Space is a big place, with a lot of galaxies, stars, planets and moons, and that means a lot of names. How do astronomers name stuff, like comets, asteroids, exoplanets, craters?
Our Hosts
Fraser Cain
Universe Today
Dr. Pamela Gay
CosmoQuest
Production by
- Richard Drumm, Audio Engineer
- Ally Pelphrey, Video Engineer
17 Seasons
700+ Episodes
2018 Winner Parsec Award
Ep. 656: Smashing Asteroids for Science!
This week we saw the incredible image of DART smashing into asteroid Dimorphos. Beyond avenging the dinosaurs, what can we learn scientifically from this and other asteroid/comet impact missions?
Ep. 655: 65 Years of Space: Sputnik 1 Anniversary
It’s been about 65 years since the Soviets launched the first orbital satellite into low Earth orbit: Sputnik 1. Now there are thousands of satellites in orbit, with tens of thousands on the way. Let’s look at the impact that Sputnik had on the history of spaceflight.
Ep. 654: Side Effects of Clean Energy
To battle climate change, we’ll need to rapidly move to carbon-free sources of energy. But this technology isn’t a free lunch. They require metals, generate waste and deplete the environment. What’s the best way to balance this shift?
Recent Episodes
Ep 386: Orbiting Observers
The atmosphere keeps us alive and breathing, but it really sucks for astronomy. Fortunately, humanity has built and launched space telescopes that get above the pesky atmosphere, where the skies are really clear. Let’s take a look at the past, current and future of...
Ep 385: Rovers on the Run
Taking pictures of distant worlds is great and all, but the best science happens with boots on the ground. Or in this case... wheels. This week we'll talk all about robotic rovers and the places they rove. Download the show [MP3] | Jump to Shownotes | Jump to...
Ep. 384: Escaping Probes
The gravity of the Earth is a tough thing to escape, but breaking free from the gravity of the Sun is on a whole other level. But humans have achieved this amazing accomplishment, and right now there are several spacecraft leaving the Solar System and never coming...
Ep. 383: Approaches to Absolute Zero
The coldest possible theoretical temperature is Absolute Zero, this is the point at which no further energy can be extracted from a system. How are physicists working to get as close as possible to this extreme cold? Download the show [MP3] | Jump to Shownotes | Jump...
Ep. 382: Degenerate Matter
In some of the most extreme objects in the Universe, white dwarfs and neutron stars, matter gets strange, transforming into a material that physicists call “degenerate matter”. Let’s learn what it is, how it forms. Download the show [MP3] | Jump to Shownotes | Jump to...
Ep. 381: Hollowing Asteroids in Science and Fiction
When we finally make the jump to fully colonizing the Solar System, we're going to want to use asteroids as stepping stones. We can use them as way stations, research facilities, even as spacecraft to further explore the Solar System. Today we'll talk about the...
Ep. 380: The Limits of Optics
Astronomers rely on the optics of their instruments, and there are some basic limits that you just can't avoid. Whatever we look at is distorted by the optics, in fact, a basic property of light means that we'll never get perfect optics. Here's why we can't "magnify...
Ep. 379: Fermi's Atom Splitting
When he wasn't puzzling the mystery of alien civilizations, Enrico Fermi was splitting atoms. He realized that when atoms were split, the neutrons released could go on and split other atoms, creating a chain reaction - and the most powerful weapons ever devised....
Ep. 378: Rutherford and Atoms
Physicists knew the interior of the atom contained protons, neutrons and electrons, but they didn't understand exactly how they were organized. It took Ernest Rutherford to uncover our modern understanding. Download the show [MP3] | Jump to Shownotes | Jump to...
Ep. 377: Thomson finds Electron
At the end of the 19th century, physicists were finally beginning to understand the nature of matter itself, including the discovery of electrons - tiny particles of negative charge that surround the nucleus. Here's how J.J. Thompson separated the electrons from their...
Ep. 376: The Miller-Urey Experiment
Evolution explains how life adapts and evolves over eons. But how did life originate? Chemists Miller and Urey put the raw chemicals of life into a solution, applied an electric charge, and created amino acids - the building blocks of life. Download the show [MP3] |...
Ep. 375: The Search For Life in the Solar System
With the discovery of water ice in so many locations in the Solar System, scientists are hopeful in the search for life on other worlds. Guest Morgan Rehnberg returns to Astronomy Cast to explain the best places we should be looking for life. Download the show [MP3] |...
Ep. 374: Stern-Gerlach Experiment
In the world of quantum mechanics, particles behave in discreet ways. One breakthrough experiment was the Stern-Gerlach Experiment, performed in 1922. They passed silver atoms through a magnetic field and watched how the spin of the atoms caused the particles to...
Ep. 373: Becquerel Experiment (Radiation)
Antoine Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity completely by accident when he exposed a chunk of uranium to a photographic plate. This opened up a whole new field of research to uncover the source of the mysterious energy. Download the show [MP3] | Jump to Shownotes...
Ep. 372: The Millikan Oil Drop
In 1909 Robert Millikan devised an ingenious experiment to figure out the charge of an electron using a drop of oil. Let's talk about this Nobel Prize winning experiment. Download the show [MP3] | Jump to Shownotes | Jump to Transcript This episode is sponsored...
Ep. 371: Eddington Eclipse Experiment
At the turn of the 20th Century, Einstein's theory of relativity stunned the physics world, but the experimental evidence needed to be found. And so, in 1919, another respected astronomer, Arthur Eddington, observed the deflection of stars by the gravity of the Sun...
Ep. 370: The Kaufmann–Bucherer–Neumann Experiments
One of the most amazing implications of Einstein's relativity is the fact that the inertial mass of an object depends on its velocity. That sounds like a difficult thing to test, but that's exactly what happened through a series of experiments performed by Kaufmann,...
Ep. 369: The Fizeau Experiment
Light is tricky stuff, and it took scientists hundreds of years to puzzle out what this stuff is. But they poked and prodded at it with many clever experiments to try to measure its speed, motion and interaction with the rest of the Universe. For example, the Fizeau...
Ep. 368: Searching for the Aether Wind: the Michelson–Morley Experiment
Waves move through a medium, like water or air. So it seemed logical to search for a medium that light waves move through. The Michelson-Morley Experiment attempted to search for this medium, known as the "luminiferous aether". The experiment gave a negative result,...
Ep. 367: Spitzer does Exoplanets
We've spent the last few weeks talking about different ways astronomers are searching for exoplanets. But now we reach the most exciting part of this story: actually imaging these planets directly. Today we're going to talk about the work NASA's Spitzer Space...