AWESOMEASTRO (Page 10)

http://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/6/b/8/8/6b8813e3f0b38255/awesome-astronomy-logo-itunes-01.jpgSky Guide January 2018Ralph, Paul & Jeni What to look out, and up, for in January! Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: The Red Planet Mars, makes a welcome return to our skies The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks on the night of 3rd/4th January Dwarf planet Ceres is at opposition on 31st January in Cancer Mercury is at greatest wester elongation on 2nd January And comet C/2017 T1 Heinze reaches mag 7-9 on 6th January Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this timeRead More →

There’s trouble in paradise as Christmas evening in the Cydonia bunker turns ugly. Alcohol may be the culprit. But equally, the blame may lie with suffering a whole day of pretending to like one another and f***ing Christmas songs!   So, while tensions rise and arguments flare, Ralph, Paul and Jen run through the memorable space and astronomy events of 2017 and look forward to the treats in store for 2018.   Then there’s the small matter of John’s annual outtake reel specifically designed to embarrass the hosts and push the bounds of decency as far as politeness will allow!   Main music courtesy ofRead More →

In this podcast extra we begin a series, suggested by listener Sean Smith, of explaining the considerations involved in choosing practical astronomy equipment. This first in the series discusses one of the most important items in your amateur astronomy tool kit: Eyepieces.   This discussion takes in: Why eyepieces are important The differences between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ eyepieces Choosing the right price point Our suggestions for good quality cheap and expensive eyepieces   Don’t forget our end of year review and Newtonmass panotmime will be available to download on Christmas Day. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →

The Discussion: Jeni gets her name in lights – well, bold print, as she contributes (what else but graphs) to a published research paper and Ralph takes a look at Ben Cacase’s very own new asterism in the heart of Auriga and reads a defiant message from Michelle of ‘ze resistonce’.   The News: It’s a very rocky month as we round up the following space and astronomy news stories: Earth’s moon had an atmosphere thicker than Mars’ for more than 70 million years Observations suggest Proxima Centauri has a Kuiper Belt and maybe a Oort Cloud A sci-fi like asteroid from another star systemRead More →

What to look out, and up, for in December.   Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: The Geminid meteor showers peaking on 13/14th December Uranus sitting in the constellation Pisces Mars & Jupiter lunar conjunctions   Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year. Ralph – A binary star, a planetary nebula and 4 open clusters in Gemini Jen  – The Pleiades open cluster in Taurus Paul – The Crab Nebula supernova remnant also in Taurus   And we finish this skyRead More →

In this podcast extra episode Jeni discusses the recent detection of two colliding neutron stars and their observation in both gravitational waves and all areas of the electromagnetic spectrum.   Jeni chats with Dr Edward Gomez, Education Director at the Las Cumbres Observatory and Cardiff University’s Gravitational Physics Research Group Leader, Professor Patrick Sutton about the historic observations, what we can learn from these events, the future of gravitational wave astronomy and how this new window into the universe can help us improve some of the fundamentals of our knowledge of space and time.   We also put listeners’ questions on these subjects from RaoulRead More →

The Discussion: Britain shows that it won’t just roll over and let America take the lead in intimidating academic freedom and Jen recounts her gravitational waves research conference in Brighton in October.   The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: Astronomers make the 1st observation of a neutron star collision Astronomers discover a missing chunk of the universe 3D videos of aurora that you can see at http://www.iap.fr/aurora3d/   The Interview: This month Cardiff University’s Professor Mark Hannam tells us more about the recent observation of colliding neutron stars and this window into a new realm of astronomy.  Read More →

What to look out, and up, for in November. Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: A last look at Saturn for 2017 in the early evening sky A very impressive Jupiter/Venus conjunction on the 13th of November The Taurid meteor showers peaking on the 5th and 21st November and the Leonids on the 18th November Comet 2017 O1 ASASSN1 for binocular and telescope observers   Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year: Ralph – Messier 42, the Orion Nebula inRead More →

In this podcast extra, we discuss the changing value of the Hubble Constant since 2000 – or put more simply, our narrowing down of how quickly the universe is expanding. This discussion takes in: The history of the Hubble Constant Edwin Hubble’s dreadful scatter plot Further attempts to narrow down the universe’s expansion rate Why research papers are awesome and accessible to everyone Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →

The Discussion: You’d be forgiven for thinking we recorded this episode drunk – but we assure you, we weren’t. And you’ll have to forgive us for our crappy audio and shameless national stereotyping! But in this show, recorded from our dark sky star party in the Welsh Brecon Beacons, we discuss the event, Jeni’s talk on exoplanet research and we take a look at listeners’ emails.   The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: A fresh look at the age and high metallicity of an observable star cluster Australia takes the plunge and announces the creation of its ownRead More →

What to look out, and up, for in October. Jeni, Paul & Ralph pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: Blue/green ice giant Uranus The Orionids meteor shower brings us the debris from Comet Halley Saturn, recently liberated from the perpetual gaze of Cassini A not-to-be-missed conjunction of Venus and Mars on 5th October. Finally, a couple of comets that may be visible Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year: Paul – Spiral Galaxy NGC772 in Aries. Jeni – Brocchi’s Cluster or The Coathanger Cluster inRead More →