AWESOME ASTRONOMY (Paul & Dr Jeni)

Hear ye! Hear ye!

• Al Worden (went to the moon on Apollo 15): https://tinyurl.com/56w9rkr4
• Al Bean (walked on the moon on Apollo 12): https://tinyurl.com/2ewb5vj3
• Charlie Duke (walked on the moon on Apollo 16): https://tinyurl.com/5fhacvmk

This month excitement builds for the predicted Nova outburst in Corona Borealis as well as looking forward to China launching a sample return mission to the far side of the Moon.

We have our usual skyguide and chat about upcoming missions and some fun insights into the methane on Mars.

The Discussion: As 2019 marches forth we discuss a wasted year of practical astronomy due to bad weather, a comet in our skies to enjoy and Jeni begins her first paper on gas masses in redshift galaxies.

The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have:

• An update on the mysterious hole in the space station
• SpaceX edges closer to ferrying humans to space
• Virgin Galactic test pilot gains his astronaut wings
• Voyager 2 joins Voyager 1 outside the solar system
• New Horizons exploring the outer solar system
• An update on NASA’s plans for human space exploration.

Main news story: Chinese exploration of the far side of the moon.

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 how to get a 450 ton space ship out of orbit:

How will the International Space Station be decommissioned? Andy Burns, UK.

The Debate: Lt Col Dave from Florida suggests a debate on which option is better for astronomy: space or Earth based telescopes? Paul & Ralph do battle.

Welcome to AstroCamp!

In this podcast extra episode, we welcome you to the practical astronomy arm of the Awesome Astronomy empire, as we take a run through what people can expect at our AstroCamp star party in the Brecon Beacons International Dark Sky Reserve on the extended weekend of 14-17th April 2018.

We also take a look at the social and educational aspects of star parties and round everything off with some of our favourite solar system and deep sky objects visible this spring to observe for yourself.

If you haven't booked a place yet and would like to come, head over to www.astrocamp.org.uk We're taking bookings all the way up to the 13th April 2018.

See you under the stars!

The Discussion: Beginning the show droning on about us for bit, we cover Jen presenting her latest paper at the dust conference (yes, there is such a thing) in Marseilles, and filming in the wilds of Wales at night for the BBC’s Weatherman Walking TV programme.

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have:

• A return to the phosphine on Venus story for an update
• Earth gets a litterbug mini-moon
• Water abundance on The Moon
• The nearest black hole to Earth might not be a black hole after all
• Citizen science project finds the coolest stars of all in our galactic backyard

Main News story: Did humanity narrowly escape extinction in 1908?

The Sky Guide: This month we’re taking a look at the constellation of Cassiopeia with a guide to its history, how to find it, a couple of deep sky objects and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in November.

Guide to the Electromagnetic Spectrum: In November we conclude our look at the electromagnetic spectrum, what, it is, what is shows us and why it’s so important to astronomers. This month we explain the gamma-ray part of the spectrum and its relevance to astronomy.

Q&A: How do you tell the difference between a star that is nearer to the end of its lifecycle, and a younger star that is actually travelling away from us at a faster speed? From Tony Horton in Herefordshire, England.

This month we talk about what might have been in the Arthur C Clarke Awards, the latest weird discovery from JWST, the most detailed simulation of the Universe yet, British space plans, giggle at a Space Force painting, and have a look at what you can see in the sky this month.

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

The world veers towards madness, asteroids threaten destruction and Gaia is no more. But the planets are putting on a show and Pluto is 95, so that’s alright...

Produced by Ralph, Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

In this month’s AstroCamp podcast extra episode:

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.

The Sky guides: In readiness for 3 nights of stargazing in the Welsh valleys, Ralph, Paul and Damien 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.

Ralph’s top choices take in the Owl Cluster, The Double Cluster and the vast North America Nebula.

Damien takes a look at the solar system objects available a little closer to home this month as he runs through the asteroids, dwarf planets and meteor showers on offer to AstroCampers

And Paul finishes out autumnal round up with Herschel’s Garnet Star, the original Cepheid Variable and the magnificent galaxy cluster Stephan’s Quintet.

What to look out, and up, for in November.

Our highlights of this month’s skies with the planet on offers to observers and imagers:

• A last chance to enjoy views of Mars for 2016
• The return of the King of Planets: Jupiter
• A Saturn and Venus conjunction

And we each take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:

• Ralph – Colourful binary star Almaak in Andromeda
• Jeni – The magnificent constellation of Orion and the Orion Nebula
• Paul – NGC 404, Mirach’s Ghost in Andromeda

And we finish this sky guide with November’s moon phases.

This month the episode comes from the user dark skies of Wales as it is AstroCamp time! Discussion of Hera and Europa Clipper probes, comet news and the live recording of the Astrocamp panel! Enjoy

The wonderful upcoming Perseid meteor shower, planetary & lunar spectacles and the deep sky objects on offer in the Summer Triangle & Ophiuchus in our August sky guide. The new names for Pluto’s 4th & 5th moons, a new moon disocered around Neptune, the discovery of mysterious extragalactic radio emissions and a photo of home from the Cassini spacecraft. Cepheid Variable stars explained in Paul's 5 Minute Concept and we draw a winner for a pair of magnificent astronomy binoculars. An interview with Professor Thierry Montmerle of the International Astronomical Union on astronomy education & outreach, naming conventions and buying celestial objects. And in Q&A we answer questions from listeners on the effect of the moon on bringing Kate Middleton to labour, the likelihood of Betelgeuse going supernova in our lifetimes & supermassive black holes.

The Discussion: Jeni tells us about her more recent astronomy conferences in Eastbourne and Copenhagen. Paul gives us a round up of his astronomy outreach with interesting facts from and a rooftop star party. And Awesome Astronomy gets in deeper than intended with the Alan Bennet/Thora Hird gag that far outstayed its welcome.

The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:

• AMI in the Sky with Diamonds!
• Farewell Apollo 12 moonwalker, Alan Bean
• An old mystery about our moon is solved
• Has the Mars Opportunity rover bitten the dust?

The Interview: This month Jeni speaks to Dr Tana Joseph about the MeerKAT telescope and how outreach is impacting science in South Africa.

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 solar physics:

Will the Parker Solar Probe really touch the surface of the sun and what science will it do? Mark De Vriij in Poland

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:

• Mars
• Saturn
• A Venus conjunction

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:

• Delta Aquariids peaking 28th/29th July

Then we each take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:

• Jeni – NGC6826: The Blinking Star Nebula
• Ralph – Epsilon Lyrae: The Double Double
• Paul – M22, a globular Cluster in Sagittarius.

And we finish this sky guide with July’s moon phases and planetary conjunctions.

This month is indulgent and ranty! Well it is summer...Jen waxes lyrical about a night out, Paul has written a book and in amongst it is some astronomy!

There is a big dive into the huge aurora display in May, talk of new exoplanets and old ones vanishing. The usual skyguide and this months history moment is all about X rays.

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

The Discussion:

The release of JWST’s first images, the press conferences and media coverage.

Emails on astrophotography, Dr Jen’s TV appearances and a more politically correct alternative name for JWST.

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in August, we have:

• We now know why Jupiter doesn’t have rings like Saturn
• A huge triple star system with a violent past
• A fossil galaxy – one of the first galaxies from the early universe
• Some good news for the prospects for life on Mars

The big news story: What else? It’s JWST innit?

The Sky Guide:

This month we’re taking a look at the summer constellation of Cygnus with a guide to its history, how to find it, a couple of deep sky objects and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in August.

Q&A:

No time for Q&A – we’ve got JWST to prattle on about!

The Discussion: It’s almost Halloween and Jeni’s getting the knives out. Paul’s been recording astronomy voiceovers for the Discovery Channel, Jeni’s got the Cardiff BookTalk coming up and Ralph’s excited by the return of Doctor Who.

The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have:

• ESA tell us that radiation is too dangerous for a Mars voyage
• The new Nobel Prizes are announced
• It might be all over for both Kepler and Hubble
• The Case of the ISS Leak detective story
• Israel’s SpaceIL has an upcoming moonshot
• NASA are about to announce their plans for human space exploration
• Japan’s Hayabusa 2 impresses us all

Black History Month: To honour Black History Month, the crew take a look at the non white, middle-aged males that have pioneered and excelled in making our world what it is today in the fields of astronomy and space science.

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 the fate of our sun:

When the sun explodes into a supernovae how far will the ejected material go as a planetary nebulae? Also will any of the planets make it or will they all be shattered into oblivion? Tyler W in the US via email.

The Discussion: The publication of Jeni’s new research paper, a review of Netflix shows Challenger and Away (sublime and ridiculous).

The News: Rounding up the space exploration news we have:

• ESA and JAXA’s future infrared space telescope cancelled
• Mercury-bound Bepi-Colombo is passing Venus – with sensors…
• Get ready for next month’s launch of China’s epic Chang’e 5 moon mission.
• A change in crew for Boeing’s creed Starliner test flight to the ISS
• NASA’s shiny new plan for Artemis and human exploration of the moon
• A gallop through SpaceX’s achievements

Main news story: Astrophysicists scoop up Nobel Prizes again this year.

The Electromagnetic Spectrum: The ultraviolet and X-ray parts of the spectrum. How these telescopes were developed and became ever more powerful.

Q&A: If you had to choose just one mission or big science experiment to proceed in your remaining lifetimes, what would you choose and why? Victor Carroon, London, UK via email.

The Discussion: The live recording of our monthly astronomy show to provide a bit of extra entertainment and interactivity while people are cooped up at home sitting out the coronavirus.

We discuss a burgeoning love-hate relationship with Starlink, Jeni being the BBC’s go to person for Starlink and meteor showers, and Apollo 13 filling up Twitter timelines and giving us a bit of a respite from coronavirus

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have:

• A round up of astronomy-based April fools gags found in research papers
• Hubble marks its 30th birthday
• Fomalhaut b might not be a planet after all
• Centaurs might well be asteroids from other star systems
• And Pluto looks to have had a ‘hot start’

Main News story: Earth 2.0 found in old ignored data.

The Sky Guide: This month we’re taking a look at the constellation of Ursa Major with a guide to its history, how to find it, a couple of deep sky objects and a round up of the solar system views on offer in May.

Guide to the Electromagnetic Spectrum: In this series we take a look at the electromagnetic spectrum, what, it is, what is shows us and why it’s so important to astronomers. This month we explain the sub-millimetre and far infrared part of the spectrum and its relevance to astronomy.

Q&A: How do scientists work out the trajectories for putting satellites in orbit around other bodies, or on trajectories that take them past numerous objects? From our good friend Kevin Morgan in the UK.

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A podcast extra episode to get you in the mood for the biannual dark sky weekend run by the podcast crew. We have the BBC's Sky at Night team joining us again to show off the wonders of truly dark skies.

If you're not coming to AstroCamp in April 2014, there's still a sky guide in this episode to give you stargazing inspiration wherever you are.

The Discussion: This month we take a look at the recent supermoon and what it takes to make the moon ‘super’; Jeni goes teaching kids about space and hones her exoplanet hunting skills; while Paul’s been hosting events with British astronaut Tim Peake.

The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:

• An update on Blue Origin’s spaceflight ambitions
• More on Shiaparelli and Exomars part 1
• A NASA Director’s worries about science in a Trump administration
• An Ocean like the Dead Sea under Pluto’s ice sheets
• The roundest object in space
• Could dark energy actually be an emergent property of entropy?
• The dinosaur-killing asteroid may have turned planet Earth inside out

The Hat of Woo: Delving into the rank and putrid world of conspiracy theories to debunk the nonsense that lies within. This month Paul pulls Project Pegasus out of his fetid hat where a young President Obama was part of a team of juveniles used in the 1980s to teleport to Mars and into the past. No, really!

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 go back to Tycho Brahe:

What is a plain regular (non-super) nova? Doug, @DesRon94, Detroit Michigan

This month the team talk Comet Olbers, black holes in globular Clusters, the cancellation of Vixen, the ultra calm lakes of Titan, more phosphine news from Venus and look forward to this months Perseids.

Produced by Ralph, Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

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The Discussion: Lt Col Dave from Florida gives us his more informed take on Space Force.

The News: In the new revamped show format we have 3 minutes to round up the astronomy news stories you might have missed:

Jeni:

• An incredible Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Aristarchus Crater
• New life in the Kepler spacecraft

Ralph:

• ESA’s Aeolus weather data spacecraft launches
• NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft enters its science phase
• China’s Chang’e 4 lander headed for the far side of the moon

The big news story:

• The Parker Solar Probe on its way to ‘touch the sun’

The Debate: In this section the team debate a pressing question or issue in astronomy or space flight and in this inaugural debate, Ralph takes on Jeni to make arguments for what should be the next big human spaceflight destination: Moon or Mars?

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 powering rovers on Mars:

Will ExoMars be able to survive dust storms? From Mike in Florida

This podcast extra takes a look at the proposals from Boeing and Lockheed Martin to develop a lunar space station for NASA.

In this discussion we cover:

• NASA’s current plans for deep space exploration
• Lunar and Martian exploration
• What exploration can be done from orbit
• Human vs robotic exploration
• The likelihood of contaminating other worlds with Earth organisms

As the European Space Agency gears up to opening its next recruitment campaign from 31 March to 28 May 2021, we take you through:

• The entry requirements
• The selection process
• The missions successful candidates are expected to fly
• The first astronaut recruitment trawl for candidates with physical disabilities

If you want to take a look and see if being an astronaut suits you, go to www.esa.int/YourWayToSpace. 

If you want to apply, applications should be submitted to the ESA Careers website, from 31 March, at https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Careers_at_ESA

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In this podcast extra we go off piste and digress from a discussion about the successes of the Rosetta mission.

We ask whether the fantastic comet mission of 2014/2015 marks a turning point in ESA's exploration and marks Europe's coming of age as a space agency?

Two instances of bad language.

Perhaps the most frequently asked question to the show (and apologies to Terry Dunlin who asked this question about 2 years ago!) is what you need to consider when buying a telescope or what makes the right telescope for you.

So, in this podcast extra, we pool our collective brainpower to bring you a 20 minute discussion of telescope types, apertures, portability and capabilities to help you get the perfect telescope for you.

If you’re thinking of buying your first telescope – or thinking of getting one as a gift for someone this Christmas – then this will give you all the considerations for that purchase.

We recommend The Tring Astronomy Centre (www.tringastro.co.uk), but the most important thing is to buy from a dedicated astronomy retailer rather than the internet or ordinary high street stores. A dedicated astronomy retailer will be able to advise you from a position of knowledge and provide the aftercare you need.

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The Discussion: The privations of a PhD student, listeners’ comments sparking a couple of corrections from the last episode, another bout of potaytoes/potartoes and we hear that new revelations about space mirrors cult sci-fi.

The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have:

• Damage to cartilage from microgravity
• The big debate in space exploration appears to be ‘is Daniella Westbrook the ideal astronaut experiment’?
• ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter kills the excitement over methane on Mars.
• NASA asks for an additional $1.6Bn for getting astronauts to Mars by 2024
• NASA will be sending a woman to the moon in the Project Artemis crew
• A look at the return to the moon blueprint

Main news story: The Lunar Gateway, an orbiting platform around the moon.

The Debate: Court is in session for the first round of advocacy for to find the winner in your top ten historic space missions. Which will make it through and which will consigned to the dustbin of history – Cassini Huygens or New Horizons?

Q&A: At 6 million kelvin, is the plasma around the M87 supermassive black hole still a plasma? Andy Burns from the UK

The Discussion: Enjoying the delights of July’s skies, writing articles for Astronomy magazine, STEM education and Paul becomes a European Space Agency ambassador.

The News: In the news we have the Rosetta spacecraft’s approach to the almost unpronounceable comet Churyumov Gerasimenko – revealed to be a binary comet, and the Very Large Telscope in Chile takes a 2.5 year study of a supernova to crack the riddle of how dust is created and survives the extreme temperatures of its birth.

The 5 Minute Concept: In this month’s 5MC, Paul looks at the summer phenomenon of noctilucent clouds and asks ‘why is there no record of them before 1885’?

The Interview: We welcome back the General Secretary of the International Astronomical Union, Professor Thierry Montmerle to tells us about the International Year of Light, the IAU’s new look communications strategy and their new project to allow the public to name exoplanets and their host stars.

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 Ralph & Paul answer:

• Oolaaa Martian overlords. Where in your opinions does the solar system truly end. Thanks, your faithful servant Lee? Lee Garner from Norwich, UK.
• What’s a Vampire Star? @TweetsByLou via Twitter

And we finish with the winners of last month’s competition to win three DVD copies of the new film Gagarin – First in Space, and a copy of the book Yuri Gagarin – The First Spaceman.

The Discussion: Looking back over Sirius Astronomy outreach events in June, a bit of a rant over peer-review and science by press conference and our own pathetic attempts to get awarded a Nobel Prize or two.

The News: Modelling of Pluto’s moon Charon ahead of the flyby of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft next year, aerobraking an orbiter through Venus’ upper atmosphere and radio imaging a Near Earth Asteroid.

The 5 Minute Concept: How comets are far from the traditional portents of doom and may well be the harbingers of life.

The Interview: Beginning a regular series of interviews with Dr Joe Liske about each of the key facilities in the European Southern Observatory’s arsenal, starting with the 3.6 meter telescope.

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 Ralph & Paul answer:

• Hey you mad martians, I have a question for the podcast. When we look at other galaxies we can clearly see the glowing bulge at their centres. Why is it when we look up at the milky way we don’t see one. Thanks for all your efforts? Lee Garner from Norwich, UK via Facebook .
• Should the BICEP2 team have made their announcement pre-peer review? Mark Cullen (@Mokwepa) from the Buckinghamshire, UK via Twitter .

And we finish with a competition to win a DVD copy of the new film Gagarin – First in Space

What to look out, and up, for in August. We start with the constellation of Cepheus in our beginners’ and young observers’ challenge. Next up is planets and the standout phases of the moon to enjoy this August. We then round up the best of the deep sky offerings for the month with a galaxy, two globular clusters and a couple of planetary nebulas in the constellation Aquarius.

In this podcast extra episode, we take a look back at the extraordinary life and work of Stephen Hawking who died on 14th March 2018, leaving a legacy rich with cosmology insights, humour, altruism, science education and a changed landscape in astronomy.

The Discussion: Friend of the show and lecturer at Jeni’s Cardiff University, Dr Ed Gomez is launching a Kickstarter project to create and distribute a children’s comic book to encourage children to take an interest and career in science. Jeni tells us about Ada’s Adventures in Science, which you can give your support to at http://kck.st/2DI43hg. Paul suffers the adverse effects of being travelling science salesman and Ralph reads out some listeners’ emails - including one interesting email that suggests ‘Kim Jen Un’ may be getting into peoples’ heads.

The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:

• An update from Cassini on the strange orbits of Saturn’s moon Janus and Epimetheus and a look at a research paper shedding light on the ring they create around the gas giant.
• We mourn the loss of yet another Apollo astronaut as we say goodbye to John Young with a look back at his NASA career.
• Recent analysis of Martian meteorites and current Martian atmospheric constituents tempers our optimism that Mars had a long history of habitability.

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 the end of our galaxy as we know it:

In 2 million years or so, when we merge with Andromeda, would you notice anything much different from Earth? Or just another Milky Way type structure in the night sky, assuming we merge at an angle? Sean Mulcahy from Yorkshire, UK via Twitter (@sfgmulcahy)

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What to look out, and up, for in February 2014.

We start with a new feature the beginner’s - or young observer’s - guide, and a tour of the constellation Orion.

Next up is our round up of the planets available this month to northern hemisphere observers, interesting lunar features and meteor showers.

And we finish off with the best stars and deep sky objects on offer in the constellations Monoceros and Cancer.

The Discussion: Jeni talking exoplanets and aliens at Cardiff Museum and we take a no spoiler look at the Neil Armstrong biopic, First Man.

The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:

• Commercial spaceflight update
• New Zealand’s Rocket Lab build a new launch site in the US
• The winners & losers in USAF’s launcher funding competition
• China’s Long March 5 rocket failure induces delays
• The death of the Kepler space telescope
• Russian Soyuz failures risk human access to space
• Hubble dead? Don’t believe the hype
• OSIRIS-Rex begins its final manoeuvres to land on an asteroid

Main news story: Europe and Japan’s Bepicolumbo mission to Mercury.

The Interview: Jeni interviews Bethan James, astronomer & astrophysicist currently working as an ESA/AURA Astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) on the Hubble instrument team.

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 USAF’s rocket funding decision:

Why wasn’t SpaceX funded in the latest US military space funding round while Blue Origin was? Mark De Vrij, UK.

The Discussion: Christmas in Cydonia and teaching science to children through astronomy education.

The News: Kicking off 2015 we round off the events that concluded 2014: the successful test flight of NASA’s Orion capsule; NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory pieces together the clues that tell us how Mount Sharp (the mountain Mars Curiosity is exploring) was formed; and science findings from ESA’s Rosetta and Philae spacecraft that suggest water was not delivered to Earth by comets like 67P Churyumov Gerasimenko.

The 5 Minute Concept: This month Paul delves into the fundamental nature of our universe. We take a look at the Cosmological Principle, which tells us that the universe and the forces within it are the same wherever we look, and explore huge structures that put strain on this accepted model of cosmology.

The Interview: Ralph & Paul speak with the creators of the ‘Essex Space Agency’, Matt Kingsnorth and Phil St Pier who are building a high altitude balloon with cameras to photograph the Earth’s curved horizon from the edge of space in their Helium Tears project.

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 Ralph & Paul answer:

• Are there Van Allen Belts & Aurora on other planets? Any photos from satellites orbiting other planets in our solar system? Mariecor Agravante in San Diego via twitter.
• Why was the moon so large the other night?Ian Cheale in Cambridgeshire via the Facebook Group.

Matt & Phil from Project Helium Tears return to the bunker for this final episode in the Sci-fi Wars series to appeal for your votes for the best movie.

We've let catured Earthling slave Damien out of the dungeon to add his favourite too.

This is the last in a four part podcast extra series to discover the best sci-fi TV series, book and film over the next three days.

Your votes count at www.awesomeastronomy.com/scifiwars

The Discussion: Professor Michelle Dougherty talking Enceladus at the annual Schrodinger lecture, the proficiency (or otherwise) of making science accessible to the layman and emails about inspiring anyone to do the job they want.

The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have:

• Have SpaceX paved the way for the US to return to human spaceflight?
• The Japanese Hyabusa spacecraft begins exploring asteroid Ryugu
• The first Israeli lunar lander makes its way to the moon
• Virgin Galactic take a long awaited return to commercial spaceflight tests
• NASA’s science experiments for the moon on their commercial landers
• Ultima Thule actually resembles a bag of Revels.

Main news story: New Horizons at Ultima Thule

The Debate: We want you to influence the next few debates. We want you to email us with what you think is the greatest space mission of all time (crewed or robotic). We’ll compile a Top Ten and advocate for your choices, court-style, on the coming shows.

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 something we discussed in a recent show, commercialization of space:

Isn’t commercial branding at NASA already here and wouldn’t increased spacecraft branding diminish the science?? Andy Burns, UK.

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A podcast extra episode to get you in the mood for the biannual dark sky weekend run by the podcast crew. We have renowned comet and asteroid hunter Nick Howes joining us to talk about the nature and history of comets and we'll be giving away loads of astronomy prizes in our astronomy quizzes. And of course, 3 nights of enjoying the wonders of truly dark skies in the Welsh Breacon Beacons' International Dark Sky Reserve.

If you're not coming to AstroCamp in May 2015, there's still a sky guide in this episode to give you stargazing inspiration wherever you are.

What to look out, and up, for in December.

We start with the broad constellation of Gemini and an easy binary star, a planetary nebula and a group of star clusters for astronomy beginners to find, before emabarking on a spot of exogazing!

Next up is the return of resplendent Jupiter and Venus to our skies. We bring you the phases and conjunctions of the moon and the Geminid meteor shower in December. Then we round up the best of the deep sky offerings for the month in the winter constellations of Orion, Eridanus & Lepus.

This month we talk science outreach in Wiltshire and have an audio report on the aurora from Iceland

In the news, we have a supernova for amateur observers in a ‘nearby’ galaxy and Europe’s Herschel Observatory finding water plumes on dwarf planet Ceres. China’s Chang’e-3 moon mission finds itself in trouble (in more ways than one!) and the European Space Agency gives the green light to the exoplanet and star characterising PLATO mission.

In the 5 Minute Concept, Paul poetically explains the history and science behind one of astronomy’s greatest ever discoveries, as he unwraps the concept of redshift.

We interview Carole Mundell, Professor of Extragalactic Astronomy at Liverpool John Moore’s University, about the most violent explosions in the universe and promoting equality in science & astronomy.

And in Q&A, we answer listeners' questions on the likelihood of fatalities from the M82 supernova and why the sun doesn't just float away.

The Discussion:

• Tales from a dark sky weekend
• Jen appearing on the Cosmic Companion and at the Open University Space Society
• Emails on space tourism and from a US state penitentiary

The News:

• NASA gets ready to test an asteroid redirect mission
• Shatner in space
• Mixed fortunes in the news for Bezos & Musk
• The James Webb Space Telescope is still on track for a December launch

The news discussion: NASA’s Lucy mission to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids.

Moons of the Solar System: Our show segment exploring the discovery, exploration and our knowledge of the solar system’s moons. This month we complete this segment with a look at moons around asteroids and the tantalising glimpses of moons around planets outside our solar system.

The Discussion: New Year resolutions, veganism, a little spoiler-free chat about the latest/last Skywalker movie and the new series of Dr Who, before some listeners’ emails.

The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have:

• Christina Koch racks up a flight time record on the ISS
• China’s moon rover breaks a lunar endurance record
• Ethiopia becomes the 10th African nation to send a satellite into orbit
• ESA launches their CHEOPS Exoplanet characterising spacecraft
• Space Force is go – and the world joins in
• NASA’s new (22nd!) intake and what skills are needed to become an astronaut
• OSIRIS-REx now has a target for return samples on asteroid Bennu

Main news story: Boeing’s test of its Starliner space capsule

Q&A: Why does NASA search for signs of life rather than directly looking for life? From Gavin Price in the UK on Twitter (@pilliarscreatio)

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:

• A pair of comets to observe with amateur telescopes or binoculars
• The planets Mercury and Jupiter in the evening
• The Lyrid meteor shower

Next up, we each take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:

• Ralph – Pinwheel Galaxy in Ursa Major
• Paul – The Black Eye Galaxy in Coma Berenices
• Jen – The Ring Nebula in Lyra

And we finish this sky guide with April's moon phases.

The Discussion:

• The Perseids meteor shower
• Another heatwave in the UK
• The Orville on Disney+

The News:

• NASA is going back to the moon – this month!
• SpaceX join the companies dropping space debris on Australia
• Northrop Grumman & Firefly’s new rocket

The news discussion: Loads of news around the International Space Station

Q&A:
What would we like to see happen to the ISS instead of being deorbited? From our good friend Mindy Scott in South Africa.

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:

• Hubble spies a comet breaking up around a distant white dwarf star
• A very special exoplanet discovery
• The Event Horizon Telescope takes aim
• Isolated extremophiles on Earth help with our search for alien life
• Is NASA accelerating its manned spaceflight programme?

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.

Bringing you your sky guide for June, a salute to ISS Commander Chris Hadfield and news on Kepler. Paul tells us all about ET in his Five Minute Concept, Ralph interviews astronomy communicator Mark Thompson and Q&A includes questions on lunar impacts, the end of the universe and the five best astronomy objects to observe!

The Discussion: Coming live from The AstroCamp in the Brecon Beacons international dark sky reserve, we talk about the benefits of getting out to truly dark skies and observing with people who have a range of astronomy skills.

The News: We welcome astrophysicist Jeni Millard to discuss this month’s astronomy news. And after rebuking NASA last month for the paucity of New Horizons data releases, we’re more content this month and bring you the latest from the Pluto flyby. We take a look at the European Space Agency’s latest video from Philae as it descended to the surface of comet Churyumov Gerasimenko. And we bring you more news about the increasingly habitable conditions on Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

The Interview: This month we wrap the whole show around our interview with Skylab 3 and STS-3 astronaut, Jack Lousma. Jack tells us about taking that ominous call during Apollo 13 ‘Houston, we’ve had a problem’; how they solved each life-threatening issue in sequence to get the astronauts back alive; missing out on flying Apollo 20 to the moon; and taking one of the first space shuttles out for a test drive.

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 Ralph & Paul take a walk around AstroCamp to let listeners give their top tips for taking their first steps in practical amateur astronomy.

In this podcast extra episode we present our full length interview with test pilot, astronaut and lunar module pilot on Apollo 16, General Charlie Duke.

Drawing on this unique set of experiences, we asked Charlie:

• What surprised you or what weren't you expecting to see on the moon?
• How did having a rover change the way you could explore the moon?
• How much fun was the lunar rover?
• Which was most exciting, being capcom on the 1st moon landing or walking on the moon on Apollo 16?
• Is the proposed 2032 launch window for a human Mars mission achievable?
• Did you see any colour other than grey on the moon?
• Are there any features on Earth you can see from the moon?
• Were you able to see any star fields during the Apollo 16 mission?
  Then we turned the interview over to listeners' questions:
• @BrewsterNorth asked, what do you think of the commercial plans for lunar exploration?
• Gavin Price (@pillarscreatio) asked, how important is the moon as a staging post for Mars?
• David Blanchflower (@Davidbflower) asked, would you return to the moon now?
• @Openmind asked, did your attitude towards humanity and our planet change for having gone to the moon?
• And the now regular Cornwell Question (from @samcornwell): What's the most expensive thing you've ever broken?

The Discussion: Paul’s been busy with Sirius Astronomy, promoting space and astronomy education at The Big Bang event and schools across the UK, meeting NASA astronaut Michael Fowle and ESA astronaut Jean Francois Clervoy. Ralph’s been arranging astronomy events for London’s Baker Street Irregular Astronomers. Both are excited about the upcoming CosmicCon event in July and they speak with Phil St Pier from the Project Helium Tears team to reveal the winners of their space competition.

The News: This month we take a look at what’s in store for NASA’s Dawn spacecraft now that it’s made it safely into orbit around dwarf planet Ceres, a quick few thoughts on NASA’s New Horizon’s craft as it approaches the Pluto system, Saturn’s moon Enceladus and Jupiter’s moon Ganymede throw us some tantalising clues about their watery interiors and further potential for life, and we round off with news about a huge ocean that covered 20% of Mars’ entire surface.

The 5 Minute Concept: As we enter the Hubble Space Telescope’s 25th anniversary in space, Paul takes a look at this astronomy wonder that nearly didn’t even make it to the launch pad.

The Interview: Paul catches up with Richard Garner, the organiser of CosmicCon, to find out about the astronauts, TV presenters and astronomers we can expect to meet when we get there.

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 Ralph & Paul answer:

• Are there any colourful celestial objects that can be seen through a small scope?Matt Kingsnorth Essex UK, via Facebook.

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:

• Is there any evidence for other universes in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation?
• An update on Tabby's Star (It's NOT an alien megastructure).
• Are we already creating our own defence against Coronal Mass Ejections by chance?
• A run through NASA's 2018 budget proposal

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.

The Discussion:

• Binocular observing
• Do you want Ralph’s 115 triplet refractor & goto mount?
• The Wiltshire Audio Anomaly
• Listeners emails on historical images and refractor rivalry

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news in February, we have:

• An update on that life on Venus story
• Life around Proxima Centauri is in for a blast
• More data to add to the universe’s expansion rate conundrum
• Was Oumuamua really an interstellar comet?

Main News story: The US’ Fermi National Accelerator follows CERN with a muon discovery that also hints at a big anomaly in the Standard Model of Physics.

The Sky Guide: This month we’re taking a look at the constellation of Ursa Major with a guide to its history, how to find it, a couple of deep sky objects and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in May.

Q&A: I'm getting into my 50s, and hearing Ralph say what good times we're in as regards gaining knowledge of the Universe leads me to wonder.... what will I be around for? From our good friend Peter Jeal from London, UK.

Jeni visits Space Forge for an update on their mission to build reusable satellites to manufacture materials that that are impossible on the ground.

She talks to CEO Joshua Western about that fateful launch from Cornwall on Virgin's Cosmic Girl, how they are getting ready for their next test aboard a Falcon 9, their re-entry tech nicknamed 'Mary Poppins in Space' and the company's future plans to scale up the manufacturing process from grams to tons!

For anyone who's still a little fuzzy or confused by the enormity of the recent detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO facility, we've recorded a special podcast extra to shed some light on the impossibly complex world of General Relativity, interferometry detectors and gravitational waves themselves.

This podcast extra should explain in simple terms:

• What gravitational waves are
• Why they're so important
• How they were detected
• What this means for the future of physics & astronomy

With special thanks to LIGO, the National Science Foundation and Cardiff University's School of Physics and Astronomy.

The latest from Mars, October's skies, solar-scopes, supermassive black holes and how to fly a spacecraft

What to look out, and up, for in April.

This month we look in the direction of Leo the Lion for the beginners guide – taking a look at the bright binary stars and a very special grouping of entire galaxies to observe in our spring skies.

Next we round up the planets that are visible in March 2015: Jupiter, Venus, Saturn and the return of Mercury. April brings us some nice lunar conjunctions and a well timed Lyrid meteor shower. And for our deep sky challenge we take you on a galaxy tour of Virgo and Coma Berenices.

We're hosting a live Q&A on Thurs 16th April. Go to awesomeastronomy.com to see how to watch & get involved!

The Discussion:

• Jeni’s sent the final proofs off for her research paper which is now on archive at https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.01727 and will soon be in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
• Sadly, we have to say goodbye to Apollo 15 command module pilot Al Worden.
• The Cradle of Aviation Museum cancel their Apollo 13 anniversary event, but you can relive Apollo 13 (recreating the launch from 11th April) as if you were in mission control with https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/.
• A shout out to Galaxy Zoo at a time when there are fewer thing more productive you could be doing with your time than adding to science and human knowledge: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects.
• A round up of listeners’ reviews and comments.
• A couple of Awesome Astronomy live-stream shows at 8pm on Thursday 16th and Monday 27th Because, let’s face it, you’re not going to be busy!

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have:

• The European Southern Observatory’s new behemoth telescope takes a step closer
• An exoplanet found to be raining iron
• 139 new minor planets found in our own outer solar system
• Observing material at the event horizon around our supermassive black hole
• Could life actually be viable on planets around red dwarf stars after all?
• An update on the recent dimming of Betelgeuse

Main News story: A full discussion on the impact of social distancing and economic depression on professional astronomy.

The Sky Guide: This month we’re taking a look at the constellation of Leo with a guide to its history, how to find it, a couple of deep sky objects and a round up of the solar system views on offer in April.

A guide to the electromagnetic spectrum: In this series we take a look at the electromagnetic spectrum, what, it is, what is shows us and why it’s so important to astronomers. This month we explain the microwave part of the spectrum and its relevance to astronomy.

Q&A: Do you think C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) is going to be bright enough to be spotted with the naked eye? From our good friend Raffael de Palma in Italy

Festive silliness (bit naughty!), a review of the Space and astronomy year and a look ahead to what 2024 has in store for us. Not forgetting the outakes!

The Discussion:

• A little bit of singing to brighten your day and abuse your ears
• It's Messier Marathon season
• A Messier challenge
• A great listeners' email on naming space missions

The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have:

• Space Forge's reusable satellites demonstrator
• ESA's demonstrator for extracting oxygen from the lunar surface
• The countdown to the death of NASA's Mars Insight lander
• SpaceX's Starship developments
• The future for ExoMars and the ISS

Main news story: The knock on effects to cooperation in space caused by the situation in Ukraine.

Nebulae Our section of the show explaining every type of nebulae in the galaxy that you can oberse or image for yourself. This month we cover Reflection Nebulae.

The Discussion: Sirius Astronomy and The Knowledge Observatory’s educational outreach and preparation for our dark sky observing weekend in Wales: AstroCamp.

The News: In the news we have the latest on the European Space Agency’s ambitious Rosetta spacecraft as it settles into it’s science program at Comet Churyumov Gerasimenko; details of the science payload for NASA’s ‘Curiosity 2’ Mars rover; revealing images of the Pluto system from the New Horizons spacecraft; China’s lunar orbit & spacecraft return mission and turbulent happenings on Uranus (sorry).

The 5 Minute Concept: Distant radio sources that reveal unknown monsters from the past, unleashing hell from afar. In this month’s 5MC, Paul takes us billions of light years away from home to explain one of the brightest and most energetic objects in the universe. Quasars.

The Interview: This month we return to the most exciting current space mission. In an attempt to understand the life of comets and unlock the secrets of the birth of the solar system, Ralph speaks to the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission Project Scientist, Matt Taylor.

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 Ralph & Paul answer:

• Why does Venus rotate retrograde? Dave Bood from Scarborough, UK & Beatriz Caicedo, Guatemala .
• With the idea that all that is the universe originated in a speck with the big bang, and that the universe is expanding, how is it that things such as galaxies collide? Kurt Green, Chicago Illinois via email.
• How much would my 20 stone (280lbs) wife weigh on each of the planets in the solar system? Darren Knight .

Download Episode!

Highlights of September's skies at the AstroCamp star party with the BBC TV cameras. The Sky at Night team joinined us for some observing in Wales.

A penumbral lunar eclipse, a round up of the planets visible in the northern hemisphere this month, a couple of meteor showers to get you outside, and the deep sky treats in Perseus, Camelopardalis and Auriga in our October sky guide.News that Voyager 1 is in interstellar space, NASA's latest mission to explore the thin lunar atmosphere and moon's dust and some research to get us hopeful for a fine display from Comet ISON later this year.

The violent but universe enriching 'Death of Stars' is explained in Paul's 5 Minute Concept.

An interview on the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, astronomy research funding cuts and the Planck and Herschel space telescopes in this month's interview with researcher, writer and broadcaster Dr Chris North.

And in Q&A we answer listeners' questions on brown dwarfs and Saturn's rings.

The Discussion: This month Jeni’s getting frustrated with the politics of peer review, Paul’s seen an uptick in noctilucent cloud hunting and public interest in astronomy in general during lockdown. We ask ‘Is Starlink actually a good thing for astronomy outreach and public engagement?’, while Paul wonders if Elon Musk is aware of the fate of the Duke of Buckingham. And we delve into listeners’ emails about the future of AstroCamp in a pandemic and collaborations with other podcasts.

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have:

• Have gravitational waves revealed the first ‘Black Neutron Star’?
• Jen sees the error of her ways about Betelgeuse’s recent dimming
• Odd white spots on Saturn’s moon Titan could be dried up methane lake beds
• Hunting for the first ever stars in the universe
• CERN’s next generation supercollider

Main News story: Has NASA discovered parallel universes?

The Sky Guide: This month we’re taking a look at the constellation of Sagittarius with a guide to its history, how to find it, a couple of deep sky objects and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in July.

Guide to the Electromagnetic Spectrum: In this series we take a look at the electromagnetic spectrum, what, it is, what is shows us and why it’s so important to astronomers. This month we explain the visible part of the spectrum and its relevance to astronomy.

Q&A: What are arc seconds? How do we know how far away things are like planets and galaxies? What’s the measuring system? From our good friend Jeremy Hanson.

A bit different this month as Paul is joined by Dustin as they chat about aurora on Ganymede, starliner, Polaris Dawn, Blue Origin and Dustin shares an interview at a local astronomy Festival.

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

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:

• Ralph – Saturn reaches opposition this month and coincides with a nearby meteor shower
• Jeni – Jupiter in prime viewing conditions with some lovely Galilean transits
• Paul – We still have comet C/2015 V2 Johnson in the skies for a nice alternative distraction

Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:

• Ralph – The Double Double binary Alpha Lyrae
• Jeni - The Whirlpool Galaxy Messier 51
• Paul – Globular Clusters Messiers 10 & 12 in Ophiuchus

And we finish this sky guide with June’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:

• journeying to the moon on a Saturn V rocket
• getting your rocket struck by lightening
• the mission's colourful commander (Pete Conrad)
• what the moon looked and felt like underfoot
• the science conducted on the surface of the moon
• the future of human spaceflight
• The Martian Olympics!

Matt Kingsnorth from the Project Helium Tears debriefs us on his balloon launch to the edge of space, capturing images of the Earth, taking Awesome Astronomy listeners’ names onboard and filming a Star Wars X-Wing fighter against the black of space in May 2015.

Quite by surprise, the onboard cameras even managed to capture images of the moon and a meteor streaking through the atmosphere below!

The video (which you can see at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7ub0mFVDV0) went viral with more than 400,000 views.

Please help Project Helium Tears achieve Objective 3 by tweeting:

#HeyJJ Can @MattKingsnorth & @TurboBungle come to the Force Awakens VIP Première @Bad_Robot? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7ub0mFVDV0

The Discussion:

• Observing trip with Cardiff Uni students
• Really bright ISS passes
• Jen’s first TV presenting gig about to be released
• Watching a SpaceX launch
• Listeners' email about previous episodes

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in April, we have:

• NASA think JWST will perform better than expected! (see also https://youtu.be/YJMBvcG7nRM)
• A milestone 5,000 confirmed exoplanets (see also https://youtu.be/ByfigQW-6Mk)
• The carbon impact of running large observatories
• ’Impossible’ supermassive-blackhole orbits discovered

The Sky Guide:

This month we’re taking a look at the constellation of Leo with a guide to its history, how to find it, a couple of deep sky objects and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in April.

Q&A:

How soon, at current space travel speeds, would we as a species have to leave the galactic neighbourhood in order to avoid the inevitable Milky Way/Andromeda galaxy collision catastrophe?

What to look out, and up, for in June.

This month we take a look at the constellation of Lyra the harp for the beginners guide – we have one of amateur astronomy’s favourite nebulas, M57 the Ring Nebula, hanging between the stars Sheliak & Sulafat like a suspended smoke ring and the Double Double stars – Epsilon Lyrae.

Next we round up the planets that are visible in June: Venus, Jupiter in the evening & Saturn later on. Comet Lovejoy continues to put on a show for those with small telescopes and Comet Kopff tempt those with larger aperture telescopes. and the Lyrids in the low eastern morning sky.

For our deep sky challenge we look at the constellation of Scutum the shield. We tour the Wild Duck and M26 open clusters, globular cluster NGC6712 and finish off with planetary nebula IC 1295.

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The Interview: On the discovery of only humanity’s third black hole merger by the incredible Laser Interferometry Gravitational wave Observatory (LIGO), Jeni’s speaks with Professor Patrick Sutton, Head of Cardiff University’s Gravitational Physics Group and member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration who develops new strategies to detect gravitational wave bursts and creates techniques for locating these sources on the sky for modelling and simulations.

In this interview Jeni asks Patrick about:

• The latest gravitational wave detection
• What we can know about these events and the objects that created them
• The strength and weakness of these signals

The Announcement: For a physics deep dive into the analysis, the data and the modelling of the new black hole merger detected by LIGO this month, LIGO Governing Council member Professor Sathyaprakash (Sathya to his friends) delivers the first lecture on this discovery.

Return to the Interview: In this segment we return to Professor Patrick Sutton who tells Jen about:

• The possibilities for future gravitational wave detections
• The most expensive thing he’s ever broken
• And… personal grooming tips??

The Discussion: Jeni’s astronomy research yields its first results in the hunt for exoplanet phase variation and we revisit our Star Wars podcast extras with a listener’s book review.

The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:

• An ‘Earthlike planet detected by ESO around our nearest stellar neighbour
• The upcoming launch of OSIRIS Rex to sample an asteroid
• That bump in the data at CERN turns out to be a false hope
• That alien megastructure story just won’t foxtrot oscar
• The Cassini spacecraft spots methane filled canyons on Saturn’s moon Titan
• A meteorite lands in Yorkshire garden. Real or fake?

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: Area 51 – the remote and secret installation in the Nevada desert where sanity gets dissected and reason is left to die.

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 probes certainty in science and how high certainty discoveries can still turn out to be wrong:

Why when the Bicep two team found the evidence for primordial gravitational waves did they claim it was a five sigma result, and later wasn't it shown the result was not accurate? I thought a five sigma had a 1 in 350million chance of being wrong! There has to be something I don't understand about the sigma scale or the Bicep results? Rodney Cuthbertson.

A crash course in Solar System exploration, May's night sky and an interview with none other than the legendary Sir Patrick Moore. Awesome Astronomy is go for launch!

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The Discussion: The reason we have leap years; a look at Ad Astra, Lucy in the Sky and Picard; and the history of the Stonewall Riots (don’t think it’s just astronomy here – you get a fully rounded education, dear listener); and a look at your reviews and emails.  

The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have:

• Direct TV’s ticking timebomb in space
• DARPA’s XS-1 reusable spaceplane gets cancelled
• ESA’s Solar Obiter heads off to the sun
• NASA ask you to vote for the official name of their Mars 2020 rover (www.mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/participate/name-the-rover/)
• NASA’s costs for the 2024 moon landing are imminent

Main news story: SpaceX gears up for crewed spaceflight following successful abort tests

The Electromagnetic Spectrum: How parts of the EMS outside visible light were discovered, who discovered them and what that means for us today.

Q&A: Have the crew of the ISS (or any other spaceflight with room to try it) propelled themselves through their craft using flatulence? From Brychan James from Wales on Twitter (@BrychanJames)

The Discussion:

• You can now watch Jen presenting on BBC TV’s Weatherman Walking (from 06:40)
• Walking, astronomy and animal abuse in the New Forest
• NASA find the Awesome Astronomy bunker on Mars!
• Listeners’ emails on
• • Obscure names for constellations
  • Podcast editorial suggestions
  • Sending us your astrophotography

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in April, we have:

• A companion star that survived a supernova!
• Galaxies that had their dark matter stripped away
• Everything we thought we knew about galaxy evolution is wrong L
• We were just buzzed by an asteroid a mile wide.

The big news story: Only an image of the black hole region at the centre of our galaxy!

The Sky Guide:

This month we’re taking a look at the constellation of Draco with a guide to its history, how to find it, a couple of deep sky objects and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in June.

Q&A:

What sites and activities could you recommend for disabled amateur astronomers? From our good friend Ash in Wales.

What to look out, and up, for in June.

Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers:

• Asteroid Vesta at opposition
• Saturn
• An overview of Venus, Jupiter and Mars
• Comet 21P - Giacobini–Zinner in Cygnus

Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year.

• Ralph - The Double Double, Epsilon Lyrae, in Lyra
• Paul - Globular Clusters available to view in Ophiuchus
• Jen – Colourful binary star Albireo in Cygnus

And we finish this sky guide with June’s moon phases.

What to look out, and up, for in July.

We start with the beautiful summer constellation of Cygnus in our beginners’ and young observers’ guide.

Next up is Mercury, Venus, Mars & Saturn and some lovely lunar conjunctions to enjoy this Month.

The Delta Aquariid meteor shower makes an announcement before we round up the best of July’s deep sky offerings in the constellation Ophiuchus.

This podcast extra is a re-release of our full length interview with the 4th man to walk on the moon aboard the Apollo 12 mission in 1969.

Alan Bean was not only a fighter pilot, Navy test pilot, astronaut, moonwalker, space station commander and artist, but he was also a very considerate, genuine and self-effacing gentleman. We are hugely saddened by the loss of such a lovely man but heartened that he passed away peacefully surrounded by his family.

In this interview, recorded in October 2015 we discussed:

• journeying to the moon on a Saturn V rocket
• your rocket getting struck by lightening
• the mission's colourful commander (Pete Conrad)
• what the moon looked and felt like underfoot
• the science conducted on the surface of the moon
• the future of human spaceflight
• and the Martian Olympics

Farewell Alan Bean. You leave us with only four humans that have memories of walking on the moon but a rich legacy of technological and scientific accomplishments.

What to look out, and up, for in October.

Our highlights of this month’s skies with the planet on offer to observers and imagers:

• Venus & Saturn in the late evening with a nice conjunction of the pair.
• Uranus as it reaches opposition on the 16th.

Next up is the meteor showers and October brings us:

• The Draconids peaking on 7th October
• The Orionids peaking on 20th/21st October

Then we each take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:

• Ralph – Algol, the Demon Star & The Double Cluster in Perseus
• Paul – The Auriga open clusters: M36, M37 & M38
• Jeni – and the Owl Cluster in Cassiopeia

And we finish this sky guide with October’s moon phases.

It's that time of year again where the team get silly...this year Butch and Suni hijack the ISS...

The Discussion: As we welcome in the New Year Paul’s been mixing science with art, Jeni’s professional astronomy looks to be taking her to South Africa or Mexico and we read out some of our listeners’ emails

The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:

• The death of John Glenn – a true pioneer and legend
• ESO’s Very Large Telescopes glimpses something from nothing
• And we take a look at NASA latest release list of its spin-out technologies

Hat of Woo: In our latest and final Hat of Woo we put Astrology under the magnifying glass.

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 a recent news story covered in a previous episode:

The number of bodies in the Solar System featuring subsurface oceans seems to increase with every planetary mission sent out there. Many of these are bodies of water of great depth, with Europa and Ganymede possibly having oceans 100km deep. Given that the deepest part of our own ocean is a 'mere' 11km deep and barely studied, what kind of conditions could future explores expect at such depths? Would the enormous pressure at a depth of 100km cause the water to act differently and what implications would this have for life in these oceans? Steve Brown, Yorkshire, England.

The Discussion:

• Stargazing & post-covid travel
• A lovely email from our good friend @SsonnyY
• The joys of being an astronomy beginner
• Pioneer 10’s 50th anniversary

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in March, we have:

• A new planet discovered in our neighbouring Alpha Centauri system
• A massive new dataset of 4.4m brand new radio objects to get excited about
• Quasars, blazars, - turns out they’re all the same thing
• The first observation of a free floating black hole
• Mini-Neptunes may evolve into super Earths

Big News Story: First light of the IXPE X-ray telescope

The Sky Guide:

This month we’re taking a look at the constellation of Camelopardalis with a guide to its history, how to find it, a couple of deep sky objects and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in March.

What to look out, and up, for in May.

We start with the constellation of Hercules in our beginner’s and young observer’s guide.

Next up is the moon and our round up of the craters and interesting lunar features you can explore with a small telescope.

Halley's Comet brings us the peak of the Eta Aquarids on the night of 5th/6th May while Comet LINEAR has the potential to deliver a meteor storm on the night of 23rd/24th May.

Mars, Saturn & Jupiter feature in the planetary round up for Northern Hemisphere observers this month and we finish off by galaxy hunting around the Virgo Cluster.

The Discussion: Jeni and her Welsh brethren suffered an Earthquake and Ralph takes a look through listeners emails which prompts a discussion about the range of educational outreach that AweAst listeners undertake.

The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:

• A new and pointless star ‘graces’ our night sky
• We wave goodbye to the concept of the Late Heavy Bombardment
• Astronomers publish results on the oldest supernova detection
• Astronomy Concept: We delve into the wide array of visual observation and astrophography filters in response to John Lonergan’s request.

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 the nature of black holes:

1) I heard in the reporting that the black hole had a physical spin. Does that support the idea that a black hole cannot be a singularity/point since it has a physical spin?

2) The merging black holes lost multiple solar masses in the merging process. If the mass loss wasn't from outside the event horizons, then what was that huge mass loss mechanism when supposedly "nothing can escape from a black hole"?

3) Can gravitational waves eventually be used by astronomers to probe the interior of a black hole?" Lt Col Dave from Florida USA

The Discussion: Enjoying views of Comet Lovejoy, engaging in astronomy outreach at schools, looking forward to the Spring AstroCamp in the Welsh Brecon Beacons dark sky reserve and catching up with the Project Helium Tears high altitude balloon team.

The Competition

Thanks to the Project Helium Tears team, we’re offering you the opportunity to see your name in space! Just tweet or email us and we’ll pick a winner (or winners) to have their name on the side of the spacecraft and have it photographed with the curvature of the Earth and the blackness of space in the background! Use the hashtag #TakeMeToSpace

The News: A full-to-bursting round up of the news over the last month, starting with the phoenix-like Kepler Space Telescope and the latest ‘Earth-like’ exoplanet and the possibility of life on Mars getting more likely following Curiosity’s detection of methane on the Red Planet. Next up is NASA’s options for an asteroid redirect mission, SpaceX’s attempt to land spent rocket stages and we finish with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter finding a Beagle on Mars.

The 5 Minute Concept: This month Paul puts a few myths to rest as he explores the facts about the asteroid belt between Mars & Jupiter.

The Interview: Ralph catches up with the European Space Agency’s Project Scientist for the Rosetta mission, Dr Matt Taylor, to get the latest on Rosetta and Philae results and find out what we can expect next from these intrepid comet explorers

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 Ralph & Paul answer:

• How many active satellites are there in orbit? Elizabeth Chamberlain in Worcester via email.
• What’s the difference between a comet, asteroid and a meteor? Christine L in Derbyshire via Twitter (@ChrispyDoDa) .

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

An extended Hat of Woo if you like, but for this podcast extra episode we dip our hands back into the festering corners of Paul’s hat to take a look at the root causes and the psychology of belief in conspiracy theories.

Not why are they wrong but why do humans believe in conspiracy theories at all?

Do we shoot ourselves in the foot through our educational policies and methods of teaching?

Are we just hardwired to believe in falsehoods, whether more elaborate or more simple than the truth?

The Discussion: We discuss National Geographic’s The Right Stuff series on Disney+, get a little bit ranty about the use of jokey titles in research papers and read out a few of your emails.

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have:

• An update to the Geysers on Jupiter’s moon Europa
• Another asteroid flies scarily close to Earth
• The latest developments in Muskworld
• China’s ambitious chang’e-5 mission en-route to the moon

Main News story: The Hayabusa 2 mission and the imminent return of samples from asteroid Ryugu

The Sky Guide: This month we’re taking a look at the great winter constellation of Orion with a guide to its history, how to find it, a couple of deep sky objects and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in December.

Guide to the Electromagnetic Spectrum: In November we concluded our look at the electromagnetic spectrum. But as we now have a new method of detecting events beyond the electromagnetic spectrum, this month we explain gravitational wave astronomy.

We defer our usual Xmas frivolity to go to NASA’s coverage of Elon Musk’s Penetrating Explorer Neo Insertion System rocket delivering NASA’s Advanced Solar System probe to Uranus and look back at the astronomy and space exploration highlights of 2021:

• The first detection of an exoplanet in another galaxy, the first exomoon and the most abundant stars perhaps being habitable hosts
• A great alignment of planets in the sky for backyard astronomers
• NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter on Mars
• The advances in China’s space programme
• The seismic shift in American commercial spaceflight

We then look forward to the anticipated highlights of 2022:

• For astronomers, the moon will be passing in front of planets and bright star Porrima
• Artemis 1 should kickstart NASA’s return to the moon
• SpaceX tests at Boca Chca should put of a show whatever the results

But remember y’all, Christmas is all about the children. And space. But mostly the children. Who are our future. In space. With children.

The Discussion: Pint of Science in Cardiff targets canines, Ralph makes a schoolboy error while in Florida and we all eagerly await the publication of a research paper by Jen.

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have:

• More disturbing news about the climate on Earth-analogue, Venus
• TESS discovers a planetary system around a visual binary star in Fornax.
• The Andromeda & Triangulum galaxies are hiding quasars
• New research shows the mechanism by how Pluto could harbour oceans
• A better understanding of past ice ages on Mars
• More ridiculous ways to not find dark matter
• The race to analyse meteorites at Arizona State University.

Main news story: Mr Musk’s Splendiferous Starlink.

The Sky Guide: Covering the solar system and deep sky objects on offer to amateur astronomers in June:

Jen: Mars and Mercury as the stand-out objects in the lighter summer skies of June and a good opportunity to look out for noctilucent clouds at dawn and dusk.

Ralph: A round up of the other bright planets on offer in June and a certain satellite constellation now observable…

Main Object: the Eagle Nebula in the constellation Serpens.

The Discussion:

• Sex with aliens (sorry)
• Jen’s reveals the secrets of TV trickery
• AweAst now has videos! Head over to YouTube
• Emails about our new YouTube channel & aliens watching us

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news in October, we have:

• Water on exoplanets probably didn’t come from comets
• Another 301 exoplanets drop out of old Kepler data
• An(other) weird signal from outer space
• Violent galaxy growth in the early universe
• Are exoplanets made of strange materials not conducive to life?
• A deep dive into the James Webb Space Telescope 3 weeks before launch

The Sky Guide: This month we’re taking a look at the constellation of Taurus with a guide to its history, how to find it, a couple of deep sky objects and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in December.

What to look out, and up, for in May.

This month we take a look at the constellation Ursa Major for the beginners guide – we’ll point you in the direction of an unaided eye binary star and a few of the brightest galaxies in the entire northern hemisphere sky.

Next we round up the planets that are visible in May: Mercury (early in the month), Venus, Jupiter & Saturn later on. We take a look at Comet Lovejoy as it’s still visible in small telescopes, and the Lyrids in the low eastern morning sky. For our deep sky challenge we take you on a tour of Hercules’ magnificent globular clusters and a couple of overlooked galaxies.

This episode, it’s Jen and a special guest exploring the inexplicable Big Ring, the first proof connecting supernovae to black holes and neutron stars, cyclones on a far-away world, dazzling images of Io, and the true colour of Neptune. We also take a deep dive into humanity’s efforts to explore the Moon – the failing Peregrine lander and Artemis pushbacks.  There’s also a sky guide for the second half of January, and our discussion topic this time involves a most impossible restaurant. 

Produced by Paul, Jen, Dustin, John & Damien.

The Discussion:

• Vaccination cometh to Awesome Astronomy
• The UK’s unorthodox meteor sample return mission
• A listener’s email follow up to last month’s Q&A

The News: Rounding up the space exploration news we have:

• SpaceX launch and land a 13 storey Starship
• Japan joins NASA’s moon programme
• NASA releases its science goals for Project Artemis
• Northrop Grumman begins work on NASA’s Mars sample return
• The OSIRIS-REx mission prepares for May asteroid departure

Moons of the Solar System: Our show segment exploring the discovery, exploration and our knowledge of the solar system’s moons. And we move onto Jupiter and the four Galilean moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Calisto. Jupiter’s other moons next month.

Q&A: ‘Do you think the first crewed Mars mission will be to land or would it make any sense to do an Apollo 8 (or indeed 10) stylee close approach?’ From our good friend Alex Bell in Bath, UK.

This month we explore the exciting announcements from the European Space Agency as they outline their new missions for the 2030s. LISA, a space based gravitational wave detector and EnVision, a Venus mission that will map the surface and under-surface of that planet in unprecedented detail. 

We have the usual skyguide, chat about recent lunar missions and emails from the listeners.

The Discussion: Festive cheer, academic hiatuses, magnificent cheeses, a surfeit of meat, space themed presents and listeners’ emails.

The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:

• The Milky Way gives birth to around 7 stars per year
• Watching a star being born from a nearby massive star
• A new way to map the dark matter in our universe
• Where’s the methane on Mars?
• Saturn’s rings are more short lived than we thought
• The discovery of another outer solar system object

Main news story: 1) The ALMA telescope helps to understand how solar systems form and why newly forming planets don’t spiral into their host star. 2) The International Astronomical Union has its 100th anniversary in 2019 and there will be a series of events (probably near you) to celebrate a century of astronomy.

The Sky Guide: Covering the solar system and deep sky objects on offer to amateur astronomers in the first month of the New Year.

Ralph: The Quadrantids peak on 3rd/4th January, a total lunar eclipse on 21st January, and Comet 46P Wirtanen still in our skies.

Jeni: Mars and Uranus in Pisces, a glimpse of Neptune in Aquarius, Venus blazing away before dawn, and Jupiter in Ophiuchus.

Paul: The Christmas Tree Cluster, Snowflake Cluster, Cone Nebula and the Fox Fur Nebula in Monoceros.

Main Deep Sky Object: M45, the Pleiades Cluster.

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 USAF’s rocket funding decision:

Could you explain light year, parsec, universal galactic unit and warp one, and how they relate to one another? Steve Parry, Wales.

This month we take a look at the constellation of Queen Cassiopeia for the beginners guide. We have:

• The beautiful Owl Cluster; NGC 7788 or Caroline’s Rose, discovered by Caroline Herschel.
• NGC 185, a dwarf elliptical galaxy discovered by Caroline’s brother, William Herschel.

Next we round up the planets, solar system events and deep sky treats that are visible in August:

• Uranus, Neptune, Saturn & Mercury.
• We look at the month’s two lunar treats: a series of conjunctions between the moon and bright star Aldebaran.
• A perfect lunar eclipse for many listeners on the 28th September.
• Comet Churyumov Gerasimenko will be visible this month near the Beehive Cluster in Cancer (sadly we won’t see ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft orbiting it!)

Our deep sky challenge delves into the constellatinos of Sagitta the Arrow and Vulpecula the Fox for a tour of clusters and a planetary nebula.

The Discussion:

• Buying and selling astronomy kit
• A possible resolution to the Wiltshire Audio Anomaly

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news in February, we have:

• Heavy metal vapours detected around comets
• A weird supernova
• Seafloor volcanoes on Europa

The Sky Guide: This month we’re taking a look at the constellation of Ophiuchus with a guide to its history, how to find it, a couple of deep sky objects and a round-up of the solar system views on offer in June.

Q&A: What’s the difference between a nova and a supernova? From our good friend Steven Age in Derby.

The Discussion: As we lament the passing of some great people we remember how lucky we are to live in an age of great discovery. We discuss British astronaut Tim Peake’s spacewalk with American Tim Kopra outside the International Space Station and take a look back at the annual festival of TV astronomy StargazingLIVE.

The News: There’s a packed news section in this month’s show as we discuss:

Have astronomers discovered another planet in our solar system?

LIGO’s possible detection of gravitational waves

Does an irregular star host evidence for alien life?

A possible explanation for the ‘Wow signal’

The most powerful supernova ever detected

Poor Philae gives up the ghost

Attempting to photograph a black hole

The Interview: This month Jen bags herself an astronaut. While celebrating the launch of Tim Peake, Jen grabs an interview with Spanish/ESA astronaut Pedro Duque: a veteran of two space missions having flown the Shuttle, Soyuz and the International Space Station.

WooBusters: With a long back catalogue to call upon to understand objects and concepts in astronomy, Paul calls it a day on his 5 Minute Concept. In its place comes WooBusters! Send in your suggestions for conspiracy theories, bonkers ideas and general pseudoscientific nonsense and we’ll add them to Paul’s Big Hat of Woo.

This month we kick off WooBusters with a debunking of alien abductions.

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.

If Mars’ gravity is too weak to hold onto its atmosphere, how did it ever get one? Andrew Osbourne from the UK via email

The Discussion: Ralph visits and records from The Cradle of Aviation Museum in Long Island, New York, we enjoyed some great skies with good weather in the UK, Betelgeuse still hasn’t gone pop – though we’re still watching, and NASA have an open day that you can attend.

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have:

• An evidence based look at Starlink
• Tracking molecules from birth to arrival in our solar system
• An enigmatic Type 1a supernova
• An interesting 14 millisecond gravitational wave detection
• Goodbye Spitzer Space telescope

The Sky Guide: This month we’re taking a look at the constellation of Lynx with a guide to its history, how to find it, a couple of deep sky objects and a round up of the solar system objects on offer in February.

A Guide to the Electromagnetic Spectrum: In this series we’ll take a look at the electromagnetic spectrum, what, it is, what is shows us and why it’s so important to astronomers. This month we start with a quick and simple explanation.

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:

• The NASA announcement
• The international collaboration that made this discovery
• How exoplanets are discovered
• The significance of the find
• What this star system looks like
• Could life exist on any of these worlds?
• What the environmental conditions could be like so close to their parent star

(image credit: NASA)

The Discussion: In this Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy contrived episode we look back over the movie The Martian, meeting Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, we gloss over the Bayesian statistics in Jen’s data analysis work and hear about a mathematics-based nightmare that’s been keeping Jen awake but should have mathematicians rolling in the aisles!

The News: This month we revisit that alien megastructure around a distant star with an unusual light curve and reveal what alien signatures SETI have discovered. We take a look at the possible future of cheap access to space as British Aerospace buy a stake in the SABRE engine designed to power spaceplanes of the future, and we finish off with the truly incredible measurements of Mars atmosphere conducted by NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft to reveal how much atmosphere Mars is losing on an annual basis.

The Interview: This month we wrap the whole show around our interview with Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot Al Worden recorded at this year’s Cosmiccon. We discuss:

Anecdotes from test pilot school in England

Tales of the Harrier and Concorde test pilots

Practical jokes

Riding a Saturn V rocket

Finding organic matter in lunar orbit

Views from 1.5 miles above the mountains of the moon

The history of the moon and the Apollo 15 landing site, Hadley Rille

The bliss of being alone in lunar orbit

The views of space from the far and dark portions behind the moon

The vastness of the universe

Al Worden's view on UFOs, ancient aliens, numerology and the bible

How to explore further out in space

The stupidity of the design of NASA's next generation spacecraft

The 5 Minute Concept: We continue our series of back to basics 5 Minute Concepts as Paul takes a look at perhaps the most important piece of hardware in amateur astronomy – no, not the telescope itself, but the mount. As we ask AZ or EQ?

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 Jen honours the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s General Relativity with a beginner’s crash course, a bit of mythbusting and answers:

What’s inside a black hole? John Barrie from Swansea, Wales via email