Astronomy Cast

Episodes

Ep. 87: The End of the Universe Part 2: The End of Everything

May 5, 2008 |

Hopefully you’ve all recovered from part 1 of this set, where we make you sad about the future of the humanity, the Earth, the Sun and the Solar System. But hang on, we’re really going to bring you down. Today we’ll look far far forward into the distant future of the Universe, at timescales that we can barely comprehend.

Ep. 86: The End of the Universe Part 1: The End of the Solar System

Apr 28, 2008 | ,

This is a show we wanted to do since we started Astronomy Cast but we always thought it was too early. We wanted you to know that we’re positive, happy people with enthusiasm for astronomy and the future. It’s time for some sadness. It’s time for a grim look to see what the future holds for the Universe. This week we stay close to home and consider the end of humanity, the Earth, the Sun, and the entire Solar System. Next week we’ll extend out to the very end of the Universe.

Ep. 85: Detectors

Apr 21, 2008 |

Our senses can only detect a fraction of the phenomena happening in the Universe. That’s why scientists and engineers develop detectors, to let us see radiation and particles that we could never detect with our eyes and ears. This week we’ll go through them all, so you can understand how we see what we can’t see.

Ep. 84: Getting Around the Solar System

Apr 14, 2008 | ,

Have you ever wondered what it takes to get a spacecraft off the Earth and into space. And how managers at NASA can actually navigate a spacecraft to another planet? And how does a gravity assist work? And how do they get them into orbit? And how do they land? So many questions…

Ep. 83: Wave Particle Duality

Apr 7, 2008 | ,

Have you ever heard that photons behave like both a particle and a wave and wondered what that meant? It’s true. Sometimes light acts like a wave, and other times it behaves like a little particle. It’s both. This week we discuss the experiments that demonstrate this, explain how scientists figured it all out in the first place. What does wave/particle duality have to do with astronomy? Well, everything, since light is the only way astronomers can see out into the Universe.

Ep. 82: Space Junk

Mar 31, 2008 |

We’re polluting every corner of our own planet, so it only makes sense that we’ll take our trashy habits out into space with us. This week we look at the myriad of ways we’re messing up space, from the trash orbiting the planet to the radiation we’re leaking out into space.

Ep. 80: Craters

Mar 17, 2008 | , , ,

Pamela’s attending the 39th Lunar and Planetary Sciences Conference, and you know what that means: the Moon… and planets! When you think of the Moon, you think of craters. In fact, that’s a big theme this week at the conference, so Pamela took it as inspiration. Here you go, the week we drove the show into a crater. Wait… there’s got to be a better way to describe this.

Ep. 79: How Big is the Universe?

Mar 10, 2008 | , ,

We’re ready to complete our trilogy of discovery about the universe. We’ve learned that it has no center; rather everywhere is its center and nowhere. We discovered that the universe seems to be flat. It’s not open, it’s not closed, it’s flat. If that doesn’t make any sense, you need to listen to the previous show because there’s no way I could give that an explanation.
So now we want to know: How big is it? Does it go on forever or is it finite in scale? How much of it can we see?

Ep. 78: What is the Shape of the Universe?

Mar 3, 2008 | ,

Some of the biggest questions in the universe depend on its shape. Is it curved? Is it flat? Is it open? Those may not make that much sense to you, but in fact it’s very important for astronomers. So which is it? How do we know? How did we figure it out? Why does it matter?