AWESOME ASTRONOMY

In this chatty news episode we chat about more Artemis mission shenanigans and how the Russians have wrecked their only human rated launch pad.

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

This episode it is a new bananza with discussion of the Thirty Metre Telescope, shenanigans on Mars, asymmetrical supernovae and more trouble in the world of cosmology. There is a Xmas Telescope buying guide as well as our monthly skyguide!

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

In our second episode of the month we chat about the weird mess that is now the Artemis Programme, whether there is even a new space race and what strange shenanigans rogue planets are up to!

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

Time for a Comet 3I ATLAS deep dive, a chat about Paul's recent visit to the Cerne Abbas Starparty and our new extended skyguide.

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

This month we are at Astrocamp, our biannual dark sky retreat. We have a Q and A session with the campers and we talk a newly confirmed impact crater in the UK, Artemis II, ozone layer, and an upcoming comet bonanza!

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

A bumper end of summer episode with Paul out in the world of science outreach and communication in a Summer music festival. There's also discussion of the new Astronomer Royal, China's moon programme, Starship and a deep dive on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

This month we talk about Jen at the BBC, AI in science communication, a supernova in NGC7331, whether Betelgeuse has a companion, Exoplanet shenanigans, European hypersonic space planes, and of course our monthly sky guide and general chat.

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

A bumper episode or is that a Jumper episode if Jeni has her way. Paul has new scope and Jeni has been seeing the Sun. We have terrible news from LIGO, the end of Milkomeda, Light pollution paradox, Vera Rubin first light, a new satellite from Wales, spaceX kablooie, leaks on the ISS and of course the usual skyguide and emails! Phew!

This month we have Galactic sized lancing battles, Jupiter twice its size, Wales entering the space race and we have emails! Oh we have emails!

This month we have Galactic sized lancing battles, Jupiter twice its size, Wales entering the space race and we have emails! Oh we have emails!

This month we have Galactic sized lancing battles, Jupiter twice its size, Wales entering the space race and we have emails! Oh we have emails!

We come at you with all the fun of AstroCamp in Welsh Wales. Chat, debate and birdsong!

Produced by  Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

We try to keep it upbeat this month with tales of blackholes, definitions of moons, and solar system science but unfortunately the fate of NASA and American science currently hangs in the balance...

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

It looks as though the European Southern Observatory is caught in an American light pollution pincer...starlink above and now the threat of an American industrial complex as a neighbour. Is this the end?

We have eclipse news, launch round up and the usual inane chatter from Jeni & Paul.

The world veers towards madness, asteroids threaten destruction and Gaia is no more. But the planets are putting on a show and Pluto is 95, so that's alright...

Produced by Ralph, Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

Happy New Year! This month we talk about an new climate history for Venus, a new origin story for Mars' moons and we chat about the new potential head of NASA...

Produced by Ralph, Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

It's that time of year again where the team get silly...this year Butch and Suni hijack the ISS...

This month we look at new old data about Uranus, a possible second dinosaur asteroid  the first image of a star in another galaxy and the image of a new planet forming. Plus sky and launch guides and a chat about Christmas present ideas!

Produced by Ralph, Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

This month the episode is all about astronomy! Yep just astronomy. We catch up with the wonderful comet observations of the autumn, Jen's aurora cruise in Norway and we talk outreach astronomy in response to a listener's question.

The Team are taking a little break so here is a classic interview with Apollo astronaut Alan Bean.

Meet Dr Anna Horleston from Bristol University.

NASA's InSight lander was active on Mars from November 2018 to December 2022 – a total of 1446 sols (Martian days). InSight carried a suite of geophysical instruments designed to help us understand the interior structure of the red planet. The primary instrument was a seismometer – the first seismometer to be deployed to the surface of Mars – and my job was to analyse the seismic data, to find Marsquakes (like earthquakes but on Mars), and to figure out what was causing them. I'll take you through the highs and lows of working on an active...

This month the episode comes from the user dark skies of Wales as it is AstroCamp time! Discussion of Hera and Europa Clipper probes, comet news and the live recording of the Astrocamp panel! Enjoy

Between 2nd and 5th October, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) are celebrating 100 hours of astronomy. We've caught up with good friend of the show Neill Sanders, founder of Go Stargazing, who's helped create an app to get you and all your friends involved with the celestial party! Enjoy!

A bit different this month as Paul is joined by Dustin as they chat about aurora on Ganymede, starliner, Polaris Dawn, Blue Origin and Dustin shares an interview at a local astronomy Festival.

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

In this podcast extra for Awesome Astronomy in August 2024, we bring you two of the Plenary Sessions from the British Planetary Science Conference 2024, hosted by Space Park Leicester and the National Space Center. The first, from Dr Aprajita Verma, discusses the upcoming Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), and the second, from Dr Steve Banham, gives you a new view of Mars Evolution, based on Curiosity's work at Gale Crater. Keep an ear out for activities to get involved with!

This month the team talk Comet Olbers, black holes in globular Clusters, the cancellation of Vixen, the ultra calm lakes of Titan, more phosphine news from Venus and look forward to this months Perseids.

Produced by Ralph, Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

Celebrating 55 years since humans first set foot on the Moon with Project Apollo, in this podcast extra, Dr Jen meets with Benoit Faiveley and Mario Freese, founder and chief engineer of Sanctuary on the Moon, a daring project to leave a legacy of humanity on our nearest celestial neighbour. In the late 2020s, 24 coaster-sized sapphire disks will sail to the Moon as part of NASA's Artemis CLPS program. Engraved upon them will be the essence of humanity. One hundred billion pixels depicting the human genome, the work of masters, and the every day - one pixel for every human...

This month the team discuss keeping the elderly Hubble alive with a single gyro, how Starliner is currently marooned in orbit and are usually round up of other news from the cosmos, a skyguide for what to look out for and a this month in astronomy history that explores the life of Henrietta Swan-Leavitt. 

This month is indulgent and ranty! Well it is summer...Jen waxes lyrical about a night out, Paul has written a book and in amongst it is some astronomy!

There is a big dive into the huge aurora display in May, talk of new exoplanets and old ones vanishing. The usual skyguide and this months history moment is all about X rays.

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

Dustin and Jeni talk about their Eclipse adventures from last month. 

This month excitement builds for the predicted Nova outburst in Corona Borealis as well as looking forward to China launching a sample return mission to the far side of the Moon.

We have our usual skyguide and chat about upcoming missions and some fun insights into the methane on Mars.

This month Dr Jen is off to the US for the Solar Eclipse while Paul is just back from Goonhilly Earth Station. We chat about the imminent demise of the Chandra Space Telescope, more news on the Hubble tension, and of course the Great North American Eclipse. 

Chinese Lunar ambitions, Starship making it to space and the first Boeing Starliner crew make the news while in this months history moment we talk about the brightest Stellar event witnessed by humans.

This podcast extra is our full length interview with Dr Helen Sharman, Britain's First astronaut and the first woman to visit the Russian Mir Space Station in 1991. 

This month our intrepid crew of the good ship Awesome investigate sub surface oceans on the moons of the solar system, smoking stars, distant blackholes, oversized structures and of course tippy over lunar landers. There is also the monthly skyguide and a look at the astro history of March!

This month Dr Jen talks to Dr Phil! Dr Phil Metzger, 30 years at NASA where he has worked on various missions and programmes including the ISS snd Space Shuttle, while more recently he has been investigating how rocket efflux interacts with soil and what this will mean for future landings on the Moon and Mars…

This month we explore the exciting announcements from the European Space Agency as they outline their new missions for the 2030s. LISA, a space based gravitational wave detector and EnVision, a Venus mission that will map the surface and under-surface of that planet in unprecedented detail. 

We have the usual skyguide, chat about recent lunar missions and emails from the listeners.

This episode, it's Jen and a special guest exploring the inexplicable Big Ring, the first proof connecting supernovae to black holes and neutron stars, cyclones on a far-away world, dazzling images of Io, and the true colour of Neptune. We also take a deep dive into humanity's efforts to explore the Moon – the failing Peregrine lander and Artemis pushbacks.  There's also a sky guide for the second half of January, and our discussion topic this time involves a most impossible restaurant. 

Produced by Paul, Jen, Dustin, John & Damien.

Festive silliness (bit naughty!), a review of the Space and astronomy year and a look ahead to what 2024 has in store for us. Not forgetting the outakes!

This month we explore what might have happened to the Planet Theia after it hit the Earth, what Lucy saw on its first asteroid encounter, the mystery of a new double crater on the Moon and what the first images from the Elucid telescope show. 

We have our monthly skyguide, launch round up and emails and questions from listeners.

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

This month Jeni talks to Paul. No not our Paul  Paul Cornish, planetarium and science outreach extraordinaire at Bristols We the Curious. They chat about one of our favourite topics on Awesome, constellation Mythology and this time it has a very Welsh flavour...enjoy!

This month we talk about what might have been in the Arthur C Clarke Awards, the latest weird discovery from JWST, the most detailed simulation of the Universe yet, British space plans, giggle at a Space Force painting, and have a look at what you can see in the sky this month.

Produced by Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin

This month we give you a recording of our live panel show from AstroCamp, held in September. The team answer questions and comments from the public about a range of space and astronomy topics.

This month Paul and Dr Jen talk about the recent astrocamp where yet more Aurora was seen. Later there is a guide to seeing Aurora at lower latitudes.

JWST is at it again with a possible detection of biological signals on an exoplanet, AND breaking and rewriting galaxy morphology history.

There is an autumnal sky guide and the low down on the Bennu return mission OSIRIS-REx.

This months interview looks at that stunning imagery that JWST took of the Ring Nebula - that familiar Messier planterary nebula in Lyra and favourite of star parties. This new study has revealed new and unexpected details and once again demonstrated the brilliant science of our golden wonder telescope in space.

Dr Jeni talks to Dr Robert Wessen, Research Associate at Cardiff University who has worked on the Ring Nebula data, about what astronomers have revealed as well as talking about his career and life astronomy. He also exclusively reveals what is going to happen next in...

This month we are joined by special guest Neill Sanders from Go Stargazing who is making a special announcement about astronomy cruise Holidays.

We have news of a new type of star, mud on Mars and JWST breaking cosmology once again. After our skyguide we chat about the recent Indian and Russian moon missions. 

In our discussion topic we have a Battle of the Planets as we decide which should get in the bin, Saturn or Jupiter.

For this podcast extra, we return to NAM 2023, this year held at Cardiff University. We're delighted to bring you the conversational style of Dr Stephen Wilkins, public engagement extraordinaire. Dr Stephen is an STFC Public Engagement Fellow (so you know this talk will be just brilliant) and serves as a Director of Outreach and Public Engagement for the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Sussex. This episode, we have the Tale of Two Telescopes, exploring NASA's new flagship James Webb Space Telescope, and ESA's pioneering Euclid, set to uncover the Dark Universe. Enjoy!

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This month we have a packed show, with stories about the European space agency launching a new space telescope to study The Dark Universe. India going to the moon with Chandrayaan-3, astereroid boulders, a key ingredient for life just 1 billion years into the Universe's history, measuring a crater with highway seismology, hot lava piles on the moon, and a farewell to Ariane 5.

We discuss observing meteor showers in our monthly skyguide and we ask the important question- where would you let superman take you in the solar system?

Once a year, astronomers descend upon an unsuspecting UK city in the greatest gathering of astronomically curious minds: the National Astronomy Meeting, otherwise known as NAM (no, not that 'Nam, though it is quite the battle of the minds). Jen was lucky enough to attend this year and this episode is the first in a series of talks recorded at NAM 2023. 

We're delighted to bring you the expertise of none other than Dr Becky Smethurst of Oxford University (you may know her as Dr Becky on Youtube). In this talk, Dr Becky teaches us how to grow a...

It's a summer vacation special with Jeni in the mountains of South America astronomising at altitude and visiting the Vera C Rubin telescope as well as obstech.

We have an interview with a Vera Rubin Observatory astronomer as well as a skyguide and an astronomy news round up.

We chat to Dr Kathy Thornton, nuclear physicist turned NASA astronaut who went on to fly on four Space Shuttle missions. Dr Thornton flew for over 40 days and completed over 21 hours of EVA, including the famous operation to fix the blurry Hubble Space Telescope. We talk about her life as an astronaut, the Hubble fix and that fateful day in mission-control on Columbia's last re-entry.

This month Jeni and Paul talk about the recent supernova in galaxy M101; volcanic exoplanets; the growing observational evidence putting the current Big Bang theory under strain and the history of water on both Earth and Mars.

There is discussions on alien contact; exoplanet detection and how long it would take to accelerate to the speed of light.

Paul does a summer reading book review with three space books to keep you entertained on the beach this summer.

Jeni has a look at the Juice mission, Axiom 2, future space station plans and a...

To celebrate the Skylab 50th anniversary here is one our favourite astronaut chats from 2012 where we caught up with Skylab 3 and STS-3 astronaut, Jack Lousma. Jack was also capcom during Apollo 13 and he tells us about taking that ominous 'Houston, we've had a problem' call and how they solved each life-threatening issue in sequence to get the astronauts back alive. He talks about missing out on flying Apollo 20 to the moon, being a crew member on the Skylab space station and taking one of the first space shuttles out for a test drive.

This month Paul and Jeni in astronomy news talk about new data on the M87 blackhole, the architecture of planetary systems, the hottest stars, an impact crater in France and how Mars might not have been oxygen rich.

In exploration news there is the latest on  JUICE and they welcome an old friend back to the show to talk about Starship.

There is a review of the recent AstroCamp where the team witnessed one of the biggest geomagnetic storms of recent times and saw one of the most impressive Auroral displays while standing on a W...

Jeni visits Space Forge for an update on their mission to build reusable satellites to manufacture materials that that are impossible on the ground.

She talks to CEO Joshua Western about that fateful launch from Cornwall on Virgin's Cosmic Girl, how they are getting ready for their next test aboard a Falcon 9, their re-entry tech nicknamed 'Mary Poppins in Space' and the company's future plans to scale up the manufacturing process from grams to tons!

In this episode Jeni and Paul talk about exoplanet atmospheres, the latest thinking on solar system visitor Oumuamua, Vigin Orbit's woes, Relativity's 3D success, and the oldest orbiting satellite.

There is the sky guide for April, a discussion about what new telescope Jeni should buy and listener emails, as well as Paul's miserable weather and Jeni's gala dinner talk for International Women's Day.

Paul takes time out from outreach at the Festival of Tomorrow at the Swindon STEAM museum to chat with Professor Robert Walsh of the University of Central Lancashire, who with artist Alex Rinsler has created a giant representation of the Sun as an outreach and art project that uses the data of the Solar Dynamics Observatory.

They talk about solar science, the coronal heating problem, sounding rockets, space missions professor Walsh has been involved with, space weather and why he has his own Sun.

In this episode Jeni tells us about her TEDx talk, dressing up for Mama Mia and eating insane burgers, while Paul appears to have started a modelling career.

In astronomy news the team explore the latest JWST findings that may have broken cosmology and changed everything we thought we knew about the history of the universe, as well as a potential new explanation for dark energy and black holes.

There is the sky-guide looking at the highlights for March as well as the Messier marathon, while in spaceflight news it is all change on the...

Interview with astronomer Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Jeni talks to the legendary discoverer of pulsars, champion of women in science and Oxford University astronomer about her astronomy career, inspirations, motivations and key discoveries.

The Discussion:

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in February, we have:

The big news story: a decade-long study finds light pollution is worse than we thought

The Sky...

Bringing back the much-missed Awesome Astronomy interviews with a bang, we're joined by friend of the show Chris Lee.

Chris began his career in the 80s in the UK space industry at British Aerospace, Matra Marconi and SCISYS where he worked on the Hubble Space Telescope, the Giotto mission to Halley's Comet, Beagle 2, Exomars and LISA Pathfinder.

He then became the UK Space Agency's first Head of International Space Policy and then Head of Space Science Programmes before becoming Chief Scientist at the UK Space Agency.

Now ret...

The Discussion:

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in November, we have:

The big news story: As the UK gets ready to launch space vehicles for the first time, we take a look at the long history of...

*** Beware, stiff profanity (phnar phnar) in the outtakes at the end ***

Our Christmas Pantomime sees the Awesome Astronomy crew exploring strange new worlds on the Astronomy Star Ship (ASS) Penetrator.

Between the puerile skits you've come to expect from our end of year shows, we bring you a roundup of the best astronomy and space exploration news from 2022. And, of course, a look forward to the highlights to come in 2023.

To all our listeners, a very merry Christmas, happy holidays and a prosperous 2023 (download or die!).

The Discussion:

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in November, we have:

The big news story: What else? Artemis 1 launches to make NASA's return to the moon a rea...

The Discussion:

And listeners' emails on:

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in November, we have:

The big news s...

Christmas 1980.

Suffolk, England.

Two US airmen witness what they believe is an aircraft coming down in the forest next to their base.

So begins the story of the UKs most notorious UFO sighting, the Rendlesham Forest incident.

Paul dives head first into a 'Hat of Woo' special as he explores the mysterious forest of Rendlesham on the Suffolk coast and considers what this famous conspiracy story says about time and place and of course what really happened.

Jeni and Paul talk to Professor Mike Edmunds, President of the Royal Astronomical Society  and Emeritus Professor of astrophysics at Cardiff University, who is also Dr Jeni's academic grandfather....

Paul gives a quick look at the sky highlights for October and then Jeni, John and Paul host an open panel discussion at AstroCamp where the audience talk about where space begins, JWST, the worth of Artemis and how the infamous Elephant Trunk nebulae incident happened...

The Discussion:

The News:

Skyguide:

As we're a little late in the month for a Sept...

Hear ye! Hear ye!

The Discussion:

The News:

The news discussion: Loads of news around the International Space Station

Q&A:
What would we like to see happen to the ISS instead of being deorbited? From our good friend Mindy Scott in South Africa.

The Discussion:

The release of JWST's first images, the press conferences and media coverage.

Emails on astrophotography, Dr Jen's TV appearances and a more politically correct alternative name for JWST.

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in August, we have:

The big news story: What els...

The Discussion:

The News:

The news discussion: NASA's CAPSTONE mission to lunar orbit

Q&A:
If you let your breath out couldn't you dash across 100m of lunar surface in a dama...

The Discussion:

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in April, we have:

Th...

The Discussion:

The News:

The news discussion: NASA to formally investigate UFOs – is this wise?

Q&A:
How many people can you get on the International Space Statio...

The Discussion:

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in April, we have:

The Discussion:

The News:

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The Discussion:

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in April, we have:

The big news story: the Planetary Science Decadal Survey is out!

Also check out our YouTube channel here for much more astronomy and spacey goodness: https://www.youtube.com/awesomeastronomy?sub_confirmation=1

The Discussion:

The News:

The Discussion:

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in April, we have:

The Sky Guide:

This month we're taking a look at...

The Discussion:

The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have:

Main news story: The knock on effects to cooperation in space caused by the situation in...

The Discussion:

The News:

Rounding up the astronomy news in March, we have:

Big News Story: First light of...

The Discussion:

The News:

The news discussion: NASA contract a Mars Sample return rocket.

Nebulas:
A look at the weird and wonderful nebulae that you can see through te...

The Discussion:

The News:

Big News Story: a mysterious radio signal points to a new ty...

The Discussion:

The News:

The news discussion: JWST

Nebulas: A look at the weird and wonderful nebulae that you can see through telescopes or use to understand the interstellar medium and star formation. This month we focus on supernova remnants.

The Discussion:

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news in October, we have:

The Interview: this month we in...

We defer our usual Xmas frivolity to go to NASA's coverage of Elon Musk's Penetrating Explorer Neo Insertion System rocket delivering NASA's Advanced Solar System probe to Uranus and look back at the astronomy and space exploration highlights of 2021:

We then look forward to the a...

The Discussion:

The News:

The news discussion: With the recent Russian anti-satellite test, are we headed for Kessler Syndrome?

Nebulas : Our new show seg...

The Discussion:

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news in October, we have:

The Discussion:

The News:

The news discussion: Commercial plans to build TWO space stations before 2030.

The Discussion:

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news in October, we have:

The Sky Guide: This month we're taking a look at the constellation of Perseus with a...

The Discussion:

The News:

The news discussion: NASA's Lucy mission to Jupiter's Trojan asteroids.

Moons of the Solar System: Our show segment exploring the discovery, exploration and our knowledge of the...

The Discussion:

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news in October, we have:

The Sky Guide: This month we'r...

The Discussion:

The News:

The Discussion:

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news in September, we have:

This podcast extra is all about our favourite topic of them all, exoplanets. Thanks to our good friends Ian and Billy, we'll be taking a look at the very exciting upcoming low-Earth orbit space mission Twinkle. This small satellite will help us better understand the chemical composition of known exoplanets, which in turn will help us understand their history - and even their weather!

Guests:

Ian Stotesbury - master of astrophysics and lead systems engineer at Blue Skies Space. Ian has a background in low Earth orbit Earth monitoring missions and constellations, but i...

The Discussion:

The News:

Moons of the Solar System: Our show segment exploring the discovery, exploration and our knowledge of the solar system's moons. And we move onto the moons of Neptune.

Q&A: Why would anyone want to venture to Mars? From our good friend Richie Mel...

The Discussion:

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news in August, we have:

The Sky Guide: Th...

The Discussion:

The News:

Moons of the Solar System: Our show segment exploring the discovery, exploration and our knowledge of the solar system's moons. And we move onto the moons of Uranus.

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The Discussion:

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news in July, we have:

The Sky Guide: This month we're taking a look at the constellation of Aquila with a guide to its history, how to find it, a couple of de...

To illustrate the epic saga of the Great Dimming of Betelgeuse, in this podcast extra, we revisit all our previous discussions of the red supergiant – collated just for you in one handy dandy place!

We cover all the previous major studies of the Great Dimming event from the past year and a half, to let you relive the glorious adventure that is scientific investigation!

Tune in to see how this amazing story has evolved and remind yourself of the previous theories; from coincidental pulsation cycles, to surface temperature drops, and, of co...

The Discussion:

The News:

Moons of the Solar System: Our sh...