The 365 Days of Astronomy

Episode 524. Hosted by Chris Beckett & Shane Ludtke, two amateur astronomers in Saskatchewan who enjoy teaching astronomy classes and showing the public views through their telescopes. actualastronomy@gmail.com This month we talk about another Comet, colorful doubles, Mira at maximum. We also have one of the brightest clusters in the skies, the Beehive, well placed while the Moon meets with Antares then Regulus. End of Feb. beginning of March Comet C/2024 E1 Wierzchos 6th – 7th magnitude Mar 1 – Struve 1183 Monoceros – Colorful Double Mar 2 – Regulus .4° S of Moon Mar 3 –...

Paul Hill and Dr. Jenifer "Dr. Dust" Millard host.  Damien Phillips, John Wildridge and Dustin Ruoff produce. March episode part 1. This month it is the curious case of a vanishing star and galaxies that shine no light…plus our monthly skyguide and Jeni has a blocked drain! Also: https://www.almaobservatory.org/en/press-releases/alma-creates-largest-ever-image-of-the-milky-ways-core/   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 c...

Hosted by Dr. Paul M. Sutter. How can anyone agree on the age of the Universe? And how can we be so confident if it's all just a bunch of models? What if the Universe is extra lumpy, does that change anything? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman!   Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes: http://www.AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books   Ke...

Off label uses for Pulsars… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XMJBiJao6M Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest) Streamed live on Feb 16, 2026. Pulsars are dead stars and fascinating in their own right, but astronomers can use their predictable rotation for exploring the cosmos in a series of amazing ways. We can detect gravitational waves, navigate the solar system, test general relativity and find exoplanets. Pulsars are the time keepers of the sky, with their precise ticking allowing researchers to track gravitational waves, find exotic planets, an...

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 July & August 2025. Today's 2 topics: - After the Earth the Sun is the most important object for human beings in the Universe.  It is the energy source which produces our food and is the source for all of the energy and motion around us except for geothermal and nuclear energy sources. The Sun is normally well behaved the exception being solar storms which can d...

Hosted by Dr. Jacinta Delhaize, Dr. Tshiamiso Makwela, Dr. Daniel Cunnama & François Campher With Tumelo Mangena, Leyya Stockenstroom and Ndivhuwo Netshiavha. In this episode, we hear from three postgraduate astronomy students from the University of Cape Town about their worldly adventures during a research trip to the University of Oxford in the UK!   PhD student Tumelo Mangena and Masters students Leyya Stockenstroom and Ndivhuwo Netshiavha are part of the RADHIANCE research group led by our very own Jacinta Delhaize! They use world-leading telescopes, like South Africa's MeerKAT, to examine the li...

From April 15, 2022. An analysis of microscopic features in rocks from the Nuvvuagittuq Supracrustal Belt in Quebec, Canada, which date back between 3.75 and 4.28 billion years, finds evidence of possible microbial life. Plus, a supermassive black hole precursor, temperatures on Neptune, check-ins with various spacecraft, and our weekly What's Up segment.   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 th...

Today we're talking with Dr. Richard Tresch Fienberg (https://aas.org/press/richard-tresch-fienberg), astronomer and science communicator, who shares his experiences as Expert Astronomer on Sky & Telescope magazine's September 2025 Astronomy Tour to "Galileo's Italy." Though enjoying retirement, he volunteers his time for the American Astronomical Society as Senior Advisor to the CEO, and is a Senior Contributing Editor with Sky & Telescope. This is the first of two episodes covering our interview.   Loretta Cannon (an AAS affiliate via Rose City Astronomers) is a science-and-word-nerd who really likes outer space and the people who study it. She q...

Hosted by Steve Nerlich. Cheap Astronomy investigates things that haven't happened yet. - Dear Cheap Astronomy: When will the Sun destroy the Earth and can we stop it? - Dear Cheap Astronomy: Will we ever meet aliens?    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!  Ever...

Paul Hill and Dr. Jenifer "Dr. Dust" Millard host.  Damien Phillips, John Wildridge and Dustin Ruoff produce. February Episode Part 2. This episode we chat about the potential ozone hole issue caused by mega constellations, how Jupiter has shrunk and what Aurora would look like when Earth's poles flip.   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 fri...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzFgfN2B_k4 Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest) Streamed live on Feb 16, 2026. There are many types of variable stars. Today we're gonna talk about cataclysmic variable stars, which are the result of a white dwarf stealing material from a companion star. And this whole process makes supervillain Pamela happy. Gravity is the weakest force, but on the scales of stars, it is capable of great violence. In this episode, we look at the wild physics of cataclysmic variables: binary star systems...

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 July 2025. Today's 2 topics: - Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Dr. Hannes Gröller and I traveled to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument to install two night sky meters which will enable this wonderful national treasure to become an international dark sky park. Surrounded by vast tracts of unoccupied public land and having an abundance of clear weather the Gila Cliff Dwellings N...

Episode 14. Our Sun is more than a glowing ball in the sky. It's a dynamic, ever-changing star at the peak of its solar cycle. In this episode of ASTROMAN: The Dark Sky Guardian, we learn how to safely observe sunspots and solar flares, and why studying solar activity helps protect satellites, power grids, and even predicts auroras.   "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, a...

In this episode, we take a closer look at how the increasing number of rockets and satellites going up mean there is also an unfortunate increase in the space junk coming down. We also cover dramatic weather, stars dying and disappearing, and update you on Maven and Paranal Observatory.   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 li...

Hosted by Chris Beckett & Shane Ludtke, two amateur astronomers in Saskatchewan. actualastronomy@gmail.com Episode 522. Continuing on with our 2026 resolution we have a special guest listener joining us today. Richard Navarette is a long time amateur astronomer from the San Francisco Bay Area where he has been instrumental in getting people out observing through The Astronomy Connection, well known as "TAC". Richard has owned 20+ telescopes over the years and while he has enjoyed viewing through many large instruments his personal collection has mostly been focused on portable, affordable gear.   W...

Astronomers just found something cool!  Typically, most Sun-like stars host planets between the size of Earth and Neptune called 'super-Earths' or 'sub-Neptunes'. These planets often orbit their stars even closer than Mercury orbits our Sun. They're mostly rocky super-Earths or they have a thick atmosphere and a rocky core and are sub-Neptunes. They're the most common types of planet found in our Galaxy. And yet, astronomers weren't sure exactly how these planets formed.  So yeah, they found something cool!    We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to supp...

Hosted by Dr. Paul M. Sutter. Why is math so effective at describing the Universe? What is reality is made of math? What does it mean for us to be conscious beings in a mathematical structure? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman!   Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes: http://www.AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books   Keep those questions about space, science, as...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVvY9HGss8E Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest) Streamed live on Feb 13, 2026. Modern astronomy has found that the Universe can surprise us. Here's one which astronomers have called Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transients. They're kinda like supernovas, they're kind of like gamma ray bursts, but they're not like them. So what are they? In the distant Universe, are blue light flashes, bright and hard to understand. These objects, uncreatively named "Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transients," are just the kind of puzzle...

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 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: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOb2DQWvDvc <...

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 i...