Ep. 574: Trojan Asteroids
15 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We imagine the asteroid belt as a place where all the rocks hang out in the solar system. But there ...
Ep. 573: Exoplanet Atmospheres
08 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Astronomy Cast Ep. 573: Exoplanet Atmospheres Not only have astronomers discovered thousands of exop...
Ep. 572: Twists in Planet Formation
01 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Astronomy Cast Ep. 572: Twists in Planet Formation by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay We're all looking...
Ep. 571: Extreme Binaries
25 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Streamed live on May 22, 2020. So we're familiar with regular binary stars. Two stars orbiting each ...
Ep. 570: Discovering Comets
18 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Streamed live May 15, 2020. Discovering comets is one of the fields that amateurs can still make a r...
Ep. 567: When Satellites Need A House Call
27 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Space is really far away, so when you send a satellite out into the void, that's pretty much the la...
Ep. 566: When Comets Fall Apart
20 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As everyone knows, the Universe owes us a bright comet. There have been a lot of promising candidate...
Ep. 565: When Worlds Collide
13 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
So much of our Solar System has been shaped by enormous collisions early on in our history. Seriousl...
Ep. 564: Mini Moons
06 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Last month astronomers announced that they had detected a tiny asteroid that had been captured by th...
Ep. 563: White Dwarf Mergers
30 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
White dwarfs are usually about 60% the mass of the Sun, so it was a bit of a surprise when astronome...
Ep. 562: Dealing with COVID-19 and the Changes it will Bring
23 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Pamela and Fraser discuss the implications of COVID-19 and it's changes on the world, and what we a...
Ep. 561: Remembering Katherine Johnson
06 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We lost a bright star here on planet Earth last week. NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson passed aw...
Ep. 560: Betelgeuse
24 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
You might be surprised to hear that we've never done an episode of Astronomy Cast featuring Betelgeu...
Ep. 559: The Surface of the Sun
17 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A brand new telescope has completed on Maui's Haleakala, and it has just one job: to watch the Sun i...
Ep. 558: Supernova SN 2006gy
10 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We've been following this story for more than a decade, so it's great to finally have an answer to t...
Ep. 557: Red Dwarfs: Friend or Foe
03 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On the one hand, red dwarfs are the longest lived stars in the Universe, the perfect place for life ...
Ep. 556: Multi Messenger Astronomy
27 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For the longest time astronomers could only study the skies with telescopes. But then new techniques...
Ep. 555: Satellite Constellations and the Future of Astronomy
19 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The other big issue at the AAS was the challenge that astronomy is going to face from all the new sa...
Ep. 554: Big Telescope Controversy in Hawai'i
13 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're live at the American Astronomical Society's 235th meeting in Honolulu, Hawai'i. We l...
Ep. 553: What To Look Forward To In 2020
30 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It's hard to believe it, but we survived another trip around the Sun. Now it's time to take the whol...
Ep. 552: Boyajian's star (and other strange stars)
23 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Huge surveys of the sky are finding more and more planets, stars and galaxies. But they're also tur...
CosmoQuest Hangoutathon Promo
20 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Hi everyone, Producer Susie here. This weekend, December 21-23, 2019, we will be having our CosmoQue...
Ep. 551: Missing Epochs - Observing before the CMBR
16 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation is the earliest moment in the Universe that we can see wit...
Ep. 550: Missing Epochs - Observing the Cosmic Dark Ages
07 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Powerful observatories like Hubble and the Very Large Telescope have pushed our vision billions of l...
Ep. 549: Stellar nucleosynthesis revisited: In and on and around dead stars
02 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Last week we gave you an update on the formation of elements from the Big Bang and in main sequence ...
Ep. 548: Stellar nucleosynthesis revisited: In stellar cores & atmospheres
25 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Universe started out with hydrogen and helium and a few other elements, but all around us, ther...
Ep. 547: Why Astronomy Still Needs Humans
18 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Few sciences have been able to take advantage of the power of computers like astronomy. But with all...
Ep. 546: Weird Issues: Planetary Migration
11 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Before we discovered other planets, our Solar System seemed like a perfectly reasonable template for...
Ep. 545: Weird Issues: Are comets asteroids or are asteroids comets?
05 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Things used to be so simple. Comets were snowballs from the outer Solar System, and asteroids were r...
Ep. 544: Weird Issues: Biosignatures
28 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Once again, another place where the Universe is going to make this difficult for us. Proving, once ...
Ep. 543: Weird Issues: The Habitable Zone
20 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Our series on Universe weirdness marches on. This week we take a look at the habitable zone, and how...
Ep. 542: Weird Issues: The Age of the Universe
14 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Our series on Universe weirdness continues, this time we learn how astronomers are struggling to ma...
Ep. 541: Weird Issues: Expansion Rate of the Universe
07 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Just when the Universe was starting to make sense, the cosmos throws a curve ball at us. Astronomer...
Ep. 540: Weird Issues: How Do (or Don't) Planets Form?
30 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
As astronomers started to discover planets orbiting other stars, they immediately realized that thei...
Ep. 539: Weird Issues: Why We Don't Know the Age of Saturn's Rings
23 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How old are Saturn's rings? They could be brand new, or they could be as ancient as the Solar System...
Ep. 538: Asteroids: Rubble piles of the Solar System
16 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Thanks to all the work from Hayabusa 2 and OSIRIS-REx, astronomers are getting a much better look at...
Ep. 537: Reusable Rocket Revolution
09 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We took a hiatus this summer, but SpaceX sure didn't, with the tests of the Starhopper prototype. To...
Libsyn Survey Request
10 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Please help us keep bringing you content by going to http://survey.libsyn.com/astronomycast and fi...
Astronomy Cast on Hiatus until Sept 2019
01 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Astronomy Cast will be on hiatus for July and August. Don't worry, we'll be back in September, and w...
Ep. 536: Everyday Relativity
01 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Relativity is used in more day to day situations than you may realize. In this episode, we will cou...
Ep. 535: Astronomy-Related Things To Do This Summer
24 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It's summertime, and time for our annual Astronomy Cast hiatus. But that doesn't mean that the astr...
Ep. 534: Modern South African Astronomy
17 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Last week we talked about some ancient south African astronomy, so this week we'll talk about the s...
Ep. 533: Indigenous South African Astronomy
10 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Let's move to another continent this week, and look at the astronomy that was going on in southern ...
Ep. 532: Modern Astronomy of Australia
03 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Last week we talked about how well the indigenous Australians followed the night sky. Well, it turns...
Ep. 531: Australian Indigenous Astronomy
27 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we focus on the archaeoastronomy of another part of the world, this time from the indigen...
Ep. 530: Astronomy of the Andes - Then and Now Pt. 2
12 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
South America, especially the Atacama Desert in Chile has become one of the best places in the world...
Ep. 529: Astronomy of the Andes - Then and Now Pt. 1
06 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Andes mountains in South America are a hotspot of astronomy today, but ancient peoples knew it w...
Ep. 528: Modern Astronomy of the American Southwest
29 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Last week we talked about the ancient astronomy of the American Southwest. But this is actually Pam...
Ep. 527: Ancient Astronomy of the American Southwest
22 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Ancient peoples had no light pollution, and they knew the night skies very well. In fact, they depe...
Ep. 526: Event Horizon Telescope and the Black Hole at M87
15 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Today, of course, we're going to talk about the announcement from the Event Horizon Telescope and th...
Ep. 525: 100 Years of the International Astronomical Union
08 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Even though they might be scattered around our planet, astronomers have way to come together to work...
Ep. 524: Judging Age & Origins, part 3 - Beyond Our System
01 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We learned how to figure out the ages of objects in the Solar System, now we push out into the deepe...
Ep. 523: Judging Age & Origins, Pt. 2 Across the Solar System
25 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Today we push our aging curiosity out into the Solar System to ask that simple question: how old is ...
Ep. 522: Judging Age & Origins, part 1 - Earth Rocks
18 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
People always want to know how old everything is. And more specifically, they want to know how we kn...
Bonus Episode: Dust with Dr. Paul Sutter
17 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Recorded during the Astrotour to Costa Rica, Fraser talks to Dr. Paul Matt Sutter about the nature o...
Ep. 521: The Deep Space Network
11 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We always focus on the missions, but there's an important glue that holds the whole system together....
Ep. 520: Transients: What They Are and Why They Matter, Part 2
01 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This is our second episode in a two part series where we look at Transients in astronomy. In last w...
Ep. 519: Transients: What They Are and Why They Matter
25 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Astronomers have found that sometimes the Universe changes. Things move, things explode, things get ...
Ep. 518: When the Universe tried to Declare War
18 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We always say the Universe is trying to kill us. But there was this one time, when the Universe used...
Ep. 517: Fritz Zwicky and the Zwicky Transient Facility
11 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most influential astronomers in the 20th Century was Fritz Zwicky. He had his hand in the...
Ep. 516: Polar Vortices
04 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It's cold right now. Okay, fine, here on Vancouver Island, it's actually pretty warm. But for the re...
Ep. 515: Space Radiation
28 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Space is a hostile environment in so many ways. But one of its worst features is the various kinds o...
Ep. 514: Planetary Protection Protocols
21 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
As we send rovers and landers to other worlds, we have to think about the tiny microbial astronauts ...
Ep. 513: Stellar Fusion
14 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Sun. It's a big ball of fire, right? Apparently not. In fact, what's going on inside of the Sun ...
Ep. 512: Direct Imaging of Exoplanets
07 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Finding planets is old news, we now know of thousands and thousands of the places. But the terrible ...
Ep. 511: Predictions for 2019
31 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We did it, we made it through 2018 in space. Now let’s look forward to the incredible launches, di...
Ep. 510: 2018 - Year in Review
23 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
2018 was an incredible year in space news. Rockets launched, landers landed, spacecraft were born an...
Ep. 509: Fiction to Fact: 3D Printers
10 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The technology of 3D printing is taking off. From tiny home-based 3D printers to larger manufacturin...
Ep. 508: 2018 Holiday Gift Guide
03 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We did it, we made it to the end of another year. Once again it's time to wonder what gifts to get y...
Ep. 507: From Fiction to Fact : Ion Drive
28 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Ion engines are a mainstay of science fiction, featured in both Star Trek and Wars. But this is a ve...
Ep. 506: It's not Aliens, Unless it's Aliens
18 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Did you hear that astronomers from Harvard think that the interstellar asteroid Oumuamua was actuall...
Ep. 505: Seismology
12 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We're always interested in the surface features of the planets and moons in the Solar System, but th...
Ep. 504: Radar, Lidar, and Sonar
05 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
To really study something, you want to reach out and touch it. But what can you do if you're separat...
Ep. 503: Gravity Mapping
29 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The Earth looks like a perfect sphere, but down here on the surface we see that there are mountains,...
Ep. 502: No Touching: Determining Composition of Worlds Remotely
22 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
How do you know what something is made of if you can't reach out and touch it? How do we know what p...
Ep. 501: Water Worlds Revisited
10 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We're not learning that the vast majority of potentially habitable worlds out there are actually icy...
Ep. 500: Live Celebration!
18 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to episode 500 of Astronomy Cast. To celebrate this momentous occasion, we're going to look ...
Ep. 499: What is the proposed Hubble-Lemaitre Law?
10 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We started out Astronomy Cast with the controversal decision to de-planet Pluto. And here we are, mo...
Ep. 498: Dwarf Galaxy Update
01 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The Milky Way has gobbled up dozens of dwarf galaxies and added them to its structure. Today we're g...
Ep. 497: Update on Globular Clusters
25 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Is it globular clusters or is it globeular clusters? It doesn't matter, they're awesome and we're he...
Ep. 496: Update on Stellar Populations (I, II, & III)
18 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Another update show, this time on the various generations of stars, let's get into it.
Ep. 495: Update on Asteroids & Prospects of Asteroid Mining
12 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Our knowledge of space is starting to match up with our ability to get out there an explore it. Ther...
Ep. 494: Icy Moons Update 2018
04 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Thanks to Cassini and other spacecraft, we've learned a tremendous amount about the icy worlds in th...
Ep. 493: Mars Update 2018
28 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
If there's one place we've learned more about in the last 10 years, it's Mars. Thanks to all those r...
Ep. 492: Comets, Asteroids and KBO’s
21 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Another topic with plenty of updates. Since we started Astronomy Cast we’ve visited many smaller o...
Ep 491: Exoplanet Update 2018
14 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Finally, a big update. Have there been news in the realm of exoplanets? More news that we can possib...
Ep 490: What's New with Supernovae
07 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Time for another update, this time we're going to look at what's new with supernovae. And once again...
Ep 489: Black Hole Update
30 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Another update episode, this time we look at what’s new and changed in the research of black holes...
Ep 488: Dark Energy: 2018 Edition
24 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The updates continue. Last week we talked about dark matter, and this week we continue with its part...
Ep 487: Dark Matter: 2018 Edition
16 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, we gave you an update in particle physics. This week it's time to see what's new in the w...
Ep 486: Particle Physics Update
09 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
It's time for a news update. This time from the field of particle physics. It turns out there have b...
Ep 485: Docking, Refueling, and Transferring
30 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
It's one thing to get to space. But once you've made it there, what do you want to do? You'll probab...
Ep. 484: Transfer Orbits and Gravitational Assists
26 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
If you want to get around in the Solar System, you'll want to take advantage of natural gravitation...
Ep 483: Stopping in Space
19 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
It's one thing to get from Earth to space, but sometimes you want to do the opposite. You want to ge...
Ep 482: Alternative Ways to Space
12 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Getting to space is all about rockets, but people are trying to figure out other methods that could ...
Ep 481: Rockets pt. 3 - Going Faster, Higher, Farther after Fairing Separation
05 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We've seen rockets blast off from here on Earth. But that's only half the story. Rockets have additi...
Astronomy Cast Special: Q & A with Dr. Pamela Gay
05 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Pamela will be on to answer your space and astronomy questions live, as Fraser enjoys auroras in Ice...
Ep 480: Rockets pt. 2- Multi-stage Boosters
27 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The vast majority of rockets are multi-staged affairs. Why is this? What makes this kind of rocket s...
Ep. 479: Rockets pt. 1- What Does “Single Stage To Orbit” Really Mean?
20 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
To celebrate the launch of the Falcon Heavy, we figured it was time for an all new series, this time...
Ep. 478: Apollo 8 with Paul Hildebrandt
13 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
On Christmas Day, 1968 Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders became the first human being to...