The 365 Days of Astronomy

Hosted by Rob Webb.

February is a great month for anyone looking to see the naked eye planets Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus, and Mercury.  The later you stay up, or the earlier you wake up, the more you’ll be able to see.

PLANETS...well, the ones visible with your naked eye

Planets you can see around Sunset – None

Planets you can see throughout the night – Jupiter (ESSW)

Planets you can see in the Morning – Mercury (SE), Venus (SE), Saturn (SSE), Mars (S), Jupiter (SW)

We have a great lineup of all the naked eye planets (note I did not say “alignment”).  Look in the morning after 6am and you’ll be able to see Mercury very low in the southeast, Venus to the right and up, Saturn to the right and further up, Mars after that in the South, and Jupiter in the southwest. It’s rare to see such a thing, but the earlier in the month you go out, the better, since Mercury gets lower after the first week.

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=-Z9x6_vqxVg

Streamed live on Jan 29, 2016

Host: Fraser Cain (@fcain)
Guests:
Carolyn Collins Peterson ( thespacewriter.com / space.about.com / @spacewriter )
Morgan Rehnberg ( cosmicchatter.org / @MorganRehnberg )
Kimberly Cartier ( @AstroKimCartier )
Jolene Creighton ( fromquarkstoquasars.com / @futurism )
Paul Sutter ( pmsutter.com / @PaulMattSutter )
Their stories this week:
- Alien megastructures… Or not. The battle of the scientific papers begins.

- This Week in Bezos

- Elon Musk and the quest for Mars (plans for manned mission by 2025)

- Remembrance Stories of Apollo 1 and Challenger

- Work begins on NASA’s *other* telescope, WFIRST

- Hubble Sees Monstrous Cloud Boomerang Back to our Galaxy

- Largest solar system found, and more on Planet 9…

- Telescopes team up to produce highest-resolution VLBI astronomical image

- Twelve years on Mars for Opportunity

- Making New Stars By ‘Adopting’ Stray Cosmic Gases
We’ve had an abundance of news stories for the past few months, and not enough time to get to them all. So we’ve started a new system. Instead of adding all of the stories to the spreadsheet each week, we are now using a tool called Trello to submit and vote on stories we would like to see covered each week, and then Fraser will be selecting the stories from there. Here is the link to the Trello WSH page (http://bit.ly/WSHVote), which you can see without logging in. If you’d like to vote, just create a login and help us decide what to cover!
We record the Weekly Space Hangout every Friday at 12:00 pm Pacific / 3:00 pm Eastern. You can watch us live on Google+, Universe Today, or the Universe Today YouTube page.
You can also join in the discussion between episodes over at our Weekly Space Hangout Crew group in G+!

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!

http://unawe.org/kids/unawe1125/

Astronomers use prism-like spectroscopes to break the light from stars and nebulae into the spectrum of colors. Different elements fluoresce in different colors, which are seen as bands of specific colors in the spectrum, much like a bar code. Study the bar code in the spectrum and you can quickly figure out the elements in the glowing cloud.

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.

Summary of content:  What to look out, and up, for in February.

For the beginners this month we take a look at the constellation of Auriga the Charioteer with a trio of open clusters from the Messier catalogue and finishing off with the Flaming Star that originated in Orion’s Belt.

Next Jeni rounds up the planets that are visible in December: Jupiter, Mars & Saturn, before taking a look at this month’s moon phases – with a couple of conjunctions with Venus & Mercury and the occultation of star Xi 1 Ceti.

Finally we go deep into the universe with an open cluster, a beautiful multiple star system and the vast Rosette Nebula in the constellation Monoceros the Unicorn.

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!

Dr. Paul Matt Sutter hosts.

How do we measure distances to…well, distant objects? What the heck is a Cepheid, and why is it useful? Standard candles? Standard rulers? Standard spheres? It all seems a bit much, don’t you think? I answer these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!

Follow all the show updates at askaspaceman.com, and help support the show at patreon.com/pmsutter!

Keep those questions about space, science, astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology coming to #AskASpaceman on Twitter@PaulMattSutter and Facebook/PaulMattSutter for COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE OF TIME AND SPACE! Music by Jason Grady and Nick Bain.

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=GeWAfLXbFaY

It's time for us to go back and catch up with all of the projects, news stories, weird star systems, and other topics that need updating!

Pamela refers to this PBS show during the episode:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/particle-fever/

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!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxuoES7vYdw

The team from Youngstown State University's Ward Beecher Planetarium visit the hangout-a-thon. Dr. Patrick Durrell, Dr. John Feldmeier and student assistant Annie Wilson ( @StudentDomeTech ) share their thoughts on their new show "Cosmic Castaways" which CosmoQuest co-produced with them. They also talk about the importance of planetaria in science outreach.

YSU's Science on the Half Sphere page: https://www.ysustem.com/science-on-the-half-sphere/

CosmoQuest's Science on the Half Sphere: http://cosmoquest.org/x/scienceonthehalfsphere/

Cosmic Castaways on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8gobt4tfwg

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!

http://unawe.org/kids/unawe1603/

The central SMBH's accretion disk has injected a huge amount of X-ray energy into the ISM, the inter-stellar medium, the gas & dust that you make new stars from. This appears to be causing the ISM to blow out of the galaxy in all directions. In the words of the scientific paper, it's "… an unprecedented, homogeneous, large-scale turbulent outflow…" with some parts traveling at 2 million kilometers per hour!

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=yb9Arrt7L60

Streamed live Jan 22, 2016

Host: Fraser Cain (@fcain)
Special Guest: Dr. Stuart Robbins, Research Scientist at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI); Mars Impact Craters, Science Lead on Moon Mappers and Mercury Mappers.
Guests:
Morgan Rehnberg (cosmicchatter.org / @MorganRehnberg )
Kimberly Cartier (@AstroKimCartier )
Dave Dickinson (@astroguyz / www.astroguyz.com)
Jolene Creighton (@futurism / fromquarkstoquasars.com)
Pamela Gay (cosmoquest.org / @cosmoquestx / @starstryder)
Brian Koberlein (@briankoberlein / briankoberlein.com)
Their articles:
- A new planet in the solar system?

- Rumors of gravitational wave detection
- Aliens are silent because they’re dead

- Juno spacecraft breaks solar panel distance record

- Earth avengers! NASA Team To look for Earth-Bound Asteroids
- Are Cosmologists Fooling Themselves?

- The Falcon 9 "landing" in the Pacific…

- Can a close red dwarf pass explain KBO orbits?

- Can one crater dating model be used throughout the solar system?

- Can an infrared observatory find planet 9?

- Charlie Bolden had good comments about the astronomy sexual harassment scandals.

- See All 5 Planets in the Sky at Once
We’ve had an abundance of news stories for the past few months, and not enough time to get to them all. So we’ve started a new system. Instead of adding all of the stories to the spreadsheet each week, we are now using a tool called Trello to submit and vote on stories we would like to see covered each week, and then Fraser will be selecting the stories from there. Here is the link to the Trello WSH page (http://bit.ly/WSHVote), which you can see without logging in. If you’d like to vote, just create a login and help us decide what to cover!
We record the Weekly Space Hangout every Friday at 12:00 pm Pacific / 3:00 pm Eastern. You can watch us live on Google+, Universe Today, or the Universe Today YouTube page.
You can also join in the discussion between episodes over at our Weekly Space Hangout Crew group in G+!

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!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxuoES7vYdw

Guest: Laura Burns ( @moonrangerlaura ) Systems engineer with NASA. Laura tells us about the history of the International Space University ( http://www.isunet.edu/ ) and it's interdisciplinary, intercultural and international approach.

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!