AWESOME ASTRONOMY

Following a recent NASA press conference – a regular event that fills us with dread as we anticipate an anticlimax – this time NASA really get us excited with the announcement of seven rocky Earth sized planets around a star 40 light years away. Three of these planets are in that star system's habitable zone. Luckily our own resident exoplanet researcher, Jeni, is on hand to take us through the hu...

The Discussion: Jeni's been teaching the teachers of Wales how to include astronomy in their classroom exercises as part of the school curriculum. Ralph takes us on a historical tour of the King's Observatory in Richmond which was the original Prime Meridian before it found its home in Greenwich. While Paul and Jen have a date this month at the Big Bang Fair in Birmingham. The News: Rounding up th...

What to look out, and up, for in March. Our highlights of this month's skies with the planets on offer to observers and imagers: The moon, Mercury and Mars close together on the 29th The King of Planets returns to our skies 4 comets to observe with amateur telescopes or the naked eye Next up, we each take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year: Jen – The Owl Nebula in Ur...

This podcast extra takes a look back at the extraordinary life of navy aviator, test pilot and astronaut Gene Cernan who tragically died last month at the age of 82. In this memoriam we discuss: Gene's stellar career Pioneering rendezvous and spacewalking techniques on Gemini 9A The final test run for a moon landing on Apollo 10 Commanding the last ever moon landing mission on Apollo 17 The last f...

The Discussion: Paul continues his herculean travels around the UK promoting the European Space Agency and teaching people about the science of spaceflight. Ralph's waxing lyrical about a waxing moon and Venus, while Jen has a big announcement regarding her PhD research. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: Another asteroid hits the news as NASA look elsewhere for...

What to look out, and up, for in February. Our highlights of this month's skies with the planets on offer to observers and imagers: A last chance look at Mercury in the morning sky Mars a few degrees from Venus Jupiter in Virgo Saturn in the early morning sky Next up is the return of a couple of comets to our observing tick list: Comet 45P at its best on the 11th February in Hercules Comet 2P Enck...

This podcast extra takes a look at the proposals from Boeing and Lockheed Martin to develop a lunar space station for NASA. In this discussion we cover: NASA's current plans for deep space exploration Lunar and Martian exploration What exploration can be done from orbit Human vs robotic exploration The likelihood of contaminating other worlds with Earth organisms

The Discussion: As we welcome in the New Year Paul's been mixing science with art, Jeni's professional astronomy looks to be taking her to South Africa or Mexico and we read out some of our listeners' emails The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: The death of John Glenn – a true pioneer and legend ESO's Very Large Telescopes glimpses something from nothing And we ta...

What to look out, and up, for in January. Our highlights of this month's skies with the planets on offer to observers and imagers: Venus at greatest eastern elongation Mars a few degrees from Venus Jupiter in Virgo Saturn & Mercury in the morning sky Next up is the other solar system wonders of note in January: The Quadrantids meteor shower peaking on 3-4th January with a ZHR of around 40 The larg...

Awesome Astronomy's 2016 Christmas Panto. Think: HG Wells' War of the Worlds meets Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator. The Eve of the War: Plans for our latest invasion of Earth are discussed over a nice, friendly and relaxed Christmas dinner. In London: A rousing and inspiring speech to the defeated peoples of Earth. The Earth Under the Martians: Jeni's excited about her new taser and we all ha...

The Discussion: This month we take a look at the recent supermoon and what it takes to make the moon 'super'; Jeni goes teaching kids about space and hones her exoplanet hunting skills; while Paul's been hosting events with British astronaut Tim Peake. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: An update on Blue Origin's spaceflight ambitions More on Shiaparelli and Exo...

What to look out, and up, for in December. Our highlights of this month's skies with the planet on offer to observers and imagers: Venus shining brilliantly in the evening sky Mercury at greatest elongation on 11th December Jupiter returns to our late night skies Next up is the meteor showers and December brings us the greatest of them all: The Geminids peaking on the night of 13/14th December The...

Perhaps the most frequently asked question to the show (and apologies to Terry Dunlin who asked this question about 2 years ago!) is what you need to consider when buying a telescope or what makes the right telescope for you. So, in this podcast extra, we pool our collective brainpower to bring you a 20 minute discussion of telescope types, apertures, portability and capabilities to help you get t...

The Discussion: In a month when the European Space Agency succeeded and failed in the first part of their Exomars saga, we go through the glory and the debris of Mars exploration, hanging out with astronauts Tim Peake and Tim Kopra, conducting exoplanet research, provide some advice about studying astrophysics and explain why the effects of dark matter aren't witnessed in our own solar system. The...

What to look out, and up, for in November. Our highlights of this month's skies with the planet on offers to observers and imagers: A last chance to enjoy views of Mars for 2016 The return of the King of Planets: Jupiter A Saturn and Venus conjunction And we each take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year: Ralph – Colourful binary star Almaak in Andromeda Jeni – The mag...

This podcast extra features the talk given by Nick Howes at Spring 2015's AstroCamp about life and death in space. Nick takes us on a fascinating tour of our universe and explains: Dangerous phenomena in the galaxy Martian meteorites The places in the solar system where life may exist Exploring comets The marvel of the Rosetta spacecraft How comets are discovered and named The Oort Cloud - home to...

The Discussion: If you enjoy our attention to scripting, our professional quality audio and our stringent editing, then you're bang out of luck! This show comes from our AstroCamp stargazing event in Wales and we're making it up as we go along. This month we take you through the delights of dark sky stargazing among friends, Jeni becomes a paid scientist and we get the reactions of the gang as we...

What to look out, and up, for in October. Our highlights of this month's skies with the planet on offer to observers and imagers: Venus & Saturn in the late evening with a nice conjunction of the pair. Uranus as it reaches opposition on the 16th. Next up is the meteor showers and October brings us: The Draconids peaking on 7th October The Orionids peaking on 20th/21st October Then we each take a d...

In this month's AstroCamp podcast extra episode: The Discussion: An introduction to star parties and enjoying practical astronomy under pristine dark skies away from the city. As the podcast crew run the AstroCamp star party, which many listeners attend, in the Brecon Beacon's international dark sky reserve twice a year, we take you through the events, tutorials and workshops we run to help you ho...

The Discussion: Jeni's astronomy research yields its first results in the hunt for exoplanet phase variation and we revisit our Star Wars podcast extras with a listener's book review. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: An 'Earthlike planet detected by ESO around our nearest stellar neighbour The upcoming launch of OSIRIS Rex to sample an asteroid That bump in th...

What to look out, and up, for in September. Our highlights of this month's skies with the planet on offer to observers and imagers: Mercury & Venus in the late evening or early morning Mars & Saturn – with a nice conjunction with the Moon and star Antares Neptune & Uranus on offer in Aquarius & Pisces The largest asteroid, Vesta, will be passing through the constellation Gemini into Cancer this mo...

This podcast extra is our full length interview with Dr Helen Sharman, Britain's First astronaut and the first woman to visit the Russian Mir Space Station in 1991. In this interview we discuss: Tim Peake Access to space during a time of no UK funding The skills needed to be an astronaut Training for spaceflight at Star City in Russia The collapse of the Soviet Union just before launch Speaking wi...

The Discussion: We're cheering Jeni's graduation with a first class masters in astrophysics and looking at the PhD options she has as she chases the dream of becoming Dr Millard! Paul & Ralph make preparations for September's dark sky AstroCamp stargazing event and educate Jeni on computers from the 80s. The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have: A new dwarf planet is d...

What to look out, and up, for in August. Our highlights of this month's skies with the planet on offer to observers and imagers: Jupiter takes a bow as it departs until December Mars & Saturn – with a long conjunction at the end of August Mercury & Venus make their way out of the glare of the Sun Neptune & Uranus on offer in Aquarius & Pisces Next up is the meteor showers and, due to the long dayl...

This podcast extra is our full length interview with the 4th man to walk on the moon aboard the Apollo 12 mission in 1969. In this interview we discuss: journeying to the moon on a Saturn V rocket getting your rocket struck by lightening the mission's colourful commander (Pete Conrad) what the moon looked and felt like underfoot the science conducted on the surface of the moon the future of human...