The Cosmic Companion - Astronomy, Space, Technology Advancing Humanity

This week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, we welcome Mark McCaughrean, Senior Advisor for Science & Exploration at the European Space Agency, to the show. We'll talk about the European Space Agency's BepiColombo mission to Mercury. We're also going to look at Comet Leonard as it makes its closest approach to Earth this week, and we'll tell you how to find it in the night sky. We'r...

The three brightest planets in the Solar System - Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, together with the Moon - will all line up tonight just after sunset. Here's a look at what's happening, and how to get the most out of this dazzling display! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/support This is a public episod...

On 10 December, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and the Moon will all line up just after sunset.   Here's a look at what's happening, and how to get the most out of this dazzling display! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/support This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscrib...

Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion. This week, we are delighted to be joined by one of the world's most renowned oceanographers, Dr. Sylvia Earle. She's here to talk to us about her new book, National Geographic Ocean | A Global Odyssey. We're going to get an in-depth look at the oceans of our home world. We're also going to take a look up in the sky, as a trio of planets line up with the Mo...

The Geminid meteor shower arrives on the night of 13 December 2021.   We take a look at how to view this display, where to look in the sky, and we take a glimpse at an alignment of planets happening on the other side of the sky. Cats may be involved for video viewers. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-comp...

Matthew Bothwell, author of The Invisible Universe, discusses the 93% of "ordinary" matter we cannot see with the human eye - radio, infrared, ultraviolet astronomy, and more...     This week on Astronomy News with the Cosmic Companion, we also look at how machine learning recently discovered hundreds of unknown planets, we explore a massive world hotter than some stars, and Dart lifts off on a mi...

This week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, we take a close-up look at asteroids – those lumps or rock, metal, and ice racing around our solar system. We're going to examine five major missions happening right now, examining asteroids, and potentially, saving us from the fate of the dinosaurs. Bill Bottke, Director of Space Studies at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) joins us tal...

This week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, we welcome Dr. Rosanne Di Stefano from the Center for Astrophysics to the show, talking about her work finding the first planet yet seen in another galaxy. We also look in on the ailing Hubble Space Telescope, as that famed instrument unexpectedly shuts down. We're going to examine the first signs of water within a galaxy in the ancient Cosmos...

This week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, Dr. Tara Murphy from the University of Sydney joins us, looking at an odd radio burst seen near the center of the Milky Way galaxy. We will also look at a possible discovery of a planet in another galaxy, and examine a massive solar flare that nearly missed Earth over the weekend. Finally, we will head out to Jupiter, where NASA's Juno spacecr...

The Science of Halloween featuring Erika Engelhaupt, author of Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science.    Plus - Would Aliens Eat Humans? Extinction from an Asteroid, and the Scariest Objects in the Night Sky! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/support This is a public episode. If...

This week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, we welcome Dr. Jenifer Millard  to the show. She is a science journalist and co-presenter of the Awesome Astronomy podcast, and we will talk about amateur astronomy and bringing science to the masses. We're also going to hear from Dr. Tara Murphy of the University of Sydney about her recent discovery of strange radio signals coming from near t...

Next week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion : Dr. Jenifer Millard, host of The Awesome Astronomy Podcast, talks about astronomy, star parties, and the wonder of science. Listen to the sneak preview!  plus Esen Ercan Alp of Argonne National Laboratory – one of the few people to have seen samples from the asteroid Ryugu! Full interview drops 19 October. Future episodes: 26 October (s5/e16)...

What is ASKAP J173608.2-321635 - the strange radio burst from near the center of the Milky Way? We talk with Professor Tara Murphy of the University of Sydney, who helped lead this discovery.    Here's a sneak preview - enjoy! Full interview drops 2 November. Follow or subscribe today and never miss an episode. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/message Support thi...

This week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, we welcome NASA legend Homer Hickam to the show. The inspiration for the movie October Sky talks about growing up in a West Virginia coal-mining town, his new book, Don’t Blow Yourself Up, and... teaching David Letterman how to SCUBA dive?   But first, we look in on an extreme exoplanet where iron rains down from the sky, we join NASA as they...

Amateur astronomers have a lot to look up to in October 2021.   Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and the Moon all put on dazzling shows, plus a pair of meteor showers! Listen to the podcast here, or watch the video version of this guide to the night sky at: https://youtu.be/-9a9klMgJ2o --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-co...

A look at robotics and artificial intelligence in space as NASA's Trey Smith and Jose Benavides visit Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion!   But first, we look at a triple star system that may be home to an odd exoplanet, we ride along with the BepiColombo craft exploring Mercury, and we talk about what's coming to the night sky in October!   Listen to the podcast here, or watch the video ver...

This week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, we talk with Roman Chiporuhka, CEO of Space VIP, about the future of private spaceflight, and what it could mean for the future of humanity.   We'll also take a look at the VIPER spacecraft which will soon scout locations for the return of humans to the Moon. Then, we'll head out to Mars, hearing about a new study showing water on Mars may hav...

This week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, we welcome Dillon Dong, a graduate student at Caltech to the show. We're going to talk about his work discovering a previously-unseen type of supernova eruption.   But first, we learn about a supernova due for a return engagement, we hear how Steve Wozniak could be entering the space salvage business, and we will look in on Inspiration 4, the...

This week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, we welcome Dr. Cathy Olkin from the Southwest Research Institute to the show. We will talk about Lucy – the first mission to explore the Trojan asteroids of Jupiter.   But first, we look in on an unusual radio signal coming from near the center of our galaxy. Next, we journey out to the International Space Station, where a signal from a smoke...

This week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, we welcome CHIME member Kaitlyn Shin to the show, and she's going to  teach us about fast radio bursts coming from space. But first, we look at a new study showing that stars eating planets may be more common than we thought, a new type of supernova is seen by astronomers as a black hole or neutron star collides with its parent star, and China...

This week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, we welcome Geoff Notkin to the show. He is the two-time Emmy Awarding-winning host of STEM Journals, and he hosted Meteorite Men on the Science Channel. He’s going to tell us all about meteorites!    But first, we discuss the future of space stations as the ISS nears the end of its operational life. We also find that supermassive black holes w...

Good news: We have Geoff Notkin, Emmy Award-winning host of Meteorite Men and STEM Journals on next week, talking about meteorites, and his adventures searching the globe for treasures from space. Better news: We have a sneak preview of the episode for you right now! Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmi...

The premiere episode of our newest short-form series, Cosmic Connections! This week, we explore the connections between a nebula in space called the Dragons of Ara, and learn its connections to woolly mammoths, floods, and more!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/support This is a public episode....

This week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, we have a special double interview as we welcome Dr. Richard Teague from the Center for Astrophysics to the show, talking about finding the first moon ever discovered in another solar system. We will also talk with Dr. Davide Farnocchia, asteroid dynamicist at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, about the asteroid Bennu, which could be headed for a col...

This week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, we welcome Dr. Jonathan Lunine, chair of the astronomy department at Cornell University to the show, telling us all about the volcanoes of Venus!  But first, we journey out to the L 98-59 planetary system, exploring a trio of intriguing exoplanets.  Next, we take a trip out to the Trojan asteroids of Jupiter, along with the Lucy spacecraft, as...