Travelers in the Night Eps. 855 & 856: Planetary Defense & Big One
The 365 Days of Astronomy
Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. From June & July 2025. Today's 2 topics: - In 2016 NASA created the Planetary Defense Coordination Office to manage the mission of finding, tracking, and studying asteroids and comets which could pose an impact threat to our home planet.The NASA documentary “Planetary Defenders” provides an excellent over view and can be streamed on the internet: - My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Vivian Carvajal was asteroid...
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NOIRLab - Mysterious Metallic Cloud Discovered Orbiting Mystery Object
The 365 Days of Astronomy
Sweeping winds of vaporized metals have been found in a massive cloud that dimmed the light of a star for nearly nine months. This discovery, made with the Gemini South telescope in Chile offers a rare glimpse into the chaotic and dynamic processes still shaping planetary systems long after their formation. In this podcast, Dr. Nadia Zakamska describes the discovery of this object, stemming from a mysterious dimming of a star, to the analysis of the gas cloud. Bios: - Rob Sparks is in the Communications, Education and Engagement group at NSF’s NOIRLab in Tucson, Arizona. - Dr. Nadia...
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EVSN - Galaxy Mergers Trigger Black Hole Growth
The 365 Days of Astronomy
From May 21, 2020. Join us today as we discuss the impressive work by an undergraduate student who figured out how galaxy mergers influence the growth of supermassive black holes. We talk about a gigantic galaxy found in the early universe. And finally, we look at amazing images of a planet being formed around a distant star. We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank...
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Guide To Space - What Did Cassini Teach Us? Remembering Cassini and Saying Goodbye
The 365 Days of Astronomy
From March 8, 2017. In just a few months, NASA's Cassini spacecraft is going to die, crashing into the planet Saturn. Let's look back across the mission's history. What were the highlights? What did we learn? Team: Fraser Cain - @fcain / frasercain@gmail.com Karla Thompson - @karlaii Chad Weber - weber.chad@gmail.com Ask me my favorite object in the Solar System, especially to see through a telescope, and my answer is always the same: Saturn. Saturn is this crazy, ringed world, different than any other place we’ve ever seen. And in a small telescope, you can really see the...
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Cheap Astronomy - Dear CA Ep. 129: More Rocks
The 365 Days of Astronomy
A podcast about rocks, big and small. Dear Cheap Astronomy – What’s Psyche really like? Psyche is an asteroid in the asteroid belt and apparently a very metal rich one, which makes it a prospecting target for budding asteroid miners. Pysche is also a spacecraft, launched on October 13, 2023. We’re recording this episode about one month after launch when it’s already over 15 million km from Earth – and its destination? Yep, Psyche – the asteroid. Dear Cheap Astronomy – How is Mars Sample Return mission going? Here at Cheap Astronomy we’ve often said that landing on Mars...
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Deep Astronomy - Discoveries of Webb Space Telescope Ep 3: The Flares of Sagittarius A*, Our Galaxy's Black Hole
The 365 Days of Astronomy
From April 14, 2025. Astronomers using the JWST have made direct observations of the black hole at the center of our galaxy: Sagittarius A*. These observations are possible because the Webb Space Telescope can peer through the dust at the center of our galaxy using infrared light. These observations surprised astronomers. We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps!...
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 781: Awakening Black Holes
The 365 Days of Astronomy
Hosted by: Fraser Cain () and Dr. Pamela L. Gay () Streamed live on Feb 2, 2026. One long standing mystery in astronomy were the quasars. Incomprehensible energy blasting out of a point-like source, billions of light years away. We now know these are actively feeding supermassive black holes, which can turn off and on in a startlingly short period of time. Today: When black holes awaken! Our Universe is filled with sleeping monsters. And sometimes, whether we want it or not, they wake up hungry. In this episode, we take a look at the science behind how and why black holes of all sizes can go...
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Travelers in the Night Eps. 853 & 854: Tardigrade & Weird Planet, Exotic Life
The 365 Days of Astronomy
Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. From June, 2025. Today's 2 topics: - In the search for life on Mars, Europa, Titan, and elsewhere in the universe astro-biologists are scouring the Earth for creatures tough enough to flourish under really difficult conditions. So far the leading species are the Tardigrades commonly known as water bears or moss piglets. - Data are consistent with the hypothesis that the planet K2-18b is a Hycean planet with a warm liquid...
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Equatorial Sky Guide For February
The 365 Days of Astronomy
Hosted by Avivah Yamani, our Director. February 2026 is packed for stargazers at the equator, with a dusk-time planet parade, dark New Moon skies for astrophotography, and the year’s first “Ring of Fire” annular solar eclipse on February 17 (visible from Antarctica). Catch beautiful Moon pairings with Antares, Saturn, the Pleiades, and Jupiter, and join the Globe at Night campaign to help measure light pollution in your area. We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: and donate as much as you can!...
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EVSN - JWST Makes Sense of the Early Universe
The 365 Days of Astronomy
From January 28, 2026. In this episode we look at highlights from the latest American Astronomical Society Meeting. An accidental theme came out: with each new telescope and each improved instrument we can look more closely at our Universe - we can and do learn more and understand more even about the things we thought we knew best. In this episode, Rubin Observatory brings rapidly rotating asteroids, and JWST peers at objects thriving in the first 2 billion years of our universe. Observatory after observatory brings us new science. We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of...
info_outlineSome slight changes to Saturn and Jupiter in the sky, the start of a big change for Venus, and even more rocks fall from the sky this December here on the Last Minute Astronomer, bringing astronomy to normies and nerds, with little time to spare. Let’s start by talking about the naked eye planets visible this month, the lunar phases, and then the meteor shower and other events, so you can plan ahead better than me.
13th/14th – Geminid Meteor Shower – A VERY good year for this shower, as there is only a thin crescent Moon which sets early. So get out there and take advantage of the possible 100 meteors per hour!
When? Really, any time of the night is good, though the closer you are to dawn on the 14th, the better.
Where do I look? The whole sky, but note Gemini is where the radiant is - where the meteors will appear to be coming from. Gemini will be in the East after sunset, South after midnight, West in the morning.
But be well prepared…
- Commit yourself to staying out at least 20 minutes.
- Find a dark location and lie down in a reclining chair or hammock
- Check the weather to see if the skies will be clear
- Adapt your eyes to the dark by staying away from light sources or using a red light if you need to look at a star chart or not trip over something.
- You never know when a nice meteor will burn up, so take a nice look at the sky in general, noting that the meteors will appear to go from the radiant and outward.
- Dress warmly! Layers!
We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.
Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can!
Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!
Every bit helps! Thank you!
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The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu
Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org.