The darkness is coming. With 95% of the content of the universe being dark, we ask Jochen Weller about dark energy and models that describe the expansion of the universe [16:28 - 31:17]. As usual we also get the latest news from Megan [02:09 - 10:28] and find out what you can see in the night sky from Ian [33:24 - 43:36].
In the show this time we find out how astronomers and particle physicists are detecting cosmic rays hitting our atmosphere with the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina [13:43 - 40:41]. Nick also gives us an update on some recent extrasolar planet discoveries which have found a planet only 3.3 times the mass of the Earth orbiting a star thought to be a brown dwarf [2:13 - 8:40].
In this show we talk about Mars Phoenix Lander touching down on Mars and sending back its first results. In our interview Ben Maughan tells us how he has been weighing clusters of galaxies. Tim O'Brien tells us about events at Jodrell Bank Observatory over the next month including the Longest Day Garden Party. We also get the latest news from Megan and find out what you can see in the night sky from Ian.
This issue we talk to Dr Anthony Challinor from the University of Cambridge about the Cosmic Microwave Background. We also get your astronomical questions answered by Dr Tim O'Brien.
In this show we find out about a mysterious blue blob found in the Galaxy Zoo and we find out what the Genesis mission can tell us about oxygen in the solar wind. We also get the latest news from Megan and find out what you can see in the night sky from Ian.
Good morning Belfast! Welcome to the Jodcast National Astronomy Meeting special edition. On the final day of the meeting we were lucky to be joined by old friends of the Jodcast - Chris Lintott and David Boyce - to share our favourite parts of the conference with you. In this bumper show we bring you interviews covering cosmic downsizing, newly discovered planets, dark energy, proto-planets, the virtual observatory, new telescopes, James Bond and even the football results.
It's the April show. This time we talk to Richard Davis and Bob Watson about an instrument that has observed the Cosmic Microwave Background. We find out about Megan's new job, talk about the UK National Astronomy Meeting in Belfast and read some of your feedback. As always we have the latest news and tell you what you can see in the night sky during April.
This issue we talk to Dr Maria-Rosa Cioni from the University of Hertfordshire about the concept of metallicity and how we can use it to learn about galaxy evolution. We also learn about the current funding crisis facing astronomy in the UK from Dr Tim O'Brien, how it may affect Jodrell Bank Observatory, and what you can do to help.
In this show we take a look the photosphere and corona of our local star - the Sun. We find out about the tremendously tangled web of plasma and magnetic fields that solar physicists are attempting to understand. We also get the latest news from Megan and find out what you can see in the night sky from Ian.
On February 8th and 9th we were at Astrofest in London. We bring you news from the Campaign for Dark Skies, we find out about the Space Telescope Science Institute and Google Sky, and we find out about computer simulations of galaxies. We also ask your questions to Dr Edward Boyce and Nick brings us news of an exciting planetary system that resembles our own.
This is our lensing special. We ask Dr Neal Jackson to describe gravitational lensing of distant quasars by galaxies and have a series of interviews from the recent Manchester Microlensing Conference about developments in microlensing. We also hear about galactic companions to the Milky Way, astronomy in Iran, and we get we an update about the Square Kilometre Array. As always we have the latest astronomical news from Megan and Ian tells us what we can see in the sky during February. We'll also be at Astrofest 2008 on February 8th - 9th so come by and say hello if you are there.
This issue we talk to Dr Alan Chapman about Victorian astronomer and popular lecturer Richard Proctor. We get your astronomical questions answered by Dr Edward Boyce and we find out if it is possible to escape from asteroid Ianmorison.
Happy New Year and welcome to the first show of 2008. This time we find out all about highly magnetised neutron stars - magnetars. We find out how observations with X-ray telescopes are allowing us to measure star quakes and probe the insides of magnetars. As it is the start of a new year we describe a selection of our favourite astronomical images from 2007 and tell you what to expect in the coming months. As always we also get the latest news from Megan and Ian tells us what we can see in the night sky.
In the last Jodcast of 2007 Ken Kellermann and Dave Jauncey tell us about the discovery of quasars, particularly the lunar occultations of 3C 273 in the early 1960s. Jodcast newcomer Roy Smits gives us a summary of the Jodrell Bank Illuminate Art event and we ask your astronomical questions to Dr Edward Boyce.
This is our Cassini-Huygens special all about the NASA/ESA mission to the planet Saturn. We find out all about Cassini from Carl Murray and find out how radio astronomers helped recover some data from the Huygens lander. We also get the latest news from Megan and find out what you can see in the night sky from Ian.
This issue we talk to Professor Don Burnett about NASA's Genesis Mission to capture particles from the solar wind and bring them back to Earth for study. We also talk about a new image from the Japanese Space Agency's Kaguya spacecraft and then get your questions answered by Tim O'Brien.
Is there intelligent life out there? In this issue we find out about the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence and ask listeners to complete our second survey. We find out if space has the ingredients necessary to make a beer and get the low down on ESO's Catch a Star competition. We also get the latest news from Megan and find out what you can see in the night sky during November from Ian.
We've got another bumper show for you starting with some interviews we recorded at the Modern Radio Universe conference. We talk to the Astronomer Royal, find out about adapting spacecraft technology to track TB on Earth, the successor to SMART1, and how astronomers and particle physicists are using the Moon as a huge neutrino detector. We listen to audience comments on the fantastic Space 50 event where the Lovell Telescope was turned into a giant projector screen and then we have our main interview about the Dark Energy Survey. We also have an announcement about an event being held in Macclesfield on 27th October. Finally, we answer your questions in Ask an Astronomer.
It is the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik and we're going back to 1957 with the last part of our Audience with Sir Bernard Lovell. In the rest of the show we talk to Professor Albert Zijlstra about planetary nebulae, get the latest news and find out what we can see in the night sky. We also introduce our new Facebook group and mention the Big Space Draw.
This issue we present the second part of our "Audience with Sir Bernard Lovell" bringing the story up to the start of October 1957. We also have Ask an Astronomer and get an update on the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity.
We're back from our August break with a bumper show for you. We talk to Professor Gregor Morfill about the ability of dust to form amazing shapes in space. We also have the first of a three part interview with Jodrell Bank founder Sir Bernard Lovell. As usual we also get the latest news from Megan and Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the night sky this month.
Galaxies galore! This month we focus on stellar cities; we have an interview with Martin Bureau about the formation of galaxies and we chat to Chris Lintott about a website which will allow everyone to help sort a million of them. We also get the latest news from Megan and Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the night sky this month.
Dave and Nick are here for the mid-July show. We present part two of our Harry Potter-style intros (The Chamber of Anti-Science) with a special cameo appearance from The Bad Astronomer, Phil Plait. Nick finds out all about white dwarf stars and planets from Matt Burleigh and then stands in for Tim in Ask an Astronomer. We also have reviews from listeners and a preview of the next show featuring galaxy evolution and the Galaxy Zoo.
Despite rumours that Baron Deathmortes is at large, we put on our rather damp Jodcast invisibility cloak and sneaked out to the astronomy tower to record this month's Jodcast. We find out about one of the world's great observatories - the Gemini Observatory - and we play extracts from the fantastic Moon-bounce poetry event. As always Megan brings us the latest news and Professor Morison tells us what we can see in the night sky this month. With so much to do, we might just have time to get it all done before quidditch practice.
Nick, Dave and Stuart are all in the same room to record this mid-month Jodcast. We talk to Benoît Famaey about possible corrections to Newton's famous laws of gravitation, we kick-off a new 60-second astro society segment with the Macclesfield Astronomical Society and we get your questions answered by Ian Morison.
Tick, tick, tick. Forty years on from the first observations of pulsating neutron stars we talk to the discoverer of pulsars, Jocelyn Bell-Burnell. She tells us about her PhD and how an "annoying bit of scruff" turned into a fascinating area of research. We also hear about the Jodrell Bank First Move Literary Festival happening in June. As always, we have the latest news with Megan and Ian tells us what we can see in the night sky from the northern hemisphere.
This is the first of our new mid-month shows. First we get some breaking news from the Hubble Space Telescope, we listen to the second half of our interview with Carole Mundell about active galactic nuclei and supermassive black holes, and we put your questions to Tim in the Ask an Astronomer segment. For the extra shows we won't be having the normal format intros and outros but we still won't take them too seriously. As a start we work out how many rice crispies you could fit in the 76m diameter Lovell Telescope. Can you work it out?
May 2007 is when everything changes. Well, not quite everything. The Jodcast may have gone twice-monthly, but we remain in roughly the same cheesy format as before. This month we've gone international with Nick joining us from New Zealand and Tim from Chile. In our main interview, Nick chats with Carole Mundell about the Liverpool Telescope and how it is being used to observe hugely energetic gamma-ray bursts. Later we find out what Tim is doing with the New Technologies Telescope at La Silla in Chile. As usual we get the latest astronomy news from Megan and Ian tells us what we can see in the northern skies during May. Now, we must go and sort out our containment fields as they seem to be on the blink. It's probably something to do with phase variances in the deflector grid.
Stuart and Megan are there on the last day of the National Astronomy Meeting to bring us a round up of the last sessions as well as an update on NASA's STEREO mission, an update on ESA's Mars Express mission and the latest on recurrent nova RS Ophiuchi. As it is the last day of the NAM, we now return you to our normal schedule.
Stuart, Megan, David Boyce and Neil Phillips try to coherently link all the interviews we did on day four of the National Astronomy Meeting in Preston. We have interviews about the dangers of solar ejections to astronauts and the possibility of making force-fields to protect them. We also find out about the Hubble Space Telescope, the Herschel Mission, the fiftieth anniversary of the Sky At Night and exoplanets. All in less than 40 minutes. Phew!
Today we get Stuart, Megan, David Boyce and Paul Steele on to chat about what happened on day three of the National Astronomy Meeting in Preston. We discuss the various sessions that took place, we find out about the organisation of the conference from Dr Stewart Eyres, chat to Dr Monica Grady and find out about the International Heliophysical Year from Dr Lucie Green.
We're on the road in Preston at the UK's National Astronomy Meeting. Our first special show describes what NAM is and what happened on the first day. In our second show we catch up with Chris Wareing who announced results about the wakes left by dying sun-like stars as they pass through the interstellar medium. On the third day David Boyce (University of Leicester) and Paul Steele (University of Leicester) join us to chat about the various sessions that took place. We find out about the organisation of the conference from Dr Stewart Eyres, chat to Dr Monica Grady and find out about the International Heliophysical Year from Dr Lucie Green. On day four Neil Phillips (University of Edinburgh) joins us in our attempt to coherently link interviews about the dangers of solar ejections to astronauts, the possibility of making force-fields to protect them, the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission, the Herschel Mission, the fiftieth anniversary of the Sky At Night and exoplanets. The last day of the NAM sees us talking to Dr Chris Davis about the STEREO mission, Dr Helen Walker about Mars Express and Prof Mike Bode about RS Ophiuchi.
Aliens have landed at Stonehenge! Actually they haven't, and we aren't serious about horoscopes either, but we nearly had you fooled there. Luckily, the rest of our April show has real astronomy in it. We find out some more about gravitational wave detectors and we talk about quasars and black holes. As always we have the news with Megan, get Tim to answer your questions, get a roundup of other podcasts from Stuart and Ian tells us what we can see in the night sky.
