AWESOME ASTRONOMY

The Discussion: Jeni tells us about her more recent astronomy conferences in Eastbourne and Copenhagen. Paul gives us a round up of his astronomy outreach with interesting facts from and a rooftop star party. And Awesome Astronomy gets in deeper than intended with the Alan Bennet/Thora Hird gag that far outstayed its welcome. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: A...

What to look out, and up, for in July. With no Jen this month (she's off sciencing), it's just Paul & Ralph's highlights for this month's skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: Mars at its most favourable opposition since 2003 Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto A super-long lunar eclipse Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this ti...

In this podcast extra episode, released during Pride month, we return to this April's European Week of Astronomy and Space Science where we spoke to Dr Ashley Spindler to find out more about: Galaxy evolution, the evolution of galaxy structures and star formation from the MaNGA project using Sloan Digital Sky Survey data South East Physics Network placement opportunities for post graduate students...

The Discussion: Jeni's talking science conferences while Paul's doing impressions from his Who's Who of Yorkshire legends. Ralph runs through this month's pick of listeners tweets & emails with a focus on exoplanets and a big congrats to listener Dustin Ruoff The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: The earliest stars formed earlier than we thought! NASA's latest wow-...

What to look out, and up, for in June. Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month's skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: Asteroid Vesta at opposition Saturn An overview of Venus, Jupiter and Mars Comet 21P - Giacobini–Zinner in Cygnus Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year. Ralph - The Double Double...

This podcast extra is a re-release of our full length interview with the 4th man to walk on the moon aboard the Apollo 12 mission in 1969. Alan Bean was not only a fighter pilot, Navy test pilot, astronaut, moonwalker, space station commander and artist, but he was also a very considerate, genuine and self-effacing gentleman. We are hugely saddened by the loss of such a lovely man but heartened th...

In this podcast extra episode, we take a look back at the extraordinary life and work of Stephen Hawking who died on 14th March 2018, leaving a legacy rich with cosmology insights, humour, altruism, science education and a changed landscape in astronomy.

The Discussion: Jeni, Paul & Ralph survived the wilds of the Brecon Beacon's AstroCamp festival of astronomy, Jeni gathers a whole heap of astronomy interviews from the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science, and we read out a couple of emails requesting advice on amateur astronomy mounts, berating us for our April Fools' Twitter gag and asking for more content relevant to the southern hemis...

What to look out, and up, for in May. Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month's skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: The ever-brightening Mars Jupiter at opposition on 9th May Venus in the evening sky The Lyrid meteor shower Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year. Ralph – The plethora of summer o...

Welcome to AstroCamp! In this podcast extra episode, we welcome you to the practical astronomy arm of the Awesome Astronomy empire, as we take a run through what people can expect at our AstroCamp star party in the Brecon Beacons International Dark Sky Reserve on the extended weekend of 14-17th April 2018. We also take a look at the social and educational aspects of star parties and round everythi...

The Discussion: The Beast from the East makes practical astronomy difficult and we take a look at listeners' emails that accuse us of imperialism, suggest we throw away some solar filters, provide an alternative look at solar system creation and reveal their own astronomy outreach experiences. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: China's space station is about to...

What to look out, and up, for in December. Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month's skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: The features visible on Mars Jupiter visible in the morning sky Venus in the evening sky The Lyrid meteor shower Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year. Ralph – The Beehive an...

An extended Hat of Woo if you like, but for this podcast extra episode we dip our hands back into the festering corners of Paul's hat to take a look at the root causes and the psychology of belief in conspiracy theories. Not why are they wrong but why do humans believe in conspiracy theories at all? Do we shoot ourselves in the foot through our educational policies and methods of teaching? Are we...

The Discussion: Jeni and her Welsh brethren suffered an Earthquake and Ralph takes a look through listeners emails which prompts a discussion about the range of educational outreach that AweAst listeners undertake. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: A new and pointless star 'graces' our night sky We wave goodbye to the concept of the Late Heavy Bombardment Astro...

What to look out, and up, for in March. Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month's skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: Prepare for this year's Mars opposition as it increases in brightness Jupiter at 21 degrees in the pre-dawn sky Bright Venus, Mercury and the moon in conjunction on 18th March Comet 2016 R2 PANSTARRS in Perseus A lunar con...

This Awesome Astronomy episode is inspired by last week's incredible SpaceX launch and listeners' requests to talk a bit more about SpaceX and the advances in commercial spaceflight. In this Podcast Extra, we're joined by spaceflight aficionado Gavin Price (@pilliarscreatio) to discuss: The inaugural Falcon Heavy launch and what it achieved Was the launch awesome or all hype? How good is the Falco...

The Discussion: Friend of the show and lecturer at Jeni's Cardiff University, Dr Ed Gomez is launching a Kickstarter project to create and distribute a children's comic book to encourage children to take an interest and career in science. Jeni tells us about Ada's Adventures in Science, which you can give your support to at http://kck.st/2DI43hg. Paul suffers the adverse effects of being travellin...

What to look out, and up, for in February. Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month's skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: Track Mars' passage through Scorpius & Ophiuchus Jupiter in Libra gives us a shadow transit and a look at its Great Red spot Dwarf Planet Ceres at opposition on 1st February & Comet Heinze in Pegasus Next up, we take a...

In this podcast extra episode, we're joined again by The Essex Space Agency's Phil St Pier as we take another sideways diversion into science fiction movies as we cast a critical eye over the recent big sci-fi blockbusters: Star Wars: The Last Jedi Blade Runner 2049 This episode is dedicated to Matt & Ali's arrival of their daughter Evangeline Rosa Kingsnorth.

The Discussion: Paul avoids the big freeze with astronomy cheats, Ralph reads out the latest good and bad reviews, while Jeni becomes a 'Who's Who' question at Cardiff University! The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: Voyager 1 shows it still has the skills and prolongs its own life An update on the extrasolar asteroid that just buzzed our solar system Physicists o...

What to look out, and up, for in January! Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month's skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: The Red Planet Mars, makes a welcome return to our skies The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks on the night of 3rd/4th January Dwarf planet Ceres is at opposition on 31st January in Cancer Mercury is at greatest wester elon...

There's trouble in paradise as Christmas evening in the Cydonia bunker turns ugly. Alcohol may be the culprit. But equally, the blame may lie with suffering a whole day of pretending to like one another and f***ing Christmas songs! So, while tensions rise and arguments flare, Ralph, Paul and Jen run through the memorable space and astronomy events of 2017 and look forward to the treats in store fo...

In this podcast extra we begin a series, suggested by listener Sean Smith, of explaining the considerations involved in choosing practical astronomy equipment. This first in the series discusses one of the most important items in your amateur astronomy tool kit: Eyepieces. This discussion takes in: Why eyepieces are important The differences between 'good' and 'bad' eyepieces Choosing the right pr...

The Discussion: Jeni gets her name in lights – well, bold print, as she contributes (what else but graphs) to a published research paper and Ralph takes a look at Ben Cacase's very own new asterism in the heart of Auriga and reads a defiant message from Michelle of 'ze resistonce'. The News: It's a very rocky month as we round up the following space and astronomy news stories: Earth's moon had an...

What to look out, and up, for in December. Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month's skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: The Geminid meteor showers peaking on 13/14th December Uranus sitting in the constellation Pisces Mars & Jupiter lunar conjunctions Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year: Ral...