• MP3 - the whole show
  [Duration 59:15, 27.2 MB]
• MP3 - The news - June 2008
  [Duration 07:51, 3.6 MB]
• MP3 - The night sky for June 2008
  [Duration 08:23, 3.9 MB]

June 2008

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.

• June 2008 MP3: Download the whole show (low and high bandwidth versions)
• Mars Phoenix Lander mission site
• Mars Phoenix mission blog
• Twitter: MarsPhoenix
• Mars Phoenix caught by MRO during descent
• Planetary Society: Mars Phoenix pictured against Heimdall crater
• Planetary Society: A Mars Phoenix panorama
• Planetary Society: The Mars Phoenix landing site from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
• The Mars Scorecard!

The news - June 2008

In the news this month: the discovery of the Milky Way's youngest supernova, a supernova caught in real time, a runaway supermassive blackhole, and HiRISE looks for Mars Polar Lander.

• The news - June 2008 MP3: Download this segment individually (low and high bandwidth versions)
• Astronomers identify the Galaxy?s youngest supernova remnant
• "The radio expansion and brightening of the very young supernova remnant G1.9+0.3", Green et al, 2008, MNRAS (Letters), 387, L54-L58
• "The Youngest Galactic Supernova Remnant: G1.9+0.3", Reynolds et al., 2008, ApJ Letters in press
• "An extremely luminous X-ray outburst at the birth of a supernova", Soderberg et al, Nature 453, 469-474 (22 May 2008)
• The Very Large Array
• NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory
• Scientific Blogging: All Eyes Turn To NGC 2770 For a Supernova Birth
• Max-Planck-Institut f? extraterrestrische Physik
• MPE: Black hole expelled from its parent galaxy
• Nature News: "Astronomers spot a runaway supermassive black hole"
• HiRISE: Looking For Mars Polar Lander
• Mars Polar Lander mission site

Interview with Dr Ben Maughan (University of Bristol)

Ben Maughan describes how to weigh clusters of galaxies. The story starts with observations by Fritz Zwicky in the 1930s. Zwicky observed spectral lines from galaxies and found that the galaxies were moving around faster than expected. Adding up all the mass in the galaxies didn't provide enough mass to hold the cluster together by gravity. This was one of the first times dark matter was inferred. With the launch of X-ray observatories astronomers have observed hot, ionised gas in galaxy clusters and these observations also show a need for dark matter. Ben tells us about his research and how galaxy clusters are like Dr Evil.

• Wikipedia: Fritz Zwicky
• NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory
• ESA's XMM Newton
• Hubblecast: Hubble sees 'Comet Galaxy' being ripped apart by galaxy cluster
• MP3: Skywatch - A Distant Cluster of Galaxies seen by XMM-Newton

The night sky for June 2008

Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the night sky from northern latitudes during June 2008. As we get into the northern hemisphere summer, we don't get many hours to look at the night sky. The summer solstice is on June 20th just before midnight Universal Time (UT) or just before 1am BST on the 21st June. Towards the west after sunset is Leo. Around from Leo in the south is Virgo and lower down in the south, after midnight, are Scorpius and Sagittarius. High overhead is the constellation Ursa Major. As the night goes on, the constellations of Cygnus, Lyra and Aquila the Eagle become visible. The brightest stars of these constellations make up the Summer Triangle. The Ring Nebula M57 is visible with a telescope in Lyra. Saturn is close to the star Regulus in Leo. Mars is moving up into Leo and by the end of the month will be only three quarters of a degree from Regulus. Venus passes behind the Sun on June 9th so we will have to wait until the end of July before we can see it again. Mercury passes between the Earth and the Sun on June 7th and will be visible just before dawn by the end of the month. On June 7th, in the west between Leo and the horizon is the Moon. Up to the left of the Moon will be Mars, up to the left of Mars is Regulus and just a few degrees further up to the left will be Saturn.

• The night sky for June 2008 MP3: Download this segment individually (low and high bandwidth versions)
• Ian Morison's Night Sky pages for June 2008

Show Credits