Category Archives: The Urban Astronomer Podcast

Impossible exoplanets and Rhetoric

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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 →

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Interview with Dr Julia Healy

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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 →

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

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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 →

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Interview with Imogen Whittam

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

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Southern skies and Northern skies

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It’s another Science Explainy Bit episode, and today we answer a question asked by another podcaster while interviewing us for their show. The host wanted to know how the view of southern skies compares to that of the northern hemisphere. I gave a quick answer before we moved on to another topic, but I would have liked to give a more detailed and complete answer. Which brings us to this episode, in which I describe how there really isn’t a … Continue reading →

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