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  • Shows Index
    • Aliens (1)
    • Amateur Astronomy (5)
      • Observing (5)
    • Astronomy (131)
      • Cosmology (22)
      • Galaxies (10)
      • Nebulae (2)
      • Observing (14)
      • Planets (39)
        • Extrasolar Planets (5)
        • Our Solar System (32)
      • Stars (18)
        • Compact Objects (3)
        • Stellar Evolution (8)
    • Chemistry (1)
    • History (1)
    • Listeners (40)
      • Questions Shows (35)
      • Student Questions (4)
    • People (9)
      • Doing Astronomy (2)
      • Interviews (6)
      • Meetings (5)
    • Physics (33)
      • Forces (9)
      • Particles (8)
      • Relativity (6)
    • Planetary Science (1)
    • Space Flight (9)
    • The Show (3)
      • Meetups (1)



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    Past Shows
    • Questions Show: Avoiding the Heat Death, Orbiting Galaxies, and the Dangers of Space Radiation
    • Ep. 141: Volcanoes, Hot and Cold
    • Ep. 140: Entanglement
    • Questions Show: Galileoscope, Black Hole Time, and What Exactly is Energy?
    • Questions Show: Telescope Suggestions, Black Hole Energy, and Universal Time
    • Ep. 139: Energy Levels and Spectra
    • Questions: An Unlocked Moon, Energy Into Black Holes, and the Space Station's Orbit
    • Ep. 138: Quantum Mechanics
    • Questions Show: Hidden Fusion, the Speed of Neutrinos, and Hawking Radiation
    • Ep. 137: Large Scale Structure of the Universe
    • Questions Show: The Source of Atmospheres, the Vanishing Moon, and a Glow After Sunset
    • Ep. 136: Gamma Ray Astronomy
    • Questions Show: Dangerous Solar Flares, Higgs Boson Insights, and Light Speed Flashlights
    • Ep. 135: X-Ray Astronomy
    • Questions Show: NorthEast Astronomy Forum (NEAF)
    • Ep. 134: Ultraviolet Astronomy
    • Ep. 133: Optical Astronomy
    • Questions Show: Undoing Inflation, Searching for Water, and Seeing Everything a Black Hole's Ever Eaten
    • Ep. 132: Infrared Astronomy
    • Episode 131: Submillimeter Astronomy
    • Questions Show: Decelerating Black Holes, Earth-Sun Tidal Lock, and the Crushing Gravity of Dark Matter
    • Episode 130: Radio Astronomy
    • Questions Show: Multiple Big Bangs, Satellite Collisions and the Size of the Universe
    • Ep. 129: Interferometry
    • Questions Show: Shooting Lasers at the Moon and Losing Contact with Rovers
    • Ep. 128: Dust
    • Ep. 127: The US Space Shuttle
    • Ep. 126 From Skeptics Guide with Questions
    • Ep. 125: A Zoo of Extrasolar Planets
    • Questions Show: Moons and the Drake Equation, Stars in the Void, and Rings Around Stars
    • Ep. 124: Space Capsules, Part 1 – Vostok, Mercury and Gemini
    • Ep. 123: Homogeneity
    • Ep. 122: How Old is the Universe?
    • Questions Show: Stellar Roche Limits, Seeing Black Holes, and Water on Mars
    • Ep. 121: Spacesuits
    • Ep. 120: The Christmas Star
    • Questions Show: Different Fields of Astronomy, Our Sibling Stars, and Hidden Lagrange Points
    • Ep. 119: Robots in Space
    • Questions Show: Distance in Space, Changing Earth's Orbit, and Different Sized Stars
    • Ep. 118: Sky Surveys
    • Ep. 117: Time
    • Ep. 116: Molecules in Space
    • Ep. 115: The Moon, Part 3: Return to the Moon
    • Questions Show: Spiral Arms, Seismic Waves on the Sun, and our Favorite Gear
    • Ep. 114: The Moon, Part 2 – Exploration of the Moon
    • Questions Show: Ice in Space, Expansion of the Universe, and Death from the Skies
    • Ep. 113: The Moon, Part 1
    • Questions Show: Orbit of the Planets, Green Stars, and Oort Cloud Contamination
    • Ep. 112: Death From the Skies, Interview with Phil Plait
    • Questions Show: Relativity, Relativity and More Relativity
    • Ep. 111: Nebulae
    • Questions Show: Galactic Dust, the Speed of Photons, and the Big Bang Calculations
    • Ep. 110: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
    • Questions Show: Alignment with the Galactic Plane, Destruction from Venus, and the Death of the Solar System
    • Ep. 109: The Life of Other Stars
    • Questions Show – Running Out of Gravitons and Hitting the Brakes at Light Speed
    • Ep. 108: The Life of the Sun
    • Questions Show – light speed, Andromeda galaxy, dark matter and black holes
    • Ep. 107: Nucleosynthesis: Elements from Stars
    • Questions Show – Black Hole Surfaces, Magnetic Field Strengths, and the Speed of Gravitons
    • Ep. 106: The Search for the Theory of Everything
    • Student Questions Show: Leelanau School
    • Ep. 105: The Strong and Weak Nuclear Forces
    • Ep 104: Science Fiction at Dragon*Con with Plait and Grazier
    • Ep. 103: Electromagnetism
    • Ep 102: Gravity
    • Ep. 101: Advanced Propulsion Systems
    • Ep. 100: Rockets
    • Ep. 99: The Milky Way
    • Ep. 98: Quasars
    • Ep. 97: Galaxies
    • Ep. 96: Humans to Mars, Part 3 – Terraforming Mars
    • Student Questions: Collinsville High School
    • Ep. 95: Humans to Mars, Part 2 – Colonists
    • Ep 94: Humans to Mars, Part 1 – Scientists
    • Ep. 93: Missions to Mars, Part 2
    • Ep. 92: Missions to Mars, Part 1
    • Ep. 91: The Search for Water on Mars
    • Ep. 90: The Scientific Method
    • Ep. 89: Adaptive Optics
    • Ep. 88: The Hubble Space Telescope
    • Ep. 87: The End of the Universe Part 2: The End of Everything
    • Ep. 86: The End of the Universe Part 1: The End of the Solar System
    • Ep. 85: Detectors
    • Ep. 84: Getting Around the Solar System
    • Ep. 83: Wave Particle Duality
    • Ep. 82: Space Junk
    • Ep. 81: Questions on the Shape, Size and Centre of the Universe
    • Ep. 80: Craters
    • Ep. 79: How Big is the Universe?
    • Ep. 78: What is the Shape of the Universe?
    • Ep. 77: Where is the Centre of the Universe?
    • Ep. 76: Lagrange Points
    • Student Questions: Curtis High School
    • Ep. 75: Stellar Populations
    • Ep. 74: Antimatter
    • Ep. 73: Questions Show #8
    • Ep. 72: Cosmic Rays
    • Ep. 71: Gravitational Waves
    • Ep. 70: How To Win a Nobel Prize
    • Student Questions: Farmersburg
    • Ep. 69: The Large Hadron Collider and the Search for the Higgs-Boson
    • Ep. 68: Globular Clusters
    • Ep. 67: Building a Career in Astronomy
    • Ep. 66: How Amateurs Can Contribute to Astronomy
    • Ep. 65: The End of Our Tour Through the Solar System
    • Ep. 64: Pluto and the Icy Outer Solar System
    • Ep. 63: Neptune
    • Ep. 62: Uranus
    • Ep. 61: Saturn's Moons
    • Ep. 60: Questions Show #7
    • Ep. 59: Saturn
    • Ep. 58: Inflation
    • Ep. 57: Jupiter's Moons
    • Ep. 56: Jupiter
    • Ep. 55: The Asteroid Belt
    • Ep. 54: Questions Show #6
    • Ep. 53: Astronomy in Science Fiction
    • Special Episode: Panspermia
    • Ep. 52: Mars
    • Ep. 51: Earth
    • Ep. 50: Venus
    • Ep. 49: Mercury
    • Ep. 48: Tidal Forces Across the Universe
    • Ep. 47: Tidal Forces
    • Ep. 46: Stellar Nurseries
    • Ep. 45: The Important Numbers in the Universe
    • Listener Survey
    • Ep. 44: Einstein's Theory of General Relativity
    • Ep. 43: Questions Show #5
    • Ep. 42: Magnetism Everywhere
    • Ep. 41: The Rise of the Supertelescopes
    • Ep. 40: American Astronomical Society Meeting, May 2007
    • Ep. 39: Astrology and UFOs
    • Ep. 38: Neutron Stars and their Exotic Cousins
    • Ep. 37: Gravitational Lensing
    • Ep. 36: Gamma-Ray Bursts
    • Ep. 35: Questions Show #4
    • Ep. 34: Discovering Another Earth
    • Ep. 33: Choosing and Using a Telescope
    • Ep. 32: The Search for Neutrinos
    • Ep. 31: String Theory, Time Travel, White Holes, Warp Speed, Multiple Dimensions, and Before the Big Bang
    • Ep. 30: The Sun, Spots and All
    • Ep. 29: Asteroids Make Bad Neighbors
    • Ep. 28: What is the universe expanding into?
    • Ep. 27: Questions Show #3
    • Ep. 26: The Largest Structures in the Universe
    • Ep. 25: The Story of Galaxy Evolution
    • Ep. 24: The Fermi Paradox: Where Are All the Aliens?
    • Ep. 23: Counting Aliens With the Drake Equation


Questions Show: Distance in Space, Changing Earth's Orbit, and Different Sized Stars

  • December 14th, 2008
  • Show Notes
  • Comments(4)
  • Like it? Digg-it | Reddit | del.icio.us
Betelgeuse. Image credit: Hubble

Betelgeuse. Image credit: Hubble

This week we find out the distance between Betelgeuse and Bellatrex, how astronomers measure distance between objects, the possibility that an object could mess up the orbit of Earth, and the reason for different sizes of stars. If you've got a question for the Astronomy Cast team, please email it in to info@astronomycast.com and we'll try to tackle it for a future show. Please include your location and a way to pronounce your name.

Distance in Space, Changing Earth's Orbit, and Different Sized Stars
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Ep. 109: The Life of Other Stars

  • October 6th, 2008
  • Show Notes
  • Comments(1)
  • Like it? Digg-it | Reddit | del.icio.us

 

Betelgeuse. Image credit: Hubble
Last week we looked at the complete life of the Sun, birth to death. But stars can be smaller, and stars can get much much larger. And with a change in mass, their lives change too. Let's start the clock again, and see what happens to the smallest stars in the Universe; and what happens to the largest.

Ep. 109: The Life of Other Stars
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Ep. 108: The Life of the Sun

  • September 30th, 2008
  • Show Notes
  • Comments(2)
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The Sun. Image credit: NASA
We've talked about the Sun before, but this time we're going to look at the entire life cycle of the Sun, and all the stages it's going to go through: solar nebula, protostar, main sequence, red giant, white dwarf, and more. Want to know what the future holds for the Sun, get ready for the grim details.

Ep. 108: The Life of the Sun
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Ep. 107: Nucleosynthesis: Elements from Stars

  • September 24th, 2008
  • Show Notes
  • Comments(4)
  • Like it? Digg-it | Reddit | del.icio.us


Look around you. Breathe in some air. Everything you can see and feel was formed in a star. Today we'll examine that long journey that matter has gone through, forged and re-forged in the hearts of stars. In fact, the device you're using to listen to this podcast has some elements formed in a supernova explosion.

Ep. 107: Nucleosynthesis: Elements from Stars
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Ep. 103: Electromagnetism

  • August 28th, 2008
  • Show Notes
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Lightning storm above McDonald Observatory. Image credit: Pamelaa
Our series on the basic forces of the cosmos continues! Last week we discussed gravity, and this we'll handle electromagnetism. Electricity and magnetism are just two aspects of the same force, and you can't talk about astronomy without understanding these two keys aspects of physics.

Ep. 103: Electromagnetism
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Ep. 89: Adaptive Optics

  • May 19th, 2008
  • Show Notes
  • Comments(5)
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Adaptive Optics on the Palomar Telescope. Image credit: Caltech
Since the dawn of humanity, astronomers have wished to destroy the atmosphere. Oh sure, it's what we breathe and all, but that stupid atmosphere is always getting in the way. Since destroying the atmosphere is out of the question, astronomers have figured out how to work with it. To distort the mirror of the telescope itself though the magic of adaptive optics.

Episode 89: Adaptive Optics
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Ep. 81: Questions on the Shape, Size and Centre of the Universe

  • March 24th, 2008
  • Show Notes
  • Comments(10)
  • Like it? Digg-it | Reddit | del.icio.us

Listener Questions
As predicted we got a lot of questions from people about our trilogy of shows on the size, shape and centre of the universe. Today we'll do our best to clear them all up.As always, if you're still confused drop us an email to info at astronomycast dot com.

Episode 81: Questions on the Shape, Size and Centre of the Universe (14.7MB)
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Ep. 75: Stellar Populations

  • February 11th, 2008
  • Show Notes
  • Comments(2)
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The stars being born today aren\'t the same as stars born shortly after the big bang.
After the big bang, all we had was hydrogen, a little bit of helium, and a few other trace elements. Today, we've a whole periodic table of elements to enjoy, from oxygen we breathe to the aluminium cans we drink from to the uranium that powers some people's homes. How did we get from plain old hydrogen to our current diversity? It came from stars, in fact successive generations of stars.

Episode 75: Stellar Populations (14.4MB)
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Ep. 73: Questions Show #8

  • January 28th, 2008
  • Show Notes
  • Comments(15)
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Listener Questions Show
We've been so crazy following our own whims through the universe that we've neglected your questions. That ends today. It's time to dig deep into our overflowing email box to retrieve the puzzling questions our listeners have sent in.

Episode 73: Questions Show #8 (16.8MB)
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Ep. 68: Globular Clusters

  • December 24th, 2007
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M80 is a globular cluster 28,000 light years away containing thousands of stars.
This week we're going to study some of the most ancient objects in the entire Universe; globular clusters. These relics of the early Universe contain hundreds of thousands of stars, held together by their mutual gravity. Since they formed together, they give astronomers a unique way to test various theories of stellar evolution.

Episode 68: Globular Clusters (14.3MB)
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