Fraser Cain
Universe Today
Dr. Pamela Gay
CosmoQuest
It’s official! June and July were the warmest we’ve seen since records began over a century ago. Fires are rampant across Canada, and we’re seeing record droughts around the world. Today, we’re going to look at 20 years of climate science, how well does reality match up with the predictions.
Once again, we’ve reached the end of a season here on Astronomy Cast, and it’s time for the summer hiatus. But the Universe never takes a break. What can we expect to happen over the summer while we’re catching up on our reading, building our gardens and planning for Season 17
We’re going back to the Moon. In the next few years humans will set foot on the Moon again, ideally this time to stay. But this will be different than the Apollo era, going to the scientifically fascinating, and difficult southern pole of the Moon. What needs to be done to prepare the way back to the Moon?
The permanently shadowed craters on the Moon are the focus of so much research. That’s because they seem to contain vast reserves of water ice. Water we could use for oxygen, propellant and so much more, but also, to help us understand where the Earth’s water came from.
Recent Episodes
Let's move to another continent this week, and look at the astronomy that was going on in southern Africa in ancient times. In this episode we mentioned donations and tours. Click to learn more! Download MP3| Download Raw Show with Q&A| Show Notes | Jump to...
Last week we talked about how well the indigenous Australians followed the night sky. Well, it turns out, Australia is still an amazing place for astronomy. There are so many powerful observatories in Australia, and even more in the works. In this episode we mentioned...
This week, we focus on the archaeoastronomy of another part of the world, this time from the indigenous people of Australia. Another group of people whose lives depended on knowing what was happening in the sky from season to season. In this episode we mentioned...
South America, especially the Atacama Desert in Chile has become one of the best places in the world to put a telescope. It's dry, high, and the nights are clear. Today we'll talk about the monster telescopes already in operation in this region, and the big ones...
The Andes mountains in South America are a hotspot of astronomy today, but ancient peoples knew it was a great place for astronomy and lived their lives in tune with the night sky. Today we'll learn all about what they knew, and how they mapped the movements of the...
Last week we talked about the ancient astronomy of the American Southwest. But this is actually Pamela's stomping grounds, and she's spent many a night perched atop mountains in this region staring in the night sky with gigantic telescopes. How does astronomy get done...
Ancient peoples had no light pollution, and they knew the night skies very well. In fact, they depends on them to know when to plant and when to harvest. Today Pamela talks about the archeoastronomical sites of the American Southwest. In this episode we mentioned...
Today, of course, we're going to talk about the announcement from the Event Horizon Telescope and the first photograph of a black hole's event horizon. In this episode we mentioned donations and tours. Click to learn more! Download MP3| Download Raw Show with Q&A|...
Even though they might be scattered around our planet, astronomers have way to come together to work out issues that face their entire field of study. It's called the International Astronomical Union, and they're the ones who work out the new names for stars, and...
We learned how to figure out the ages of objects in the Solar System, now we push out into the deeper Universe. What about stars, galaxies, and even the Universe itself? How old is it? This episode is part 3 of a series.In this episode we mentioned donations and...
Today we push our aging curiosity out into the Solar System to ask that simple question: how old is it and how do we know? What techniques do astronomers use to age various objects and regions in the Solar System? This is part two of a series. In this episode we...
Recorded during the Astrotour to Costa Rica, Fraser talks to Dr. Paul Matt Sutter about the nature of dust and BICEP 2's claim of discovering primordial gravitational waves. In this episode we mentioned donations and tours. Click to learn more! Download MP3| Download...
People always want to know how old everything is. And more specifically, they want to know how we know how old everything is. Well, here at Astronomy Cast, it's our job to tell you now only what we know, but how we know what we know. And today we'll begin a series on...
We always focus on the missions, but there's an important glue that holds the whole system together. The Deep Space Network. Today we're going to talk about how this system works and how it communicates with all the spacecraft out there in the Solar System. In this...
This is our second episode in a two part series where we look at Transients in astronomy. In last week's episode, we talked about things that change here in our own Solar System. Now we'll talk about everything else in the Milky Way and beyond.In this episode we...
Astronomers have found that sometimes the Universe changes. Things move, things explode, things get brighter or dimmer. In fact, knowing this has helped astronomers discover some very important aspects of the Universe. Today we begin a two part series on Transients...
We always say the Universe is trying to kill us. But there was this one time, when the Universe used our own fear of nuclear attack against us, nearly setting off a global nuclear war. Nice try Universe, we're on to you now. In this episode we mentioned donations and...
One of the most influential astronomers in the 20th Century was Fritz Zwicky. He had his hand in the discovery of dark matter, gravitational lensing, supernovae and neutron stars. And he also worked on a few more controversial ideas like, uh, tired light. Let's learn...
It's cold right now. Okay, fine, here on Vancouver Island, it's actually pretty warm. But for the rest of Canada and big parts of the US, it's terrifyingly cold. Colder than Mars or the North Pole cold. This is all thanks to the break up of the polar vortex. What are...
Space is a hostile environment in so many ways. But one of its worst features is the various kinds of radiation you can find. When astronauts go back beyond the protective environment of the Earth's magnetosphere, what are the various kinds of radiation they'll...