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PODCAST

Pythagorean Astronomy

Chris North and Edward Gomez

Astronomy news and interviews with scientists involved in the discoveries. Hosted by Dr Chris North (Cardiff University) and Dr Edward Gomez (Las Cumbres Observatory).

science & medicine natural sciences

All Episodes

00:52:19

Space Environmentalism

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2022/06/02

In the 65 years since Sputnik 1 was launched in 1957, the number of artificial satellites in orbit has been increasing. In the last two years, the number of satellites has doubled, largely thanks to the huge "constellations" launched by companies such as SpaceX. The number of satellites has a detrimental impact on astronomical observations, both with professional telescopes and by amateur astronomers. Dr Meredith Rawls, from University of Washington, is planning observations with the Vera Rubin

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00:21:37

Routine Spaceflight?

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2022/05/05

It's not often that a new astronomical phenomenon is named, but this month we have a new one. The name might not be that original, but there have been the first observations of something known as a "micronova". Lasting just a few hours, a micronova is much fainter than a typical "nova", making them much harder to detect, and much less likely to be picked up. Chris North and Edward Gomez discuss what causes these events. Coming closer to home, spaceflight has been busy, with two missions to the

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00:28:07

Shadow of War

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2022/03/31

With the invasion of Ukraine casting a shadow over the world, Chris North and Edward Gomez look at the impact of the war on astronomy and space science, mindful that these pale in importance when compared with the death and destruction taking place on the ground. From the international collaboration taking place on board the International Space Station, to the use of Russian rockets. Also at stake is the future of the Rosalind Franklin Rover, a European-Russian collaborative mission that was due to

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00:28:19

Venus resurfaces

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2022/03/03

Back in September 2020, the new broke that an unexpected gas, phosphine had been discovered in the atmosphere of Venus. While plans for making further measurements are progressing, the theoreticians have been hard at work modelling the atmosphere, and trying to explain how life could possibly exist in such a harsh environment Dr William Bains, of Cardiff University and MIT, is part of a team who have developed a model that helps explain how microbial life might make the atmosphere of Venus more

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00:41:49

Radio repeater

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2022/02/07

When a mysterious signal was found by an undergraduate student, Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker was perplexed. It was hiding in archival data from the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), a large network of radio antennas in Western Australia. Based at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Natasha started to loop deeper. Repeating every 18 minutes, and initially found at only one frequency, the signal showed signs of being something astronomers have been searching for decades - radio

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00:33:58

Mysterious travellers bearing gifts

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2021/12/30

The first interstellar object to be discovered was 'Oumuamua, detected in 2017. Joined by Comet 2I/Borisov a couple of years later, astronomers are eagerly awaiting further discoveries of such objects, which were ejected from other solar systems. We explore what the link is between these interstellar objects and the history of star formation around the galaxy, thanks to new research by Prof Chris Lintott, Dr Ted Mackereth and Dr Michele Bannister. Chris and Ted explain how these two seemingly

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00:48:37

The Cosmic Webb

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2021/12/06

The world of astronomy is eagerly awaiting the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope later in December. The telescope is not without controversy, but is set to revolutionise observations of the cosmos. Prof Pete Hargrave was responsible for building a calibration source for MIRI, the Mid-Infrared Imager, while Dr Tim Davis will be observing nearby galaxies to study the roles of black holes. Meanwhile, Dr Mikako Matsuura is hoping to study the final stages of stars' lives, while Dr Subi Sarkar

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00:41:31

Lucy in the Sky with Trojans

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2021/11/04

Back in 2015 the New Horizons spacecraft whizzed past Pluto on its way out of the Solar System. A few years later, as it continued on its way through the Kuiper Belt, it passed by a snowman-shaped object called Arrokoth. More recently, it's discovered two objects that are in fact four - binary objects comprised of two smaller objects orbiting each other. As Dr James Robinson, from the University of Edinburgh explains, the discovery of these objects is very useful for understanding the Kuiper Belt,

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00:22:31

Supernova Detective Story

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2021/09/30

Way back in 1181 AD, astronomers in China and Japan recorded a "guest star" - something that we'd now call a supernova. Over 800 years later, astronomers made a connection between this ancient observation and more recent studies of a very unusual object that goes by the name of "Parker's Star". Prof Quentin Parker, from University of Hong Kong, explains how he and his team made the link, displacing a previously favoured object. And it seems that this was no common or garden supernova, but an

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00:32:47

It's the Small Things - Exomoons

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2021/09/08

The last month or so has seen several cases of small things being discovered. The first is an asteroid, 2021 27PH, which gets closer to the Sun than Mercury. What could we learn about fundamental science from such an object? The second is one of the smallest exoplanets detected, at less than half the mass of Venus. It orbits very close to its star, and would have very high temperatures on its surface, so it's not a place to look for life (at least not as we know it). But finding planets so small,

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00:34:17

Herding Megacomets

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2021/07/30

In late June an interesting object was discovered heading inwards from the outer solar system, identified in archival images from a survey of the sky. It was initially thought to be worth keeping an eye on over the next decade or so, as it approaches the orbit of Saturn before heading back out to the outer reaches - a chance to keep an eye on a distant wanderer. Further observations have shown that 2014 UN271 (its official designation) appears to be active, with a coma and tail like a comet -

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00:28:48

Cosmic Developments

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2021/07/01

Our understand of the Universe has changed a great deal in the last 100 years. From Einstein's theories of relativity and measurements of the expanding Universe, to the discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background and the mysterious Dark Energy. But what are the current mysteries and unknowns that we still want to uncover? And how much is our progress guided by technological developments? Dr Ian Harrison, currently at the University of Oxford, but shortly to return to Cardiff University, studies

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00:47:25

Learned Societies and Society Learning

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2021/06/02

This month, we're joined by two people who've just been elected to prestigious roles in science here in the UK. Professor Mike Edmunds has just become President-elect of the Royal Astronomical Society, while Professor Bernard Schutz has recently been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Both these societies have a long history, and we discuss their role in the development of science in the UK, and how it has changed. Mike and Bernard have both been here in Cardiff for nearly 50 years, and have

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00:24:49

Revisting Venus

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2021/04/29

Last September, a team of scientists led by Professor Jane Greaves announced the detection of a rare gas, phosphine, in the atmosphere of Venus. With no plausible explanations of how it could be there, one possibility remaining was that it was being produced by some sort of microbial life floating in the cloud decks of Venus. The idea was seen as preposterous by some, and others even questioned the validity of the detection itself. This month, Jane gives an update on the process of double and

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00:38:58

Catching a Shooting Star

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2021/03/30

Where were you on 28th February 2021, just before 10pm? If you were in parts of Wales, or the west of England, you may have seen a bright flash streaking in the sky. This was a fireball - a bright kind of meteorite which is a special sight in its own right. But this was a very special fireball, as the object that created it landed on the ground and has been found, collected and is under analysis right now. To add to the magic, it's also an incredibly special kind of meteorite, and includes some

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00:37:12

Astrobiology and Technosignatures

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2021/03/03

The idea of life elsewhere is not a new one. Hundreds of years ago it was assumed that there were beings everywhere, before such views were considered heretical, and the determination that places like the Moon were dry airless worlds started to reduce the possible places life could thrive. But even as recently as the mid-20th Century, the idea of vegetation on the surface of Mars was not considered crazy. As the dry, arid nature of Mars became clear, and the hot, hellish surface of Venus was

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00:50:17

The Martian Triple

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2021/02/02

Over the course of the next month, we'll see the arrival at Mars of not one, not two, but three spacecraft: Nasa’s Perseverance Rover, with its little helicopter Ingenuity; the Chinese Space Agency's Tianwen-1 mission, which comprises an orbiting spacecraft, a landing platform and a rover; and the UAE's Hope mission, which is an orbiting spacecraft. In this episode we'll be hearing about the upcoming missions to Mars, as a bit of insight into the Chinese Space Programme. Of course, a sensible

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00:26:06

Review of the decade and Galactic dynamics

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2020/12/31

With the end of one of the craziest years in living memory, we start with astronomical reflections on the last 12 months - and how far we've come over the course of the last decade. A new results has been published about the structure of our own Milky Way Galaxy, using the emission from carbon monoxide gas. The results, from the SEDIGISM team, show that the galaxy is much more "flocculant", or fluffy, than previously thought. Cardiff-based team member, Dr Ana Duarte Cabral Peretto, explains how the

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00:38:15

Watery Worlds and Tumbling Telescopes

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2020/11/28

A show of two halves, this month, starting with watery moons. One isn't so surprising - Jupiter's icy Europa. Known to have an ocean under the thick ice shell, models suggest that the plumes that have been observed may not be from the global reservoir, but from smaller briny pools within the icy crust. The second moon is perhaps more surprising, being our own Moon. New measurements from the airborne observatory SOFIA have shown that there is molecular water within the rocks in some places on the

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00:30:14

Asteroid Tagging and Stellar Spaghettification

Pythagorean Astronomy ·

2020/10/29

Chris North and Edward Gomez give a round-up of the month in astronomy. Towards the end of October, NASA's Osiris Rex spacecraft grabbed a sample from the asteroid Bennu. What happens next, and what might we learn from these samples? Chris and Edward discuss. There's also an update on Betelgeuse (however you chose to pronousne it), which is not estimated to be closer than previously thought - which means it's smaller? But we're still safe when it goes supernova. Right?! Further afield, telescopes

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118 results

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