The 365 Days of Astronomy

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.

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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 ancient s...

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. 

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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!

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

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://Patreo...

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. 

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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 Da...

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’...

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 surfac...

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. 

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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

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

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...

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 2025.

Today's 2 topics:

- Greg Leonard was observing with our team's 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon in Arizona when he discovered a relatively large space rock, 2017 FD157, which can theoretically come closer to the Earth's surface than the communications satellites!

- Dr. Paul Wiegert of Western University in Canada, led a team of astronomers who have determined that 2015 BZ509, a 2 mile...

Episode 9.

“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 and President of Starrix. He was also...

From May 14, 2020.

Join us today as we talk about one of my favorite areas of research, pulsating stars, and how researchers have used data from NASA’s TESS mission to understand them. We also look at new evidence for watery plumes erupting from Jupiter’s moon Europa. And finally, we discuss how the SOFIA observatory has found clues for why Pluto’s atmospheric haze continues to exist.

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/365DaysOfAs...

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

Episode 500!

The Actual Astronomy Podcast presents Constellation Taurus. In this episode Chris and Shane celebrate their 500th episode by exploring all the nebulae and star clusters in Taurus. 

Taurus the Bull charges, head down toward Orion. The unmistakable V-shaped pattern marks the Hyades, catalogued as Melotte 25; this is the nearest open cluster at 153 light-years. First-magnitude Aldebaran burns red as the eye of the bull, but it is an accidental member being almost three times closer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h_ckjhGdjs

From  Feb 2, 2019.

Geologists think they’ve found the oldest Earth rock ever seen. And they found it in one of the last places you’d ever suspect, on the Moon. When the Apollo 14 astronauts returned their lunar samples back to Earth, they were carrying one rock that had formed on Earth 4 to 4.1 billion years ago, which was carved out of our planet during the time of intense bombardment and delivered to the Moon.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3287bkIOiM&ab_channel=DeepAstronomy

Hosted by Tony Darnell.

From  Oct 22, 2024.

Your Sky Tonight is produced by Deep Astronomy and made possible by members of this YouTube Channel.  Thank You!

In this episode, we look at how to locate the Orion Nebula in the night sky.

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!

Sh...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op5hkKFWFlM

Season 19.

Streamed live Sep 8, 2025.

Welcome to the first episode of our 19th season! This week we look at objects coming from other solar systems that come passing on by our Sun. During the summer hiatus the 3rd interstellar object was discovered: Comet 3I/ATLAS! So now we have 3 different interstellar interlopers to compare & contrast. What are we starting to learn about other star systems from this small sample size and how will our detection get even better?

[Editor’s note: HiRISE’s telescope is 1...

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 2025.

Today's 2 topics:

- In 2013 a 56 foot diameter space rock exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia releasing the energy of 450 kilotons of TNT and filled local hospitals with some of the 1,500 people who were injured. Fortunately no one died. In 1908 a 200 ft diameter meteor exploded over a largely unpopulated region at Tunguska, Siberia knocking down trees over a 750 square mile area. If it had hit...

Since their first detection, powerful bursts of X-rays from distant galaxies, known as fast X-ray transients (FXTs), have mystified astronomers. FXTs have historically been elusive events, occurring at vast distances away from Earth and only lasting seconds to hours. Einstein Probe (EP), launched in 2024, is dedicated to observing transient events in the X-ray and is changing the game for astronomers looking to understand the origin of these exotic events. In this podcast, Dr. Robert Eyles-Ferris discusses a recent FXT and what it reveals about the deaths of massive stars. 

Bios: 

- Rob Sparks is...

From September 3, 2025.

In this week's episode, we take a look at the impact SpaceX launches from the Space Coast will have on their competitors and those living, working, and going to school near Kennedy and Cape Canaveral. We also look at a bunch of new science discoveries, including the origins of Ryugu & Bennu, the solar system shocked itself, a new supernova that blew off an unusual number of layers before exploding, and quick updates on Psyche, Juno, JUICE, and the number of moons orbiting Uranus.

We've added a new way to donate to 365 D...

Hosted by Avivah Yamani, our Director.

We are exploring the word Equinox. We start by having the definitions, why “equal night” isn’t quite exact, how spring/autumn flip between hemispheres, and a whirlwind tour of equator monuments from Pontianak to Macapá, Cayambe, Kayabwe, Nanyuki, Ilhéu das Rolas, and Bonjol.

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 t...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1otYvmqp6w

Hosted by Fraser Cain.

From Jul 19, 2016.

Some of the greatest discoveries in astronomy have been made by watching how the skies change over time. Today we talk about these techniques, and an observatory that will revolutionize time-based astronomy.

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 an...

How do we measure the sizes of stars? What are the biggest ones today, and how big could stars have gotten in the past? Is there any way for a star to cheat and get even bigger? 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, astr...

http://www.astronomycast.com/archive/

From September 14, 2009.

We think we live near an average star, but that’s not the case at all. Compared to most stars in the Universe, the Sun is a giant! Let’s look at the small end of the stellar spectrum, to stars with a fraction of the size and mass of our own Sun. There are many ways that a star can get small, and they lead dramatically different lives and deaths.

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

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 November 2024.

Today's 2 topics:

- My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls was using the new hundred million pixel camera on our team's Schmidt telescope located on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona, when he discovered 2017 AG13. It passes near the Earth's orbit twice a year on its own 345 day path around the Sun. When Carson spotted it, 9 lunar distances from him it was heading in our...

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

Damien Phillips, John Wildridge and Dustin Ruoff produce.

[Editor’s note: This episode is 1 hour 37 minutes long.]

A bumper end of summer episode with Paul out in the world of science outreach and communication in a Summer music festival. There’s also discussion of the new Astronomer Royal, China’s moon program, Starship and a deep dive on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production c...

From May 27, 2021.

Jupiter’s moon Europa, an icy world with a subsurface ocean that interests astrobiologists, may actually be hot enough to melt the interior rock and create volcanoes on the ocean floor. Plus, Ryugu, giant planets, fossil discoveries, Martian glaciers, and this week’s What’s Up!

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...

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

- Sept 1 - Aurigids ZHR=10 related to Comet Keiss

The comet was discovered by Carl Clarence Kiess at Lick Observatory on a photographic plate obtained in the morning hours of 6 July 1911 with the Crocker photographic telescope. The comet appeared as a distorted nebulous object with a short tail. The presence of the comet was confirmed visually the next day. The comet had a well condensed nucleus and a faint tail. In photographs the tail was four degrees long. The comet then...

Asking questions and not always answering them.

Is there hope?

Well, sure. The question arises where the Drake Equation, aiming to quantify the likely number

of detectable intelligent civilizations out there includes a term representing the inherent risk of

any intelligent civilization destroying itself. It is just a risk, could be low could be high, but its

wide acceptance as a part of the whole equation does suggest we have some pessimism about

our own future.

Could dark matter be black holes?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RucWv35XwD0

Hosted by Tony Darnell.

From  Oct 11, 2023.

Over the course of this show, we’ve talked many, many times about the Transit Method for detecting exoplanets.  It is simply the measure of a star's decrease in brightness as the star passes through our line of sight.  This once difficult measurement has now become commonplace and can even be done with advanced amateur astronomy equipment under a reasonably dark sky.

From this measurement, we can infer a few things about the planets passing by: we...

http://www.astronomycast.com/archive/

From February 9, 2009.

This week Bob Novella of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast is going to pepper Pamela with questions, testing her ability to leap from tides to gravitational waves to Higgs bosons. We’ll see where this takes us on this skeptical journey through what is known and what we’re trying to learn about this Universe.

[Editor’s note: A small bit of audio at the start of two of Bob’s questions was lost due to a technical glitch. So I inserted a coo-coo clock so...