Astronomy Cast
Astronomy Cast offers you a fact based journey through the cosmos. Each week Fraser Cain (Universe Today) and Dr. Pamela Gay (SIUE / Slacker Astronomy) take on topics ranging from the nearby planets to ubiquitous dark matter.
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Ep. 164: Inside the Atom
We've talked about the biggest of the big, now let's ...
We've talked about the biggest of the big, now let's focus in on the smallest of the small. Let's see what's inside that basic building block of matter: the atom. You probably know the basics, but with ever more powerful particle accelerators, physicists
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Ep. 163: Auroras
When the Sun's solar winds crash into the Earth's magnetosphere, ...
When the Sun's solar winds crash into the Earth's magnetosphere, we get to enjoy an incredible light show called auroras, or the Northern and Southern Lights. Let's learn about what causes these incredible phenomena, and the best times and places that you
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Ep. 162: Edwin Hubble
You might know the name "Hubble" because of the Hubble ...
You might know the name "Hubble" because of the Hubble Space Telescope. But this phenomenal observatory was named after one of the most influential astronomers in modern history. Hubble discovered that galaxies are speeding away from us in all directions,
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Ep. 161: Launch Facilities
Launching a rocket into space requires a big effort on ...
Launching a rocket into space requires a big effort on the ground. Space agencies have built up huge infrastructures to store, prepare and launch rockets. Let's take a look at what's involved on the ground at a place like Cape Canaveral. What happens befo
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Ep. 160: Eclipses
Every now and then, the Moon destroys the Sun. Okay, ...
Every now and then, the Moon destroys the Sun. Okay, not destroys, covers. Well, not really covers, but from here on Earth, sitting inside the shadow of the Moon, that's what it sure looks like. These events are called eclipses, or more precisely, transit
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Ep. 159: Planet X
Astronomers have been searching for the mysterious Planet X for ...
Astronomers have been searching for the mysterious Planet X for hundreds of years. It was the search for a theoretical planet beyond Uranus that turned up Neptune, and then again for Pluto. And even now there are some astronomers who think there's a more
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Ep. 158: Pulsars
Imagine an object with the mass of the Sun, crushed ...
Imagine an object with the mass of the Sun, crushed down to the size of Manhattan. Now set that object spinning hundreds of times a second, blasting out powerful beams of radiation like a lighthouse. That's a pulsar, one of the most exotic objects in the
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Ep. 157: Constellations
Did you know there are 88 constellations in the night ...
Did you know there are 88 constellations in the night sky? Let's learn about the constellations and other star formations, their history, their connection to the zodiac, and how to find some of them.
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Ep. 156: Famous Stars
This week we're going to talk about famous stars. But ...
This week we're going to talk about famous stars. But not those boring human ones you read about in People magazine. No, we're talking about those hot balls of plasma across the distant Universe. The close ones, the bright ones, the massive ones, the gian
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Ep. 155: Dwarf Stars
We think we live near an average star, but that's ...
We think we live near an average star, but that's not the case at all. Compared to most stars in the Universe, the Sun is a giant! Let's look at the small end of the stellar spectrum, to stars with a fraction of the size and mass of our own Sun. There are
