Whenever astronomers discover something surprising, the answer often turns out to be dust. Dust obscuring our view, dust changing the polarity, dust warming things up, dust cooling things down. It’s always dust. Until it isn’t.
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Fraser Cain
Universe Today
Dr. Pamela Gay
CosmoQuest
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- Richard Drumm, Audio Engineer
- Ally Pelphrey, Video Engineer
17 Seasons
700+ Episodes
2018 Winner Parsec Award
Ep. 676: Other Things with Rings
We’ve spent a lot of time gushing about Saturn’s rings, but there are other places with ring systems. And not just Jupiter and the ice giants, but asteroids, dwarf planets, centaurs and even exoplanets. Today we’ll gush about them.
Ep. 675: Exotic Forms of Ice
Ice is ice, right? You know, what you get when water freezes. Well, maybe here on Earth. But across the Universe, water can be squeezed together at different temperatures and pressures, leading to very different structures. Today we’ll talk about the different forms that ice can take.
Ep. 674: Asteroid Early Warning Systems
The asteroid apocalypse is one of those existential crises that keep astronomers up at night. But the DART mission showed us that we can push an asteroid off its trajectory if we have enough warning. Today we’ll talk about how humanity is building early warning systems to give us time to respond to a dangerous asteroid.
Recent Episodes
Astronomy Cast Special: Q & A with Dr. Pamela Gay
Pamela will be on to answer your space and astronomy questions live, as Fraser enjoys auroras in Iceland this week! And please check out how you can help us by answering some surveys for CosmoQuest here. We usually record Astronomy Cast every Friday at 3:00 pm EST /...
Ep. 478: Apollo 8 with Paul Hildebrandt
On Christmas Day, 1968 Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders became the first human being to see the far side of the Moon. Their mission, of course, was Apollo 8, the first time human beings had ever left Earth orbit and seen the far side of the Moon. Today we...
Ep. 477: State of Exploration: Once and Future Moon
It's been decades since humans set foot on the Moon. Well, it's time to go back, in theory. Of course, we've heard this all before. What are the plans afoot to send humans back to the Moon this time. What hardware will we use, and what other strategies are in the...
Updated Audio: Ep. 475: Fast Radio Bursts
If you got the previous version of Ep. 475 with bad audio, here's the fixed version! You know what's fun? Mysteries. Here's one: fast radio bursts. Astronomers have been detecting mysterious one-time signals from across the sky. What's causing them? Nobody knows for...
Ep. 476: The Overview Effect
After they've been to space, many astronauts report that seeing the world from above has given them a totally new perspective on humanity and the state of our planet. It's called the Overview Effect. Today we'll talk about this, and what this perspective can teach us...
We Can Use Your Help!
Hey Astronomy Cast listeners, As you know, Pamela is the director of CosmoQuest, which does citizen science projects. We are asking for your input through a series of three surveys, each of which is targeting a specific aspect of CosmoQuest and what we do: We are once...
Ep. 475: Fast Radio Bursts
The initial release of this audio was glitchy. We've fixed it now, so please re-download. You know what's fun? Mysteries. Here's one: fast radio bursts. Astronomers have been detecting mysterious one-time signals from across the sky. What's causing them? Nobody knows...
Ep. 474: Predictions for 2018
Join us at a special date/time for this episode! Pamela's traveling so we're recording this on Saturday, 1/6/2018, at 2 pm EST / 11 am PST / 19:00 UTC! Phew, 2018, time to press the reset button and enjoy a whole new year of space exploration and space science. What's...
Ep. 473: Remembering the Best Space Science of 2017
2017 was a crazy year for, well, you know. But, it was a great year for space science, a kilonova, extrasolar planets, reusable rockets and more. Let's look back at the year that was and remember our favorite space science. We usually record Astronomy Cast every...
Ep. 472: Best Modern Sci Fi for the Science Lover – Part 4: Bioscience
What happens when the future meets biology? Bioscience science fiction, of course. And that's our focus today as we continue our journey though science-based science fiction. We usually record Astronomy Cast every Friday at 3:00 pm EST / 12:00 pm PST / 20:00 PM UTC....
Ep. 471: Best Modern Sci Fi for the Science Lover – Part 3: Human Computer Relations
It's time to talk computers, and how we're going to be dealing with them in the future. In our next segment on modern sci-fi, we talk about the future of the human-computer interface. We usually record Astronomy Cast every Friday at 3:00 pm EST / 12:00 pm PST / 20:00...
Ep. 470: Best Modern Sci Fi for the Science Lover – Part 2: 3D Printing
Our journey through interesting science fiction, this time we talk about speculative fiction dealing with materials science, nanotechnology and 3D printing. It's a staple in Star Trek, but what other stories deal with it? We usually record Astronomy Cast every Friday...
Ep. 469: Best Modern Sci Fi for the Science Lover – Part 1 Space Exploration
We've always been fans of science fiction, but we really like our science. Today we'll talk about some books we've been reading recently that do a good job of dealing with the science in science fiction. We usually record Astronomy Cast every Friday at 3:00 pm EST /...
Ep. 468: Simulations for Science and Fun
Astronomers depend on simulations to study the Universe. From relatively straightforward orbital simulations to vast simulations that try to recreate the large scale structure of the Universe from the Big Bang. Today we're going to talk about some of those...
Ep. 467: Resonance
We're recording on Sunday, Nov. 19 this week due to Pamela taking a well-earned vacation next week! Join us at a special time - 2 pm EST/ 11 am PST / 19:00 UTC for this episode! Many of the moons and planets across the Universe are in resonance with each other and...
Ep. 466: Origins of Zero (0)
We depend on zero for our math to work right, but this number was actually invented in fairly recent times. Why do we need zero? Was it inevitable? Note: Due to how Pamela had to record, the audio on the Full Raw Feed is not up to our usual quality this episode. Chad...
Ep. 465: Exploiting Interfering Light
Electromagnetic radiation, also known as "light" is pretty handy for astronomers. They can use it to directly and indirectly observe stars, nebula, planets and more. But as you probably know, light can act like a wave, creating interference patterns to teach us even...
Ep. 464: Why the Hype over an Exorock?
Astronomers this week announced that they had discovered an asteroid or comet on a trajectory that brought it from outside the Solar System? Is this the first case of an object from deep space? And what can we learn from this discovery? We usually record Astronomy...
Ep. 463: Pareidolia and the Moon
Have you seen the "Man in the Moon"? Pareidolia is your mind's way of helping you make sense of the world, but doesn't always match reality. We usually record Astronomy Cast every Friday at 12:00 pm PDT / 3:00 pm EDT/ 19:00 PM UTC . You can watch us live on here on...
Ep. 462: Modeling the Weather
Have you noticed that weather forecasting has gotten much better in the last few years? Thanks to weather satellites, weather stations, and better forecasting techniques. How do scientists predict the weather with any kind of accuracy days or even weeks in the future....