The 365 Days of Astronomy

From October 15, 2025.

The Universe is hard enough to figure out without one kind of object dressing up as another, but - just in time for Halloween - researchers have figured out that the Little Red Dot in the early Universe just might be massive black holes surrounded in a costume of glowing red gas. Also in this episode, Hyabusa2's amusingly tiny destination, a white dwarf star eating what may be an icy dwarf planet, and tales from the launch pad.

We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to s...

Today's guest: 

Prof. Kenneth Rumstay, emeritus of Valdosta State Univeristy, talks with us today about the history of the Historical Astronomy Division. We'll learn not only about how it got started, but also about how HAD works for its members today.

H'ad astra historia is the official podcast for the Historical Astronomy Division of the American Astronomical Society. We're here to share stories from and about the people who study the stars, planets, and the cosmos. We'll be hearing from individuals who not only study the history of astronomy, but also those who li...

Hosted by Steve Nerlich.

Dear Cheap Astronomy – What is the right message to send to the aliens?

Keen listeners may be familiar with Cheap Astronomy's ongoing despair at Earth's lacklustre

attempts at communication with the wider Universe. A few episodes back we ran through a

history of deliberate communications to date, about 90 per cent of which have been music – well

mostly digitized and some analog radio transmissions of music.

Dear Cheap Astronomy – Can we drill through the ice and find life on Europa?

Firstly...

Hosted by Tony Darnell.

From  Dec 19, 2019.

Get Stellina Telescope Here (affiliate link): http://bit.ly/2WJrPzr

Here are my thoughts on a brand new telescope for amateur astronomers that was released by Vaonis, a  French company that has done something remarkable with the Stellina telescope, they've created a fully-automated, self-contained optical system that is unlike anything I've seen before.  This telescope is a real paradigm shift for amateur astronomy, never before has getting into the hobby been easier.

We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of As...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSVS2x-8eG4

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

Streamed live on Oct 20, 2025.

New instruments bring new mysteries, and when James Webb came on line it uncovered a collection of strange, compact, bright objects shifted deeply into the red end of the spectrum. These were dubbed "Little red dots" or LRDs. And the astronomical community continues to puzzle over what they are. When JWST first peered into the distant past, it discovered the early universe had a rash of little red dots. Their existence...

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 Grandsons, Dane and Hank joined our asteroid hunting team at the Catalina Sky Survey 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon. The most interesting of our discoveries, 2017 KJ32 is only 16 feet in diameter, orbits the Sun once every 315 days, and can come closer to us than the communications satellites. 

- My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Ca...

From July 31, 2024.

Hosted by Dr. Jacinta Delhaize, Dr. Tshiamiso Makwela & Dr. Daniel Cunnama.

In this double feature episode, Jacinta interviews two amazing astronomers at the SARAO conference (South African Radio Astronomical Observatory).

Dr. Mpati Ramotsoku is a radio astrophysicist from South Africa. In the episode she discusses her journey from studying in the Netherlands to working in Italy at the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics in Cali, and eventually returning to South Africa as a research associate at Rhodes University. She delves into her research on how galaxies evolve by studying h...

From April 13, 2021.

A new study examined the effects of recent increases in the number of space objects orbiting Earth and found that the proliferation of satellites contributes to a nearly ten percent increase over natural lighting of the night sky. Plus, Mars, Uranus, Neptune, ancient Earth, volcanoes, 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 yo...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6vU3-LGrgM

From Jul 11, 2016.

Stars can spin faster or slower than the Sun. What's the fastest that's ever been discovered, and what's the fastest speed you can have before they tear themselves apart? Everything in the Universe is spinning. Spinning planets and their spinning moons orbit around spinning stars, which orbit spinning galaxies. It's spinning all the way down.

Consider that fiery ball in the sky, the Sun. Like all stars, our Sun rotates on its axis. You can't tell because staring at the S...

Those tricky next steps.

Dear Cheap Astronomy – Could war get us into space?

There's been a long-running dialogue here at Cheap Astronomy about what economic drivers

might transform us into a proper spacefaring species with Moon bases, Mars bases and all that.

And well, its been hard to think what economic drivers really might work. Space is hard and it's

also darned expensive. Tourism could be a driver, after all there has been a bit of millionaire

tourism happening, mostly just flights above the atmosphere.

Why did we develop the International Space Station in the first place? What have we learned in its 25+ years of operation? When is it coming down, and why? And what's coming up next? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman!

Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter

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Keep those questions about space, science, astronomy, astrophysics, physics, and cosmology co...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi72aaDhl0A

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

Streamed live on Oct 13, 2025.

So it's been decades since we've seen a bright comet in the sky. And actually there was a pair — Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake. And then, silence! And unmet promises by the Universe to give us a bright comet. Comets are unpredictable, and they arrive precisely when they intend to. Is it time again for a bright comet? If you asked us in January if 2025 was going to have any outstanding comets would fl...

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 2025.

Today's 2 topics:

- When we find a planet which appears to have the chemical signs of living organisms in its atmosphere, the desire to take a close up look at it will be hard to contain. In a Scientific American article, Lee Billings describes Yuri Milner's 100 million dollar project "Breakthrough Starshot" which has been created to leap frog our current rocket technology's...

Episode 10. How to become a citizen scientist!

"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 CL 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 a...

From Aug 31, 2020.

Join us today as we examine observations for dual quasars in the process of merging and a star being torn apart by its supermassive black hole. Plus, Hubble data used to map a halo around the Andromeda galaxy.

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! 

Every bit...

Hosted by Chris Beckett & Shane Ludtke, two amateur astronomers in Saskatchewan. actualastronomy@gmail.com

The Actual Astronomy Podcast Episode 503 presents M55, Helix Nebula and other Observations. In this episode we talk about a long list of observing targets from the globular star cluster M55, the Helix planetary nebula and other objects. We read a listener who emails us a sky tour for the late summer as well.

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/365Da...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWfkW2y-hAQ

From Oct 15, 2019.

Even as the first rockets were launched into space decades ago, aerospace knew it was a wasteful process. Rocket stages, motors, and complex equipment crashed into the ocean or burned up in the Earth's atmosphere. Could spaceplanes bring the costs down? Flying to orbit with a combination of jet engines and rockets and then safely re-enter the Earth's atmosphere again.

Single-stage to orbit spacecraft and spaceplanes have always seemed out of reach, and actually not that practical. But what about a t...

From October 2023.

Hosted by Tony Darnell.

The search for life on other worlds is, to say the least, a daunting and overwhelming task. We've been searching for only about one human generation and have yet to find anything in our own solar system, let alone the vast expanse of our galaxy.

To increase our chances of finding life on other planets, a systematic approach needs to be adopted, one that applies reasonable assumptions that maximize our success.  So, an important question becomes, where should we point our telescopes?

W...

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

Season 19

Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay

Streamed live on Oct 6, 2025.

You can only describe a black hole by its mass and its spin. And maybe it's charge. But allow us to propose a new criteria: the personal experience. Some black holes have seen things… Experienced the laws of physics at their most extreme. And today we'll tell their stories. The more of the sky we observe, the more bizarre situations we find black holes in. Let's explore!

T...

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

Today's 2 topics:

- Recently Dr. Yossi Shvartzvald led a team which published their discovery of an Earth sized planet using microlensing in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. The newly discovered planet OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb orbits a small dim object about 13,000 light years from us. With only 7.8% of the Sun's mass the new planet's star may be a brown dwarf and not a star at all. At about...

Astronomers have long predicted that the cloud forming chemical should be found in the atmospheres of brown dwarfs and gas giants. Silane had eluded detection until now. In this podcast, Dr. Aaron Meisner recounts how silane was discovered in the atmosphere of a brown dwarf nicknamed "The Accident". The Accident (WISEA J153429.75-104303.3) was discovered by citizen scientist Dan Caselden, who was using an online program he built to find brown dwarfs in NEOWISE data.

Bios: 

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

...

The Gemini South Observatory, using adaptive optics, has captured stunning new images of meandering stellar jets. The sidewinding appearance is likely caused by gravitational influences of nearby companion stars. Plus, exoplanet news and a review of a Canon lens.

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! 

Every bit helps! Thank you...

Awesome Astronomy - The Search for Aliens with Seth Shostak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj6Wfv1djf0

Paul Hill, Ralph Wilkins and Dr. Jenifer "Dr. Dust" Millard host. 

Damien Phillips, John Wildridge and Dustin Ruoff produce.

From Jan 3, 2022.

Our chat with Dr. Seth Shostak from our live show to ease the boredom of covid lockdowns. 

We talk about:

• The latest in the search for alien signals.

• Using the large New Mexico telescope array to search for ET.

• How ancie...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q41hLHcKyUM

From Mar 21, 2018.

Have you ever wondered how those amazing pictures of space are gathered? Which are photographs, which are illustrations, and which are total fakes?

[Editor's note: You'll have to go to the YouTube link above to see the photos.]

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!

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How to smash a particle.

How do particle colliders work? What kinds of energies are we talking about? Are there any uses for colliders except for physics experiments? 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

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Keep those questions about space, science, astronomy, astrophysics, physics, and cosmology coming to #AskASpaceman fo...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXkqLQ1oBk8

End-of-Life Planning for Your Spacecraft!

Streamed live October 1, 2025.

Your spacecraft has reached the end of its mission. You've done everything you can to keep it operational, but now it's time to say goodbye. How do space agencies deal with spacecraft to shut them down gracefully, protect future missions and life on other worlds. So, the time has come to see your mission across the Rainbow Bridge. How exactly do you say goodbye? Let's discuss. 

Support our shows through https://Patreon.com/As...

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 May 2025.

Today's 2 topics:

- When a fleet of interstellar spaceships leaves our solar system for a planet circling a nearby star the most important of all of the riches that human explorers will carry with them will be libraries of our planet's DNA and the seeds of plants. They are the connection between past life, the inorganic world, and future life.

Paul Hill and Dr. Jenifer "Dr. Dust" Millard host. 

Damien Phillips, John Wildridge and Dustin Ruoff produce.

October Part 1.

Paul & Jen chat about the big submerged crater off Yorkshire, the return of the ozone hole, NASA's apparent decline, Astro Camp and the several comets we have on tap for October & November! Bit of a mixed bag, really…

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...

From September 17, 2025.

In this week's episode, we tell the story of a Giant Blue Star that made the terrible, terrible mistake of trying to nibble on its more evolved sibling; it's black hole of a sibling. Folks, don't eat the dark holes in spacetime. We also look at this week's news, including lumpy planets, forming planets, asteroids getting up close and personal, and how Leopard spots are in style for life hunting Mars Scientists. We also have tales from the launch pad.

We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy t...

Hosted by Chris Beckett & Shane Ludtke, two amateur astronomers in Saskatchewan. actualastronomy@gmail.com

The Actual Astronomy Podcast presents Episode 502: The Observer's Calendar for October 2025. In this episode we talk about a long list of observing events from Carbon stars to many shadow transits of the Moon of Jupiter. Don't miss the Orionid meteor shower and catch Saturn with its rings edge on! We also discuss some stars and deep sky objects and two bright comets coming our way!

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

From  Jan 24, 2019.

As astronomers find more and more planets around other stars, the big question we want to know is: are they habitable, could there be life there?

The vast majority of stars in the Milky Way are red dwarf stars, and most of the planets in habitable zones have been found orbiting these cooler, less massive stars. What are the chances that life could get going on these worlds?

We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Ast...

Hosted by Richard Drumm, our Editor.

The word of the day today is parallax! Specifically stellar parallax.

So what's parallax & what does it mean to astronomers? As it happens, I was part of the UVA Parallax team in the early 1980s. Best part-time job ever! So for once I might know a little bit about what I'm talking about! I'll do my best to describe it so you can understand the science.

An easy method to help grasp the concept is for you to hold out your thumb at arm's length a...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NupNyOy4-0

Streamed live on Sep 22, 2025.

We don't launch a lot of rockets every year, so their impact on the environment is minimal compared to other forms of transportation. But that number is steadily increasing with rates that we'll have to take seriously. What's the current and future impact of rockets on the environment Rocket facilities are often surrounded by wildlife preserves and they always fly through our atmosphere. Let's take a look at how launches do and don't impact the environment around them from the surface of Earth...

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 May 2025.

Today's 2 topics:

- On May 5, 2014 when I discovered 2014 JO25 with the Catalina Sky Survey's 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona it was the brightest, fastest asteroid I had ever seen. In April of 2017, 2014 JO25 returned to come within 1.1 million miles of us at 21 mi/s. This rare, very close approach by an asteroid, of 2014 JO25's size allowed scientists at NASA's Goldstone...

Hosted by Dr. Jacinta Delhaize, Dr. Tshiamiso Makwela & Dr. Daniel Cunnama.

This episode of Cosmic Savannah features Professor James Chibueze, a distinguished professor at the University of South Africa, discussing his research on star formation using radio astronomy.

During the episode, Prof Chibueze discusses his journey to become a professional astronomer and how he got interested in radio astronomy. Prof Chibueze also gives some insight into his experience doing his PhD in Japan and even having to learn Japanese. James also discusses his work on studying young spinning stars which produce bipolar outflows.

From May 22, 2020.

Join us today as we talk about radio transmitters found in the twinkling heart of the Milky Way. Then we'll look at an asteroid that has a comet-like tail. And finally, Bennu is about to be sampled by OSIRIS-Rex, and we helped make that happen!

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...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH4uczqmhQ0

From Jan 20, 2023.

The James Webb Space Telescope took time away from finding the earliest galaxies or imaging incredible nebulae to test out its planet hunting capabilities. To say it was immediately successful would be an understatement. JWST is showing us that it can do almost anything in astronomy and cosmology.

Its latest trick is picking out an exoplanet candidate, confirming it exists and telling us about this alien world. LHS 475 is a red dwarf star 41 light-years away from our Solar System in the s...

Are we alone, and if so can we have all the planets?

Dear Cheap Astronomy – Alien diplomacy?

A recent paper by John Gertz called Interstellar Diplomacy suggests some kind of contact with

aliens is inevitable, which seems reasonable with respect to some kind of radio transmission,

but the paper then goes on to suggest that contact might involve a robotic scout vehicle sent

here from an a distant alien civilization, which seems somewhat less inevitable and then it

descends into farce by further suggesting such scouts might ha...

Echoes of the Big Bang!

What are some sources of gravitational waves that aren't black holes? How did inflation create gravitational waves? How can we possibly detect them? 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, astronomy, astrophysics, physics, and cosmology coming to #AskASpaceman fo...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GhRypmWaCY

Streamed live September 17, 2025.

This week, we look at the process behind rockets getting licensed to launch, and everyone around the pad getting notified to stay away as T-0 approaches. (Can you say "errant boat"?) We have a saying around here: "One does not simply book a return trip from a rocket launch." That's because they are an intensely complex chain of events that need to go right before it's wise to let that rocket leave the launchpad. 

We've added a new way to donate to...