The Urban Astronomer Podcast

This is episode 62 of the Urban Astronomer Podcast, our first release of 2022. Happy New year!

In this episode, we're doing something a little different. Traditionally we alternate between interviews and Science Explainy Bits, but the second segment here is a bit more philosophical than usual, and ran a bit short, so I've added something a bit more topical - some astronomy news!

Impossible exoplanet

1:51

As covered previously on this website, the science media were very excited to report the discovery of an impossible exoplanet. I thought it was a bit silly to describe something as being "impossible" when you've literally just proved that it exists and is real, so I wrote a report - Giant exoplanet upsets theories on how planets form - to try and take a more balanced look at what's actually going on. I still had more to say, though, and you'll find it in the first half of the podcast.

Rhetoric and the scientific method

11:05

Scientists and skeptics alike are often a bit scornful about rhetoric. They don't trust what they see as clever arguments and manipulative words to persuade an audience. Why stoop to such methods when you have truth, facts, and evidence on your side? But I think that's unfair, and try to explain why rhetoric not only has a place, but should actually be used when communicating science.

This episode features an interview with Dr Julia Healy, from ASTRON, where she works as part of the MHONGOOSE survey team. When this interview was originally recorded early last year, she hadn't yet submitted her PhD thesis, but has since graduated and earned the title "Dr".

Julia completed her Bachelor of Science, specialising in Astrophysics and Physics, at the University of Cape Town in 2013. She went on to complete a Bachelor of Science Honours in Physics in 2014 and a Master of Science in Astronomy in 2017, also at UCT. In 2017 she began a double degree PhD programme at the University of Cape Town and the University of Groningen (in the Netherlands), which she submitted in March 2021 and later defended in a public ceremony in Groningen in August 2021. I am now a postdoctoral fellow based at ASTRON (the Dutch National Radio Observatory) working as part of the MHONGOOSE survey team. The MHONGOOSE (MeerKAT HI Observations of Nearby Galactic Objects: Observing Southern Emitters) survey is one of the large survey project run on the MeerKAT radio telescope.

This is episode 60 of the Urban Astronomer podcast! Is that a milestone? Sure, but we'll save the party hats for episode 75. Today we'll just get on with the job at hand, and bring you a science explainy bit. Today's question: How can astronomers be so certain about what things in space are made from?

On Earth it's relatively easy to send geologists out to different places with their hammers, and have them collect samples from interesting rock formations and bring them back to the lab for analysis, but astronomers hardly ever get to do that with planets, comets, the Sun and distant galaxies. So how do they know, and how can they sound so confident? Listen below to find out!

This episode of the Urban Astronomer Podcast features an interview with Dr Imogen Whittam, an astrophysicist at Oxford University

It's another Science Explainy Bit episode, and today we answer a question asked by another podcaster while interviewing us for their show. The host wanted to know how the view of southern skies compares to that of the northern hemisphere. I gave a quick answer before we moved on to another topic, but I would have liked to give a more detailed and complete answer. Which brings us to this episode, in which I describe how there really isn't a single sky for the North or the South. But the sky in the USA does still look different to what we have here in South Africa, and I explain why.

The Urban Astronomer interviews noted South African amateur astronomer Carol Botha about her science outreach work. Carol has become quite well known on Slooh, the robotic telescope and astronomy service which I know quite well because I've provided a few video streams of eclipses and the like for them over the years.

Be warned though, this is a long episode so make some popcorn and find a comfortable seat before you start!

Today's episode is the first Science Explainy Bit of the season, and it's another basic, classic topic: Leap Years. As a reminder, I love looking at the questions that seem simple because we think of them as the sorts of things that children ask their parents, but the thing about these questions is that they never are simple. These are things that took humanity centuries or longer to figure out, and that most of us still don't really understand because we first asked these questions as kids ourselves, and got the sort of answer which people give small kids, and nobody ever asked again! Last season we talked about about the tides and what happens if you shoot a gun in space, and why it is that we sometimes see the Moon during the day when we all expect to see it at night. And today, we talk about how leap years, how they relate to Easter and politics, and why they even exist.

A few weeks back, we were featured as guests on Podcast Insider, the official podcast of the Blubrry podcasting platform. Although this show doesn't live on their hosting platform, we do use their software to make it all work on our own servers, and it was a bit of an honour to be invited onto their show. Give it a listen here.

At long last, the third season of the Urban Astronomer Podcast has kicked off! We thought the last season went so well that we've decided to keep things much as they are, with perhaps the occasional news segment added in whenever something interesting has happened. So for the most part, that means twelve episodes, alternating between interviews with people who have some sort of a connection to South African astronomy, and science explainy bits where I answer the questions that listeners like you have emailed to me at [email protected]

Tony Lelliott

3:23

But this episode is all about the Interview with Dr Lelliott. Tony is an Honorary Assoc. Professor at Wits University. He has spent much of his career researching science communication, and has a special interest in astronomy, and human evolution. You can follow him on twitter at @drtoeknee

This is just a short note to let you know that we're still here, and that the new season launches next week! Long-time listeners have been waiting for this since February, but I don't think there's anybody left on Earth who couldn't guess which world-changing event caused our schedule to slip!

Still, after eight weeks in lock-down, it's time to start delivering on our promises. Tune in next week to hear the first exciting episode of the new season of the Urban Astronomer Podcast!

Since our last episode aired, in early December last year, I've had people ask me when the third season will begin. Well the good news is: Soon! Guests have been booked, interviews will be recorded over the next few weeks, and science explainy bits... well. That's where you come in! If you've got questions you'd like to hear answered in one of the Urban Astronomer Podcast Patented Science Explainy Bits then why not put them in an email and send to [email protected] for me? It's your questions that make those segments work. If you're worried that your questions might be too basic or simple for me, then please send them anyway. Those questions usually have the best answers and they are my favourite to work with!

Anyway, we launch towards the end of March. Don't miss it!