AstronomyCast 211: Celestial Navigation

Got clear skies? Go out tonight and catch the Orionids Meteor shower, a storm of falling stars generated by Halley's comet. Later this week, we'll see aurora like those that will one day be predicted by the ESA Solar Probe. We also have an update on the Mars 2020 rover.

21 Okt 20197min

543: Weird Issues: The Habitable Zone Astronomy Cast 543: Weird Issues: The Habitable Zone by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Our series on Universe weirdness marches on. This week we take a look at the habitable zone, and how things aren’t as simple as we thought.

20 Okt 201927min

542: Weird Issues: The Age of the Universe Astronomy Cast 542: Weird Issues: The Age of the Universe by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Our series on Universe weirdness continues, this time we learn how astronomers are struggling to make sense of the age of the Universe.

14 Okt 201929min

541: Weird Issues: Expansion Rate of the Universe Astronomy Cast 541: Weird Issues: Expansion Rate of the Universe by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Just when the Universe was starting to make sense, the cosmos throws a curveball at us. Astronomers have been trying to accurately measure the expansion rate of the Universe as far back as Hubble. It's been tough to nail down, and now astronomers are starting to figure out why.

7 Okt 201929min

540: Weird Issues: How Do (or Don't) Planets Form? Astronomy Cast 540: Weird Issues: How Do (or Don't) Planets Form? by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay As astronomers started to discover planets orbiting other stars, they immediately realized that their expectations would need to be tossed out. Hot jupiters? Pulsars with planets? We're now decades into this task, and the Universe is continuing to surprise us.

30 Sep 201931min

539: Weird Issues: Why We Don't Know the Age of Saturn's Rings Astronomy Cast 539: Weird Issues: Why We Don't Know the Age of Saturn's Rings by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay How old are Saturn's rings? They could be brand new, or they could be as ancient as the Solar System itself. Planetary scientists thought they knew the answer thanks to new data from Cassini, but new ideas are calling even that into question.

23 Sep 201930min

538: Asteroids: Rubble piles of the Solar System Astronomy Cast 538: Asteroids: Rubble piles of the Solar System by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Thanks to all the work from Hayabusa 2 and OSIRIS-REx, astronomers are getting a much better look at the smaller asteroids in the Solar System. It turns out, they're piles of  rubble... but fascinating piles of rubble. Let's talk about what we've learned so far.

16 Sep 201931min

537: Reusable Rocket Revolution Astronomy Cast 537: Reusable Rocket Revolution by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay We took a hiatus this summer, but SpaceX sure didn’t, with the tests of the Starhopper prototype. Today we’re going to talk about the revolution in reusable rocketry and quest to build a fully reusable two-stage rocket.

9 Sep 201937min