Author Archives: Allen Versfeld

About Allen Versfeld

Allen is an amateur astronomer, an IT professional, a podcaster, a father of five beautiful kids, a barely competent chess player, and the owner and publisher of the Urban Astronomer podcast and website. He is also the director of the Citizen Science Section of the Astronomical Society of South Africa, where he tries to help ASSA members do good work with citizen science projects. Now on Mastodon!

Impossible exoplanets and Rhetoric

Urban Astronomer avatarPosted on by

This is episode 62 of the Urban Astronomer Podcast, our first release of 2022. Happy New year! In this episode, we’re doing something a little different. Traditionally we alternate between interviews and Science Explainy Bits, but the second segment here is a bit more philosophical than usual, and ran a bit short, so I’ve added something a bit more topical – some astronomy news! Impossible exoplanet As covered previously on this website, the science media were very excited to report … Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:01 — 14.9MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Email | Deezer | RSS | More

Giant exoplanet upsets theories on how planets form

Urban Astronomer avatarPosted on by

Astronomers have identified the biggest star known to have exoplanets yet, upsetting standard planetary formation models. To date, b Centauri is the biggest star known to host an exoplanet. Estimates of its mass put it at between two and four times the previous record holder, meaning it could be up to ten times bigger than our own Sun.

Continue reading →

Interview with Dr Julia Healy

Urban Astronomer avatarPosted on by

This episode features an interview with Dr Julia Healy, from ASTRON, where she works as part of the MHONGOOSE survey team. When this interview was originally recorded early last year, she hadn’t yet submitted her PhD thesis, but has since graduated and earned the title “Dr”. Julia completed her Bachelor of Science, specialising in Astrophysics and Physics, at the University of Cape Town in 2013. She went on to complete a Bachelor of Science Honours in Physics in 2014 and … Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:43 — 27.7MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Email | Deezer | RSS | More

How do we know what things in space are made from?

Urban Astronomer avatarPosted on by

This is episode 60 of the Urban Astronomer podcast! Is that a milestone? Sure, but we’ll save the party hats for episode 75. Today we’ll just get on with the job at hand, and bring you a science explainy bit. Today’s question: How can astronomers be so certain about what things in space are made from? On Earth it’s relatively easy to send geologists out to different places with their hammers, and have them collect samples from interesting rock formations … Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:34 — 18.8MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Email | Deezer | RSS | More

Interview with Imogen Whittam

Urban Astronomer avatarPosted on by

This episode of the Urban Astronomer Podcast features an interview with Dr Imogen Whittam, an astrophysicist at Oxford University

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:04 — 22.9MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Email | Deezer | RSS | More

Continue reading →