In this month's show we find out about gamma ray bursts with Paul O'Brien, take a tour of the Mt. John Observatory in New Zealand, catch up on NASA's Stardust mission and discover what goes on at the Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE). We pose all your difficult questions to Tim O'Brien and find out what you can see in the night sky during April. As a special treat we also get Ian and Tim's commentary from the 29th March total solar eclipse.
A view of the Mt. John Observatory taken from a paraglider. Image © Fraser Gunn.
View from the top of Mount John
A view down to Lake Tekapo.
The main observatory building and Lake Tekapo village.
Telescope used by the MOA collaboration
Board mounted inside dome used to calibrate the CCD camera
Show Links
Interview with Dr Paul O'Brien
- MP3: Download this segment individually
- Gamma Ray Bursts
Mt. John Observatory tour
- MP3: Download this segment individually
- Mt John Observatory
Report from JIVE
Stardust mission update
- MP3: Download this segment individually
- NASA Stardust Mission
- Stardust@Home
Night sky for April 2006
- MP3: Download this segment individually
- Ian Morison's Night Sky pages
Show Credits
| News: | Megan Argo |
| Interview: | Nick Rattenbury interviewed Dr. Paul O'Brien (Leicester University) |
| Sound Tour: | Stuart Lowe was taken on a sound tour by Alan Gilmore (University of Canterbury, NZ) |
| Report from JIVE: | Lisa Harvey-Smith |
| Stardust update: | Megan Argo and Danielle Fenech |
| Ask an astronomer: | Nick Rattenbury asked Tim O'Brien |
| Night sky this month: | Ian Morison |
| Presenter: | Dave Ault |
| Editor: | Dave Ault |
| Intro/Outro Cast: | HAL - Mark Bruzee, Dr Holloway - Colin Snow, Dave - Seth Adam Sher |
| Cover art: | Mt John Observatory, New Zealand Credit: Stuart Lowe |
* If you live in the southern hemisphere you may need to convert south to north and left to right for Ian's descriptions to make sense.