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#725: Looking ahead
Jul 1, 2024Tap to summarizeNormally, Pamela refuses to think about the future. But today, on our final episode before hiatus, she’s throwing out those rules. Here’s what we’re excited about for the future, especially in the next couple of months until we return in September Recorded: 10 June 2024, Episode 723 (Season 17) Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay Show Notes We are listing out all the things we think are going to happen… and in a few months we’ll know how right or wrong we’ve been. Chang’e 6 lands June 26 – It did! Ariane 6 is predicted for 1st week of July? Starliner returning 2nd week of July? We think? (We will be proven wrong) Polaris Dawn 2nd week of July? With civilian space walk that scares Pamela Chandrayaan-3 2nd week of July? StarShip 5 Starship HLS needed for Artemis and again Pamela has concerns IAU Meeting in August New Glenn (and Blue Moon) coming in the Fall Transcript Fraser Cain [00:00:49] Join Patreon for an ad -free experience at patreon .com slash AstronomyCast. AstronomyCast, episode 725, looking ahead this summer. Welcome to AstronomyCast, our weekly facts -based journey through the cosmos, where we help you understand not only what we know, but how we know what we know. I’m Fraser Cain. I’m the publisher of Universe Today. With me as always is Dr. Pamela Gay, a senior scientist for the Planetary Science Institute and the director of CosmoQuest. Hey Pamela, how are you doing? Pamela Gay [00:01:19] I am doing well and I am gearing up to spend my summer working on research, both science and social science. And I actually have a request for everyone out there listening to this podcast. If you could go to bit .ly slash capital A -S -T, capital E -C -O. So basically, bit .ly asked eco for astronomy economics. I’m trying to understand what factors are preventing people from getting more engaged in astronomy than they already are. Whether it be they’re too busy, they have jobs, they have other hobbies. Whatever it is that might be preventing you from fully engaging the way you’d like, I want to know. And I have a survey, so please go fill it out so that I can find out more about all of you. Those links will be in our show notes, in the podcast summary, in the YouTube thing. Go click it, go fill out my survey. Thank you. Science. Unidentified [00:02:24] Science. Speaker 3 [00:02:25] Yeah. Fraser Cain [00:02:26] So this is of course our last episode of this season. And I should really remember what season we’re in. 16, 17? Pamela Gay [00:02:34] 17. Fraser Cain [00:02:36] Alright, 17. This is the last episode of season 17. We are about to begin our two -month hiatus, where we replenish our energy, work on a bunch of projects that require focused long -term attention, ability to travel, things like that. Now, normally, Pamela refuses to think about the future. But today, on our final episode before hiatus, she’s throwing out those rules. Speaker 3 [00:03:02] It’s like the purge. Fraser Cain [00:03:04] Here’s what we’re excited about for the future, especially in the next couple of months until we return in September. And we will talk about it in a second, but it’s time for a break. Speaker 3 [00:03:14] If you’ve always dreamed of exploring the world, Rhodes Scholar welcomes you. Rhodes Scholar offers educational travel adventures for adults, 50 -plus, in more than 100 countries, and throughout the United States. When you travel with Rhodes Scholar, you’ll be an active learner, not a passive tourist. Every day is thoughtfully planned to open your eyes to new discoveries, ideas, and people. You’ll learn from local experts and meet others who share your passions. Find your next adventure at RhodesScholar .org. Fraser Cain [00:03:45] And we’re back. All right, Pamela, first, thank you so much for allowing me to think about the future. Finally, I have so much that I think about, and you won’t let me talk about it. Missions that are coming up. But you’ve set some very firm constraints, which is really what we’re looking at in the next couple of months. And so that’s brutal. Pamela Gay [00:04:09] Sorry. Fraser Cain [00:04:10] But I, you know, I’ll see what I can do to get through this. But I’m always thinking about the future. Well, why don’t you go first? Tell me what you’re thinking about as we move into our summer hiatus. Pamela Gay [00:04:25] Right now, I’m thinking that the second week of July, we die as science communicators. We are potentially looking at Starliner hopefully maybe returning back to the planet Earth. They’re doing lots and lots of testing of its fully discardable storage area, the trunk, that they can only do well on orbit. So they’re staying up. They don’t have a definitive time to return. But it’s going to be in July because the spacecraft is going to expire. Fraser Cain [00:04:59] Well, so that’s probably. Yeah. So NASA published a status update on Friday afternoon where they sort of talked about the situation and they said, OK, we said June 12th. Then we said June 19th. Then we said June 26th. Then we said July 2nd. And now, you know what? Who knows? Who knows when this thing will come home? But they said they reassured everybody that the astronauts have enough supplies to be on the station for months. It’s no big deal. And there was some just just before we were recording this, there was some tentative improvements in the thruster situation on Starliner. So it might be that, in fact, they’re going to get this resolved sooner than later. But and the end of schedule for the summer is wide open. They don’t have a lot of missions coming to and from the International Space Station. So so there’s no gigantic drumbeat. You’re right. The spacecraft will expire. But but only that it’s like it’ll be out of warranty, only that it’ll be beyond the expiry date. And come on, we’ve all eaten stuff out of the fridge after the expiry date on the regular. Pamela Gay [00:06:17] This is how I lived my life dangerously. Yeah, exactly. And and the problems that they’re working on are related to the trunk, not the capsule. So there’s concerns and they’re getting data. But NASA is assuring everyone Boeing is assuring everyone they can get back through the atmosphere. There are no concerns. It’s the trunk that they’re worried about, which gets discarded and burned up in the atmosphere. Fraser Cain [00:06:45] Yeah. Yeah. The service module. Pamela Gay [00:06:47] So do you know what else is going on the second week of July, which is my personal bet for when Starliner is coming back? Fraser Cain [00:06:54] The launch of Ariane 6. Pamela Gay [00:06:59] So what is flying on Ariane 6? Oh, no, this is their new rocket. I don’t know what’s flying on their new rocket. Is that also the second week of July? Fraser Cain [00:07:08] First week, first week of July. Pamela Gay [00:07:09] OK, first week of July. All right. So tell us about Ariane 6. This is I know very little about this. Fraser Cain [00:07:15] Well, so, I mean, we all watched excitedly as James Webb launched on an Ariane 5 rocket back last Christmas. Two year and a half ago, two years ago, two years ago, more than two years ago. And this was, I think, the last Ariane 5 that Ariane’s base had around. And they’ve been sort of kicking this around because this was the plan. And James Webb got delayed. But Ariane has been working on their next generation launcher. This is the Ariane 6. And all of the bits and pieces have all been coming together at the spaceport in French Guiana, the Kura spaceport. And they have been assembling it and putting everything together and doing tests. And the plan is to launch this on July 9th, 2024. And so, you know, will it they’ve completed a wet dress rehearsal. So, you know, will it actually launch exactly on time on July 9th? Almost certainly not that there is, you know, they will l...
Transcribe →Ep. 715: Total Eclipse of the Science: Experiments During the Eclipse
Apr 8, 2024Tap to summarizeThe next great eclipse is upon us, with viewers across North America witnessing the moon passing in front of the Sun. It’s an amazing experience, but also an opportunity to do science. Let’s talk about what we can learn from this momentous event. Transcript (This is an automatically generated transcript) Fraser Cain [00:01:04] Astronomy Cast episodes 715. How to watch a total solar eclipse and do some science. Welcome to Astronomy Cast for weekly, facts based journey through the cosmos, where we help you understand not only what we know, but how we know what we know. I’m Fraser Cain, I’m the publisher of Universe Today. With me, as always, is Doctor Pamela Gay, a senior scientist for the Planetary Science Institute and the director of Cosmic Quest. IPam, how are you doing? Pamela Gay [00:01:26] I am doing much better than last week, and I would like to say to everyone who stuck through it. Thank you. While we were trying to record that episode, everything on my screen was flashing red and I have to give a special thanks and a special shout out to Richard Drumm, our editor for hiding most of the chaos that was returning and to our patrons who allow us to pay him. It turns out that our local fiber trunk was in the process of being sliced through while we were recording the episode, and about ten minutes after we were done with like, fighting the internet gods to keep things going. All internet was lost for about 24 hours. Local construction. The message we got from our provider was fabulous. It was a third party doing construction sliced through the fiber trunk. Oh, we don’t know when it will be fixed. It was the most passive aggressive. Wonderful. And thank you all for your patience. Thank you, Rich, so much. And patrons, you’re the ones that allow us to keep going and have as close to excellent as we can get. When I’m distracted by red flashing lights as possible episodes when all the red lights are flashing. Thank you, thank you, all of you. Fraser Cain [00:02:49] Yeah, any episode would have been twice as long with us troubleshooting live during the episode. Is it you? Is it me? Is it the YouTube? No. YouTube? Yeah, yeah. It turns out your fiber connection was being degraded in real time while we were attempting to do the episode. I’m amazed we got through it as much as you did, because, yeah, you sent me a text message maybe 15 minutes after we closed, like, well, we’re all offline, and it was a disaster, so. I’m amazed. Pamela Gay [00:03:23] So thank you, everyone. Fraser Cain [00:03:25] All right. The next great eclipse is upon us, with viewers across North America witnessing the moon passing in front of the sun. It’s an amazing experience, but also an opportunity to do some science. Let’s talk about what we can learn from this momentous event, and how to maximize your chance of getting it in your eyeballs. All right, Pamela, you are a veteran eclipse hunter. How many total solar eclipses have you witnessed in all of your years of chasing after eclipses? Pamela Gay [00:03:58] Zero. Fraser Cain [00:03:58] Zero. Pamela Gay [00:04:00] The running joke is you want to be anywhere but near me. Fraser Cain [00:04:04] That’s my plan this year. Pamela Gay [00:04:06] Yeah, yeah. So the two of us were both vaguely together for 2017. I was I on the floor of the stadium in Carbondale. And you were out in the observing field in Carbondale? Yep. And I had a slightly bigger than the sun sized cloud go in front of the sun just at totality, and you got to see totality. Fraser Cain [00:04:30] I but I got maybe five seconds of totality right at the. Pamela Gay [00:04:35] You’re still seeing it. Fraser Cain [00:04:37] I guess I have. Pamela Gay [00:04:37] Not yet saw Corona. I have never seen Corona. Fraser Cain [00:04:40] Yeah, I guess I. I’m going to still say that I saw zero. Oh, but but but you. But you’ve tried a few times now. So yeah. Each time you get to that. Yeah. All right. And so I think this, this is going to cast a long shadow, pardon the pun, over our recommendation. So, so we’re going to get into the science with this. But but first I think it’s really important for us to just give general advice about about how to maximize your chances of getting the best experience for the total solar eclipse, if you’re going to be in the eclipse, and I’m like 30 million people in North America live under the path, just live. You step outside, look up, you will see the eclipse. And then there’s all the people that are coming from elsewhere, like me, like you, to try and get under the eclipse path. So first step one, let’s just talk about safety because it’s absolutely critical. Pamela Gay [00:05:38] Yes, I a lot of people have a lot of misinformation. If you’re going to try and use welding glass, it has to be 14 or higher. So the myth that you can just use a welding visor is, is like on Rotten Tomatoes where they’re like, there is a grain of truth in there somewhere, but it’s not true. Right. It’s it’s much more a case of you have to have level 14 or higher. The best thing to do is to not try and get yourself welding glasses. They’re heavy, they’re thick. They cost a whole lot of money. Instead, get yourself a pair of ISO certified eclipse glasses. Fraser Cain [00:06:21] So the, the, the American Astronomical Society has a page where they describe vendors. You can buy them on Amazon. Still you’re looking for the ISO certified. Pamela Gay [00:06:34] Yes. Fraser Cain [00:06:35] Look, you know, I mean, I know it’s really tricky to buy stuff on Amazon, especially last minute. There’s a lot of people are going to try and sell stuff. People are freaking out about fakes. I wouldn’t be that concerned with it. And there’s some tests that you can do when you get the glasses that you can just double check to make sure that they are good enough. So how do you do that? Pamela Gay [00:06:55] So. It’s AI unless it’s ISO certified. I can’t say where I might get sued that you can see if it’s safe or not, because at home no one has the stuff to see if it’s ISO certified. What you can do is is the basic make sure it doesn’t have any pinholes in it. Yeah. Make sure that it doesn’t have any scratches. And holding your glasses up to a very bright light is a good step one. Yeah. Step two is to hold them up to the sun and not have them plastered up against your eyes, but sort of like, okay, does that look entirely dark? Because I’m looking at it. Yeah. Yeah, it’s tricky story, but the main goal is you shouldn’t be able to see any bright light through your glasses. Fraser Cain [00:07:47] Exactly. And anecdotally in the chat, I’ve seen that Walmart has plenty of them. And I think that’s a good way to go because if this late in the game now, if you’re going to try to go to Amazon then yeah you might get a pair. That’s not great. But if you just go to Walmart or whatever, and as long it says ISO certified, that is the that’s the code word that you’re looking for. That will mean that these glasses are the right level of darkening for you to be able to see it. Target. Pamela Gay [00:08:15] Rainbow Symphony Online is where I would go, actually. You can still get them from Rainbow Symphony and their stuff’s ISO certified. Fraser Cain [00:08:21] Okay, yeah. So ISO certified. That’s really looking for from any of these places. Just it should have written on it ISO certified and then you’re good to go. All right. So that’s the safety thing. But there’s more nuance to this because you can look at the sun and in fact you get the best experience when you do look at the sun. But but there is a timing thing. So explain when it’s unsafe to look at the sun and when is it safe to look at the sun? Pamela Gay [00:08:48] The only time it is safe to look at the sun without an eclipse viewer, or using a safe solar viewer of some sort is during totality. There are apps that you can get that will play a sound...
Transcribe →Ep. 699: Holiday Gift Giving Ideas for Astronomy and Space Fans
Nov 27, 2023Tap to summarizeJust a warning, the holidays are rapidly approaching. It’s time, once again, to think about what to buy all the space nerds on your lists. Here’s what we like. Show Notes Binoculars Telescopes Games reccommendation Board Games Books Transcript (This is an automatically generated transcript) Frasier Cain [00:01:50] Astronomy cast. Episode 699. Our holiday gift guide. Welcome. Just trying to be cast for a weekly, fact based journey through the cosmos where we help you understand not only what we know, but how we know what we know. I’m Fraser Cain, I’m the publisher of Universe Today. With me, as always, is Doctor Pamela Gay, a senior scientist for the Planetary Science Institute and the director of Cosmic Quest. Hey, panel, how you doing? Pamela Gay [00:02:10] I’m doing well, but I have to admit, I am not emotionally prepared for this episode. My Halloween decorations are still in the yard. I have not done my grocery shopping. It is still September in my head, right? Good lord. How did we get here? Frasier Cain [00:02:31] Yeah, yeah. I mean, one time marches inexorably on. Also, you know, we are getting ahead of, you know, we were recording this show. It won’t show up for another week. That’ll be like just after your Thanksgiving. And I feel like after you finish your Thanksgiving, that is the moment where in your mind, Christmas and the holiday season starts to loom large. So I think the timing is off. Yeah. Pamela Gay [00:02:56] Yeah. Saturday is making tamales out of leftovers and putting up Christmas decorations. Frasier Cain [00:03:02] That sounds good. Now I need to warn people I’m not in my typical studio. I’m on the road. I’m recording with less wonderful recording equipment, so. But hopefully it still sounds okay. Pamela Gay [00:03:13] You still say. Frasier Cain [00:03:14] Good? Yeah. And it’ll be. I’m using a cool gadget. I’m using a DGI, microphone system, and I. I really like it, actually. Very simple. And I’ll be here for the next four weeks, so just I apologize in advance. But this is going to be my reality right now. Hopefully it’s not too bad. So just a warning. The holidays are rapidly approaching. It’s time once again to think about what to buy all the space nerds on your list. Here’s what we like. All right, we do this every year, but, like, things always remain the same as well. So do we want to talk about the things that will always remain the same, or we won’t talk about the things that are new that we like. Pamela Gay [00:03:57] So I, I decided to add things like board games this year. And there are a bunch of new books, not all of which I have read, but many of which are on the list today because I want someone to buy them for me. Frasier Cain [00:04:15] Oh, right. Wait a minute. Is that what today is? Today is a holiday list for Pamela. Pamela Gay [00:04:22] Well, at least with with a couple of the very few, very few things, but. Okay. Does it happen? Frasier Cain [00:04:29] Yeah. All right. Well, let’s let’s just start. I mean, where do you want to go for games? You want to start with, with, books. Movies? Gear. Pamela Gay [00:04:39] Let’s do fourth gear, because let’s just get that out of the way and, and go through what we need to. Frasier Cain [00:04:46] Okay? So if you have a person in your life that is wanting to get into astronomy. What do we always recommend as the first piece of reasonably inexpensive kit that you should acquire. Pamela Gay [00:05:04] But not you learn spar killers? Frasier Cain [00:05:07] Yeah. Why? Do you have any opinion? I guess there’s like three classes of this, right? There’s, like, nice small traveling binoculars. Yeah, good astronomical binoculars. And then there is the Cadillac of binoculars. So, so we’ll start with the traveling ones. You know, like, any binoculars work great. You want know binoculars. And you’re looking for those two numbers eight times 35, seven times 35. Pamela Gay [00:05:41] And by 50. Frasier Cain [00:05:42] Ten by 50. Ideally, maximize the second number. And don’t be so concerned about the first number. The first number is the magnification. So it’s like seven times it’s eight times it’s ten times. Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t matter. The second number though is the size of the eyepiece in or the size of the aperture in millimeters. Pamela Gay [00:06:05] Light gathering. Frasier Cain [00:06:07] And that’s the amount of light that is getting gathered. The more light that you gather, the fainter the object you’re going to be able to see. You want that number to be bigger. So but they’re all kind of the same. So eight by seven by 30 fives, eight by 50, ten by 50. Whatever is like a nice size and small. Yeah. Pamela Gay [00:06:26] Yeah. What I usually look for is a field of view. That’s a couple of degrees because that makes star hopping super easy. And then maximize the, the, size of the front end as big as I can afford. First, don’t buy something you can’t afford. And second, as big as I can hold steady with my hands right there. There are times when it’s amazing to have giant binoculars that require a tripod, or require you to be laying down, and like, balancing them with your elbows on the ground. But most of the time, you just want something that you can carry out into your backyard and just look up while in a hammock. Frasier Cain [00:07:14] And you shouldn’t be spending more than 50 bucks for this. Like they’re reasonably inexpensive. But if you want to spend more on a pair of binoculars and you do want that one, that’s going to give you a better view, then you want to go to the astronomical binoculars. And those will have numbers like 25 times 75, 15 by 75 or 25 times by 100. And so 100 millimeter, 75 millimeter lenses with higher magnification. And they’re amazing. Like they’re. Yes. You fall into the sky. It’s the power is incredible. But they’re heavy. Pamela Gay [00:07:51] Yeah. Yeah. It’s it’s a it’s a good way to figure out whether or not you have small muscle trembles and build up your, ability to rate things in that like bucket at arm’s length challenge. That’s what giant binoculars are. Frasier Cain [00:08:07] And if you are willing, you know, if you’ve got like a nice spot that you can sit layback and you’ve got some, some tripod that can hold them, but they come with a tripod holder often or you know, they have a tripod mount. Yeah, put on a tripod and then yeah use them and you don’t have to hold them and jiggle them. But the Cadillac of these are the image stabilizing binoculars. Pamela Gay [00:08:30] Yes. These you’re you’re looking sometimes upwards of $1,000. But the nice thing about them is some of the fanciest ones can even snap images inside of their electronics, which is kind of wild. Whoa. But yeah. Yeah, but you can. You can be in a windy circumstance. You can be on a boat. They tolerate all sorts of weird environmental issues and just regular everyday my hands shake. No big deal. And allow your eyes to just take in those photons and show you the nebulae. Frasier Cain [00:09:13] And, I mean, we’re a lot more experienced with this kind of thing. Like when you, when you take video with your iPhone or, you know, or you’ve got like a nice little dSLR, it’s got some kind of image stabilization built in. That’s what it’s like. You are. Yeah. You are looking at the sky and then you press the image stabilization button and then the sky just it turns into a photograph in your vision and not but you know, things can be happening. But it is rock solid. And that makes everything. And it’s hard to undersell how wonderful that kind of thing is. But these are expensive. I mean, you’re looking at upwards of a thousand bucks for a pair of image stabilizing binoculars. Even bigger ones can be mo...
Transcribe →Ep. 673: How to See Satellites (or Avoid Seeing Them)
Mar 20, 2023Tap to summarizeIf you’re in dark skies and look up, you’re certain to see a satellite. Lots of them. But how can you know which one you’re seeing, and how can you improve your chances of a sighting? Today we’ll talk about how to see satellites, or avoid seeing them. Transcript (This is an automatically generated transcript) Fraser Cain [00:01:42] Astronomy Cast Episode 673. How to see satellites or avoid them. Welcome to Astronomy Cast, your weekly facts based journey through the cosmos. We help you understand not only what we know, but how we know what we don’t. I’m Fraser Cain, the publisher of Universe Today. With me is Doctor Pamela Gay, a senior scientist for the Planetary Science Institute and the director of Cosmic Quest. What are you doing? Pamela Gay [00:02:02] I am doing well, I. I appear to be spending my day amused at the antics of artificial intelligence, and I feel like I need to do a PSA that if you have that new Samsung phone with the 100 X and you taken imaging for the moon, it’s not actually the moon that you photographed. It’s it’s. Well, you did photograph the moon and now it’s giving you somebody else’s picture of the moon because that’s how Samsung’s AI is rocking. Fraser Cain [00:02:30] Now is that true? Yeah, because I’ve. Pamela Gay [00:02:34] Heard I’ve. Fraser Cain [00:02:35] Heard that that confirmation is also suspect. So like like press photos sharing to show what the moon looks like. I mean, the impression I get is that it’s doing I upscaling on your pictures, so might just be somebody else’s picture, but it is attempting to upscale the picture that you’ve taken. Pamela Gay [00:02:57] So the the test that was done, I was someone downloaded a picture of the moon, degraded it, blurred it out and displayed it on a monitor, and then took a picture of what they displayed on the monitor. And the phone came back with something that was, containing information that was not in the original picture. Fraser Cain [00:03:21] Yeah, that sounds like upscale AI upscaling to me. In my. And they do that. I mean they smooth out your image. They smooth out your picture. Pamela Gay [00:03:30] Within an added resolution. Fraser Cain [00:03:32] Yeah. Yeah. That’s that’s what the upscaling is right for. It’s Photoshop. So that’s my like people want better pictures and I mean like the my phone my Google phone totally messes with the shadows in the light areas to try and balance the picture. It’ll remove wrinkles on your face. So we’re deeply into this world where the pictures that you take are, are the pictures that you want, not the pictures that you took. I think this is where we’re getting to with all this kind of stuff. Pamela Gay [00:04:07] I don’t like this. This is not the future I requested. Fraser Cain [00:04:11] Which just use a dSLR. Then I do. Perfect. Well, then don’t worry about it. Okay? And then everyone else can use their bold glamor filter on TikTok and their teenage view. The teenage version of themselves. All right, so if you’re in dark skies and you look up, you’re certain to see a satellite. Lots of them. But how can you know which one you’re seeing? And how can you improve your chances of a sighting? Today we’re gonna talk about how to see satellites or avoid seeing them. I, I am ambivalent today. Pamela Gay [00:04:45] Because that’s so unlike you. Fraser Cain [00:04:48] I know, I know, I have so much joy, so much happiness seeing satellites in my as a child and through. Even now I go outside, I look up, I see a satellite. I’m like, cool. Yeah, space. Pamela Gay [00:05:03] Yeah, right. Fraser Cain [00:05:03] That’s that could be the enterprise passing over. But then on the other hand, we know this more and more and more of them, and they are going to be making our axis of space harder. Pamela Gay [00:05:16] When, when was the last time you went out and just, like, spent a night in either a hammock or a lawn chair or, God forbid, actually lying on the ground where there are spiders and just looking at the sky the entire night. Fraser Cain [00:05:30] A couple, a couple of years to do, like the whole night. Like I’ll definitely even now I’ll go outside just. And if it’s clear skies because they’re so rare here, let’s go to Canada this time of year. I go outside and I’m like, oh, it’s clear. And then we’ll go outside and we’ll bundle up and we’ll just watch the sky for as long as we can handle it. But yeah, it’s been a couple of years for just going outside, laying down under the stars. And I usually pass out in a couple of hours though, so I’m not I’m not built for this. Pamela Gay [00:05:57] Yeah, I, I lost one out about a year and a half ago. And so, so. The the constellations of satellites were in full swing. We we had Starlink was starting to function and going outside and looking up, trying to see a meteor shower in Illinois was a matter of look. Oh, shoot, because it was either a satellite or a lightning bug. Most of the time. Fraser Cain [00:06:30] That we don’t have, that would be awesome. Pamela Gay [00:06:34] The lightning bugs were truly awesome, but the satellites initially had the exact same feeling as you, and like one of my most powerful memories of Dark Skies was sitting out on a big old rock at the base of a glacier when I was a high schooler and got to go glacier climbing and just watching satellites. I had never seen them before. And and so this was like what it meant to be someplace truly dark, as you could see, satellites. And now it’s like, No, they’re just they’re they’re just a lot of them there. Right. Fraser Cain [00:07:12] So so like describe the experience then if you’re outside, it’s a warm summer night. You’re lying in the hammock, you’re looking up, the sky is clear, the mosquitoes are strangely absent. You are. Pamela Gay [00:07:25] Just enjoying going. Fraser Cain [00:07:26] To happen. I know, I know, you’re just enjoying the night sky. What? And you notice the satellite? What? What will you see in the sky? Pamela Gay [00:07:37] In general, most satellites that you’re able to see are like some of the fainter stars, and it looks like a tiny star is is moving across the sky. And one of the fascinating things is close to twilight will make it horizon to horizon. But as it gets later and later, you can start to tell when they’re entering the shadow of the earth because they’ll be going along, going along no more. And and so there’s that. First of all, you have to ask yourself, is it a plane? And the speeds and the solidness of the color, or the fact that it’s blinking from white to not to white tonight? Yeah. Fraser Cain [00:08:20] You see the blinking green light, if that’s. Pamela Gay [00:08:23] An airplane, if it’s. Fraser Cain [00:08:24] An airplane, any kind of blinking light that tells you this is an airplane. Pamela Gay [00:08:29] And with the satellites, it’s going to be sunlight getting reflected back to you. So occasionally there’ll be a tumbling satellite and I. Those you will see variations in brightness, but it’s still the color of the sun light getting reflected back to you the entire time. Now that going across the sky and turning off. One of the fascinating things is if you’re out there and you’re just taking in the entire sky, you can actually tell the different satellites are at different orbits, because the ones that are in lower orbits will start hitting the shadow earlier than the ones that are in higher orbits. And if something’s in a large enough orbit, it’s not going to actually land itself into the shadow of the Earth. And so you can continue watching it throughout the night. Fraser Cain [00:09:20] Well, that sort of led into what was going to be my next question, which i...
Transcribe →Ep. 663: End of Year Observing Events
Dec 19, 2022Tap to summarizeWe generally save our stargazing suggestions for the summer, when it’s warmer in the northern hemisphere. But you’re tough, you can handle a little cold. And it’s worth it because there are some wonderful things you can see in the night sky this time of year. Show Notes | Transcript Show Notes Mars Mesmerizes at Opposition (Sky & Telescope) The Mars Rovers (NASA) Mission Juno (SwRI) JunoCam : Processing (SwRI) Rosalind Franklin: Europe’s delayed Mars rover to receive rescue package (BBC News) Europe’s first Mars rover mission saved by major investment (Nature) Mars-Moon Occultation 2022 Archives (Sky & Telescope) Moon and Mars! Fav photos of December 7 (EarthSky) Geminid meteor shower 2022 (In-the-sky.org) Heavens-Above International Space Station (NASA) Starlink Bolide (Swinburne University) What Is an Aurora? (NASA) Solar Cycle 25 Is Here. NASA, NOAA Scientists Explain What That Means (NASA) Solar Cycle Progression (NOAA / NWS) Sunspots and Solar Flares (NASA) Citizen Scientists Help Discover A New Feature of STEVE (NASA) SpaceWeather.com Orion the Hunter, the world’s most recognizable constellation (EarthSky) The Orion Nebula is a starry nursery (EarthSky) Star Formation (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian) Andromeda galaxy: All you need to know (EarthSky) Double Cluster in Perseus on October evenings (EarthSky) Triangulum galaxy, the 2nd-closest spiral galaxy (EarthSky) Pleiades: The Seven Sisters Star Cluster (NASA) Hyades star cluster: face of the Bull (EarthSky) Betelgeuse is Dimming . . . Why? (Sky & Telescope) Image of Betelgeuse’s surface taken in March 2020 (ESA) See all 5 bright planets in December 2022 (EarthSky) Stargazing with Early Astronomer Galileo Galilei (Sky & Telescope) Comet 2022 E3 now in morning skies, brightening (EarthSky) Comet C/2022 L2 (ATLAS) (TheSkyLive) Back to Top Transcript Transcriptions provided by GMR Transcription Services Fraser: AstronomyCast Episode 663, “The End-of-the-Year Events.” Welcome to AstronomyCast, your weekly facts-based journey through the cosmos, where we help you understand not only what we know, but how we know what we know. I’m Fraser Cain, publisher of Universe Today. With me, as always, is Dr. Pamela Gay, a senior scientist for the Planetary Science Institute and the director of CosmoQuest. Hey, Pamela, how are you doing? Dr. Gay: I am doing well, how are you? Fraser: Good, good. I could whine about weather, but I won’t. Dr. Gay: Are you going to have a white Christmas? Fraser: Probably, yeah. We’re gonna have a white December, just all the way through. Last year was bonkers. This year is shaping up to be just this side of weird, but now, I just feel like every year, the weather is just weird. That’s just the new normal. Dr. Gay: I saw blue jays. Fraser: You saw blue jays? Dr. Gay: I saw blue jays. Blue jays mean winter, robins mean summer, so it’s going to be a cold one when the blue jays are here. Fraser: Right. Now, we generally save our stargazing selections for the summer, when it’s warmer in the Northern Hemisphere, but you’re tough, you can handle a little cold, and it’s worth it because there are some wonderful things you can see in the night sky this time of year. Have we ever done this? I was sort of thinking about this. I was writing my introduction, I’m like, yeah, every year, every couple of years, our last episode before we go on hiatus, we give you a bunch of recommendations to see over the summer, and we drag out all the common things, but we don’t do one this time of year, and that’s crazy because – Dr. Gay: Yes! Fraser: – there’s a ton of really interesting things, especially this year – Dr. Gay: Yes. Fraser: – that we should highlight, and so, you know what? I think our listeners are tough. They can handle it. They can handle some cold outside weather when they just take some extra hot chocolate and just warm with layers – Dr. Gay: Or extreme heat, if they’re in Australia. Fraser: Right, exactly. Are we avoiding the extreme heat? It’s milder, cooler, and nicer in July in Australia as well. So, what interesting event is coming up – let’s talk about some transitory events, some things that are brand-new and fresh, and then maybe we can shift over to some stuff that you can expect to see every year around this time. So, what is interesting that’s gonna be happening this winter? Dr. Gay: Well, right now, we have Mars at opposition, which means that Mars is rising a little bit after sunset, the nights are quite long, so Mars is rising a little bit after sunset, it’s setting a little bit before sunrise, and it’s pretty much at its highest point in the sky at the middle of the night, which, time zone dependent, may or may not be midnight where you are, but this means that that giant red dot in the sky could be Antares, could be Betelgeuse, or could be Mars. Fraser: If you go outside right now and you live in very light-polluted skies, you will probably see two stars, Jupiter and Mars, right? Neither of them are stars, but they are the two brightest objects in the sky right now, after the Moon, and it’s a good way to know if you can see clear sky and you can see these two objects – yeah, you’re looking at Jupiter and Mars. It’s amazing. Dr. Gay: Yes. And, it’s fun to be able to say to people, “Hey, did you know there’s a world entirely occupied by a troop of robots,” make it sound as spectacular as possible, “The Cylons have arrived,” and it’s just Mars, and you can then continue the story, pointing out at Jupiter and saying, “Hey, there’s this little mission called Juno going around Jupiter, and they post all their information online, so when we go in to warm up, we can download some data and make beautiful images using a camera that NASA purchased.” Fraser: So, why is Mars opposition so important? What does it mean? Dr. Gay: Mars opposition means that it is a reasonably good time to launch a spacecraft, and it also means that it’s easy to monitor it. So, if you want to do something where you want quick turnaround time between you and your favorite robot, you aim to have that thi...
Transcribe →Ep. 659: Clear Skies, Bright Satellites
Nov 14, 2022Tap to summarizeLight pollution is a big problem, and it’s only getting worse — not just near cities but everywhere thanks to increased satellite constellations. How bad is the problem, and how can we fix it? Show Notes | Transcript Show Notes Universe Today (Patreon) Universe Today CosmoQuest (Patreon) Find Your Night Sky Brightness on the Bortle Scale (Astro Backyard) Starlink satellites can look like a plume or train of light (EarthSky) Light pollution map Light Pollution Map (Dark Site Finder) One-Third of Humanity Can’t See the Milky Way (Astronomy) Up with People International Space Station (NASA) Spot the Station (NASA) United Nations IAU International Dark-Sky Association UNESCO World Heritage Centre – World Heritage List (UNESCO) Saving the night sky: New Zealand’s craziest experiment yet? (BBC Travel) Aoraki Mackenzie (New Zealand) (IDSA) Here’s why hut-hiking is the best way to see New Zealand (National Geographic) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Warner Bros.) NIGHTS OVER TUCSON: How the Tucson, Arizona, LED Conversion Improved the Quality of the Night (IDSA) Bright LEDs could spell the end of dark skies https://www.energy.gov/eere/ssl/potential-impacts-led-street-lighting-sky-glow (MIT) LED streetlights are increasing blue-light pollution in Europe (Physics World) Starlink Amazon reserves up to 83 launches for Project Kuiper satellites (GeekWire) Starlink Satellites Are Fainter Now — But Still Visible (Sky & Telescope) Apparent Magnitude (Swinburne University) Skyglow (Wikipedia) Coruscant (Wookiepedia) Star Trek Back to Top Transcript Transcriptions provided by GMR Transcription Services Fraser: Astronomy Cast, Episode 659 “Clear Skies and Bright Satellites”. Welcome to Astronomy Cast, your weekly facts-based journey through the cosmos where we help you understand not only what we know but how we know what we know. I’m Fraser Cain, publisher of Universe Today. I have been a space and astronomy journalist for over 20 years. And with me is Dr. Pamela Gay, a senior scientist for the Planetary Science Institute and the Director of CosmoQuest. Hey, Pamela. How are you doing? Dr. Gay: I am doing well. I want to apologize to our audience if today’s quality isn’t what you are used to. One of our team members, Annie Wilson, is getting married this week and all of us are in Vegas to celebrate. So, I’m coming to you from hotel internet, which is not the best. But the show will go on. Fraser: So, you might not know but every time a person signs up as a patron to Universe Today, I send them an email asking them to do an interview with me. And it’s actually talking to me like we’re at a Zoom meeting and I’m asking you a bunch of questions about where you found Universe Today and so on. And I would say about half of the people first found out about Universe Today through Astronomy Cast. Dr. Gay: Wow. Fraser: So, for those of you who have sort of followed this journey from Astronomy Cast to Universe Today, thank you. I really appreciate it. For those of you who don’t realize, it’s so funny. Every episode I go, “I’m the publisher of Universe Today.” And people are like, “I didn’t realize that you did Universe Today or what this Universe Today thing was.” So, maybe I need to say, “Universe Today” 10 times a show or something. I don’t know. But it’s been very interesting to have this conversation with people. So, just a secret bonus if you didn’t know, if you sign up for my Patreon over at patreon.com/universetoday, I will ask you to talk to me. And it will actually be me and we will actually talk. Dr. Gay: That’s amazing. Fraser: Right. Dr. Gay: I need to start doing that for CosmoQuest, I think. That’s amazing. I – Fraser: It is so much fun. Dr. Gay: – love that idea. Fraser: It’s so much fun. And after you see all these trolls, all these nasty people out there on the internet, people yelling and fighting each other, and you just get like 15 minutes of pure bliss talking to people about interesting things. And it just restores your faith in humanity. Anyone who does run a Patreon, talk to your fans. It’s so much fun. Now, light pollution is a big problem and it’s only getting worse; not just your cities, but everywhere thanks to increased satellite constellations. How bad is the problem and how can we fix it? So, you’re right now traveling. You’re in Las Vegas. What Bortle number would you give the place? Dr. Gay: Oh, man. How bad does it go? It’s not quite Times Square or that intersection in Tokyo with the crazy crosswalks, but there’s not a lot of stars up there or planets. It’s just kind of a few things. And for better or worse, unless there’s a Starlink train going over where I am right now, you’re not even gonna see the satellites because of all those lights pointed up on the buildings, pointed down on the ground that are scattering into the sky. Fraser: And actually, Vegas is an island of light pollution in an ocean of pretty dark skies in the West side of the United States. Like, if you look at a map of the light pollution in the U.S., there is this clear line between the West and the East. The East is a nightmare. It’s funny. So, I talk to people about how to find dark skies, and so I pull of the dark sky finder map which overlays light pollution on top of Google Maps. And you can sort of zip around and look at various places, and I’m looking for stuff that is green. The best you can have is black. Then, after that is blue, and then green. Green lets you see the Milky Way. If you’re in green, you can see the Milky Way. And for people on the West side, it’s easy. You just go in any direction for about 10 minutes and you should be able to see the Milky Way. For people in the East, it can be an hour to get somewhere, two hours to get somewhere where they can actually see the Milky Way. And for people in Europe there’s nowhere you can go. Get on a boat and – Dr. Gay: Oh, you can’t really. In Portugal, there’s this dark sky site. In Spain, there’s a dark sky site. But they’re not dark the way we’re used to dark here. Fraser: And so, if you’re in, say, the Netherlands, I don’t know. The Alps? There’s just nowhere to go. It’s terrifying. And I think a third of humanity...
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