Ep. 581: Other Kinds of Novae
Don’t ever accuse us of not comprehensively covering every kind of exploding star. This week we gather up all the leftover ways that stars partially or fully explode, or don’t. Probably. Enjoy.
Ep. 580: Exploding Dwarfs
You’d think that a white dwarf star is the end of a stellar life. It’s all downhill from there. A long, slow cool down towards the end of everything. But in some situations, even dead stars can get exciting again, briefly becoming some of the brightest objects in the Universe. And just maybe, the last exciting thing that ever happens in the Universe.
Ep. 579: White and Black Dwarfs
I’ve got some bad news for you: stars die. At some point in the next few billion years or so, our Sun is going to start heating up, using up all the fuel in its core, and then eventually die, becoming a white dwarf. It will then slowly cool down to the background temperature of the universe, becoming a black dwarf.
Ep. 578: Life on Venus?!?
Have you heard the big news? Of course you have, evidence of phosphine on Venus which could be a biosignature of life on our evil twin planet. There have been a lot of surprising stories about Venus, so let’s get you all caught up.
Ep. 577: Mars in Opposition
Every two years or so, Mars lines up nicely with the Earth. It only takes two minutes to communicate with rovers, you can see the polar ice caps in a small telescope, and it’s the best time to send spacecraft to the red planet.
Ep. 576: Summer Stargazing Special
It’s time, once again, for Astronomy Cast to go on hiatus. You’ve got a couple of months on your own to explore the night sky. Before we say goodbye, though, we’d like to make a few suggestions.
Ep. 575: Observing the Moon
As amateur astronomers, we curse the Moon every month. Seriously, why doesn’t someone get rid of that thing? This week, something occurred to us. What if we actually pointed our telescopes at the Moon? What would we see?
Ep. 574: Trojan Asteroids
We imagine the asteroid belt as the place where all the rocks hang out in the Solar System, but there are two huge bands of asteroids that orbit the Sun with Jupiter called the Trojans. And soon, we might actually get a chance to see them up close.
Ep. 573: Exoplanet Atmospheres
Not only have astronomers discovered thousands of exoplanets, but they’re even starting to study the atmospheres of worlds thousands of light-years away. What can we learn about these other worlds, and maybe even signs of life.
Ep. 572: Twists in Planet Formation
We’re all looking forward to the next generation of exoplanetary research, where we get to see pictures of planets directly. But astronomers are already making great strides in directly observing newly forming planets, helping us understand how our Solar System might have formed.