by going to this site:

https://www.patreon.com/LearningSpace

Please help us keep training the trainers! Learning Space is a weekly G+ Hangout on Air about topics in astronomy education, outreach and other ways to share science both in the school setting and outside it. We bring you interviews, hands-on demonstrations, lists of our favorite educational resources and more!

Paul Hill, Ralph Wilkins and Jenifer Millard host. Damien Phillips and John Wildridge produce.

The Discussion: You’d be forgiven for thinking we recorded this episode drunk – but we assure you, we weren’t. And you’ll have to forgive us for our shameless national stereotyping too! And 'Allo 'Allo as well!

But in this show, recorded from our dark sky star party in the Welsh Brecon Beacons, we discuss the event, Jeni’s talk on exoplanet research and we take a look at listeners’ emails.

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

A fresh look at the age and high metallicity of an observable star cluster NGC 6791.

Australia takes the plunge and announces the creation of its own space agency

Research giving hints of water on planets in the TRAPPIST 1 system.

The Interview: We have physicist Dr. Jim Al-Kahlili of the University of Surrey!

Hat of Woo: Paul’s festering Hat of Woo gets another airing as we take a look at the end of the world on 23rd September as planet Nibiru collides with Earth (or the beginning of The Rapture, if the world doesn’t end). Assuming you’re reading this or listening to the podcast, the world clearly didn’t end!

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’re tackling a question about the consequences of discovering life on another planet to planetary exploration:

Clemens Unger, Melbourne Australia: “Let’s say the next Mars rover that is tweaked to find life on Mars finds some microbial life what impact would that have on the whole Mars exploration plans? I cannot imagine that one can send a crew of astronauts to Mars' surface and avoid contamination. If Mars is declared some sort of reserve shouldn't we then shelve all these plans?"

http://www.awesomeastronomy.com

Do go visit http://astrogear.spreadshirt.com/ 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 Astrosphere New Media. http://www.astrosphere.org/

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

While you're at it, do support our Learning Space educator training program by going to this site:

https://www.patreon.com/LearningSpace

Please help us keep training the trainers! Learning Space is a weekly G+ Hangout on Air about topics in astronomy education, outreach and other ways to share science both in the school setting and outside it. We bring you interviews, hands-on demonstrations, lists of our favorite educational resources and more!

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

Streamed live Oct 6, 2017.

The space age has given us the ability to look at every corner of the globe in every wavelength. It's revolutionized our ability to predict the weather, keep track of environmental damage, and watch the world change. Today we look at what missions and technologies give us the ability to watch our world from afar.

Do go visit http://astrogear.spreadshirt.com/ 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 Astrosphere New Media. http://www.astrosphere.org/

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

While you're at it, do support our Learning Space educator training program by going to this site:

https://www.patreon.com/LearningSpace

Please help us keep training the trainers! Learning Space is a weekly G+ Hangout on Air about topics in astronomy education, outreach and other ways to share science both in the school setting and outside it. We bring you interviews, hands-on demonstrations, lists of our favorite educational resources and more!

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.

Today's 2 topics:

- Carson Fuls discovered the 70m diameter asteroid 2017 AG13. It came 2 Lunar Distances from Earth this time. Next pass is 2091 and it is not expected to collide in the forseable future. Then he discovered 2017 BH30, which passed 3.5 Earth diameters away.

- Comet C2 2015 V2Johnson, discovered by Jess Johnson, is in a hyperbolic path and won't be coming back. Bye bye!

Do go visit http://astrogear.spreadshirt.com/ 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 Astrosphere New Media. http://www.astrosphere.org/

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

While you're at it, do support our Learning Space educator training program by going to this site:

https://www.patreon.com/LearningSpace

Please help us keep training the trainers! Learning Space is a weekly G+ Hangout on Air about topics in astronomy education, outreach and other ways to share science both in the school setting and outside it. We bring you interviews, hands-on demonstrations, lists of our favorite educational resources and more!

We lose a couple planets in October, but Saturn and Venus continue to shine, with Mars getting brighter and higher in the morning. Morning seems to be the theme of the month, as we also get some nice close encounters involving Mars and Venus, an occultation of Regulus, and the Orionid Meteor shower, all happening before sunrise.

5th – Close Encounter – Venus, Mars – Look East after 5:44am, and you’ll easily find Venus. Look only ¼˙ down and to the right and you’ll find dim, red Mars.

15th – Morning Occultation of Regulus – The Moon will pass in front of Leo’s brightest star Regulus this morning. 

Times vary, and can be found at http://lunar-occultations.com/iota/bstar/bstar.htm

20th – 22nd – Orionid Meteor Shower – You’ll have to get up early in the morning for this one, as the meteors appear to radiate from the radiant, which is in the club of Orion.  I usually don’t say much about this one, since it usually produces only 10-15 meteors per hour, but the Moon will be non-visible, therefore you’ll get really good skies.

Do go visit http://astrogear.spreadshirt.com/ 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 Astrosphere New Media. http://www.astrosphere.org/

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

While you're at it, do support our Learning Space educator training program by going to this site:

https://www.patreon.com/LearningSpace

Please help us keep training the trainers! Learning Space is a weekly G+ Hangout on Air about topics in astronomy education, outreach and other ways to share science both in the school setting and outside it. We bring you interviews, hands-on demonstrations, lists of our favorite educational resources and more!