AWESOME ASTRONOMY

Download Episode! In this podcast extra we go off piste and digress from a discussion about the successes of the Rosetta mission. We ask whether the fantastic comet mission of 2014/2015 marks a turning point in ESA's exploration and marks Europe's coming of age as a space agency? Two instances of bad language.

The Discussion: Christmas in Cydonia and teaching science to children through astronomy education. The News: Kicking off 2015 we round off the events that concluded 2014: the successful test flight of NASA's Orion capsule; NASA's Mars Science Laboratory pieces together the clues that tell us how Mount Sharp (the mountain Mars Curiosity is exploring) was formed; and science findings from ESA's Rose...

What to look out, and up, for in January. We start with three Messier open clusters in Auriga and a tougher nebula in our beginner's guide. Next up Mercury rises high in our Northern Hemisphere skies, Jupiter dominates the night sky and Saturn, Venus, Uranus & Neptune can be found with the right timing. We bring you the phases and libration events of the moon, the Quadrantid meteor shower and a ne...

This pantomime episode contains some mild bad language and puerile humour Join us for a round up of our favourite stories & events from 2014 and discuss the most exciting space missions and astronomy events in 2015. For this festive season we welcome you back to our secretive Cydonia bunker - the scene of each Earth invasion attempt - as we pull a few crackers over Christmas dinner and inflict som...

The Discussion: The historical landing of the Philae probe on Comet 67P, lunar imaging and astronomy outreach in the UK. The News: In the news we relive the events around the comet landing and the latest science findings from Churyumov Gerasimenko, the upcoming first test flight of America's new manned space capsule Orion and the tragic accident aboard Virgin Galactic's Spaceship Two, resulting in...

What to look out, and up, for in December. We start with the broad constellation of Gemini and an easy binary star, a planetary nebula and a group of star clusters for astronomy beginners to find, before emabarking on a spot of exogazing! Next up is the return of resplendent Jupiter and Venus to our skies. We bring you the phases and conjunctions of the moon and the Geminid meteor shower in Decemb...

From the Autumn AstroCamp 2014, Cardiff University astrophysics student, Jeni Millard, presents our latest understanding of the structure, formation, and future of our neighbouring galaxies and the evidence for and against dark matter.

Download Episode! The Discussion: Enjoying light pollution-free skies in the Ionian Sea and soaking up the atmosphere at the North West Astronomy Festival. The News: In the news we have more findings about the interior and evolution of our moon from the GRAIL and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter missions; Russian and Chinese lunar ambitions ratchet up a notch; the ExoMars mission narrows down its poss...

What to look out, and up, for in November. We start with the welcome return of the winter constellation of Taurus in our beginners' and young observers' challenge. Next up is the planets, the phases and conjunctions of the moon and the Leonid meteor shower to enjoy this month. We then round up the best of the deep sky offerings for the month with the open clusters and binary stars in the constella...

The Discussion: Enjoying dark skies at the National Trust, Paul's astronomy outreach endeavours with Sirius Astronomy and predictions for the upcoming AstroCamp. The Tour: In this special episode, Ralph and Paul bring record from the Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey in Guildford. We tour this world leading centre of excellence for low cost satellite design and innovation and explain...

What to look out, and up, for in October. We start with the constellation of Perseus in our beginners' and young observers' challenge. Next up is planets, the phases and conjunctions of the moon and the meteor showers to enjoy this month. We then round up the best of the deep sky offerings for the month with the globular clusters and galaxies in the constellations Andromeda & Pegasus.

Download Episode! A podcast extra episode to get you in the mood for the biannual dark sky weekend run by the podcast crew. We have BBC's The Sky at Night's Chris North joining us again to give a talk on the Herschel Space Observatory and Cardiff Uni's Jeni Millard explaining galaxies and dark matter. And of course, 3 nights of enjoying the wonders of truly dark skies. If you're not coming to Astr...

The Discussion: Sirius Astronomy and The Knowledge Observatory's educational outreach and preparation for our dark sky observing weekend in Wales: AstroCamp. The News: In the news we have the latest on the European Space Agency's ambitious Rosetta spacecraft as it settles into it's science program at Comet Churyumov Gerasimenko; details of the science payload for NASA's 'Curiosity 2' Mars rover; r...

What to look out, and up, for in September. We start with the constellation of Cassiopeia in our beginners' and young observers' challenge. Next up is planets, the phases and conjunctions of the moon to enjoy this month. We then round up the best of the deep sky offerings for the month with the large clusters and a nice easy nebula in the constellation Sagitta & Vulpecula.

The Discussion: Enjoying the delights of July's skies, writing articles for Astronomy magazine, STEM education and Paul becomes a European Space Agency ambassador. The News: In the news we have the Rosetta spacecraft's approach to the almost unpronounceable comet Churyumov Gerasimenko – revealed to be a binary comet, and the Very Large Telscope in Chile takes a 2.5 year study of a supernova to cra...

What to look out, and up, for in August. We start with the constellation of Cepheus in our beginners' and young observers' challenge. Next up is planets and the standout phases of the moon to enjoy this August. We then round up the best of the deep sky offerings for the month with a galaxy, two globular clusters and a couple of planetary nebulas in the constellation Aquarius.

The Discussion: Looking back over Sirius Astronomy outreach events in June, a bit of a rant over peer-review and science by press conference and our own pathetic attempts to get awarded a Nobel Prize or two. The News: Modelling of Pluto's moon Charon ahead of the flyby of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft next year, aerobraking an orbiter through Venus' upper atmosphere and radio imaging a Near Earth...

What to look out, and up, for in July. We start with the beautiful summer constellation of Cygnus in our beginners' and young observers' guide. Next up is Mercury, Venus, Mars & Saturn and some lovely lunar conjunctions to enjoy this Month. The Delta Aquariid meteor shower makes an announcement before we round up the best of July's deep sky offerings in the constellation Ophiuchus.

This month we're outside recording under red light as we bag the latest meteor shower to grace planet Earth - the Camelopardalids. We start with reminisces about our April AstroCamp star party, radio detection of meteors and the engineering & imaging prowess of our captured Earthing slaves John & Damien. In the news we discusses the new discovery of Earth 2.0(ish), the sad shrinkage of Jupiter's G...

What to look out, and up, for in June. We start with the constellation of Lyra in our beginners' and young observers' guide, and end it with a few deep sky challenges for you to hunt down. Next up is the moon and a couple of planetary conjunctions to enjoy, with Mars, Saturn & Jupiter feature in the planetary round up for Northern Hemisphere observers. We then take our pick of the best of the deep...

The Discussion: Astronomy in the late 18th Century and the increased sense of hope we, as amateur astronomers, get from the work of early astronomical observations. The Field Report: This month we record from the Herschel Museum of Astronomy in Bath, England and take a tour of the Georgian townhouse to investigate the many objects, telescopes and handwritten observations of William and Carline Her...

What to look out, and up, for in May. We start with the constellation of Hercules in our beginner's and young observer's guide. Next up is the moon and our round up of the craters and interesting lunar features you can explore with a small telescope. Halley's Comet brings us the peak of the Eta Aquarids on the night of 5th/6th May while Comet LINEAR has the potential to deliver a meteor storm on t...

Download Episode! A podcast extra episode to get you in the mood for the biannual dark sky weekend run by the podcast crew. We have the BBC's Sky at Night team joining us again to show off the wonders of truly dark skies. If you're not coming to AstroCamp in April 2014, there's still a sky guide in this episode to give you stargazing inspiration wherever you are.

This month we talk National Astronomy Week and have an audio report from the outreach we conducted. In the news, we have a discussion with Jeni Millard and Sebastian Khan from Cardiff University about the discovery of gravitational waves; we discuss the auroral display that lit up Europe and the ensuing scandals caused by the Daily Mail; we have a possible way of detecting dark matter and a theory...

What to look out, and up, for in April. We start with the constellation of Ursa Major in our beginner's and young observer's guide. Next up is the moon and our round up of the craters and interesting lunar features you can explore with a small telescope. Mars, Venus, Saturn & Jupiter feature in the planetary round up for Northern Hemisphere observers this month and we finish off with some suggesti...