Podcaster: Ralph, Paul and Jen
Title : Awesome Astronomy’s December 2015
Organization: Awesome Astronomy
Link : www.awesomeastronomy.com
Description: November discussion with Ralph and Paul
Bio: Awesome Astronomy is the show for anyone and everyone with an interest in space, astronomy and science.
Join Ralph, Paul and Jen (and occasionally John or Damien) at the beginning of each month for a passionate look at the space & astronomy world, simple explanations of complex and fundamental topics, space and science news, absorbing interviews with people that make the astronomy news and answers to listeners’ questions.
As the presenters have been accused of being a little skeptical in the past, you can also expect everything to be frivolous but fact-based, with an emphasis on highlighting the wonderful science that reveals ever more about our complex and exciting universe.
Today’s sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by — no one. We still need sponsors for many days in 2015, 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.
Transcript:
The Discussion: In this Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy contrived episode we look back over the movie The Martian, meeting Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, we gloss over the Bayesian statistics in Jen’s data analysis work and hear about a mathematics-based nightmare that’s been keeping Jen awake but should have mathematicians rolling in the aisles!
The News: This month we revisit that alien megastructure around a distant star with an unusual light curve and reveal what alien signatures SETI have discovered. We take a look at the possible future of cheap access to space as British Aerospace buy a stake in the SABRE engine designed to power spaceplanes of the future, and we finish off with the truly incredible measurements of Mars atmosphere conducted by NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft to reveal how much atmosphere Mars is losing on an annual basis.
The Interview: This month we wrap the whole show around our interview with Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot Al Worden recorded at this year’s Cosmiccon. We discuss:
- Anecdotes from test pilot school in England
- Tales of the Harrier and Concorde test pilots
- Practical jokes
- Riding a Saturn V rocket
- Finding organic matter in lunar orbit
- Views from 1.5 miles above the mountains of the moon
- The history of the moon and the Apollo 15 landing site, Hadley Rille
- The bliss of being alone in lunar orbit
- The views of space from the far and dark portions behind the moon
- The vastness of the universe
- Al Worden’s view on UFOs, ancient aliens, numerology and the bible
- How to explore further out in space
- The stupidity of the design of NASA’s next generation spacecraft
The 5 Minute Concept: We continue our series of back to basics 5 Minute Concepts as Paul takes a look at perhaps the most important piece of hardware in amateur astronomy – no, not the telescope itself, but the mount. As we ask AZ or EQ?
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 Jen honours the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s General Relativity with a beginner’s crash course, a bit of mythbusting and answers:
- What’s inside a black hole? John Barrie from Swansea, Wales via email
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by NUCLIO. Audio post-production by Richard Drumm. Bandwidth donated by libsyn.com and wizzard media. 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. This year we celebrate cosmic light as light is our info messenger in the universe. Join us and share your story to celebrate the International Year of Light. Until tomorrow! Goodbye!