Podcaster: Ralph & Paul
Title : Awesome Astronomy November 2013
Organization: Awesome Astronomy
Link : www.awesomeastronomy.com
Description: What to look out, and up, for in November. And more news
Bio: Awesome Astronomy is the show for anyone and everyone who has even the slightest interest in astronomy and science.
Join Ralph & Paul at the beginning of each month, for an informative and fun astronomy programme telling you what to look out (and up) for every month. You can be guaranteed a passion for astronomy, simple explanations of complex and fundamental topics, space and science news, absorbing interviews and listeners’ astronomy questions answered.
As both presenters have been accused of being a little skeptical in the past, you can also expect everything to be frivolous but fact-based
Today’s sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by — no one. We still need sponsors for many days in 2013, so please consider sponsoring a day or two. Just click on the “Donate” button on the lower left side of this webpage, or contact us at signup@365daysofastronomy.org.
Summary of Content:
The Discussion: Joining the filming of the BBC’s The Sky at Night at the penumbral eclipse and playing with meteorites & moon rocks. Looking back at October’s skies and enjoying some special astro-images
The Sky Guide: Paul starts with the ever-rewarding Jupiter, and the moons & features to look out for. Neptune & Uranus continue their steady vigil and Venus, Mercury & Mars join them for planetary company this month. The arrival of Comet ISON takes centre stage before Paul picks out a few lunar craters and seas to take a look at.
After rounding up October’s meteor showers, Paul finishes the sky guide with a tour of his favourite deep sky objects in Pisces, Sculptor and Cetus.
The News: In the news section, Ralph begins with the sad death of Mercury astronaut and pioneer, Malcolm Scott Carpenter. Continues the gloom with the effect of the US government shutdown on NASA & space science, before raising the moon with news from the Mars Science Laboratory that Mars rocks contain significant amounts of water.
The European Southern Obervatory’s ALMA array completes its construction phase and The European Space Agency gets set to launch a truly revolutionary spacecraft this month.
The 5 Minute Concept: Dark Energy forms the basis of Paul’s 5 Minute Concept as he explores why we think there is this mysterious energy in the cosmos, its effects and consequences. And what is it, a cosmological constant, a quantum vacuum energy or quintessence? Until we get a better understanding, you pick your own favourite theory.
The Interview: This month, Ralph speaks with astrophysicist Dr Pauline Gagnon at CERN about the Higgs Boson, supersymmetry, dark matter and probing the universe with the greatest engineering experiment ever devised.
Q&A: Listeners’ questions via email, Facebook & Twitter take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity. This month Ralph & Paul answer:
• Do rogue planets exist and could they pass through our solar system?
Mark Kitterhing, London UK, via Facebook
• If you could sit in the centre of the Earth, would you be weightless?
Etienne Morin, Quebec Canada, via Google+
• Do you stay up late or get up early to observe?
Darren Knight, Cambridgeshire UK, via Twitter
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the New Media Working Group of the International Year of Astronomy 2009. Audio post-production by Preston Gibson. Bandwidth donated by libsyn.com and wizzard media. Web design by Clockwork Active Media Systems. You may reproduce and distribute this audio for non-commercial purposes. Please consider supporting the podcast with a few dollars (or Euros!). Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org. In the new year the 365 Days of Astronomy project will be something different than before….Until then…goodbye