Astronomy Astrophiz Podcast

Dr Ian Musgrave brings us his March SkyGuide …  telling us when, where and what to look for in the evening and morning skies this month. He also gives us his ‘Tangent’ about perigee and apogee Moons. Also Ian is continuing his ‘Astrophotography Challenge’ where he presents us with an achievable and challenging task to undertake with our cameras. This month it's imaging Vesta and learning how to us...

Today listeners, we’re zooming over 10 timezones to Denmark for some cutting edge science …, and you're invited to a very special conversation with Dr Hannah Diamond-Lowe who is a senior researcher in the Exoplanet Group at the National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark … where her groundbreaking research characterizes small exoplanet atmospheres using ground- and space-based observ...

Dr Ian Musgrave kicks off 2024 with his February SkyGuide telling us when, where and what to look for in the evening and morning skies in February. He gives us a Tangent about perigee and apogee Moons. This year Ian is introducing his 'Astrophotography Challenge' wher ehe presents us with an achievable and challenging task to undertake with our cameras.

Astrophiz 184: Hyerin Cho Meet Hyerin Cho, an inspiring young astrophysicist from Korea who is doing her PhD at the Harvard Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hyerin uses her formidable computational skills to simulate still-mysterious black holes using supercomputers, as well as revealing the mysteries and enigmatic fast radio bursts AKA FRBs. For her main research, she produces...

Dr. Rebecca Davies is an Astro3D postdoctoral researcher and has just been awarded an ARC-DECRA fellowship at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. Rebecca researches the stuff that flows out of Galaxies AKA ‘Galactic Outflows’ … and she looks across the majority of the history of the universe from right now and right back through time to less than a billion years after t...

Moon Phases: November 5 - the Last Quarter Moon is Sunday, good time for evening skygazing. November 7 - The Moon is at apogee, when it is furthest from the Earth November 13 - New Moon, good time for skygazing the entire night. November 14 - The very thin ‘day old’ moon is near Mercury in the west just after sunset. A genuine challenge to catch this. November 20 - First Quarter Moon, great binocu...

Today’s special episode is from your host, Brendan O’Brien, and is all about ­­the amazing James Webb Space Telescope: “Unveiling the Cosmos” Our story begins in a remote, microscopic corner in the vast expanse of the cosmos, where humankind has always yearned to uncover its deepest mysteries. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) represents a monumental leap in our quest to explore the universe....

Show Notes: Morning Sky Two beautiful bright planets will reward those who get up early in the mornings this month. Jupiter is is rising before midnight but is still best in the morning sky, it is close to the Moon on October 1 and on the 29th. Venus is moving from crescent to half moon phase and climbs higher the morning twilight coming very close to the bright star Regulus by weeks end. Partial...

Today we are speaking with Dr Daniel Palumbo, from the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Daniel is an astrophysicist and data scientist with the Event Horizon Telescope who worked on those amazing black hole images using data from the planet-sized telescope, the EHT, the Event Horizon Telescope. He is involved in ongoing work on the Next Generation EHT consortium In this episode he sh...

Your planetary action is split between the evening and morning skies. Venus and Mercury return to the morning twilight. Mars is a dim glowing ember in the evening skies. Saturn is just past opposition and still high in evening skies Jupiter enters evening skies, but still look better in morning skies. Moon Phases: Last quarter moon: September 7, ideal for stargazing Moon at apogee: September 15. N...

In this extended and enthralling interview, Associate Professor Michelle Cluver from Swinburne University's Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing reveals the captivating world of mid-infrared research. With boundless enthusiasm, she unravels the mysteries of this innovative field, igniting our imagination and highlighting her powerful results and the immense potential of being able to peer de...

Highlights: Blue Moon Opposition Of Saturn We lose Venus from Evening skies Mercury is at its best this month Moon Phases August 2nd Perigee Full Moon August 8th Last Quarter Moon (ideal for observing galaxies and globular clusters in the early evening) August 16th New Moon is ideal for stargazing anytime August 24th First Quarter Moon August 31st Perigee Full (Blue) Moon ie the 2nd Full Moon for...

[ Full transcript at Astrophiz.com ] In this fabulous episode of Astrophiz, Greg Sleap, the Software and Systems Team Leader at CIRA, the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy, a node of ICRAR (The International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research) discusses the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) and its role in capturing radio data from the cosmos. The MWA is a low-frequency radio telescope array loca...

Astrophiz 174: Dr Ian Musgrave’s July SkyGuide Moon Phases: The Full Moon is Monday, July 3. Last Quarter is July 10. New Moon is July 18. First Quarter is July 26. The Moon is at perigee, when it is closest to the Earth, on the 5th. Summary: Most planetary action is in the evening skies, apart from Jupiter looking magnificent in the mornings, and Venus and Mars are nice in the evenings this month...

Dr Jesse Van De Sande is the  ASTRO3D research fellow at the Sydney Institute for Astronomy at the School of Physics at the University of Sydney. He is an observational astronomer who uses many of the world's most iconic and powerful telescopes, including the four 8 meter telescopes that comprise the VLT, the Very Large Telescope high up in the Andes in Chile. He is researching galaxies at low and...

Astrophiz 172: Dr Ian Musgrave’s June SkyGuide What's up in the Southern Sky in the month of June?  The dates for the Moon Phases for June, Evening Sky Highlights and all the beautiful Morning Sky Highlights. Planetary action: Mars, then Venus, meets the Beehive cluster, The moon occults Delta Scorpii, then forms attractive patterns with Jupiter, Mars and Venus. More details, times plus charts on...

Dr Rodolfo Montez Jr is better known as Rudy. Rudy is an astrophysicist working at the Chandra X-Ray Centre at the famous Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He has wide research interests and among them he does amazing work using NASA’s flagship X-ray space telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory to research some of the hottest regions of our universe. He is also known for his mentoring...

Moon Phases for May Full Moon - 6 May (with penumbral eclipse in the early morning) Moon at Perigee - 11 May Last Quarter - 12 May New Moon - 20 May First Quarter - 28 May (also apogee moon) Evening Sky Highlights VENUS - moving from Taurus into gemini and getting brighter and climbing higher in the West. From the 9th to 10th Venus is closed to the open cluster M35. On the 23rd Venus is just 3degr...

I am really excited to be speaking again with Dr Laura Driessen, who is now recognised as one of Australia’s Superstars of STEM! You first met Laura 5 years ago back in 2018 when she was doing her PhD at the University of Manchester and Jodrell Bank. Laura’s back story is all there in Astrophiz Episode 54. You heard about her obsession with space starting at age 4 and her natural yet meandering ac...

Shownotes In Australia Daylight Saving ends on April 2nd Moon Phases: Full moon April 6th So for those out camping over Easter, you’ll have very nice dark skies to see lots of clusters and nebulae as well as Venus and Mars without any interference from the moon. Last Quarter April 13th Perigee moon April 16th New Moon April 20th First Quarter (apogee) Moon appears in evening skies on April 28th. I...

Recently I had the privilege of interviewing Mia Walker, an engineer and Project Officer at the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy in Western Australia. Mia’s passion for astronomy is the driving force behind her career in this field, where she has contributed to the development and operation of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) radio telescope, a stunning project designed to help unlock the my...

This month the planetary action is still largely in the western evening skies. Earth is at equinox on Tuesday, 21 March. At this time day and night are roughly equal in duration. March 2; Venus and Jupiter at their closest. March 3; Mercury and Saturn close low in the twilight. March 4; apogee Moon. March 7; Full Moon. March 15; Last Quarter Moon. March 20; the thin crescent moon near Saturn in th...

"Are We Alone? In an exclusive interview, Dr. Vishal Gajjar, a leading researcher on the Breakthrough Listen project, discussed his groundbreaking work using machine learning and AI to facilitate the detection of technosignatures on the project's search for Extraterrestrial life. The Breakthrough Listen project, led by the University of California Berkeley and the SETI Institute, is one of the mos...

Moon Phases: Feb 6 Apogee Full moon Feb 14 Last Quarter moon Feb 20 New moon Feb 27 First Quarter moon Evening Sky Venus and Jupiter in the West half an hour after sunset, some nice planetary action in morning skies and beautiful signature stars and constellations throughout the month Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) has already been a great sight in the Northern Hemisphere and now having passed by the sun,...

Many cultures around the world and throughout history have staged festivals events and celebrations around this time. Here in Australia our summer holidays occur now and with Christmas and New Years Eve approaching it’s a great time to spend time with family and friends. As I’ve been reminded by our resident observation guru Dr Ian Musgrave, this is a great time of year to see some great planetary...