Light Pollution

Julie Wilbert brings us a report on light pollution with members of the Minnesota Astronomical Society. [Link]

Whatever the hell is Slacker Astronomy

An interview with Aaron Price about the history of Slacker Astronomy plus ramblings by Michael. [Link]

Podcast interview with Brant Robertson

Doug and Michael 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. [Link]

Video: Neil deGrasse Tyson [FF]

A quick interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson at AAS [Link]

Slackerpedia Galactica 8.0: A Brief History of the Universe

A brief history of the universe according to modern cosmology. Also a brief discussion of asteroid 2007 WD5, which may hit Mars. [Link]

First Principles 4.0 - Inside Stars [FF]

Discussion on what stars are and how they work. [Link]

Cosmology #7: The CMB Soap Opera w/Dr. Stephan Meyer

Dr. Stephen Meyer has been a part of most of the major CMB discoveries in the past two decades. He takes us on a journey of all the experiments, their challenges and successes and then sets the stage for the next phase of CMB experiments. [Link]

Cosmology #6: Dark Energy w/Dr. Josh Frieman

Dr. Josh Frieman discusses dark energy and alternative theories along with current and pending experiments to test it. [Link]

Cosmology #5: Dr. Michael Turner updates his famous 1998 paper: Cosmology Solved?

Dr. Michael Turner updates his famous 1998 checklist of the seven major cosmological questions [Link]

Cosmology #4: Nobel Laureate Dr. Jim Cronin On Cosmic Rays

Dr. Jim Cronin, winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize in physics, discusses cosmic rays and the Pierre Auger Observatory [Link]

Cosmology #3: The Big Bang and CMB w/Dr. Clem Pryke

Dr. Clem Pryke discusses the Big Bang, the cosmic microwave background, and various properties of it currently being tested in an effort to test and answer open questions about the Big Bang. [Link]

Cosmology #2: Dark Matter w/Dr. Andrey Kravtsov

Dr. Andrey Kravtsov gives a good description of the dark matter concept along with current understandings, challenges and active experiments underway to positively detect dark matter. [Link]

Cosmology #1: The South Pole Telescope and KICP w/Dr. John Carlstrom

Our first interview from the Kavli Institute For Cosmological Physics. The Director, Dr. John Carlstrom, gives us an overview of the institute and the major equipment they are building and using. Throughout the week we will bring you many interviews, both audio and video, from the institute and about all things cosmology. [Link]

Promo: SL Chat with Phil Plait and Eric Chaisson Plus Request For Help With Pilot Study

We have two upcoming chats in Second Life - Dr. Eric Chaisson on April 9 and Phil Plait (The Bad Astronomer) on April 21. Also, I need your help with a pilot study for a school project. Then we close out with the famous Harry Carey SNL skit "Space: The Infinite Frontier" [Link]

Happy April Fools Day

The Great Moon Hoax - more info at http://www.slackerastronomy.org/sla~ [Link]

Video: The Moon Is A Trip

Fun with the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal [Link]

Second Life Astro Cafe Interviews Promo

Join us Feb. 3 and Feb. 5 in Second Life for Slacker Astronomy Cafe Interviews with Dr. Stuart Lowe and Dr. Doug Welch. More on Second Life at slackerpedia.org. [Link]

Video: Hot Astronomers [OF]

Tonya, Michael and Travis wander the halls in search of hot astronomers. Filmed at the 209th American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle, WA. [Link]

Video: AAS Doug Interviews an Astronomy Visualizer [FF]

Dr. Doug Welch interviews Dr. Travis Rector, a science visualizer with NOAO and Gemini observatories. [Link]

Video: AAS Poster Wanderings [FF]

Mike and Aaron wander the posters on day two of the AAS meeting in Seattle [Link]

AAS: Day 3 Round Up and The Hot Chocolate Experiment [FF]

Aaron, Doug, Michael, Travis and a friend Anthony talk about day 3 of the American Astronomical Society meeting and perform an experiment with hot chocolate from room service. Craziness ensues. [Link]

AAS Interview With Pamela Gay [FF]

Interview with Dr. Pamela Gay at the 209th meeting of the American Astronomical Society [Link]

AAS Recap Days 1-2 [OF]

A recap of the first two days of the American Astronomical Society meeting. Ryan Wyatt (Science Visualization blog) joins us as a guest. Meeting blog at slackerastronomy.org. [Link]

Video: Neil deGrasse Tyson [FF]

A quick interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson at AAS [Link]

Dirty Rotten Astronomers [JF]

Michael and Travis skip out to Bermuda and report on the Space Technology 6 program from NASA. [Link]

Video: AAS Meeting Nonsense [FF]

Some dumb questions asked of smart people at the AAS meeting in Seattle. [Link]

Video: Optical SETI at Oak Ridge Observatory [FF]

A tour of the Harvard University Oak Ridge Observatory and the Optical SETI telescope there [Link]

Cheesy Filler Until AAS: Ribert and Robert's Wonderworld [FF]

One week until the next meeting of the American Astronomical Society. So to hold you over we offer clips from a nice Children's show on space: Ribert and Robert's Wonderworld, available at Google Video. [Link]

Video: Are there extra-terrestrials? [FF]

3 Questions. Second question: Are there extra-terrestrials? [Link]

SG 4.0: The Astronomer Who Cried Wolf [FF]

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 ... [Link]

Video: The Story of V838 Mon - [FF]

Rebekah and Travis tell the story of V838 Mon, a planet eater or just a really weird star? [Link]

Video: Should Pluto be a planet? [FF]

3 Questions. First question: Should Pluto be a planet? [Link]

Video: Behind The Scenes [FF]

Michael is visited by Timothy Ferris and a video crew to shoot a scene for an upcoming PBS show about amateur astronomers. [Link]

Slackerpedia Galactia #2.0 [FF]

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. Rebekah and the SA-style scripts will return with a bang in the next show. [Link]

SG Interview: Doug Welch on MACHO [FF]

MACHO, and its sequel, SuperMACHO, are projects that have directly detected dark matter. 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. [Link]

Lite Brite Supernovae Video [FF]

For our first video podcast, we take 5 pounds of Lite Brite pegs and use them to illustrate the process of supernovae explosions. [Link]

Slackerpedia Galactica #1.0 [FF]

The first edition of the new show. Future shows will be posted on this same feed. Info at www.slackerastronomy.org. [Link]

Astronomy Cast 2: In Search of New Worlds [FF]

Subscribe to this show at www.astronomycast.com. This is a 2nd sample episode. Look down at your feet. There=85 you=92re looking at a planet. Now look into the night sky and you should be able to spot a few more. This =20 week we discuss the techniques astronomers use to locate distant =20 worlds. [Link]

The End of a Planet and the End of a Podcast [FF]

Pluto musings, then the bomb. [Link]

Carbon Monoxide with Purpose

There are two good places to have CO detectors: In your house and on your radio telescope. We talk about one good place to find CO, and it's not in your basement. [Link]

My Fair Plutonian Menance [FF]

The things Pluto must do to remain in the brotherhood of planets would make even Luke remble with fear. [Link]

Sometimes Too Much Light Can Be A Bad Thing [FF]

In the 90's, astronomers had a chance to see an object usually obsructed by glare. That window of opportunity has just now closed so the results of the research are now starting to come out.. [Link]

Great Balls of Fire

A great ball of gas, greater in size than the distance between us and the Andromeda galaxy(!), has been spyed plunging into the distance Abell 3266 galaxy cluster. Why? Well why not? If you were a bored bit of gas living out your days in the suburbs of such a great galactic metropolis, wouldn't you too want to take a ... [Link]

Ring Around the Planet [FF]

Grab a partner, doe-se-doe. Watch the moons dance and roll... [Link]

Finder's Keeper's [OF]

Lookee what we found... [Link]

Dusty Supernovae[FF]

Astronomers prove you wouldn't have dustballs without supernovae. [Link]

Weird Physics[FF]

Weird hard math sometimes is and sometimes isn't weird good science. [Link]

Bigger Than the Motor Car [OF]

Pictures of big things from the earliest days of the Universe [Link]

Running Backwards while Moving Forward [OF]

Slowing light, and even making time run backwards, does nothing to help Pamela get more hours into a day. [Link]

Even Space Telescopes Need a Union [OF]

All work and no play makes an infrared space telescope a dull - but efficient, boy. [Link]

One Less Thing To Worry About [OF]

GRBs don't kill people. Paranoia kills people. [Link]

Digging In the Dirt [FF]

To learn of the Sun, we must look to the Moon. Or, more accurately, the dirty footprints we left behind. [Link]

Sterile Neutrinos, Enough Said [JF]

Sterile neutrinos are on a quest to solve all life's mysteries without interacting. [Link]

The Breakfast of Enceladians [JF]

Slush Puppies are what's for breakfast on Saturn's Moon Enceladus [Link]

Light Brite [FF]

Lights, lights, lights everywhere and not a star to see. Just how many stars can you see in your area? [Link]

WMAP's Anistropy Trophy [FF]

The show is now one year old, but the rest of us are 13.7 billion years old. Break out the Geritol. [Link]

Pop and Glow [JF]

Occationally people go bump in the night, and occationally things flare in Gamma Rays. Did you go bump when GRB060218 went flare? [Link]

Just Blame It On The Termites And Be Done With It [JF]

Somewhere on Titan, in a sleepy, empty home, an oven door is ajar. [Link]

As Simple As That [FF]

The recurrent nova RS Ophiuci erupts for the first time in 21 years and illustrates the impermanence of existence - or just looks neato [Link]

Dirty Rotten Snow Balls [FF]

Don't know what to do with your snow? Toss it in a Lagrange Point! [Link]

A Star, By Any Other Name... [OF]

This Valentines Day pity the poor, lonely stars [Link]

Listener Survey Just Do It

Please complete our listener and podcaster surveys [Link]

The Bubba Gump Galaxy Co. [FF]

Life is like a box of onions... [Link]

Gamma-Ray Candles [FF]

Brad Schaeffer demonstrates that Gamma-Ray Bursts can be used to measure the Cosmological Variable. [Link]

Supernova Echo and The Zwickymen [OF]

Light echoes from supernovae centuries old are discovered by SuperMacho-Macho-Man. [Link]

Are You Ready For Some Astronomy? [FF]

Monday Night Football is no longer. Fret not fellow couch potatoes! We have Monday Night Astronomy and a story about low energy aurorae. [Link]

An Astronomer's T'was the Day Before Christmas [FF]

Our holiday treat for our listeners [Link]

Titantic News On Titan [FF]

Science results from the Huygens Atmospheric Probe from all over [Link]

Stellar Skeletons [FF]

The Crab Nebula, SN 1970g, and Universal Expansion provide explosive science [Link]

Saturn As a Litter Box [FF]

Cassini and Mira team up to find wakes that look like Ridges in Saturn's Rings [Link]

Andromeda Has Never Been So Hot [FF]

Andromeda Has Never Been So Hot [FF] - infrared discoveries from the Andromeda galaxy [Link]

Eta Boy Eta Car [FF]

Eta Boy Eta Carinae [FF] [Link]

Pop goes the Neutron [FF]

Pop goes the Neutron (neutron star that is) [FF] [Link]

Visiting an Old Friend For the First Time [JF]

Visiting an Old Friend For the First Time [JF] [Link]

Carrying the 1's Along Gravitational Highways [OF]

Carrying the 1's Along Gravitational Highways [OF] [Link]

Black Hole Roundup [FF]

Black Hole Roundup [FF] [Link]

Deep Impact Isn't A Porno [OF]

Deep Impact Isn't A Porno [OF] [Link]

Downsizing Galaxies

Downsizing Galaxies [Link]

Propeller Population of the Universe

Propeller Population of the Universe [Link]

Donate to New Orleans Astronomy Clubs

Donate to New Orleans Astronomy Clubs [Link]

Viscious Little Dots

Micro Blazars A Go Go [Link]

Remapping small town NGC 300

NGC 300's position is recalculated and its urban sprawl is remapped. [Link]

Tiny Specks of Fun

Meteor Showers Aren't [Link]

To Be Or Not To Be A Planet

We break down the 10th planet [Link]

Neutrons play Hide and Quake

Neutrons play Hide and Quake [Link]

Sharin' Charon

Sharin' Charon (Show #19) - Pluto and its Moon Charon [Link]

Breaking The Superwind

Breaking the Superwind (Show #18) [Link]

Dreaming of a Scary Universe

Show #17: Dreaming of a Scary Universe [Link]

Ringworld Around the Collar

Show #16: Ringworld Around the Collar [Link]

When Asteroids Attack

Show #15: When Asteroids Attack [Link]

Dunkin' Quasars

Show #14: Dunkin' Quasars [Link]

The End of the Beginning

Show #13: The End of the Beginning [Link]

Orion Poisons its Young

Show #12: Orion Poisons its Young [Link]

Blame Canada for Extrasolar Planets

Show #11: Blame Canada for Extrasolar Planets [Link]

Magic 8 Ball vs. Mira

Show #10: Magic 8 Ball vs. Mira [Link]

The Martian Drinking Game

Show #9: The Martian Drinking Game [Link]

Stellar Elders lack Metal

Show #8: Stellar Elders Lack Metal [Link]

Do Minor Planets Get Carded?

Show #7: Do Minor Planets Get Carded? [Link]

Death of a Disco Star

Show #6: Death of a Disco Star [Link]

The Big Bad Astronomer

Show #5: The Big Bad Astronomer capsule interview, full interview on the SA Extra Feed [Link]

Going Boom

Show #4: Going Boom [Link]

Gone With the Wind

Show #2: Gone With the Wind [Link]

Black Hole In the Corner Pocket

Show #1: Black Hole In the Corner Pocket [Link]

Galaxies in Gangs Wear Red

Show #-1: Galaxies in Gangs Wear Red [Link]

Fancy Names For Shiny Lights

Show #-2: Fancy Names For Shiny Lights [Link]

Your Attention Requested

Show #-3: Your Attention Requested [Link]

Dark Matter, the Other White Meat

Show #-4: Dark Matter, the Other White Meat [Link]

Saturn's Hot Spot

Show #-5: Saturn's Hot Spot [Link]

Interview: Timothy Ferris [FF]

Astrotalk about news and events followed by an exclusive interview with author and film maker Timothy Ferris. [Link]

SG Chit Chat #6

Opening skit, Astro news, another First Principles, discussions of astronomy tenure policies and the first of a new recurring segment: Kavli Cosmology Nugget, where cosmologists sit around a table with wine and cheese and talk shop. [Link]

Cosmology #8: Dr. Lucy Fortson on VERITAS and new forms of astro research

Dr. Lucy Fortson is vice president for research at the Adler Planetarium and a member of the VERITAS gamma ray experiment. She talks about VERITAS, gamma rays, astronomy artifacts and new roles for the public in astronomy research practices. [Link]

SG #5.0

It's baaaacckk. [Link]

First Principles 2: Mass and Stuff (also McNaught/Titan skits)

The second in the First Principle series in which our heroes posit on mass, inertia and other stuff. Also, two skits with Travis and Rebekah about Comet McNaught and Titan. [Link]

First Principles 1.0: Astronomers

The first episode of a new segment called First Principles, in which we discuss the basics of what astronomers are and what they do. [Link]

SG #3.0: Planet eating monsters, light echos, unicorns and more...[FF]

Rebekah is back and we have two old-school skits, Doug joins us from Gemini South observatory in Chile and we cover lots of news and gossip in the world of astrology, oops, I mean, astronomy. [Link]

Video: DAO Visit [FF]

A tour of the DAO Observatory in Victoria, BC, Canada. [Link]