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Podcaster: Ralph, Paul & Jenny

Title : Awesome Astronomy’s November 2016

Organization: Awesome Astronomy

Link : www.awesomeastronomy.com

Description:  The Discussion: In a month when the European Space Agency succeeded and failed in the first part of their Exomars saga, we go through the glory and the debris of Mars exploration, hanging out with astronauts Tim Peake and Tim Kopra, conducting exoplanet research, provide some advice about studying astrophysics and explain why the effects of dark matter aren’t witnessed in our own solar system.

The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we have:

  • Exomars, round one
  • Another look at the Viking mission data that may have discovered Martian life
  • Hubble discovers that the universe contains 10 times more galaxies than thought
  • A philosophical discussion about the chances of life existing elsewhere
  • Venus was habitable when life began to flourish on Earth
  • Elon Musk’s plans for colonising the solar system
  • The ethics of colonising other planets
  • An update of NASA’s Juno mission at Jupiter
  • And the latest taikonauts and astronauts.

The Hat of Woo: Paul’s Hat of Woo is the repository for all festering and rancid conspiracy theories that have no basis in truth and yet persist in any dark and stinking corner of the internet.

This month we pull one of the biggies out of the putrid hat: Evil aliens and a reptilian rival for the title of overlord.

 The Interview: This month we return to writer, broadcaster and researcher Dr Chris North from Cardiff University to answer a listener’s question on Chris’ interview in last month’s episode.

  • Dr North mentioned that we can see Gravitational Waves to discover all sorts of information from these waves, such as size, distance & velocity, which I can understand (through Amplitude and frequency and rate of change of the signal), but how is it also possible to infer things like the spin and spin rate from the wave signal? (ignoring the question of how does a black hole spin if it has mass but no matter as Dr North mentions, and how do events happen inside a black hole since as you get closer to the event horizon doesn’t time appear to us to slow down to us as an outside observer?) Mark de Vrij in Poland.

 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.

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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!