apod
Below are the episodes of the Jodcast (or segments) which match the keyword apod. You can continue searching by going back to the tag cloud.
- The night sky for May 2008 - May 2008 (MP3)
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the night sky from northern latitudes during May 2008. As the Sun sets, the constellations of Taurus and Gemini are setting towards the west. Leo is high in the south west and to the lower left of Leo is Virgo. Telescopes show a wonderful number of galaxies forming the Virgo cluster stretching from Denebola to Spica. Above Leo is Ursa Major - the Great Bear - with lots of interesting things to look at. It is not a bad month for planets. Mercury reaches greatest elongation - greatest angle from the Sun - around the middle of the month. On 6th May we could have a wonderful skyscape; very low to the north west after sunset will be the Pleiades star cluster, a very thin crescent Moon and above that to the left will be Mercury. Remember that looking directly at the Sun can be dangerous so make sure that you wait until after the Sun has set. Saturn is visible fairly high in south west after sunset in the constellation of Leo. It starts the month two degrees to the east of Leo's brightest star Regulus. With a small telescope you should be able to see Saturn's largest moon Titan. By the end of May Jupiter rises just before midnight. Mars is in the constellation of Gemini. On May 5th it moves into the constellation of Cancer and will form a line with the stars Castor and Pollux. Venus is very low above the horizon so is almost impossible to observe due to the glare of the Sun. Ian also answers a listener question about good beginner telescopes that can be used to take astronomical photographs. - January 2008 (MP3)
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. - November 2006 (MP3)
We have another packed show for you this month. Megan tells us the latest news in astronomy including exciting news about the STEREO mission, the Nobel Prize for physics 2006, ice on the Moon, extrasolar planets, damage to the Faulkes Telescopes, the re-opening of Mt Stromlo and the future of the Hubble Space Telescope. Nick and Stuart talk to Robert Nemiroff about the great internet resource that is astronomy picture of the day. We find out about an exciting ESA/NASA mission that will attempt to detect waves in space-time (gravitational waves) using three spacecraft named LISA. We also get a spooky edition of Ask an Astronomer where Tim O'Brien tells Nick about the variable star Algol and Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the November night sky. - Interview with Dr Robert Nemiroff (APoD) - November 2006 (MP3)
Nick and Stuart rang up Robert Nemiroff to find out about Astronomy Picture of the Day. Robert tells us how conversations with Dr Jerry Bonnell started it all back in 1995. We find out how he finds images to use, how long it takes to put APoD together and why some images get repeated. He also tells us about his new book (Astronomy: 365 days) which has just been published and features the best images from APoD over the past three years.
