The Urban Astronomer Podcast

All podcast recordings are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Podcast #37: Mission Update and Tim Cooper at ScopeX 2018

Posted on 9 November, 2018 by Allen Versfeld9 November, 2018

Welcome to Episode 37 of the Urban Astronomer podcast! This week features a public lecture by Tim Cooper, and another of Clem Unger’s space mission updates. As always, if you enjoy the show and would like to see it grow, there are a few ways that you can help. You could leave a positive review and rating on your favourite podcast service (I’m partial to Podknife but anything goes!). You could send a subscribe link to a friend. You could … Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:54 — 42.0MB) | Embed

Podcast #36: José da Silva at ScopeX 2018

Posted on 24 October, 2018 by Allen Versfeld24 October, 2018

Welcome to Episode 36 of the Urban Astronomer podcast, and the first in our ScopeX 2018 series. In this episode we feature the first of the public lectures I recorded at ScopeX. It is by José da Silva, and he speaks about exoplanets, and what we can tell about their weather. Links This talk on YouTube ScopeX José on FaceBook … Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:42 — 32.7MB) | Embed

Podcast #35: Itumeleng Monageng

Posted on 3 October, 2018 by Allen Versfeld3 October, 2018

Microphone. Image By Jpcuevas (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Welcome to episode 35 of the Urban Astronomer Podcast! This week we have a full show for you, with our main feature being an interview with South African astronomer Dr Itumeleng Monageng. We also continue our series on the physics behind the evolution of a star from gas cloud to black hole. And finally, my new co-host Clem Unger brings us updates on current space missions. Itumeleng Monageng Itumeleng is a post-grad researcher working for the South African Astronomical Observatory … Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:38 — 36.3MB) | Embed

Podcast #34: The Equinox Show

Posted on 23 September, 2018 by Allen Versfeld23 September, 2018

Welcome to this special Equinox edition of the Urban Astronomer Podcast! This episode I share the microphone with Clem Unger for the first of a quarterly series. Clem has been on the show before, and he’ll be back every equinox and every solstice. In this episode We start with a look at coming attractions in the sky over the next three months. Clem discusses the state of current asteroid missions OSIRIS-Rex and Hayabusa 2 Allen and Clem butt heads over … Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:27 — 40.7MB) | Embed

Podcast #33: Jean-Pierre Grootaerd

Posted on 12 September, 2018 by Allen Versfeld12 September, 2018

Welcome to the 33rd episode of the Urban Astronomer Podcast. This is a special release, featuring an interview that I recorded for ScopeX, the biggest astronomy and telescope event in South Africa. Jean-Pierre Grootaerd, through SSVI (which translates in English to Stars Shine for Everyone), has donated a pair of 90mm refracting telescopes to ScopeX, for us to hand over to whoever is best able to use them to advance science education in South Africa. Since he isn’t able to come … Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:27 — 22.4MB) | Embed

Carnival of Space #578

Posted on 11 September, 2018 by Allen Versfeld11 September, 2018

Carnival of Space Image Credit: Jason Major

Hi everybody, it’s my turn to host the Carnival of Space again! Every week, a new publisher pitches the tents of the travelling Carnival of Space to host it for the week on their website. Every week the best and most interesting space science and astronomy writing fills those tents to bring you up to date on news around the Universe. If you write about space and stuff, and would like to join the carnival, why not drop us a … Continue reading →

Urban Astronomer

Making sense of the universe one page at a time