Allan I Carswell Observatory Presents: York Universe

York Universe is a weekly astronomy and astrophysics program written and presented by the students, faculty, alumni, and friends of the Allan I Carswell Observatory at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Image credits: AICO, Elaina Hyde, Max Neumann

20260504_Chasing Rainbows in the Stars 05/05/2026

20260504_Chasing Rainbows in the Stars Spectra and Light are important to all of Astronomy as we know it today. Join special guest Dr. Thomas Morris for a history and news adventure in spectroscopy with our host Dr. Elaina Hyde. What is light? What is it used for in Astronomy, and how can amateur astronomers help? Image Credit: Fraunhofer made this copper etching in 1815, He coloured the spectra and lines as well as drew the spectral response curve above. A now standard view of spectra it was revolutionary at the time! Deutsches Museum Archv 43952 /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/41151655

20260427_From One Space Telescope to Another 04/28/2026

20260427_From One Space Telescope to Another Here we talk about a few history topics and some planetary observations. Mars Express Observations /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/41041475

20260420_Dusty Tails Dusty Tales 04/21/2026

20260420_Dusty Tails Dusty Tales Julie and Elaina discuss the illustrious careers of Max Planck and Ibn al-Haytham in This Week and Space and Astronomy History. In the news, dark volcanic ash is moving across the Martian surface, the Lyrid meteor shower peak is almost here, mineral dust is increasing cloud production in the Venusian atmosphere, and NASA has found interstellar glaciers that are definitely not glaciers, but are very cool nonetheless. Image Credit: Elaina Hyde/AICO /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/40950490

20260413_All About Artemis! 04/14/2026

20260413_All About Artemis! This week's episode is all about Artemis! Join Maheen and Sunna as they discuss the historic Artemis II mission to the Moon, as well as the history and future of crewed Lunar exploration. Image: Artemis II Earthset, NASA /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/40866265

20260330_ Galaxy Season 03/31/2026

20260330_ Galaxy Season As the seasons progress through the year, they also progress through observing targets. This week, we talk about Easter and observing galaxies from home or by visiting our observatory. We also look at some Apollo history, the upcoming Artemis II Mission, and more data than you can possibly imagine from the Vera C. Rubin behemoth! Contact us at observe@yorku.ca /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/40675935

20260323_Northern Lights, Camera and Action! 03/24/2026

20260323_Northern Lights, Camera and Action! This exciting episode features special guest Dr. Rachel Ward-Maxwell from the Ontario Science Center (). We cover mysterious Aurora, lunar launches, a bit of Artemis and of course a discussion of the newest science and sci-fi crossovers, the film Hail Mary. Observing tips and science tricks, we even discuss how to break the optical illusion that we all face in our lunar companion. Image Credit: Rachel Ward-Maxwell, AICO, KPPO, 2025 An extra Northern Lights explainer from Ontario Science Center: /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/40600685

20260316_Everything is the Matter with Dark Matter 03/16/2026

20260316_Everything is the Matter with Dark Matter Dark matter and dark energy can sound gloomy but there’s no need to worry in this episode as Maheen Hemani and Dr. Elaina Hyde talk about dark matter in history, dark matter in the news, dark matter in the Milky Way…. and get very excited! The more we find out about this exciting topic, the less it seems we understand but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to try! Image Credit: JWST, from March 14th, 2023 A prelude to a supernova the Wolf-Rayet star WR 124 is shown in all it's glory /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/40507625

20260309_Into Spring! 03/10/2026

20260309_Into Spring! Tune into this week's episode to learn about the history of the Voyager and Cassini missions, and important discoveries about Uranus! This week’s hosts also discuss several recent news headlines, including an update on the Artemis program and the Vera Rubin Observatory. /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/40377345

20260223_The Moon and Beyond 02/23/2026

20260223_The Moon and Beyond Join this week's hosts Gagan Sidhu and Sunna Withers as they discuss exploration of the solar system and Moon, a historic supernova, and recent news about the Artemis II launch. Image: Supernova 1987A by JWST. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/40200810

20260209_That pesky Hydrogen Molecule 02/10/2026

20260209_That pesky Hydrogen Molecule We look at this week in history and have a discussion on Artemis II and other worthy news items! Please note that we had a bit of a technical glitch on the recording near the beginning of the show but all the important bits are there. Illustration of Orion in Low Earth Orbit - Image Credit: ESA /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/40054290

20260202_Challenges 02/03/2026

20260202_Challenges A possible Challenge to Cold Dark Matter? A sad anniversary for the Space Shuttle Challenger Hubble solves the mystery of Blue Straggler stars Groundhog Day! /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/39972670

20260119_About that budget cut! 01/20/2026

20260119_About that budget cut! This week, we look at astronomy and space history, including important events in space exploration. We then follow up on the restoration of NASA and other science funding by US Congress, and give updates on manned space exploration. Image: Veritas Spacecraft in orbit around Venus - Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/39792315

20260112_Into the New Year 01/13/2026

20260112_Into the New Year Here we touch on some brief history and then go onto what kind of astronomy we are looking forward to in 2026 including the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope, Artemis as well as the Pandora and Plato missions to find exoplanets. /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/39709475

20251215_Solstice and other news 12/16/2025

20251215_Solstice and other news Welcome to our last broadcast of 2025. We will be looking at the solstice this week and some of the ways it has been marked in the past as well as moon and venus landings and other current news. Image : Heart O'Ireland - Cropped version of: File:Newgrange 053.jpg, CC BY 2.5, from Wikimedia commons /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/39419760

20251208_Bennu and Beyond 12/09/2025

20251208_Bennu and Beyond Tonight we discuss some fun history items, and of course the recent news about sugars and more on Bennu! The host is Dr. Elaina Hyde and we are joined by special guest Mahesh Aravamudan, a RASC Toronto Center member and astronomy enthusiast to investigate. The allsky camera for AICO mentioned in this episode can be found at: Image credit: Aview across asteroid Bennu’s southern hemisphere and into space. The image was obtained on March 7, 2019, by the PolyCam camera on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/39333475

20251201_HolidayShow 12/02/2025

20251201_HolidayShow Welcome to our holiday show! What was the star of Bethlehem? What is a great gift for an astronomer? /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/39231385

20251124_ Mars and more 11/25/2025

20251124_ Mars and more Here we look at a few Mars related topics, including possible karstic (water eroded) caves and other findings around the solar systems. Image (open access) from Ravi, Sharma et al 2025 APJL 993 L36 /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/39159240

20251117_MeteorShower! 11/18/2025

20251117_MeteorShower! Tonight the Leonid meteor shower peaks. Here we look at the Leonids in detail as well as comets and Frank Drake. Image: Leonid meteor storm of 1833 (Public Domain) find out more about the observatory at /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/39071580

20251110_Good Satellites, Bad Satellites... 11/11/2025

20251110_Good Satellites, Bad Satellites... Julie Tomé and Dr. Elaina Hyde discuss many satellites - most good, some bad! From Lunar Orbiter 2, San Marco 1, and Sputnik to giant space mirrors (shudder) and the JWST (hurray!), explore some of the history and news around satellites. Podcast Image: AICO, Sunna Withers, Zena Khadour /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/38988630

20251103_Let’s Break the Universe! 11/04/2025

20251103_Let’s Break the Universe! Tune in to go back in time to Tycho's Supernova of 1572, the history of daylight savings time, and how our view of the Universe was revolutionized, twice! This week's host's Paul Mackin and Sunna Withers also discuss astronomy news, including Comet 3I/Atlas and the chaos of galaxies in the early Universe. Image Description: Comet 3I/Atlas on July 21, 2025, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope Image Credit: NASA, ESA, David Jewitt (UCLA); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/38902670

20251027_Comets and Stargazing with guest John Wilmot 10/28/2025

20251027_Comets and Stargazing with guest John Wilmot This episode features a round up of comets past and current, a bit of fun history, and some discussion of the 2025 Astronomer in Residence program. The host Dr. Elaina Hyde is joined by special guest John Wilmot, one of our 2025 astronomers who went out to Killarney Park as both an expert, and an amateur! Join us for a bit of fun, and keep in mind that the live views on YouTube for this episode include one of our comets from THIS season C2025/R2 (SWAN). The link to the observatory website mentioned in this episode is: . Image credit: Comet C2025/R2 SWAN as imaged by the AICO 1m telescope on YouTube during the live broadcast for this podcast on Oct 27, 2025: AICO, Sunna Withers, Nakul Sethuram Ramjee /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/38815195

20251020_What the? 10/21/2025

20251020_What the? Here we look at a number of interesting objects in our solar system, and missions to the less frequented places in the inner solar system like Mercury and Venus. /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/38719590

20251006_Strange Worlds, Old Data, and New Science 10/07/2025

20251006_Strange Worlds, Old Data, and New Science Julie and Jeremy chat about the history of exoplanet discovery, notable astronomers Riccardo Giacconi and Ejnar Hertzsprung, and the discovery of Triton. In the news, a rogue planet is acting like a star, old data sets are reanalysed to get new insights into Venus and Enceladus, and the Universe might not expand forever. Episode image credit: Sunna Withers, AICO /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/38491320

20250929_Going Boldly! 09/30/2025

20250929_Going Boldly! Join hosts Paul Mackin and Sunna Withers as we discuss spacecraft and astronomers who have gone boldly! We discuss both astronomy and sci-fi, including the nature of our Universe and the impact of Star Trek. Image: DART Impact Image Credit: NASA/Farnham et al. 2025 /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/38404880

20250922_The Weird and Wonderful Planets of our Galaxy 09/22/2025

20250922_The Weird and Wonderful Planets of our Galaxy This week's episode is all about planets and solar systems! Join this week's hosts as we disucss the Earth's autumnual equinox, planetary exploration, the search for extraterrestrial life, and an important milestone in exoplanet discovery! Podcast Image: Cassini image of Saturn near its equinox in 2009 Photo Credit: NASA /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/38317865

20250908_Rockets, Comets and Smart Telescopes 09/09/2025

20250908_Rockets, Comets and Smart Telescopes Here we have special guests Nathan Minuk and Robin Metcalfe. Nathan is a member of York student rocketry group. They are talking about the Canada Launch competition If any York students are interested please see arbalestrocketry.ca We also talk about Osiris- Rex,the contributions of amateur astronomers, and other recent news. Episode Artwork courtesy TheSkyLive.com /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/38137335

20250825_Solar System Galore 08/26/2025

20250825_Solar System Galore It's all about the Solar System this week! Join our hosts Professor Jeremy Webb and Sunna Withers as we discuss history surrounding Jupiter's Moon Europa, Pluto's declassification, and the discovery of S/2025 U1, a new moon of Uranus! Image description: Uranus and its New Moon S/2025 U1 Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Maryame El Moutamid (SwRI), Matthew Hedman (University of Idaho) /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/37956375

20250818_Lights, sounds and rumblings in the Solar System 08/19/2025

20250818_Lights, sounds and rumblings in the Solar System Here we look at a number of phenemenon we have observed in the solar system including, eclipses, aurora, lunar quakes and rainbows on Enceladus. Apollo 11 Seismic Experiment Image Courtesy NASA /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/37871390

20250811_Dog Days of Summer... 08/12/2025

20250811_Dog Days of Summer... Join Paul Mackin and Sunna Withers as we discuss interstellar visitors, the most distant black hole ever observed, and what's up in the sky this week. Also tune in for special guest Robin Metcalfe to learn about the upcoming Launch Canada Challenge! Image: Apollo 8 Command Module - Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago Il. Photo Credit: Paul J. Mackin /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/37770010

20250728_Women in Astronomy - Rubin and Mitchell 07/29/2025

20250728_Women in Astronomy - Rubin and Mitchell Here we touch on Vera Rubin and Maria Mitchell, two prominent female astronmers of the late 19th and early 20th century. We also look at some aspects of life beyond our solar system and speculation about 31/Atlas Image of 1878 eclipse - Public domain image from /episode/index/show/c7ec35a8-3f2d-4423-99cf-045f514be0b7/id/37588035

Allan I Carswell Observatory Presents: York Universe

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