Several of the planets and moons in the Solar System are in orbital resonance, orbiting in a geometric lockstep. And not just the Solar System, astronomers have found the same resonances in other star systems.
Our Hosts
Fraser Cain
Universe Today
Dr. Pamela Gay
CosmoQuest
Production by
- Richard Drumm, Audio Engineer
- Ally Pelphrey, Video Engineer
18 Seasons
700+ Episodes
2018 Winner Parsec Award
Ep. 713: Solar System Volcanoes – An Update from LPSC 2024
Last week was one of the most exciting meetings we’ve seen from the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, with hundreds of announcements and discoveries from various missions. One theme kept coming up, the Solar System is more volcanically active than we thought. Today, we’ll explore volcanism on other worlds.
Ep. 712: How Peer Review Fails
You’ve probably heard that the best kind of science is peer-reviewed research published in a prestigious journal. But peer review has problems of its own. We’ll talk about that today.
Ep. 711: NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC)
NASA works on many missions using tried and true technology, but they also invest in creative ideas that could drive the future of space exploration. It’s called NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts or NIAC.
Recent Episodes
Ep. 555: Satellite Constellations and the Future of Astronomy
https://youtu.be/ltohpTiKKhs The other big issue at the AAS was the challenge that astronomy is going to face from all the new satellite constellations coming shortly. There are already 180 Starlinks in orbit, and thousands more are coming, not to mention the other...
Ep. 554: Big Telescope Controversy in Hawai’i
https://youtu.be/pe9Wyi6WnME This episode recorded on Wednesday, January 8 This week we're live at the American Astronomical Society's 235th meeting in Honolulu, Hawai'i. We learned about new planets, black holes and star formation, but the big issue hanging over the...
Ep. 553: What To Look Forward To In 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQPWMUUBwjA It's hard to believe it, but we survived another trip around the Sun. Now it's time to take the whole journey all over again, but with new news. Let's take a look at some of the space and astronomy stories we're looking...
Ep. 552: Boyajian’s star (and other strange stars)
Huge surveys of the sky are finding more and more planets, stars and galaxies. But they're also turning up strange objects astronomers have never seen before, like Boyajian's star. Today we're going to talk about some unusual objects astronomers have discovered, and...
Ep. 551: Missing Epochs – Observing before the CMBR
The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation is the earliest moment in the Universe that we can see with our telescopes, just a few hundred thousand years after the Big Bang itself. What will it take for us to be able to fill in the missing gap? To see closer to the...
Ep. 550: Missing Epochs – Observing the Cosmic Dark Ages
Powerful observatories like Hubble and the Very Large Telescope have pushed our vision billions of light-years into the Universe, allowing us to see further and further back in time. But there are regions which we still haven't seen: the Cosmic Dark Ages. What's it...
Ep. 549: Stellar nucleosynthesis revisited: In and on and around dead stars
Last week we gave you an update on the formation of elements from the Big Bang and in main sequence stars like the Sun. This week, we wrap up with a bang, talking about the death of the most massive stars and how they seed the Universe with heavier elements. In this...
Ep. 548: Stellar nucleosynthesis revisited: In stellar cores & atmospheres
The Universe started out with hydrogen and helium and a few other elements, but all around us, there are other, more proton-rich elements. We believe these heavier elements formed in stars, but which stars? And at what points in their lives? Today we'll update our...
Ep. 547: Why Astronomy Still Needs Humans
Few sciences have been able to take advantage of the power of computers like astronomy. But with all this computing power, you might be surprised to learn how important a role humans still play in this science. In this episode we mentioned donations. Click to learn...
Ep. 546: Weird Issues: Planetary Migration
Astronomy Cast 545 & 546 rescheduled for 3 pm/3:30 pm ET Monday, Nov 4 Before we discovered other planets, our Solar System seemed like a perfectly reasonable template for everywhere. But now we see massive planets close to their stars, which leads you to the...
Ep. 545: Weird Issues: Are comets asteroids or are asteroids comets?
Things used to be so simple. Comets were snowballs from the outer Solar System, and asteroids were rocks from the inner Solar System. But now everything's all shades of grey. Astronomers have found asteroids that behave like comets and comets that behave like...
Ep. 544: Weird Issues: Biosignatures
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5NP0k4o5ak Once again, another place where the Universe is going to make this difficult for us. Proving, once and for all that there's alien life on another world. It should be straightforward, look for biosignatures, but it looks like...
Ep. 543: Weird Issues: The Habitable Zone
Our series on Universe weirdness marches on. This week we take a look at the habitable zone, and how things aren't as simple as we thought. In this episode we mentioned donations. Click to learn more! Download MP3| Download Raw Show with Q&A| Show Notes | Jump to...
Ep. 542: Weird Issues: The Age of the Universe
Our series on Universe weirdness continues, this time we learn how astronomers are struggling to make sense of the age of the Universe. In this episode we mentioned donations. Click to learn more! Download MP3| Download Raw Show with Q&A| Show Notes | Jump to...
Ep. 541: Weird Issues: The Expansion Rate of the Universe
Just when the Universe was starting to make sense, the cosmos throws a curveball at us. Astronomers have been trying to accurately measure the expansion rate of the Universe as far back as Hubble. It's been tough to nail down, and now astronomers are starting to...
Ep. 540: Weird Issues: How Do (or Don’t) Planets Form?
As astronomers started to discover planets orbiting other stars, they immediately realized that their expectations would need to be tossed out. Hot jupiters? Pulsars with planets? We're now decades into this task, and the Universe is continuing to surprise us. In this...
Ep. 539: Weird Issues: Why We Don’t Know the Age of Saturn’s Rings
How old are Saturn's rings? They could be brand new, or they could be as ancient as the Solar System itself. Planetary scientists thought they knew the answer thanks to new data from Cassini, but new ideas are calling even that into question. In this episode we...
Ep. 538: Asteroids: Rubble piles of the Solar System
Thanks to all the work from Hayabusa 2 and OSIRIS-REx, astronomers are getting a much better look at the smaller asteroids in the Solar System. It turns out, they're piles of rubble... but fascinating piles of rubble. Let's talk about what we've learned so far. In...
Ep. 537: Reusable Rocket Revolution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OADwnE3XM8s We took a hiatus this summer, but SpaceX sure didn't, with the tests of the Starhopper prototype. Today we're going to talk about the revolution in reusable rocketry and quest to build a fully reusable two-stage...
Libsyn Survey Request
Please help us keep bringing you content by going to http://survey.libsyn.com/astronomycast and filling out the survey, so Libsyn can find us sponsors for Astronomy Cast! Astronomy Cast will be back in September! Don't forget you can still catch Pamela with Daily...