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. 93: Missions to Mars, Part 2
I know last week was a bit of a dry ...
I know last week was a bit of a dry history lesson, but we wanted to give you some understanding of past efforts to explore Mars. Now we'll look at the missions currently in orbit, and crawling around the surface of Mars, and help you understand the scien
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Ep. 92: Missions to Mars, Part 1
With last month's safe arrival of the Phoenix Mars Lander, ...
With last month's safe arrival of the Phoenix Mars Lander, Mars enthusiasts breathed a collective sigh of relief… phew. Now it's time to search for evidence of organic molecules in the ice at Mars' north pole. But this is just the latest in a long series
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Ep. 91: The Search for Water on Mars
With the successful touchdown of the Phoenix Lander, NASA is ...
With the successful touchdown of the Phoenix Lander, NASA is continuing its quest to find evidence of past and present water on Mars. This week we discuss the geologic history of Mars, and explain why NASA thinks the story of water on Mars is so important
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Ep. 90: The Scientific Method
You've heard us say it 90 times: "How we know ...
You've heard us say it 90 times: "How we know what we know." But how do we know how we know what we know? So astronomers like all scientists use the scientific method. Without the scientific method we'd probably still think the Earth is flat, only a few t
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Ep. 89: Adaptive Optics
Since the dawn of humanity, astronomers have wished to destroy ...
Since the dawn of humanity, astronomers have wished to destroy the atmosphere. Oh sure, it's what we breathe and all, but that stupid atmosphere is always getting in the way. Since destroying the atmosphere is out of the question, astronomers have figured
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Ep. 88: The Hubble Space Telescope
Our understanding of the cosmos has been revolutionized by the ...
Our understanding of the cosmos has been revolutionized by the Hubble Space Telescope. The breathtaking familiar photos, like the Pillars of Creation, pale in comparison to the astounding amount of science data returned to Earth. Hubble's getting old, tho
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Ep. 87: The End of the Universe Part 2: The End of Everything
Hopefully you've all recovered from part 1 of this set, ...
Hopefully you've all recovered from part 1 of this set, where we make you sad about the future of the humanity, the Earth, the Sun and the Solar System. But hang on, we're really going to bring you down. Today we'll look far far forward into the distant f
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Ep. 86: The End of the Universe Part 1: The End of the Solar System
This is a show we wanted to do since we ...
This is a show we wanted to do since we started Astronomy Cast but we always thought it was too early. We wanted you to know that we're positive, happy people with enthusiasm for astronomy and the future. It's time for some sadness. It's time for a grim l
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Ep. 85: Detectors
Our senses can only detect a fraction of the phenomena ...
Our senses can only detect a fraction of the phenomena happening in the Universe. That's why scientists and engineers develop detectors, to let us see radiation and particles that we could never detect with our eyes and ears. This week we'll go through th
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Ep. 84: Getting Around the Solar System
Have you ever wondered what it takes to get a ...
Have you ever wondered what it takes to get a spacecraft off the Earth and into space. And how managers at NASA can actually navigate a spacecraft to another planet? And how does a gravity assist work? And how do they get them into orbit? And how do they
