Author: aajadmin

The Discussion: As we begin the new decade we struggle to find a consensus on whether it actually is a new decade. We discuss the busy Xmas period and thank any listeners who helped Dartmoor Skies reach their funding target for a new telescope. Then we take a look at a few listeners’ emails and tweets.

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have:

• An old galaxy containing as much dust as one third the amount of its stars
• Mapping the magnetic fields around the Whale Galaxy
• An interstellar comet makes its way back out of the solar system
• A burst of supernovae in the Milky Way’s not-to-distant past
• Is Betelgeuse about to go supernova?

The Sky Guide: Shaking up the format of the sky guide, we’re taking a look at the constellation of Monoceros with a guide to its history, how to find it, a couple of deep sky objects and a round up of the solar system objects on offer in January.

Q&A: If there are no plate tectonics on the moon, how did the lunar mountain regions form? from @gkt_wales on Twitter

The Discussion: A look at the BBC’s new Martian invasion documentary, The War of the Worlds; the recent transit of Mercury; Celestron’s new phone adapter; Jen’s upcoming talks in Wales, an update on Jen’s research paper, a new research project and a debate over the start and end of a decade. Then we take a look at a couple of listeners’ emails.

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have:

• Water vapour geysers on Europa
• Ultima Thule loses its Nazi moniker
• Locating the stellar remnant from the closest supernova to Earth
• Are Axions dark matter particles? (no)
• And a round up of spaceflight news from NASA, ESA, India, New Zealand & UK

The Sky Guide: Covering the solar system and deep sky objects on offer to amateur astronomers in December:

• Jen: A round up of the planets available to northern hemisphere observers in December, and a look at the Pleiades in Taurus.
• Paul: The best meteor shower of the year and naked eye visible open cluster Messier 35.

The Debate: A look back at the debates and votes over the past year with your result for The Best Space Mission of All Time.

The Discussion: Before we start the show proper, we discuss Jeni’s encounter with Nobel Laureate Kip Thorne, her new research paper undergoing a painfully slow peer review and we take a look at Chris Lintott’s book, The Crowd and the Cosmos: Adventures in the Zooniverse. Then it’s over to the listeners for a few emails suggesting cooler names for the phenomenon of the Pair Instability Supernova.

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have:

• An enigmatic radio burst opens up a new method of probing the universe
• Hubble takes a look at interstellar comet
• Hygiea becomes the latest candidate to be recategorized as a dwarf planet
• Spiral galaxies give more clues to discredit the MOND theory of dark matter
• Venus going pop and perhaps a 2 billion window of habitability
• More confusion over the age of Saturn’s rings

The big news story: perhaps heavier elements in the Universe are not only forged in supernovae, but also from neutron star mergers.

The Sky Guide: Covering the solar system and deep sky objects on offer to amateur astronomers in November:

• Paul: A round up of the planets available to northern hemisphere observers in November, a tour of the comets currently in our skies and Vest at opposition. In the deep sky, Paul recommends a few overlooked objects in Cetus and Sculptor.
• Jen: The upcoming Transit of Mercury on 11/12th November.
• Ralph: 3 lunar/planetary conjunctions and a couple of meteor showers. Then further afield, the Orion Nebula

 Main Object: The innermost planet, Mercury

Q&A: What actually is the solar wind? From our good friend Andrew Osborne.

The Discussion: A look back at our 50th anniversary of the moon landings-themed dark sky star party, AstroCamp, and some wonderful suggestions as an alternative name for a ‘pair instability supernova’.

The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have:

• Discovery of an exoplanet stripped of its atmosphere
• Understanding more about the features you can observe in Jupiter’s storms
• Gaia tells us more about the evolution of open clusters
• Chandra probes black hole clusters
• Planet 9 (groan…) could be a tiny black hole (it couldn’t)
• Amateur astronomer discovery of an interstellar comet
• Understanding the evolution of globular clusters
• NASA’s Insight lander suggests weird magnetic chirping at midnight on Mars

The main news story discussion: Water vapour in the atmosphere of an exoplanet in its habitable zone – leading to discussions on the importance of science journalism and the search for Earth 2.0

The Sky Guide: Covering the solar system and deep sky objects on offer to amateur astronomers in October:

Paul: A round up of the planets available to northern hemisphere observers in October and a tour of the comets currently in our skies. In the deep sky, we recommend a look at globular cluster Messier 2 and the NGC7009 planetary nebula in Aquarius.

Ralph: 3 lunar/planetary conjunctions and a glut of meteor showers. Then further afield, the Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies.

Main Object: Messier 44, The Beehive Cluster

Q&A: Advice on upgrading telescopes for our good friend Jeremy Hanson in Wisconsin, USA.

Also this month, a close friend of Jen’s, Chris Duffield, got ill and died in China aged 27. The foreign office have told his family that the ballpark figure for getting him home will be between £15,000-£20,000. If you’d like to help repatriate the friend’s body, please do consider giving a donation to the gofundme account at tiny.cc/lpvgdz. Thank you.