Last week we talked about balloon-based astronomy. This week we’re going to talk about putting balloons on rockets and making observations mid-flight. Welcome to the world of sounding rockets.
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. 604: Balloon Astronomy
When you think about the world’s observatories, I’m sure you’re imagining huge telescopes perched atop mountain peaks, or space telescopes like Hubble. But you might be surprised to learn that some telescopes are carried high into the atmosphere on board balloons. What can they accomplish?
Ep. 603: The New Colors of Radio – Getting Longer
Last week we talked about how new telescopes and techniques are allowing astronomers to explore the shortest wavelengths of light. This week, we go to the other end of the electromagnetic spectrum, and explore the longer radio waves which are now accessible to astronomers.
Ep. 602: The New Colors of Gamma Rays – Getting Shorter
The Earth’s atmosphere protects us from a Universe that’s trying to kill us, but it also blocks our view of the extreme cosmos, like seeing x-rays and gamma radiation. Space telescopes are changing our view of the most extreme events in the Universe.
Recent Episodes
Ep. 137: Large Scale Structure of the Universe
This week we’re going to think big. Bigger than big. We’re going to consider the biggest things in the Universe. If you could pull way back, and examine regions of space billions of light-years across, what would you see? How is the Universe arranged at the largest...
Questions Show: The Source of Atmospheres, the Vanishing Moon, and a Glow After Sunset
How do planets get their atmospheres? What would happen to the Earth if the Moon just disappeared? And what’s that strange glow we see after sunset? If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to info@astronomycast.com and we'll try to...
Ep. 136: Gamma Ray Astronomy
And now we reach the end of our tour through the electromagnetic spectrum. Last stop… gamma rays. These are the most energetic photons in the Universe, boosted up to incredible energies in the most violent places in the Universe. Gamma rays are tricky to catch, but...
Questions Show: Dangerous Solar Flares, Higgs Boson Insights, and Light Speed Flashlights
Can our Sun generate a solar flare that would wipe out life on Earth? Has the Large Hadron Collider answered any questions about the Higgs boson? And what would happen if you shined your flashlight out the front window of a spaceship going almost the speed of light?...
Ep. 135: X-Ray Astronomy
We continue our journey through the electromagnetic spectrum with X-rays. If you've ever broken a bone, you probably know how X-rays are most commonly used. While doctors use X-rays to study the human body, and astronomers use X-rays to study some of the hottest...
Questions Show: NorthEast Astronomy Forum (NEAF)
Pamela was lucky enough to attend the NorthEast Astronomy Forum, and while she was there she held a live questions show. And now you get to join in an hear the interesting questions, and Pamela's interesting answers. If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast...
Ep. 134: Ultraviolet Astronomy
Our next visit in this tour through the electromagnetic spectrum is the ultraviolet. You can't see it, but anyone who's spent a day out in the hot sun without sunblock has sure experienced its effects. Ultraviolet radiation is associated with the birth of stars and...
Ep. 133: Optical Astronomy
Optical astronomy; now this is the kind of astronomy a human being was born to do. In fact, until the last century, this was the only kind of astronomy anybody ever did. Now we've got the whole electromagnetic spectrum to explore, but our heart still belongs to...
Questions Show: Undoing Inflation, Searching for Water, and Seeing Everything a Black Hole's Ever Eaten
If there was enough mass to cause a big crunch, would inflation go backwards too? How do spacecraft know that hydrogen is bonded to water? And why can't we see everything that's ever fallen into a black hole? If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team,...
Ep. 132: Infrared Astronomy
Today we continue our unofficial tour through the electromagnetic spectrum, stopping at the infrared spectrum - you feel it as heat. This section of the spectrum gives us our only clear view through dusty material to see newly forming planetary systems and shrouded...
Episode 131: Submillimeter Astronomy
Last week we examined the largest wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum: radio. This week we get a little smaller... but not too small! And look at the next step in the spectrum, the submillimeter. Astronomers have only recently began exploiting this tiny slice...
Questions Show: Decelerating Black Holes, Earth-Sun Tidal Lock, and the Crushing Gravity of Dark Matter
This week we wonder if you can made a black hole by accelerating a mass, but then can you un-make it again? Will the Earth ever be tidally locked to the Sun? And can dark matter crush an unsuspecting space ship? If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team,...
Episode 130: Radio Astronomy
Astronomers are very resourceful, when it comes to light, they use the whole spectrum - from radio to gamma rays. We see in visible light, but that's just a tiny portion of the spectrum. Today we're going to celebrate the other end of the spectrum; the radio end,...
Questions Show: Multiple Big Bangs, Satellite Collisions and the Size of the Universe
This week we wonder if the Universe is going to collapse and then expand again, how satellites can have such different velocities, and the size of the observable Universe. If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to...
Ep. 129: Interferometry
When it comes to telescopes, bigger is better. But bigger is more expensive. Way more expensive. To keep the costs reasonable while improving the sensitivity of their instruments, astronomers use an amazing technique called interferometry. Instead of building a single...
Questions Show: Shooting Lasers at the Moon and Losing Contact with Rovers
This week we find out how hard it is to hit the Moon with a laser, and if scientists lose contact with the Mars rovers when they go behind the Sun. If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to info@astronomycast.com and we'll try to...
Ep. 128: Dust
You can't make a Solar System without a whole lot of dust. And that's the problem. This dust has blocked astronomers views into some of the most fascinating parts of the cosmos. It shields the galactic core, enshrouds newly forming stars and their planets, and blocks...
Ep. 127: The US Space Shuttle
You’ve heard us talk about capsules, you’ve heard us talk about space suits, well today we take a look at the only currently in use reusable space craft. It’s a not a bird, its not a plane – It’s the US Space Shuttle. And to make it interesting – we’ve sent Scott...
Ep. 126 From Skeptics Guide with Questions
This week Bob Novella of Skeptics Guide to the Universe is going to pepper Pamela with questions, testing her ability to leap from tides to gravitational waves to Higgs bosons. We'll see where this takes us on this skeptical journey through what is known and what...
Ep. 125: A Zoo of Extrasolar Planets
Dreaming up new planets is a favourite pastime of science fiction writers, but the universe often has them beat – coming with planets in place and forms that we had quite thought to imagine. Today we know of 228 planets orbiting alien stars, and in this episode we...