Podcaster: Ralph, Paul & Jenny
Title : Awesome Astronomy’s August 2016
Organization: Awesome Astronomy
Link : www.awesomeastronomy.com
Description:
The Discussion: We’re cheering Jeni’s graduation with a first class masters in astrophysics and looking at the PhD options she has as she chases the dream of becoming Dr Millard! Paul & Ralph make preparations for September’s dark sky AstroCamp stargazing event and educate Jeni about computers from the 1980s.
The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:
- A new dwarf planet is discovered in our solar system
- The doomed Hitachi spacecraft reveals streams of intergalactic plasma
- A new moon around Earth discovered
- Detective work reveals what caused the moon’s Imbrium Basin
- Tatooine gets outshone by a planet with three stars
- The first observation of a snowline in a forming solar system
Woobusters: Continuing our quest to debunk the myths and conspiracy theories that persist in every dark corner of the news and the internet. This month’s topic, picked at random from Paul’s festering Hat of Woo: Chemtrails – those quite normal jet exhaust trails that some people think are spraying mind control agents
The Interview: For the interview this month we visit Dr Helen Sharman from Imperial College London, who because Britain’s first astronaut in 1991:
- Tim Peake’s slight embarrassment at often being called Britain’s 1st astronaut
- An unconventional route to space
- Training to be an astronaut at Russia’s Star City
- The Mir space station compared to the International Space Station
- Excitement for the future of human spaceflight
- Uncertainty over space and science funding in the Brexit era.
The full interview with Helen will be available as a podcast extra later in the month
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 we get a question that follows the theme of our introduction and looks directly at the point Helen Sharman raised in this month’s interview:
What does Brexit mean for the UKs involvement in things like ESA and ESO? Andrew Burns, United Kingdom
Bio: Awesome Astronomy is the show for anyone and everyone who has even the slightest interest in astronomy and science.
Join Ralph, Paul & Jeni for informative and fun astronomy programs telling you what to look out (and up) for every month as well as a main show dedicated to space and astronomy news. You can be guaranteed a passion for astronomy, simple explanations of complex and fundamental topics, space and science discussions, absorbing interviews with astronomers and astronauts who make the news and answers to listeners’ space questions.
Today’s sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by — no one. We still need sponsors for many days in 2016, 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:
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365 Days of Astronomy
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The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by Astrosphere New Media. 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 will celebrate more discoveries and stories from the universe. Join us and share your story. Until tomorrow! Goodbye!