Stay ConnectedAwesome Astronomy explores the frontiers of science, space and our evolving understanding of the universe.
Join Ralph, Paul & Jeni for informative and fun astronomy programmes dedicated to space and astronomy news and monthly podcast extras covering hot topics and special interviews in the world of science and astronomy.
Copyright: © Ralph, Paul, Jen
The Discussion: Jeni's returns from her South African research using the Infrared Survey Facility telescope, Paul calls time on the Principia Mission and we go through a couple of readers emails to discuss Caroline Herschel, the Woomera Test Range and Australian space funding.
The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:
The Interview: This month we speak to former test pilot and astronaut - and one of only 6 remaining people to have walked on the moon - General Charlie Duke.
Practical Astronomy: The Hat of Woo takes a rest this month as we introduce an occasional look into areas of interest to the practical amateur astronomer with topics requested by you. This month we take a look at an essential piece of kit suggested by Sean Smith from Dublin: eyepieces.
What to look out, and up, for in June.
Jeni returns from astronomy research in South Africa so the gang's back together to pick their highlights for this month's skies; starting with the planets on offer to observers and imagers:
Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:
And we finish this sky guide with June's moon phases.
This podcast extra episode comes from this year's Big Bang Fair and Jeni & Paul grabbed an interview with a Gaia mission data scientist to talk data and the efforts taken in the less-glamorous, but absolutely critical, background to provide us with the discoveries and refinements we crave from the European Space Agency's latest space-based astrometry mission.
So while Paul and Jeni were there as the Sirius Space Agency explaining the science behind a mission into space on the Star Stage, they spoke to a post-doctoral researcher at Cambridge University's Data Processing Centre for the Gaia Mission.
In this interview we bring you:
The Discussion: Jeni's missing this month as she collects transiting exoplanet data in South Africa using the SIRIUS camera on the Japanese 1.4 metre Infrared Survey Facility telescope.
So Paul & Ralph take the helm and record from the AstroCamp starparty in the Welsh Brecon Beacons, discussing light pollution, the wonder of starparties and take a look at the countries which only have a solitary Awesome Astronomy downloader.
The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:
The Interview: This month we speak to Dr Dave Abergel at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics to discuss the merit (or otherwise) of the recent creation of a substance with negative mass.
Q&A: Listeners' questions via email, Facebook & Twitter take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity. This month we take a look at radio telescopes:
I'd like to know how a radio telescope comes up with an image Samuel Wertz, Pennsylvania, USA.
What to look out, and up, for in May.
Jeni's abandoned us this month in favour of research-grade instrumentation so only Paul and Ralph pick their highlights for this month's skies; starting with the planets on offer to observers and imagers:
Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:
And we finish this sky guide with May's moon phases.
A teaser for the weekend stargazing under the über dark skies of the Brecon Beacons International Dark Sky Reserve at this spring's AstroCamp.
We'll take you through the events and activities which turn beginners into experts and fill up the eyepiece of those who are already experts – and, of course, whet your appetite for this friendliest of starparties!
Whether you're joining us in the Welsh village of Cwmdu on the weekend of 22-25th April or not, we've included a seasonal sky guide of our favourite night sky objects to dazzle and amaze you visually or astrophotographically:
Ralph
Paul
Damien
John
The Discussion: Paul and Jen packed out the Star Stage at this year's Big Bang Fair in Birmingham as Sirius Astronomy ran experiments to explain how rockets and space suits work and how space capsules protect astronauts from the heat of re-entry. Jen updates us on her astronomy research trip to South Africa next month and Ralph reviews the latest space-based sci-fi thriller, Life.
The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:
The Interview: This month we have a couple of interviews with the children taking part in science challenges at the Big Bang Fair and clips of Paul & Jen creating fire hazards and projectiles around an undefended audience…
Hat of Woo: Following your comments by email and online, we're bringing back the vile and rancid Hat of Woo this month. And we're back with a festering sore of a conspiracy theory in the form of Immanuel Velikovsky's laws of physics defying Worlds in Collision 'theory'.
What to look out, and up, for in April.
Our highlights of this month's skies with the planets on offer to observers and imagers:
Next up, we each take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:
And we finish this sky guide with April's moon phases.
Following a recent NASA press conference – a regular event that fills us with dread as we anticipate an anticlimax – this time NASA really get us excited with the announcement of seven rocky Earth sized planets around a star 40 light years away. Three of these planets are in that star system's habitable zone.
Luckily our own resident exoplanet researcher, Jeni, is on hand to take us through the hunt and explain the science! In this podcast extra we discuss:
(image credit: NASA)
The Discussion: Jeni's been teaching the teachers of Wales how to include astronomy in their classroom exercises as part of the school curriculum. Ralph takes us on a historical tour of the King's Observatory in Richmond which was the original Prime Meridian before it found its home in Greenwich. While Paul and Jen have a date this month at the Big Bang Fair in Birmingham.
The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:
The Interview: This month we welcome back the European Space Agency's project scientist on the Rosetta mission to Comet Churyumov Gerasimenko, Matt Taylor, to discuss the end of the mission, the data gathered, the discovery of Philae and what's next for ESA.
Q&A: Listeners' questions via email, Facebook & Twitter take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity. This month we're tackling a question about the Allais Effect which claims to have observed strange happenings during eclipses:
I need help understanding something called the Allais Effect. This is a phenomenon that supposedly causes pendulums to get funky during solar eclipses Matt Minter, Chicago, Illinois.
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