Ep. 225: Ice in Space

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) A huge part of the Solar System is just made of ice. There are comets, rings, moons and even dwarf planets. Where did all this ice come from, and what impact (pardon the pun) has it had for life on Earth? Ep. 225: Ice in Space Jump to Shownotes Jump...

Ep. 224: Orion

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) Most people know how to find two constellations: the Big Dipper, and Orion the Hunter. You can teach a small child to find Orion, and at the right time of year, they’ll find it in seconds. There’s so much going on in this spectacular...

Ep. 223: The Transit of Venus

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) Since the planet Venus is closer in to the Sun than Earth, there are rare opportunities to see it pass directly in front of our parent star. This is known as a planetary transit, and thanks to the geometry of the Earth and Venus, they only happen a couple...

Ep. 220: Mass Extinction Events

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) The Earth seems like a safe place, most of the time. But we have evidence of terrible catastrophes in the ancient past. Times when almost all life on Earth was wiped out in a geologic instant. What could have caused so much devastation? And will something...

Ep. 217: Stellar Classification

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) Have you ever heard an astronomer utter these words? Oh be a fine girl and kiss me. They’re not being romantic, they’re trying to remember the different ways to organize stars, as detailed nicely on a Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. Let’s...

Ep. 215: Light Echoes

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) Just as sound can echo off distant objects, light can echo too. And the echoes of light bouncing off stellar remnants, black hole accretion disks, and clouds of gas and dust provide astronomers with another method of probing the distant cosmos. ...