• MP3 - the whole show
  [Duration 61:11, 21.0 MB]
• MP3 - The news
  [Duration 04:41, 1.6 MB]
• MP3 - Interview with Dr Tim O'Brien
  [Duration 34:00, 11.7 MB]
• MP3 - Interview with Johanna Ashwell
  [Duration 07:48, 2.7 MB]
• MP3 - The night sky for August 2006
  [Duration 06:56, 2.4 MB]

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August 2006

This month's show is all about stars. We talk to Dr Tim O'Brien about a recurrent nova in the constellation of Ophiuchus and Johanna Ashwell - an amateur astronomer and PhD student - tells us about a star that has too much lithium. As ever we get the latest round-up of the news and find out what we can see in the night sky this month. There is news of a star party being held at Jodrell Bank on 12th August from 9pm until midnight and we also mention our exciting plans to podcast from the International Astronomical Union's General Assembly this month.

• August 2006 MP3: Download the whole show
• The International Astronomical Union's General Assembly

The news

In the news this month: Cassini spots lakes on Titan, Venus express causes problems for weather experts, an X-ray survey shows a lack of black holes and RS Ophiuchi gives us new knowledge about stellar explosions.

• The news MP3: Download this segment individually
• NASA/ESA Cassini spacecraft
• Planetary Society podcast about the lakes on Titan
• ESA's Venus Express spacecraft
• ESA's Integral satellite

Interview with Dr Tim O'Brien

Nick talks to our own Dr Tim O'Brien about the February 2006 outburst of the recurrent nova RS Ophiuchi (RS Oph) which last had an outburst in 1985.

• Interview with Dr Tim O'Brien MP3: Download this segment individually
• Tim's paper on astro-ph
• NRAO's Very Long Baseline Array
• The European VLBI Network
• The UK's MERLIN array
• MERLIN movie of RS Ophiuchi (1.1 MB)
• NRAO's Very Large Array
• Hubble Space Telescope
• EXOSAT
• Swift satellite

RS Ophiuchi observations with the VLBA (the Very Long Baseline Array of radio telescopes extending from Hawaii to the Caribbean). Credit:NRAO/AUI/NSF

Interview with Johanna Ashwell

Dave talks to Johanna Ashwell about her amateur astronomy and her PhD research on the star J37 in the open cluster NGC 6633. She describes reasons for why J37 may have more lithium than astronomers expected and tells about her own observations of the night sky.

• Interview with Johanna Ashwell MP3: Download this segment individually
• SEDS entry for NGC 6633
• Johanna's website
• Keele University Astrophysics Group

The night sky for August 2006

Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the night sky from northern latitudes during August 2006. This month we see the constellations of Cygnus, Lyra and Aquila which give us the summer triangle. Jupiter can be seen in the evening and Venus before dawn in the north-east. Other highlights this month include a conjunction of Venus and Mercury (9-12th August), the Perseid meteor shower (although it will be affected by the Moon) and on August 21st/22nd we get Mercury, Venus and Saturn all lined up.

• The night sky for August 2006 MP3: Download this segment individually
• Ian Morison's Night Sky pages

Show Credits