Astronomy Cast
Summary: Astronomy Cast offers you a fact based journey through the cosmos. Each week Fraser Cain (Universe Today) and Dr. Pamela Gay (SIUE / Slacker Astronomy) take on topics ranging from the nearby planets to ubiquitous dark matter.
- Visit Website
- RSS
- Artist: Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay
- Copyright: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela Gay
Podcasts:
Ep. 183: History of Astronomy, Part 1: The Ancient Astronomers
We know you love a good series. This time we're going to walk you through the history of astronomy, starting with the ancient astronomers and leading right up to the most recent discoveries. Today we're going to start at the beginning, with the astronomers who first tried to understand the true nature of the Earth, the planets and our place in the cosmos.
Ep. 182: Astrometry
Astronomers have been cataloging star positions for thousands of years, from the first calculations made by Hipparchus, to the more recent star catalogs made by the spacecraft named after him. This is astrometry; another way to find our place in the Universe.
Ep. 181: Rotation
Everything in the Universe is spinning. In fact, without this rotation, life on Earth wouldn't exist. We need the conservation of angular momentum to flatten out galaxies and solar systems, to make planets possible. Let's find out about the physics involved with everything that spins, and finally figure out the difference between centripetal and centrifugal force.
Ep. 180: Albedo
Why are some objects in the Solar System bright while others are dim? Much of an object's brightness is caused by its albedo, or how well it reflects radiation from the Sun. If you want to know how big a distant moon, comet, or asteroid is, you've got to know its albedo.
Ep. 179: Mysteries of the Universe, Part 2
Today we tackle more thrilling mysteries of the Universe. And by tackle, we mean, acknowledge their puzzling existence. Some mysteries will be solved shortly, others will likely trouble astronomers for centuries to come. Join us for part 2.
Ep. 178: Mysteries of the Universe, Part 1
All finished with the Milky Way, it's time to move on to the biggest mysteries of all. The mysteries of the Universe. Let's wonder about dark matter and dark energy, and the very nature of reality itself.
Ep. 177: Mysteries of the Milky Way, Part 2
We survived our first group of mysteries, so now we move onto our second set of stuff of amazing Milky Way mysteries. How many spiral arms does our galaxy have, and why does everything keep dying every 60 million years or so?
Ep. 176: Mysteries of the Milky Way, Part 1
