Author: Damien Phillips

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The Discussion: Jeni gets her name in lights – well, bold print, as she contributes (what else but graphs) to a published research paper and Ralph takes a look at Ben Cacase’s very own new asterism in the heart of Auriga and reads a defiant message from Michelle of ‘ze resistonce’.

The News: It’s a very rocky month as we round up the following space and astronomy news stories:

• Earth’s moon had an atmosphere thicker than Mars’ for more than 70 million years
• Observations suggest Proxima Centauri has a Kuiper Belt and maybe a Oort Cloud
• A sci-fi like asteroid from another star system is now passing through the inner solar system

Hat of Woo/Astronomy Concept mash-up: This month Paul’s festering Hat of Woo is a little less fetid as we discuss a plausible but untested concept that has just a faint whiff of woo about it. This month we look at The Nemesis ‘Theory’ which suggests the sun has a brown dwarf companion which causes periodic extinction events – and, of course, we’re long overdue an extinction and NASA are covering it all up!!!

Q&A: Listeners’ questions via email, Facebook & Twitter take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity. This month we’re tackling a question about meteor showers and how we calculate their orbits:

I was wondering if all known meteor showers are definitely associated with a comet? Also, how do astronomers determine the orbit of a comet using just a few locations on the sky? Ben Cacase, Manhattan, New York via email

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The Discussion: Britain shows that it won’t just roll over and let America take the lead in intimidating academic freedom and Jen recounts her gravitational waves research conference in Brighton in October.

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

• Astronomers make the 1st observation of a neutron star collision
• Astronomers discover a missing chunk of the universe
• 3D videos of aurora that you can see at http://www.iap.fr/aurora3d/

The Interview: This month Cardiff University’s Professor Mark Hannam tells us more about the recent observation of colliding neutron stars and this window into a new realm of astronomy.

Q&A: Listeners’ questions via email, Facebook & Twitter take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity. This month we’re tackling a question about the Drake Equation:

“It strikes me that the Drake equation sets the probability of life at either (1) pretty close to zero – in which case surely we’d be worth a visit. OR (2) very numerous – in which case there’s every chance alien life might be driving past on their annual holiday. Or somewhere in between!

I think I’m saying that, yes overall I agree with the saying “seeing is believing”, but at the same time I don’t taking not seeing as proof of non existence. I’ve never seen a Polar Bear (you don’t in Leeds) but I’m pretty sure they are out there.”

John Levett in Leeds, UK

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The Discussion: You’d be forgiven for thinking we recorded this episode drunk – but we assure you, we weren’t. And you’ll have to forgive us for our crappy audio and shameless national stereotyping!

But in this show, recorded from our dark sky star party in the Welsh Brecon Beacons, we discuss the event, Jeni’s talk on exoplanet research and we take a look at listeners’ emails.

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

• A fresh look at the age and high metallicity of an observable star cluster
• Australia takes the plunge and announces the creation of its own space agency
• Research giving hints of water on planets in the TRAPPIST 1 system

Hat of Woo: Paul’s festering Hat of Woo gets another airing as we take a look at the end of the world on 23rd September as planet Nibiru collides with Earth (or the beginning of The Rapture, if the world doesn’t end). Assuming you’re reading this or listening to the podcast, the world clearly didn’t end!

Q&A: Listeners’ questions via email, Facebook & Twitter take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity. This month we’re tackling a question about the consequences of discovering life on another planet to planetary exploration:

“Let’s say the next Mars rover that is tweaked to find life on Mars finds some microbial life what impact would that have on the whole Mars exploration plans? I cannot imagine that one can send a crew of astronauts to Mars’ surface and avoid contamination. If Mars is declared some sort of reserve shouldn’t we then shelve all these plans? Clemens Unger, Melbourne Australia