Slacker Astronomy » Audio Podcasts

Interview: Evalyn Gates

michael — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:22:06 +0000

Doug and I had the pleasure of doing an interview with Dr. Evalyn Gates, Assistant Director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics. She studies white dwarfs (dwarves?), dark matter, cosmic strings, black holes and she recently wrote a book on gravitational lensing, Einstein’s Telescope: The Hunt for Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe.

You should, of course, subscribe! But a good plan otherwise is to listen or download below!

This podcast is brought to you by Swinburne Astronomy Online, offering fully online degree programs in astronomy.

Interview: Peter Brookhouse

michael — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:21:43 +0000

We have a new podcast on the feed. Doug interviews Peter Brookhouse about saving Australian observatories from bush fires. It is a fascinating interview that also touches on the horrific fires that killed so many people last year.

Download or listen now!

Podcast: Simo-Slacker Interviews Pt. II

michael — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:47:10 +0000

In Part I we presented 2 interviews from Mike Simonsen of Simostronomy (and the AAVSO) from a conference he attended recently, Wild Stars in the Old West II . Mike has blogged extensively about this.

In this episode we present 3 new interviews with professional astronomers about cataclysmic variable stars. Christopher Tout, Paula Szkody and Boris Gaensicke discuss their work and ideas from the conference. It can be heavy stuff at times but gives a fascinating insight into the world of stellar astrophysics.

Many thanks to Mike Simonsen for bringing us these interviews! He is a fun guy to talk to. We’ll be hearing more from Mike!

Click below to listen now or download to your hard drive.

This podcast is brought to you by Swinburne Astronomy Online, offering fully online degree programs in astronomy.

Podcast: Simo-Slacker Interviews Pt. I

michael — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:28:54 +0000

At last, we have another exciting episode of Slacker Astronomy. This episode is packed full of Slackery goodness including, but not limited to, the following:

2008 TC3
Mars
Hubble
100 Hours of Astronomy
Simostronomy
Cataclysmic variable stars
including an interview with Brad Schaefer and another interview with Steve Howell
the ISS

If you aren’t smart enough to subscribe you can just click below to listen now or download to your hard drive.

This podcast is brought to you by Swinburne Astronomy Online, offering fully online degree programs in astronomy.

Massive Stars Part 1 and 2

michael — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 04:46:40 +0000

I’ve cross-posted on to the feed our last two contributions to The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast. This is a two-part series with Dr. Roberta Humphreys and Dr. Kris Davidson from the University of Minnesota. They are experts on massive stars, supernova imposters and Eta Carinae. Thus, these are the topics of these podcasts!

Enjoy!

Part 1:

Part 2:

These episodes of Slacker Astronomy were also brought to you by Swinburne Astronomy Online, offering fully online postgraduate degree programs in astronomy.

Interview: George Hrab

michael — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:25:07 +0000

I caught up with George Hrab at AAS in Long Beach. Here is our interview. George is a musician, skeptic, podcaster and The 365 Days of Astronomy theme song writer. It also includes a live extended version of The 365 Days of Astronomy theme song!

Listen now!

This episode of Slacker Astronomy is brought to you by Swinburne Astronomy Online, offering fully online postgraduate degree programs in astronomy.

Dark Energy with Dr. Michael Turner

michael — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:04:21 +0000

Aaron and I got a chance to interview Dr. Michael Turner, the cosmologist who coined the term “dark energy”. Dr. Turner shares his views on dark energy, cosmology and science in general in this 25 minute audio interview.

Favorite quote: the description of the universe as The Clash of the Dark Titans. He also predicts that in 10 years we will have dark matter pretty much figured out and will have made significant strides in understanding dark energy.

Tune in for AAS 2019 to find out if he is correct!

Listen now:

Interview: Ken Mogul on using Global Rent-a-Scope

michael — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:09:00 +0000

Doug interviews Ken Mogul, who has been using the Global Rent-a-Scope system to observe variable stars from his bed. Doug and I also discuss some random topics including some interesting papers on astro-ph.

Here’s some links from the interview:

Global-Rent-a-Scope Grant Program for High-School Students

Important paper on Type II and Anomalous Cepheids in the LMC

Listen now! Podcast Interview: Ken Mogul (MP3, 39.8MB, 43:22)

Or better yet, subscribe!

Check out our upcoming January 5th podcast on The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast.

Podcast: Interview: JJ Kavelaars and 2008 KV42

michael — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:48:41 +0000

Michael and Doug ramble through a random selection of topics including Mars Phoenix, Hubble and iPhone rockets. Then the main event — a great interview with Dr. JJ Kavelaars about Kuiper Belt objects and specifically the discovery of 2008 KV₄₂, “the first ever trans-neptunian object known to orbit backwards around the Sun”.

Interview: JJ Kavelaars and 2008 KV₄₂(MP3, 44.6MB, 01:04:49)

The interview starts at 22:45 if you want to get right to it.

New podcast + interview

michael — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:11:18 +0000

We have a new podcast on the feed, recorded on lovely Nantucket island during the fall AAVSO meeting. Aaron, Doug and I have a casual chat about a myriad of astronomical topics. Then we join Doug Welch as he interviews his old friend Dr. Geoff Clayton, an expert on R Coronae Borealis stars. We also have that interview on video.

Listen now! (MP3, 33.4MB, 36:18, Show Notes)

Podcast: Another Slacker Chat

michael — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 04:56:31 +0000

We posted a new podcast to the feed a few days ago, full of fascinating insights, knee-slapping humor and Nobel-prize worthy oratory. You can’t miss this episode! If you never listen to a podcast again in your life, it will be OK if you listen to this episode. This is no joke, people, we even included 13 extra minutes FOR FREE. You won’t see an offer like this again. So act now!

Another Slacker Chat (MP3, 32.0MB, 46:27, Show Notes)

Podcast: Slacker Chat with Doug, Michael, Aaron and Travis

michael — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:32:35 +0000

It’s been a while since we had a chit-chat show. Doug, Aaron, Travis and I had a chance to catch up recently and here it is, 49 minutes of fun. As usual, we did the show from 4 locations scattered over the US and Canada, so there are moments of sub-optimal audio. We’ve never let that stop us before!

We talk about Mars, Brian May, kinematic footprints, IYA, Travis on TV, Phil Plait and more. Check out the show notes for more. The show notes are in a wiki, so feel free to add things that we miss.

Slacker Chat with Doug, Michael, Aaron and Travis (MP3, 22.5MB, 48:52, Show Notes)

Interview: Doug Baum on the BIPH

michael — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:54:07 +0000

Astronomers spend a lot of time and money getting telescopes with bigger apertures to try to collect more photons. The BIPH (Binocular Photon Machine) is a device which makes better use of the photons you do get, multiplying the signal 50,000 times, effectively tripling your aperture.

Doug Welch and I interview Doug Baum, who along with his partner Russ Lederman, has developed the BIPH. We talk about the device, how it works and the cool ways it can be used.

Interview: Doug Baum on the BIPH (MP3, 24.3MB, 35:21, Show Notes)

Interview: Ethan Vishniac

michael — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:49:26 +0000

We have another interview up on the feed! Doug interviews Dr. Ethan Vishniac, a theoretical astrophysicist and editor-in-chief of The Astrophysical Journal, “a prestigious international journal founded in 1890 at the University of Chicago. Vishniac is only the third editor since its inception.”

ApJ, as it is known, is one of the major professional astronomy publications in the world, along with the very similarly named Astronomical Journal (or AJ).

Then Doug and I spend a few minutes at the end begging for money.

More great podcasts and interviews coming up so stay tuned!

Interview: Ethan Vishniac (MP3, 30.4M, 44:05, Show Notes)

Interview: Ben Wiehe on Science Cafes

michael — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 03:51:34 +0000

We have a new podcast on the feed featuring an interview with Ben Wiehe of WGBH on how he conducts science cafes. Subscribe to the feed or click below to listen. You can also watch the video of just the interview portion.

Interview: Science Cafes (MP3, 14.5MB, 15:27, Show Notes)

Interview: Juan Collar and Detecting Dark Matter

michael — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:54:04 +0000

We bring you another fascinating cosmology interview with a genius over at the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics. This time we speak to Juan Collar, a name that I am, apparently, incapable of saying. He leads a group at Kavli which is pursuing several experimental approaches to detecting dark matter in the lab.

Interview: Juan Collar and Detecting Dark Matter (MP3, 28.3MB, 41:10, Show Notes)

Podcast: Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory

michael — Wed, 28 May 2008 03:26:43 +0000

We have a new podcast on the feed. Doug and I discuss the Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory, supernovae light echos and buying a star. Check out the show notes for more details.

Ice Cube (MP3, 23.4MB, 25:27)

Podcast: Light Pollution

michael — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:26:36 +0000

Special Correspondent Julie Wilbert brings us a podcast report on light pollution with members of the Minnesota Astronomical Society.

Light Pollution (MP3, 17.2MB, 18:40)

Subscribe!

Whatever the hell is Slacker Astronomy?

michael — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:53:45 +0000

I posted this to the feed a while ago. It’s a short-ish podcast which discusses the history of Slacker Astronomy with Aaron Price, the founder of Slacker Astronomy, and includes random musings by yours truly about the future of the podcast/blog. I marked this explicit in iTunes because I use the f-word once.

Whatever the hell is Slacker Astronomy (MP3, 17MB, 18:30)

As always, we welcome your feedback so email us if anything comes to mind.

Podcast interview with Brant Robertson

michael — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 04:00:37 +0000

We have a new show! Doug and I had a great chat with Brant Robertson, who is a Spitzer Fellow doing research at The Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics. Brant is a theoretical astrophysicist involved with computer simulations of the evolution of galaxies.

Check this sh!t out:

Credit: Brant Robertson, Spitzer Fellow, KICP/UChicago

This interview is quite long so we’ve uploaded low and high rez versions. The low rez version is the one in the RSS feeds.

If you subscribe to the feed, the audio is probably already on your box. Or you can check out the show notes or download the MP3 file directly:

Slacker Astronomy podcast interview with Brant Robertson (low rez) (MP3, 24.7MB, 1:11:20)

Slacker Astronomy podcast interview with Brant Robertson (high rez) (MP3, 65.6MB, 1:11:20)

New Podcast: Slackerpedia Galactica 8.0

michael — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 06:10:01 +0000

We just posted a new podcast to the feed: Slackerpedia Galactica 8.0: A Brief History of the Universe. So if you subscribe to the feed, the audio is probably already on your box. Or you can check out the show notes or download the MP3 file directly:

Slackerpedia Galactica 8.0: A Brief History of the Universe (MP3, 17.2MB, 36:12)

In this show Doug and I discuss the the cosmological timeline as I wrote about in a previous post. We also talk a little about asteroid 2007 WD5 and its possible upcoming impact with Mars.

First Principles 4.0 - Inside Stars

michael — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 04:53:50 +0000

Well, we pulled our heads out of our slacker haze and managed to post a new podcast on the feed! It’s a First Principles® episode about stars.

First Principles 4.0 - Inside Stars (MP3 file, 26.7MB, 28:24)

SG 7.0: Interview with Timothy Ferris

michael — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 21:23:56 +0000

Finally, another exciting podcast installment from the slackers! This episode features chit-chat with Travis, Doug and Michael and an interview with Timothy Ferris.

Listen now (MP3, 48:06, 33.2 MB)

The show notes are on the Slackerpedia Galactica.

Slackerpedia Galactica v6.0

michael — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 21:37:28 +0000

It’s been on the feed and now it’s on the tubes: check out Slackerpedia Galactica 6.0.

Astronomy, without the boring stuff.

SG 5.0

Aaron — Mon, 07 May 2007 14:08:32 +0000

It’s online. Show notes here

First Principles 2: Mass & Stuff

Aaron — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 21:28:37 +0000

We have a new first principles and two new skits about McNaughty and Titan.

Show Notes are here.

Discuss in the forums here.

First Principles 1.0: Astronomers

michael — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 05:31:36 +0000

Here is a Slackerpedia Galactica special episode in which we introduce a new little segment dealie called First Principles. It will be a semi-regular segment in the podcasts and we will discuss the basics of topics from stars to statistics and cosmology to F=ma.

In this segment we discuss astronomers: who are they, what do they do and how do they do it.

The show is on the feed so subscribe if you haven’t already. You can also download the audio file directly (MP3 audio file, 7.3MB, 15:34) and there are some show notes available. Tell us what you think in the forums!

Ribert & Roberts Wonderland

Aaron — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 03:23:26 +0000

One more week until AAS and lots of new shows. Until then, you can watch Ribert and Robert's Wonderland episode about Space via this link to Google Video.

SG 4.0: Fairy Tales of Predictions

Aaron — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 03:01:06 +0000

In this show we cover stories of astronomical predictions: the good, bad and why it’s easier to be the former than the latter. We also have an interview with Ryan Wyatt, a science visualizer at the American Museum of Natural History who talks about what goes on behind the scenes to turn those faint fuzzies into pretty pictures and gives us a report from a recent astro-visualization conference.

Of course we have two new skits, news and more. Everyone is in tha house for this one so check it out, yo…

Details, MP3 and show notes are here.

Discuss the show in our forum here.

SG 3.0: Planet-eating light echos and unicorns?

Aaron — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 04:12:12 +0000

Things are starting to gel with the new show. Rebekah is back so we have two old-school skits on V838 Mon’s light echo and whether it was caused by a planet engulfing event. And we have another skit about a cool meteorite discovered in Kansas using a novel approach that may help look for water on Mars.

Then we roll through some news, topics posted in the forum, and some chit chat. Doug calls in from his observing run at Gemini South on the Cerro Pachon mountain in Chile.

Show notes and links are here..

Discuss the show here…

Cafe Scientifique on “Planetary Systems and Extraterrestrial Life”

dougwelch — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 05:27:46 +0000

This three half-hour collector’s set of MP3s allows you to vicariously live out your dream of being present at a Cafe Scientifique. Ralph Pudritz and Doug Welch of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada were the presenters. This informal, discussed-oriented event took place at the King Paisley Pub - an excellent place for astronomy outreach, in my humble opinion.

Listen to the audio by downloading parts 1, 2, and 3.

SG #2.0: Drifting in Space

Aaron — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 20:17:08 +0000

Without Rebekah in this show, we are adrift. But we do our best to bring you some roundtable on current astro hot (and cold) topics. Click here for show notes.

SG Interview: Doug Welch on MACHO

michael — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 15:32:17 +0000

Slackerpedia Galactica Interview: Doug Welch and the MACHO project. (MP3 audio file, 13:28, 6.2M)

MACHO, and its sequel, SuperMACHO, are projects that have directly detected dark matter. Dark matter is dark, yet we can observe it through a variety of clever techniques. One such technique involves measuring the brightness of stars and looking for the effects of gravitational microlenses — stars which get brighter for a brief time, once and only once, as the dark matter passes in front of it.

Dark matter is a funny term because it encompasses all the matter we can’t see. Dark matter is not one thing, it is all the things we can’t see but can detect due to their gravity. The dark matter detected by MACHO is likely things like planets, brown dwarfs, white dwarfs or low-mass black holes, if such things exist.

Dr. Doug Welch is one of the researchers involved with the MACHO project. In this podcast interview with Michael Koppelman, Doug talks about all things MACHO.

If you haven’t already subscribe to the podcast or just listen now.

SG #1.0

Aaron — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 03:02:02 +0000

The first episode of the new show is in the can and on the feed, with a skit involving Uranus and its transiting moons. We put show notes here and you can discuss here.

The End of A Planet & A Podcast

slackadmin — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 05:21:14 +0000

In this show we discussed our personal views about Pluto, then dropped a bomb on the audience. Slacker Astronomy, as an audio podcast, is over.

However, two new podcasts will emerge. Pamela will be co-hosting AstronomyCast with Fraser Cain of the Universe Today web site and podcast. AstronomyCast will take a fact based journey through the cosmos as explores different topics in-depth each week.

Also, Travis, Aaron, and Rebecca will be joined by two new people to create Slackerpedia Galactica, a new eclectic podcast and web site about astronomy.

We thank you all for your support over the last year and a half. It’s been a fantastic run and you’ve given us some memories that we’ll always cherish. We hope that you enjoy the new shows. Think of it this way, you now have twice the astronomy for the same price - free!:)

The first episodes of both shows are online now and appearing in the SA feed. Check your podcast client now to listen.

In the future, SG episodes will be posted to the same feed as Slacker Astronomy. So you do not need to do anything to your podcast client. However, be sure to subscribe to Pamela’s new show via this feed.

Show 1: Black Hole in the Corner Pocket

Aaron — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 22:44:45 +0000

The difference is black holes don’t cause male astronomers to walk into lightposts.

Episode #1
Title: “Black Hole In the Corner Pocket”
Subjects: black holes, gravitational lensing
CastDate: 050314
Written By: Aaron Price
Disembodied Voices: Travis Searle & Pamela Gay with special guest appearance by The Grinch.
Engineered: Travis Searle

Transcript
Press Release
Nature.com
Gravitational Lensing explanation by NASA’s Imagine the Universe
Einstein’s Cross via HST (image at right)