The 365 Days of Astronomy

Written & hosted by our Director, Avivah Yamani. Why do astronomers call oxygen and carbon metals? Explore how stars created the elements that formed planets, and eventually, us! We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .

Hosted by Steve Nerlich. Who knew? Dear Cheap Astronomy – Do gravitons exist? Once again we're dealing with something hypothetical here – so much like virtual particle pairs that pop out of nowhere and can evaporate black holes, it's entirely possible that gravitons exist, but at this time it's probably appropriate to entertain the notion that they might not exist either. Ten years ago we would have said the same thing about the Higgs boson, but that was positively identified by the Large Hadron Collider in 2012 and hence moved from being a hypothetical to a real particle at that time. Dear Cheap Astronomy – Is the Universe full of explosions? Well, yes it does seem that way. There are the various classes of novae, but also bursts of various kinds, ranging from radio to gamma ray bursts. They've traditionally been classified separately although the boundaries of those classifications often blur. The word nova means new – arising from the fact that when they happen a star may become visible due to a sudden transient brightening. A standard nova arises from binary systems in which one star is a white dwarf that gravitationally draws material off its binary companion star which is a red giant. We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK6w8ZHm8UM Streamed live 18 Oct 2026. Hosted by: Fraser Cain ( @frasercain ) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay ( @CosmoQuest ) Today we continue looking at space exploration technologies. This time we will examine thrusters, which can reorient a spacecraft and help it maneuver in space. Maximum flexibility but you need to bring along some propellant. Smarter Every Day's YouTube video: I Was SCARED To Say This To NASA... (But I said it anyway) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoJsPvmFixU We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .

Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( @Nmcanopus ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. travelersinthenight.org From May 2026. Today's 2 topics: - Winter nights can be exhausting, productive, as well as sometimes frustrating for asteroid hunters. At the Sixty Inch Telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona, near winter solstice, the night's observing starts at 6:30 PM and continues till after 6 AM which combined with start up and end tasks makes the asteroid hunter's work "day" more than 13 hours long. On such a recent long winter work night, my Catalina Sky Survey Teammate, Carson Fuls discovered an impressing total of 18 new Earth approaching objects. On the other hand on the next 3 night shift, I was treated to one night which was clear followed by two nights which were dominated by the first big snow storm of the season. The best nights are clear, cold, and calm with asteroid images which are small intense points of light. Such a night is said to have good seeing. - My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Greg Leonard was searching for Earth approaching objects with our 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona when he discovered an interesting new comet moving through the constellation of Leo. After Greg posted his discovery observations on the Minor Planet Center's Near Earth Confirmation Page it was observed over the next 3 weeks by 10 different observatories around the world. These data were used to calculate the details of the new object's 51 year path around the Sun and give it the name Comet C/2017 W2 (Leonard). We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvSNWnHZpjc Hosted by: Fraser Cain ( @frasercain ) From Oct 4, 2016. Black holes are the most impressive objects in the Universe, but when happens when they crash into each other is absolutely mind-bending. They distort space and time itself, sending ripples out into the Universe. We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .

From October 21, 2026. Hosted by Dr. Pamela L. Gay ( @CosmoQuest ) This week we look at the weird results in space science. From looking at how wildly different images from different IR telescopes can be colorized, to worlds colliding, to white dwarfs of unusual size, and even to Earth's crust on the move, the news was surprising and sometimes a tad bit horrifying. And we present all of it here. NGC 7129 — The Flower Bud Nebula. Spitzer vs. Webb color palettes: https://www.universetoday.com/articles/webb-captures-stars-in-the-early-stages-of-life-in-a-nearby-stellar-nursery We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .

Hosted by Steve Nerlich. A podcast of sorts… Cheap Astronomy gets organized! Dear Cheap Astronomy – How are asteroids organized? The large majority of asteroids in the solar system are in the asteroid belt between mars and Jupiter. There are maybe 1-2 million that are more than a kilometer in diameter and millions more that are smaller than that. Nonetheless there's a huge amount of space between mars and Jupiter so it's nothing like that bit in the Empire strikes back. If you stood one asteroid is unlikely you'd be able to see another one and the odds of successfully navigating it are about one to one. Dear Cheap Astronomy – Are primordial black holes dark matter candidates? Well yes, though they aren't only candidates around. To recap, a primordial black hole is a hypothetical object which originated in very primordial times – probably within the first second of the Universe. It is somewhat puzzling that when the Big Bang brought lots of mass-generating particles into existence within a very small volume and at an extremely high density, it didn't form a black hole then and there – which would have then been the end of the story. But not only did things with mass suddenly come to be, they were all flung outwards as well – though primarily moving within rapidly expanding spacetime rather than actually being flung. And so here we are. We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .

October Part 2. Paul Hill and Dr. Jenifer "Dr. Dust" Millard host. Damien Phillips, John Wildridge and Dustin Ruoff produce. Jeni gives us the low down on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in the first talk of Fall AstroCamp 2026. We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .

Light Up Empty Space! Hosted by Dr. Paul M. Sutter. How does the vacuum interact with light? Is it possible to use light to create something from nothing? And is "birefringence" a real word? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes: http://www.AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books Keep those questions about space, science, astronomy, astrophysics, physics, and cosmology coming to #AskASpaceman for COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE OF TIME AND SPACE! Big thanks to my top Patreon supporters this month: Justin G, Chris L, Alberto M, Corey D, Michael P, Naila, Sam R, Joshua, Scott M, Rob H, Scott M, Louis M, John W, Alexis, Gilbert M, Rob W, Jessica M, Jules R, Jim L, David S, Scott R, Heather, Mike S, Pete H, Steve S, Lisa R, Kevin B, Aileen G, Michael J, Phillip L, Steven B, Mark R, Alan B, Craig B, Richard K, Joe R, David P, Justin, Tracy F, Thomas K, James C, Syamkumar M, Mark D, Bruce A, Tim Z, Linda C, The Tired Jedi, Bob C, Stephen A, James R, Allen E, Michael S, Sheryl, David W, Chris, Michael S, Erlend A, James D, Karl W, Edward K, Scott K, Vivek D, M0PPET, Brad, Azra K, Steve R, M D Malahy, Brian O, Alonna M, Joseph B, Anders J, Blaine, Ry Guy, and Phil! We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcn6f_PE14o Spinney things! Streamed live 18 Oct 2026. Hosted by: Fraser Cain ( @frasercain ) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay ( @CosmoQuest ) Our journey through space exploration technology continues! Today we look at the things that spin: gyros, reaction wheels, servos. Newton's laws are large and in charge today as spinning has a very useful benefit when you're in weightlessness! Today we are going to understand the nemesis of space exploration missions everywhere, get to the bottom of this, how these things works, why they fail, and maybe what's being done about it, or maybe not! We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .

Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( @Nmcanopus ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. travelersinthenight.org From April 2026. Today's 2 topics: - Recently my Catalina Sky Survey teammates Carson Fuls and Greg Lenoard discovered an Aten asteroid which orbits the Sun once every 272 days and on a path that crosses the orbits of Venus and Earth a number of times each year. Atens account for only about 6% of the Earth approaching asteroids that asteroid hunters discover. They are relatively dim and difficult to discover because they spend most of their time inside the Earth's orbit with their sunlit side facing away from us. For example Carson and Greg's newly discovered asteroid, 2017 WJ16, is bright enough for asteroid hunters to track for only about 50 nights every couple of years. - Oumuamua is the asteroid that zipped by the Earth on a trajectory that started beyond our solar system in truly deep space. After rounding our Sun at 97,000 mi/hr this unusual space rock will continue onward into deep interstellar space. The fact that this reddish object's brightness changes by a factor of 10 every 7.3 hours has been interpreted as being due to an elongated rocket or cigar shape which reflects different amounts of sun light in our direction as it tumbles through space. This strange space rock appears to be about 730 feet long and about 100 feet wide. We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .

Galileo turned the telescope skyward and transformed astronomy, revealing lunar mountains, sunspots, Jupiter's moons, and a Universe far larger than imagined. "ASTROMAN: the Dark Sky Guardian" is a podcast channel that aims to explore popular science in multiple disciplines and research on interdisciplinary approaches, such as sustainability, dark-sky protection, astrophotography, space exploration, astronomy innovation, inclusive science communication, and STEAM Education by integrating science and arts. Exodus Chun-Long Sit, also known as the ASTROMAN, is a transmedia astronomy educator, popular science author, STEAM educator, and science communicator in Hong Kong. He is recently the National Astronomy Education Coordinator (Chair of Hong Kong, China) of the International Astronomical Union and President of Starrix. He was also an International Committee Member of the Dark Sky International, regularly organizing public lectures at the Hong Kong Space Museum and the Hong Kong Science Museum. He was also the author of a popular science book "Decoding the Starry Night: A Guide to Stargazing and Astrophotography". We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .

Hosted by Chris Beckett & Shane Ludtke , two amateur astronomers in Saskatchewan who enjoy teaching astronomy classes and showing the public views through their telescopes. actualastronomy@gmail.com In this episode, we cover key visual observing highlights for Saturn, including prominent features like the Equatorial Band and Equatorial Zone visible in amateur telescope. We also look at historical transient phenomena, such as the massive, planet-encircling "Great White Spots" that erupt in the northern hemisphere roughly once every Saturnian year. Alexio wrote: Hi Chris and Shane, I saw Saturn in your Observer's Calendar show notes. I'm an amateur astronomer in Mississauga, and thought you might enjoy a website I've built called Astrochron. Its Saturn model lets you move through past and future years and watch the rings open wide, narrow to almost edge-on, then open up again with the other face in view. Here's Saturn: https://astrochron.app/objects/saturn Regards, Alexio We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .

From November 2020. The brightest kilonova ever was detected and challenges current gamma-ray burst models. Plus, the history of water on both Venus and Mars, how radioactive elements may help habitability, and a little-known mass extinction event here on Earth. But wait! There's more… new images of the Perseus Cluster, a recaptured 1960s rocket booster, the shortest measurement of time, a treasure trove of copies of Principia, and SpaceX is certified to launch Crew-1 this weekend. Perseus Cluster pix: https://www.sci.news/astronomy/perseus-galaxy-cluster-radio-map-09213.html#google_vignette We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .

https://www.universetoday.com/articles/nasa-selects-gimli-to-search-the-marius-lunar-pit-for-a-potential-lunar-base-site Recorded by our editor, Richard Drumm. Written by Matthew Williams. Lava tubes on the Moon and Mars are some of the most fascinating and useful places we could explore. These are natural tunnels below the surface that could protect astronauts from radiation, provide a constant temperature, and could even be sealed off as a place for a habitat. Now, a new mission is under development called GIMLI that could use ground-penetrating radar to scan beneath the surface and map out the extent of a lunar cave network. We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .

Paul Hill hosts solo! Damien Phillips, John Wildridge and Dustin Ruoff produce. In this podcast extra episode we talk to Dr. Karen Masters, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Haverford College, Pennsylvania about The Hubble Tuning Fork and Galaxy classification. But it's not only about that canonized galaxy classification system, it's also about how citizen science – astronomy done by absolutely anybody from their homes – can and does change the accepted wisdom and advance science. Galaxy Zoo: http://zoo1.galaxyzoo.org Twelve Years of Galaxy Zoo: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1910.08177 Morphological Classification of Galaxies: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2502.09610 We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhkGOIAhBWc Hosted by: Fraser Cain ( @frasercain ) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay ( @CosmoQuest ) Streamed live on Oct 3, 2026. Mission Tech Part 3. Instead of sending up an entire space station for every mission, you can just send up a tiny can filled with astronauts. But that takes docking. And today we're gonna talk about what it takes to connect two spacecraft together. How to keep a cargo safe to get into orbit, and how to get in and out of your spacecraft without killing everyone! We removed all ads from the show. We need to get to 1500 patrons to keep it this way. We need your support! We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .

Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( @Nmcanopus ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. travelersinthenight.org From April, 2026. Today's 2 topics: - In 2012 as it crossed the orbit of Neptune heading towards the Sun a small space rock was 250 times fainter than can be detected by the Hubble Space Telescope. Five years later, after it had rounded the Sun, it became visible in asteroid hunter's telescopes for about 16 days, as it streaked across our planet's orbit at 37 miles per second, as it continued to move away from the Sun. During that brief period of time it was discovered by the PanSTARRS group in Hawaii, tracked by telescopes around the world, and given the name. - The NASA Curiosity Rover has shown us evidence of ancient rivers and bodies of liquid water on the martian surface. Given its thin cold atmosphere, seeps of liquid water, presently on the surface of Mars which are capable of hosting microbial life appear to be unlikely. Scientists were thus surprised when high resolution imaging of the red planet's surface revealed thousands of intriguing dark streaks called RSL on hundreds of rocky slope areas. These fascinating features slowly extend down hill and grow during the martian warm season, fade during the colder season, and reappear during the next martian warm period. We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .

Neutron stars, the compact remains of a massive star following a supernova explosion, are the densest matter in the Universe. Some neutron stars, known as magnetars, also claim the record for the strongest magnetic fields of any object. How magnetars, which are a mere 15 kilometers across, form and produce such colossal magnetic fields remains a mystery. New observations by a team of astronomers, including NSF's NOIRLab's Dr. André-Nicolas Chené , may shed important light on the origin of these magnetic powerhouses. Using various telescopes around the globe, including the Canada-France-Hawai'i Telescope (CFHT) on Maunakea, the researchers have identified a new type of astronomical object — a massive magnetic helium star (an unusual variant of a Wolf-Rayet star), which may be the precursor of a magnetar. In this podcast, André-Nicolas Chené describes the process of finding the first known potential magnetar progenitor. Bios: Rob Sparks is in the Communications, Education and Engagement group at NSF's NOIRLab in Tucson, Arizona. Dr. André-Nicolas Chené is an associate astronomer at NOIRLab. He completed his PhD at the Université de Montréal in 2007 and learned everything about the fundamentals of astronomical observations at the Observatoire du Mont Mégantic. He was research fellow at the NRC Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre and postdoc jointly at the Universidad de Concepción and the Universidad de Valparaíso before joining the Gemini Observatory (now a program of NOIRLab) in 2013. For almost 10 years, André-Nicolas took part in every phase of a Gemini observing program life cycle and has played a central role in Gemini's user support effort. André-Nicolas's research interests are massive stars, hot winds, star clusters, and stellar evolution. Links: NOIRLab Press Release: https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2323/ We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .

From September 23, 2026. This week we're doing a weather check. No, really. Let's talk about the weather! All of them! We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click !) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org .