Ep. 505: Seismology
We’re always interested in the surface features of the planets and moons in the Solar System, but that’s only skin deep. It turns out, these worlds have an interesting inner life too. Thanks to the science of seismology, we can peer into our planet and learn how it works… inside. And we’re about to take that technology to Mars.
Ep. 504: Radar, Lidar, and Sonar
To really study something, you want to reach out and touch it. But what can you do if you’re separated by a huge distance? You reach out with electromagnetic or sound waves and watch how they bounce back. Thanks to radar, sonar and lidar.
Ep. 503: Gravity Mapping
The Earth looks like a perfect sphere, but down here on the surface we see that there are mountains, rivers, oceans, glaciers, all kinds of features with different densities and shapes. Scientists can map this produce a highly detailed gravity map of our planet. And it turns out, this is very useful for other worlds too.
Ep. 502: No Touching: Determining Composition of Worlds Remotely
How do you know what something is made of if you can’t reach out and touch it? How do we know what planets lights years away have in their atmosphere? What about the rocks all around Curiosity? Or the geysers coming out of Europa and Enceladus? Scientists have a few handy tricks.
Ep. 501: Water Worlds Revisited
We’re not learning that the vast majority of potentially habitable worlds out there are actually icy moons like Europa and Enceladus. Good news, there are hundreds, if not thousands of times more of them than worlds like Earth. Bad news, they’re locked in ice. What have we learned about water worlds and their potential for habitability?
Ep. 500: Live Celebration!
Welcome to episode 500 of Astronomy Cast. To celebrate this momentous occasion, we’re going to look back 500 years into the past to see what we learned about the Universe. And then we’re going to look 500 years into the future.
Ep. 499: What is the proposed Hubble-Lemaitre Law?
We started out Astronomy Cast with the controversial decision to de-planet Pluto. And here we are, more than a decade later, at the brink of recording our 500th episode when another big decision is coming down from the IAU: whose name goes on the concept that our Universe is expanding: Hubble or Lemaître? It’s a big deal and Pamela knows all about it.
Astronomy Cast's Dr. Pamela Gay inducted into 2018 Academy of Podcasters Hall of Fame
CosmoQuest’s own principal investigator Dr. Pamela Gay will be inducted for her work over the past decade plus with the Astronomy Cast podcast, which will be celebrating it’s 500th episode this September.
Astronomy Cast: On Hiatus until September 2018
Astronomy Cast will be on hiatus for July and August. Don’t worry, we’ll be back in September, and will be gearing up for our 500th episode!
Ep. 498: Dwarf Galaxy Update
The Milky Way has gobbled up dozens of dwarf galaxies and added them to its structure. Today we’re going to look at the ongoing hunt for the wreckage of past mergers. And what we’ve discovered about dwarf galaxies in general.
Welcome to our last episode before our summer hiatus! Don’t worry, we’ll be back in September, and will be gearing up for our 500th episode!