The Jodcast

It's Roy's last episode before he returns to the Netherlands and we welcome some of the new Jodcast Juniors. The Jodcast Juniors were our roving reporters at the Joint European and National Astronomy Meeting (JENAM) and they bring us a series of interviews about the latest research into pulsars, galaxies, dust, exoplanets and more. As always, Megan brings us the latest news [05:36 - 14:00] and Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the May night sky [51:47 - 01:06:04].

In this episode Roy talks to amateur astronomer Brian Woosnam about his love of astronomy and his local astronomical society [00:59-17:09]. We talk about what happened during the 100 Hours of Astronomy and give our suggestions for astronomical sights to see and things to achieve. We also put your astronomical questions to Dr Tim O'Brien [21:57-34:44] and round-up the feedback we've received since the last show.

It's Nick's last episode of the Jodcast and Dave makes a return after his Indian trip. In this episode we hear about finding planets with the upcoming LOFAR radio telescope from Dr Ian Stevens [09:55 - 21:29]. As always, Megan brings us the latest news [01:40 - 14:02] and Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the April night sky [21:43 - 37:06].

With the 100 Hours of Astronomy quickly approaching, we find out what will be happening over the course of the four days [01:08-07:06] and get details about a 24 hour observatory webcast [07:38-13:21]. We chat about the launch of NASA's Kepler spacecraft to search for Earth-like planets and ESA's GOCE probe to map the Earth's gravity field. On a recent trip to the Netherlands Roy caught up with Gijs Nelemans to find out about the future LISA spacecraft to hunt for gravitational waves [30:50-53:45]. We also put your astronomical questions to Dr Tim O'Brien [13:32-26:34] and round-up the feedback we've received since the last show.

In this episode we find out about supermassive blackholes in the early universe [15:24 - 39:40] from Professor Marco Spaans and we encourage you to hold star parties and other events during the 100 Hours of Astronomy. As always, Megan brings us the latest news [01:40 - 14:02] and Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the March night sky [39:50 - 54:23].

Nick and Stuart talk about the latest Jodcast video about Newton's Principia, Nick talks to Professor Albert Zijlstra about primitive dust [02:34-13:19], Tim was here to answer listener questions [13:49 - 23:05] and we round-up the feedback we've received since the last show.

In this episode we find out about observations of regions of massive star formation [10:15 - 20:02] from Dr Steve Longmore and we hear about a chance to vote on what you would like the Hubble Space Telescope to observe [20:33 - 22:40]. As always, Megan brings us the latest news [02:35 - 10:07] and Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the February night sky [22:52 - 37:27].

In this episode Colin Stuart visits the Herschel Museum in Bath to find out about the astronomical work of William and Caroline Herschel [01:51 - 28:57], we bring you the first Ask an Astronomer of 2009 [29:05 - 47:34] and we round-up the feedback we've received since the last show.

With it being the end of the year we round-up our favourite astronomical images of 2008 [17:16 - 25:05]. We also discuss the International Year of Astronomy and hear about a new astronomy podcast from Dr Pamela Gay (Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville) [12:11 - 16:45]. As always, Megan brings us the latest news [01:50 - 09:49] and Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the January night sky [25:11 - 37:40].

It's the last show before Christmas so the show is a little shorter than usual. First up we bring news of two special video episode that will be out in the next few days. In our interview [04:27-27:17] we talk to Philip Best about galaxies and a new low-frequency telescope named LOFAR. We also bring you some stocking filler ideas [28:27-32:37] and round-up the feedback we've received since the last show.