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: We're cheering Jeni's graduation with a first class masters in astrophysics and looking at the PhD options she has as she chases the dream of becoming Dr Millard! Paul & Ralph make preparations for September's dark sky AstroCamp stargazing event and educate Jeni on computers from the 80s.
The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:
Woobusters: Continuing our quest to debunk the myths and conspiracy theories that persist in every dark corner of the news and the internet. This month's topic, picked at random from Paul's festering Hat of Woo: Chemtrails – those quite normal jet exhaust trails that some people think are spraying mind control agents
The Interview: For the interview this month we visit Dr Helen Sharman from Imperial College London, who because Britain's first astronaut in 1991:
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 get a question that follows the theme of our introduction and looks directly at the point Helen Sharman raised in this month's interview:
What does Brexit mean for the UKs involvement in things like ESA and ESO? Andrew Burns, United Kingdom
What to look out, and up, for in August.
Our highlights of this month's skies with the planet on offer to observers and imagers:
Next up is the meteor showers and, due to the long daylight hours and dearth of cometary debris in this part of Earth's orbit this time of year, we only have one shower of note in August:
Then we each take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:
And we finish this sky guide with August's moon phases.
This podcast extra is our full length interview with the 4th man to walk on the moon aboard the Apollo 12 mission in 1969.
In this interview we discuss:
The Discussion: Earthling slave John got married! The new fashion of requesting telescopes at weddings, a good time of year for solar astronomy, the scores are in for the results of Jeni's master's degree, Jeni gets a sciencey summer job and we make a joking (but no less genuine) appeal for astronomy equipment to review in future shows.
The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:
Woobusters: Continuing our quest to debunk the myths and conspiracy theories that persist in every dark corner of the news and the internet. This month's topic, picked at random from Paul's Big Hat of Woo, is moon landing hoaxers – the mother of all space-related conspiracy theories!
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 get a question about our own observing and imaging of the skies:
How do you think the name of Planet 9 will be chosen if it's eventually discovered – is it too late to start a campaign for Planet McPlanetface? Gavin Mills from Canberra, Australia
What to look out, and up, for in July.
Our highlights of this month's skies with the planet on offer to observers and imagers:
And a few tips on how to take images of the solar system's largest bodies with a webcam, planetary imaging camera or DSLR.
Next up is the meteor showers and, due to the long daylight hours and dearth of cometary debris in this part of Earth's orbit this time of year, we only have one shower of note in July:
Then we each take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:
And we finish this sky guide with July's moon phases and planetary conjunctions.
In this Awesome Astronomy podcast extra episode we bring you the key speakers from this spring's AstroCamp in the Brecon Beacon dark sky reserve. As the transit of Mercury was the main feature of this spring's camp, we were delighted to welcome (and now to share with you) speakers with detailed knowledge of planetary transits:
Eric takes us on a voyage to Mercury to show us why this is far from the dull dry world that many may think.
The Discussion: Exam season is well underway for Jeni, Paul & Ralph ran the AstroCamp dark sky star party in Wales and the jet stream causes frustration for sky watchers in the UK. But the big event last month was the transit of the planet Mercury with a full day of observing this phenomenon for many parts of the world.
The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:
Woobusters: Continuing our quest to debunk the myths and conspiracy theories that persist in every dark corner of the news and the internet. This month's topic, picked at random from Paul's Big Hat of Woo, is Flat Earth (heaven help us!)
The Interview: For the interview this month we welcome the University of Oxford's Professor Daniela Bortoletto who helped build the Large Hadron Collider and researches the findings of the world's largest atom smasher. We take the opportunity to discuss:
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 get a question about our own observing and imaging of the skies:
Loved the astrophotography verses visual conversation. Maybe you could talk about what astronomy set up you use and what you prefer, ie telescope type? @CosmicBeach from Norwich, United Kingdom
What to look out, and up, for in June.
Our tour of the highlights of this month's skies begins with the planets on offer to observers and imagers:
Next up is the meteor showers and we have quite a few daytime showers that can be spotted in the pre-dawn sky as well as some more usual showers in June:
Then we each 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 and planetary conjunctions.
Welcome to this AstroCamp podcast extra episode to tell you what you can expect from the weekend's festivities and listen to on the way to Cwmdu:
The Discussion: An introduction to star parties and enjoying practical astronomy under pristine dark skies away from the city.
As the podcast crew run the AstroCamp star party, which many listeners attend, in the Brecon Beacon's international dark sky reserve twice a year, we take you through the events, tutorials and workshops we run to help you hone your stargazing skills and win astronomy prizes from the Tring Astronomy Centre. As the focus of this AstroCamp is the Transit of Mercury, we will also have two talks on the celestial event, from the University of Kent's Dr Rebekah Higgitt and solar astronomer Eric Emms.
The Sky guides: In readiness for 3 nights of stargazing in the Welsh valleys, Ralph, Paul and John choose objects to look out for this time of year. If you're not coming to AstroCamp, these are still great night sky treats to try and locate wherever you are in the northern hemisphere.
So welcome to AstroCamp and we'll see you very soon!
In this month's show:
The Discussion
Revision season as Jeni finishes her masters in astrophysics and preparations for AstroCamp in the Welsh Brecon Beacons.
The News
Paul's Big Hat of Woo
This month we look at planetary alignments and all those crazy notions that tsunamis or weightlessness might occur if the planets are in certain alignments, or something.
Q&A
Our question this month comes from Clemens Unger in Melbourne, Australia who helpfully suggested:
If you're looking for a topic to chat about in the show, how about the recent well publicised case of image theft in the Astro imaging community? A chap used a Damien Peach image and presented it as his own. But, as it's a small world, Damien saw it by chance. There seems to be so much pressure on these days to show better and better images and that seems to overtake the fun of astronomy a bit for some and peer pressure is getting to some.
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