The Jodcast

This month we look back to the past, at the present and into the future; you'd almost think we stole the plot from A Christmas Carol. Ian Morison talks to Sir Bernard Lovell about the origins of Jodrell Bank Observatory. We catch up with Chris Davis of the spacePod podcast to get the latest news on NASA's STEREO mission. Stuart talks to David Boyce about the possibility of ultraviolet astronomy from the Moon and of course we ask Tim your questions, get the news from Megan and Ian tells us what we can see in the night sky during February.

Happy New Year and welcome to the first Jodcast of 2007. We start, as always, with a round up of the past month in astronomy. We talk to Martin Hardcastle about active galactic nuclei and radio galaxies (see the fantastic cover art by Aurore Simonnet for an idea of what they look like). We also gate-crashed a recent meeting about the proposed Square Kilometre Array (SKA) to find out what it is as well as finding out about the two proposed sites. We have no ask an astronomer this month but Ian is here to tell us what we can see in January's night sky. We also get a round up of interesting astronomy podcasts and set our first ever competition. You'll have to listen to find out what the question is!

The last Jodcast of 2006 has arrived with Dave, Nick and Stuart all presenting via the wonders of the Internet. We start, as always, with a round up of the past month in astronomy which can now be downloaded in six languages if you feel like practicing your Chinese, English, Farsi, French, Hindi or Portugeuse! We talk to Cormac Purcell about the microwave equivalent of lasers (masers) that are found in space and discover what they can tell us about the evolution of stars. In Ask an Astronomer, Tim explains why the Moon often appears to be larger when near the horizon and Ian tells us what we can see in December's night sky. As we were feeling festive this month, we suggest some great, free, astronomy software (Stellarium, Google Earth and Celestia) that nobody should be without. We've also replaced our usual sci-fi style intro/outro with a Jodcast pantomime. It's certainly a long way from Kansas...

We have another packed show for you this month. Megan tells us the latest news in astronomy including exciting news about the STEREO mission, the Nobel Prize for physics 2006, ice on the Moon, extrasolar planets, damage to the Faulkes Telescopes, the re-opening of Mt Stromlo and the future of the Hubble Space Telescope. Nick and Stuart talk to Robert Nemiroff about the great internet resource that is astronomy picture of the day. We find out about an exciting ESA/NASA mission that will attempt to detect waves in space-time (gravitational waves) using three spacecraft named LISA. We also get a spooky edition of Ask an Astronomer where Tim O'Brien tells Nick about the variable star Algol and Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the November night sky.

At the start of the month ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft plunged into the Moon. We caught up with one of the mission scientists to find out just what the SMART-1 mission's aims were and why it crashed. We also find out about the beginnings of the Universe and how the NASA spacecraft WMAP has helped shed some light on the first 300,000 years. The latest astronomy news includes the naming of 2003UB313, the launch of Solar-B (Hinode) to study the Sun and the latest news from the Mars Rovers and Mars Express. We also find out what you can see in the night sky and Nick gets Tim O'Brien to answer questions about coordinates and viewing the sky.

This month, after all the excitement of the IAU General Assembly planet definition, we stay a bit closer to home and have a tour of the Jodrell Bank Control Room. We find out about the Lovell Telescope winning the BBC unsung landmarks vote and plans for our new Visitor Centre. We get the latest astronomy news which includes geysers on Mars, the impact of ESA's SMART-1 on the Moon and the outcome of the IAU's planet definition. As always we find out what we can see in the night sky this month and Nick and Tim discuss the Moon receding from the Earth and they work out how many stars are larger and smaller than the Sun.

This month's show is all about stars. We talk to Dr Tim O'Brien about a recurrent nova in the constellation of Ophiuchus and Johanna Ashwell - an amateur astronomer and PhD student - tells us about a star that has too much lithium. As ever we get the latest round-up of the news and find out what we can see in the night sky this month. There is news of a star party being held at Jodrell Bank on 12th August from 9pm until midnight and we also mention our exciting plans to podcast from the International Astronomical Union's General Assembly this month.

We get our very own Ian Morison to tell us about the history of SETI and how it will develop in the future plus we talk to the Chairman of Macclesfield Astronomical Society about his interest in astronomy. Tim and Ian answer questions that you've sent in and Ian tells us what we can see in the night sky during July.

In this month's show we talk to Brother Guy Consolmagno (the Vatican Astronomer) and we find out about searches for planets around other stars using telescopes built with parts from eBay. We also try to get answers to questions you've sent in, find out what you can see in the night sky during June and get a round-up of all the latest news.

In this month's show we talk to Ralph Spencer and Matt Strong about eVLBI, find out about the Southern Skywatch website and get a review of a Celestron NexStar 130SLT telescope (sub GBP300/$550) by Ian Morison. We try to get answers to questions you've sent in, find out what you can see in the night sky during May* and get a round-up of all the latest news.