Astrophiz 73: Best of 2018

Astrophiz 73: ‘Best of 2018’ Astrophysics Please enjoy this ‘Best of 2018 Astrophiz’ episode where we have our 3 most popular astrophysics interviews for 2018. I have removed my ’News’ ramblings and Dr Ian Musgrave's ‘What’s up Doc’ segments from these three episodes so you can listen to these three astrophysicists without any distractions in a single episode. (51min) Today’s first feature interview is with Dr Jane Kaczmarek, ( @jfKaczmarek ) who gives us the state of play on the new receivers on the 64m Parkes dish and what it’s like to work climbing way up above the dish to do her work in the focus cabin. Back in June in Episode 60, Jane told us about growing up in Wisconsin and how her love of astronomy developed, and how her penchant for asking questions and her serendipitous move out to Australia and how her PhD on immense magnetic fields spanning the Magellanic Clouds has lead her to work with the CSIRO as the commissioning scientist for the UWL receiver on the 64m Parkes dish that bought us vision of the Apollo moon landing. In the last couple of weeks, Jane has steered the Parkes dish to receive the tenuous signals from Voyager II, as it departs the heliosphere for interstellar space. Or next interview features one of the icons of modern astronomy, Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith, ( @lisaharveysmith ) Astronomy researcher, author and presenter of ABC television's Stargazing Live. She uses the world's largest radio telescopes to study the life cycle of stars and develops new world-leading precursor telescopes building the Square Kilometre Array. We find out how she left school at 11 and now has a Doctorate in radio astronomy and Masters in Physics with Honours in Astronomy & Astrophysics. She has scores of refereed journal papers to her name and her first book: "When Galaxies Collide" was recently released and you can order the paperback or digital version from Melbourne University Press. She has won the Eureka Prize and CSIRO Chairman's Medal and runs a popular international astronomy distance learning course. She has just returned from a sold-out national speaking tour. In our final interview in this ‘ Best of 2018' series we are speaking with astrophysicist and Indigenous Astronomer Kirsten Banks who is a proud Wiradjuri woman and the Indigenous Astronomy Educator at the Sydney Observatory. She is a highly respected scientist and advocate for indigenous astronomy. Listen to Kirsten's wonderful ’The Skyentists’ podcasts with Dr. Ángel López-Sánchez @El_Lobo_Rayado