81: The era of precision astronomy with Dr. Rich
Dr Jeff Rich stops by the show to talk about variable stars. Some variable stars change brightness dramatically over several hours, and certain types can be used to measure distances. Jeff also explai...
22 Jan 201726min
80: Places where people can have adventures with Br. Consolmagno
Brother Guy Consolmagno shares a Coke and talks about the Vatican Observatory, a discovery that got him in trouble with the Voyager team, and why being next to a dairy farm was convenient when he want...
15 Jan 201729min
79: LIGO's high quality (factor) fibers with Dr. Robertson
Dr. Norna Robertson shares a drink from her home country and talks about a specific part of LIGO. She explains that LIGO's eighty-pound mirrors are suspended by four, incredibly thin, silica fibers th...
8 Jan 201718min
78: Signals traveling through the fabric of spacetime with Dr. Kanner (Part 2)
Dr. Kanner explains how gravitational waves could teach us about the big bang, and how we might be on the cusp of discovering new phenomena that are so unusual, theorists haven't even predicted their ...
1 Jan 201716min
77: Signals traveling through the fabric of spacetime with Dr. Kanner (Part 1)
Dr. Kanner talks about gravitational waves, which were detected for the first time by LIGO last year. He explains how studying neutron stars with gravitational waves can tell us how everyday elements ...
25 Dec 201618min
76: Mars' teenage robot with Dr. Fraeman
Dr. Abby Fraeman returns to the show to talk about Opportunity, the rover that won't quit. Along with its sister rover, Spirit, Opportunity has discovered Mars rocks that could have only formed in the...
18 Dec 201618min
75: Looking for trouble with Eric Rice
Eric Rice talks about systems engineering and we drink what turns out to be the most disgusting beverage yet. He talks about what it is like to control a spacecraft, and explains why predicting what c...
11 Dec 201612min
74: Asteroid families with Dr. Masiero
Dr. Joe Masiero returns to the podcast to talk about asteroid families, which are groups of asteroids that astronomers think are fragments from ancient collisions. He describes how he identifies these...
4 Dec 201614min
