• 34 minutes 1 second
    Astronomy Cast Ep. 805: Mission Tech Series - Gyroscopes & Servos

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcn6f_PE14o

    Spinney things!

    Streamed live 18 Oct 2026.

    Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest)

    Our journey through space exploration technology continues! Today we look at the things that spin: gyros, reaction wheels, servos. Newton's laws are large and in charge today as spinning has a very useful benefit when you're in weightlessness! Today we are going to understand the nemesis of space exploration missions everywhere, get to the bottom of this, how these things works, why they fail, and maybe what's being done about it, or maybe not!

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    19 October 2026, 11:00 am
  • 6 minutes 5 seconds
    Travelers in the Night Eps. 385 & 386: New Aten & Silent ET

    Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( @Nmcanopus ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. travelersinthenight.org

    From April 2026.

    Today's 2 topics:

    - Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammates Carson Fuls and Greg Lenoard discovered an Aten asteroid which orbits the Sun once every 272 days and on a path that crosses the orbits of Venus and Earth a number of times each year. Atens account for only about 6% of the Earth approaching asteroids that asteroid hunters discover. They are relatively dim and difficult to discover because they spend most of their time inside the Earth's orbit with their sunlit side facing away from us. For example Carson and Greg's newly discovered asteroid, 2017 WJ16, is bright enough for asteroid hunters to track for only about 50 nights every couple of years.

    - Oumuamua is the asteroid that zipped by the Earth on a trajectory that started beyond our solar system in truly deep space. After rounding our Sun at 97,000 mi/hr this unusual space rock will continue onward into deep interstellar space. The fact that this reddish object's brightness changes by a factor of 10 every 7.3 hours has been interpreted as being due to an elongated rocket or cigar shape which reflects different amounts of sun light in our direction as it tumbles through space. This strange space rock appears to be about 730 feet long and about 100 feet wide.

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    18 October 2026, 11:00 am
  • 11 minutes 14 seconds
    AstroMan - G Is For Galileo

    Galileo turned the telescope skyward and transformed astronomy, revealing lunar mountains, sunspots, Jupiter's moons, and a Universe far larger than imagined.

    "ASTROMAN: the Dark Sky Guardian" is a podcast channel that aims to explore popular science in multiple disciplines and research on interdisciplinary approaches, such as sustainability, dark-sky protection, astrophotography, space exploration, astronomy innovation, inclusive science communication, and STEAM Education by integrating science and arts.

    Exodus Chun-Long Sit, also known as the ASTROMAN, is a transmedia astronomy educator, popular science author, STEAM educator, and science communicator in Hong Kong. He is recently the National Astronomy Education Coordinator (Chair of Hong Kong, China) of the International Astronomical Union and President of Starrix. He was also an International Committee Member of the Dark Sky International, regularly organizing public lectures at the Hong Kong Space Museum and the Hong Kong Science Museum. He was also the author of a popular science book "Decoding the Starry Night: A Guide to Stargazing and Astrophotography".

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    17 October 2026, 11:00 am
  • 49 minutes 40 seconds
    Actual Astronomy - Saturn at Opposition

    Hosted by Chris Beckett & Shane Ludtke, two amateur astronomers in Saskatchewan who enjoy teaching astronomy classes and showing the public views through their telescopes. [email protected]

    In this episode, we cover key visual observing highlights for Saturn, including prominent features like the Equatorial Band and Equatorial Zone visible in amateur telescope. We also look at historical transient phenomena, such as the massive, planet-encircling "Great White Spots" that erupt in the northern hemisphere roughly once every Saturnian year.

    Alexio wrote:

    Hi Chris and Shane,

    I saw Saturn in your Observer's Calendar show notes. I'm an amateur astronomer in Mississauga, and thought you might enjoy a website I've built called Astrochron. Its Saturn model lets you move through past and future years and watch the rings open wide, narrow to almost edge-on, then open up again with the other face in view.

    Here's Saturn:

    https://astrochron.app/objects/saturn

    Regards,

    Alexio

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    16 October 2026, 11:00 am
  • 21 minutes 2 seconds
    EVSN - Luminous Kilonova Challenges Gamma-ray Burst Theories

    From November 2020.

    The brightest kilonova ever was detected and challenges current gamma-ray burst models. Plus, the history of water on both Venus and Mars, how radioactive elements may help habitability, and a little-known mass extinction event here on Earth. But wait! There's more… new images of the Perseus Cluster, a recaptured 1960s rocket booster, the shortest measurement of time, a treasure trove of copies of Principia, and SpaceX is certified to launch Crew-1 this weekend.

    Perseus Cluster pix:

    https://www.sci.news/astronomy/perseus-galaxy-cluster-radio-map-09213.html#google_vignette

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    15 October 2026, 11:00 am
  • 8 minutes 5 seconds
    Guide To Space - Universe Today News: NASA Selects GIMLI to Search the Marius Lunar Pit for a Potential Lunar Base Site

    https://www.universetoday.com/articles/nasa-selects-gimli-to-search-the-marius-lunar-pit-for-a-potential-lunar-base-site

    Recorded by our editor, Richard Drumm.

    Written by Matthew Williams.

    Lava tubes on the Moon and Mars are some of the most fascinating and useful places we could explore. These are natural tunnels below the surface that could protect astronauts from radiation, provide a constant temperature, and could even be sealed off as a place for a habitat. Now, a new mission is under development called GIMLI that could use ground-penetrating radar to scan beneath the surface and map out the extent of a lunar cave network.

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    14 October 2026, 11:00 am
  • 18 minutes 54 seconds
    Awesome Astronomy - Extra: The Hubble Tuning Fork & Citizen Science

    Paul Hill hosts solo!

    Damien Phillips, John Wildridge and Dustin Ruoff produce.

    In this podcast extra episode we talk to Dr. Karen Masters, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Haverford College, Pennsylvania about The Hubble Tuning Fork and Galaxy classification. But it's not only about that canonized galaxy classification system, it's also about how citizen science – astronomy done by absolutely anybody from their homes – can and does change the accepted wisdom and advance science.

    Galaxy Zoo:

    http://zoo1.galaxyzoo.org

    Twelve Years of Galaxy Zoo:

    https://arxiv.org/pdf/1910.08177

    Morphological Classification of Galaxies:

    https://arxiv.org/pdf/2502.09610

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    13 October 2026, 11:00 am
  • 31 minutes 31 seconds
    Astronomy Cast Ep. 804: Mission Tech Series: Fairings, Docking & Airlocks

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhkGOIAhBWc

    Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest)

    Streamed live on Oct 3, 2026.

    Mission Tech Part 3.

    Instead of sending up an entire space station for every mission, you can just send up a tiny can filled with astronauts. But that takes docking. And today we're gonna talk about what it takes to connect two spacecraft together. How to keep a cargo safe to get into orbit, and how to get in and out of your spacecraft without killing everyone!

    We removed all ads from the show. We need to get to 1500 patrons to keep it this way. We need your support!

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    12 October 2026, 11:00 am
  • 6 minutes 5 seconds
    Travelers in the Night Eps. 383 & 384: ET's Cigar & Dry Sands

    Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( @Nmcanopus ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. travelersinthenight.org

    From April, 2026.

    Today's 2 topics:

    - In 2012 as it crossed the orbit of Neptune heading towards the Sun a small space rock was 250 times fainter than can be detected by the Hubble Space Telescope. Five years later, after it had rounded the Sun, it became visible in asteroid hunter's telescopes for about 16 days, as it streaked across our planet's orbit at 37 miles per second, as it continued to move away from the Sun. During that brief period of time it was discovered by the PanSTARRS group in Hawaii, tracked by telescopes around the world, and given the name.

    - The NASA Curiosity Rover has shown us evidence of ancient rivers and bodies of liquid water on the martian surface. Given its thin cold atmosphere, seeps of liquid water, presently on the surface of Mars which are capable of hosting microbial life appear to be unlikely. Scientists were thus surprised when high resolution imaging of the red planet's surface revealed thousands of intriguing dark streaks called RSL on hundreds of rocky slope areas. These fascinating features slowly extend down hill and grow during the martian warm season, fade during the colder season, and reappear during the next martian warm period.

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    11 October 2026, 11:00 am
  • 17 minutes 48 seconds
    NOIRLab - First Magnetar Progenitor

    Neutron stars, the compact remains of a massive star following a supernova explosion, are the densest matter in the Universe. Some neutron stars, known as magnetars, also claim the record for the strongest magnetic fields of any object. How magnetars, which are a mere 15 kilometers across, form and produce such colossal magnetic fields remains a mystery.

    New observations by a team of astronomers, including NSF's NOIRLab's Dr. André-Nicolas Chené, may shed important light on the origin of these magnetic powerhouses. Using various telescopes around the globe, including the Canada-France-Hawai'i Telescope (CFHT) on Maunakea, the researchers have identified a new type of astronomical object — a massive magnetic helium star (an unusual variant of a Wolf-Rayet star), which may be the precursor of a magnetar.

    In this podcast, André-Nicolas Chené describes the process of finding the first known potential magnetar progenitor.

    Bios:

    Rob Sparks is in the Communications, Education and Engagement group at NSF's NOIRLab in Tucson, Arizona.

    Dr. André-Nicolas Chené is an associate astronomer at NOIRLab. He completed his PhD at the Université de Montréal in 2007 and learned everything about the fundamentals of astronomical observations at the Observatoire du Mont Mégantic. He was research fellow at the NRC Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre and postdoc jointly at the Universidad de Concepción and the Universidad de Valparaíso before joining the Gemini Observatory (now a program of NOIRLab) in 2013. For almost 10 years, André-Nicolas took part in every phase of a Gemini observing program life cycle and has played a central role in Gemini's user support effort. André-Nicolas's research interests are massive stars, hot winds, star clusters, and stellar evolution.

    Links:

    NOIRLab Press Release: https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2323/

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    10 October 2026, 11:00 am
  • 22 minutes 20 seconds
    EVSN - Cloudy With a Chance of Brown Dwarfs: Terrestrial, Exo & Space Weather

    From September 23, 2026.

    This week we're doing a weather check.

    No, really. Let's talk about the weather! All of them!

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    ------------------------------------

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    ------------------------------------

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    9 October 2026, 11:00 am
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