AWESOME ASTRONOMY

Awesome Astronomy explores the frontiers of science, space and our evolving understanding of the universe. Join Paul & Dr Jeni for informative and fun astronomy programmes dedicated to space and astronomy news and occasional podcast extras covering hot topics and special interviews in the world of science and astronomy.

Venus. Twined with Milton Keynes 01/04/2025

Venus. Twined with Milton Keynes 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 /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/34721680

Panto 2024! 12/31/2024

Panto 2024! It's that time of year again where the team get silly...this year Butch and Suni hijack the ISS... /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/34673145

Re-examining Uranus 12/05/2024

Re-examining Uranus 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 /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/34300710

Comets, Cruises and Outreach 11/30/2024

Comets, Cruises and Outreach 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. /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/34208870

Apollo 12 11/04/2024

Apollo 12 The Team are taking a little break so here is a classic interview with Apollo astronaut Alan Bean. /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/33772212

Gaining InSight 10/18/2024

Gaining InSight 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 NASA mission, the real meaning of “remote working”, and show you some of the amazing results from the mission. /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/33519902

AstroCamp Special! 10/03/2024

AstroCamp Special! 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 /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/33320107

100 Hours of Astronomy with Go Stargazing 09/22/2024

100 Hours of Astronomy with Go Stargazing 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! /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/33156872

Chatting Space within tent 09/01/2024

Chatting Space within tent 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 /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/32851247

British Planetary Science Conference 08/21/2024

British Planetary Science Conference 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! /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/32675857

Comet Olbers in Silly Season 08/01/2024

Comet Olbers in Silly Season 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 /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/32391087

Sanctuary on the Moon 07/14/2024

Sanctuary on the Moon 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 that ever lived. It is an exploration of ourselves, our world, and our epoch. Produced by Ralph, Paul, Jen, John, Damien & Dustin /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/32130557

Starliner Marooned and Playing Gyros! 07/02/2024

Starliner Marooned and Playing Gyros! 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. /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/31986312

Aurora at Home 06/01/2024

Aurora at Home 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 /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/31558837

Totally Eclipse 05/17/2024

Totally Eclipse Dustin and Jeni talk about their Eclipse adventures from last month. /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/31352442

Nova predictions and China to the Moon 05/01/2024

Nova predictions and China to the Moon 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. /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/31078033

Episode 142 Awesome Astronomy April 2024 04/01/2024

Episode 142 Awesome Astronomy April 2024 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. /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/30632588

Britain's First Astronaut 03/22/2024

Britain's First Astronaut 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. /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/30493863

Wet Moons and Tippy landers 03/01/2024

Wet Moons and Tippy landers 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! /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/30191373

Blasting Soil - Interview with Dr Phil Metzger 02/17/2024

Blasting Soil - Interview with Dr Phil Metzger 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… /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/29994918

Awesome Astronomy Episode #140 02/02/2024

Awesome Astronomy Episode #140 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. /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/29767893

#139 Awesome Astronomy January 2024 01/15/2024

#139 Awesome Astronomy January 2024 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. /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/29497113

Awesome Astronomy Panto and Review of the Year 2023! 12/26/2023

Awesome Astronomy Panto and Review of the Year 2023! 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! /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/29229288

#138 Awesome Astronomy December 2023 Pt1 12/01/2023

#138 Awesome Astronomy December 2023 Pt1 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 /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/28889788

Astronomy Mythology of Wales 11/19/2023

Astronomy Mythology of Wales 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! /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/28704538

#137 November 2023 Awesome Astronomy 11/01/2023

#137 November 2023 Awesome Astronomy 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 /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/28491506

The AstroCamp Panel! 10/19/2023

The AstroCamp Panel! 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. /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/28364546

#136 - October 2023 Awesome Astronomy 10/01/2023

#136 - October 2023 Awesome Astronomy 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. /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/28189301

JWST looks at the Ring - Interview with Dr Roger Wessen 09/17/2023

JWST looks at the Ring - Interview with Dr Roger Wessen 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 area of study. Enjoy! /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/28055175

#135 - September 2023 Awesome Astronomy 09/01/2023

#135 - September 2023 Awesome Astronomy 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. /episode/index/show/awesomeastronomy/id/27912018

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