Fraser Cain
Universe Today
Dr. Pamela Gay
CosmoQuest
Funding for basic science has always been tricky business, coming mainly from universities, government, companies, or wealthy individuals, but who knows how many fascinating discoveries were never made because of a lack of funding? We now live in an era where regular people can come together to find scientific discoveries.
You’re familiar with the Hubble Space Telescope, of course, but it’s just one of NASA’s Great Observatories. After Hubble came three more incredible observatories, each greater than the last. Together, they would fill in almost the entire electromagnetic spectrum.
After Pluto lost its planethood, we were down to 8 planets. But there’s growing evidence of another world (or worlds) out beyond the orbit of Pluto. Is Planet 9 out there and how will we find it? Could there even be a Planet 10?
There are asteroids and there are comets. But there’s an entirely separate class of objects called centaurs. But instead of half-human, half-horse, imagine an object that’s half comet, half asteroid but 100% interesting.
Recent Episodes
Nicolaus Copernicus changed our understanding of the Universe when he rearranged the Solar System to put the Sun at the center, with the Earth becoming just another of the planets orbiting it. But the movement of the planets didn't really match the theory; not until...
We spent 5 episodes telling the story of astronomy so far, how we got from the work of the Babylonians to the modern discoveries made in the last decade. But now we want to look forward, studying the current space missions and experiments to uncover the mysteries that...
Many of the modern ideas in astronomy happened in just the 20th century: dark matter, the Big Bang, inflation, quasars, black holes. So many discoveries in one important century. Download Ep. 187: History of Astronomy, Part 5: The 20th Century Jump to Shownotes Jump...
With our proper place in the Universe worked out, and some powerful telescopes to probe the cosmos, astronomers started making some real progress. The next few hundred years was a time of constant refinement, with astronomers discovering new planets, new moons, and...
Now we reach time with names that many of you will be familiar: Galileo, Kepler, Copernicus. This is an age when the biggest names in astronomy used the best tools of their time to completely rearrange their understanding of the Universe, putting the Earth where it...
With the earliest astronomers out of the way, we now move to one of the most productive eras in astronomy; the ancient Greeks. Even though they didn't have telescopes, the Greeks worked out the size and shape of the Earth, the distance to the Moon and Sun, and even...
We know you love a good series. This time we're going to walk you through the history of astronomy, starting with the ancient astronomers and leading right up to the most recent discoveries. Today we're going to start at the beginning, with the astronomers who first...
Astronomers have been cataloging star positions for thousands of years, from the first calculations made by Hipparchus, to the more recent star catalogs made by the spacecraft named after him. This is astrometry; another way to find our place in the Universe. Download...
Everything in the Universe is spinning. In fact, without this rotation, life on Earth wouldn't exist. We need the conservation of angular momentum to flatten out galaxies and solar systems, to make planets possible. Let's find out about the physics involved with...
Why are some objects in the Solar System bright while others are dim? Much of an object's brightness is caused by its albedo, or how well it reflects radiation from the Sun. If you want to know how big a distant moon, comet, or asteroid is, you've got to know its...
Today we tackle more thrilling mysteries of the Universe. And by tackle, we mean, acknowledge their puzzling existence. Some mysteries will be solved shortly, others will likely trouble astronomers for centuries to come. Join us for part 2. Download Ep. 179: Mysteries...
All finished with the Milky Way, it's time to move on to the biggest mysteries of all. The mysteries of the Universe. Let's wonder about dark matter and dark energy, and the very nature of reality itself. Download Ep. 178: Mysteries of the Universe, Part 1 Jump to...
We survived our first group of mysteries, so now we move onto our second set of stuff of amazing Milky Way mysteries. How many spiral arms does our galaxy have, and why does everything keep dying every 60 million years or so? Download Ep. 177: Mysteries of the Milky...
We've wrapped up our Solar System mysteries and now we move onto the Milky Way mysteries, and the some of the general mysteries of galaxies. From blue stragglers to Eta Carinae... what's going on? Download Ep. 176: Mysteries of the Milky Way, Part 1 Jump to Shownotes...
Apparently this is at least a 2 part series. This week we continue examining some of the baffling mysteries of the Solar System, where we fill your head with more questions than answers. Sometimes we've just got to share the enjoyment of not knowing the answer....
We know a lot about our Solar System, but there's an awful lot that's a complete and total mystery. Today we're going to begin a series of unknown length examining some of these mysteries, and explain the best theories astronomers have so far. Download Ep. 174:...
Last week we talked about Herschel the people - William Herschel, his sister Caroline, and his son John. This week we look at the Herschel Space Observatory, a mission launched in 2009 to reveal the coldest and dustiest regions in the Universe. DownloadEp. 173:...
Ancient astronomers knew of 5 planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn - 6 if you count Earth. But then in 1781, William Herschel discovered an entirely new planet, boosting the number of planets to 7. Let's learn about Herschel, his equipment, his...
Even in ancient times, astronomers realized there was something different about the planets - they move! The movement of the planets and their moons are governed by gravity. And as we all know, gravity can do some funny things. Download Ep. 171: Solar System Movements...
This is going to be one of those weeks where we tackle something you're mentally avoiding. You know all those astronomical terms, like alt-azimuth, right ascension and declination, arc seconds and arc minutes? Of course not, your mind has blocked them out. Today we're...