Tag Archives: Moon

Podcast #27: Tides and Flerfers

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Welcome to the 27th episode of the Urban Astronomer Podcast!  This is a special episode where I break from tradition and try for something completely new: Unscripted content, delivered solo, with just a few notes to guide me!  In the first segment, I explain how tides work, and in the second I muse on what makes Flat Earther’s reject established scientific knowledge. I recently got back from the 2018 Symposium of the South African Astronomical Society, where I plugged this … Continue reading →

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Podcast #25: Clyde Foster at ScopeX 2017

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Welcome to the 25th episode of the Urban Astronomer Podcast, which is also the 1st episode of 2018. Happy New Year!  Over the past few episodes, I’ve been running a series of public lectures that I recorded at ScopeX 2017.  ScopeX is an annual telescope and astronomy expo held every year at the Military History museum in Johannesburg.  This is the last lecture in the series, on the topic of the Apollo Program. Clyde Foster was the speaker. News Next … Continue reading →

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Podcast #8: Venus, KELT-11b and Blood Moon Pregnancies

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Welcome to the 8th episode of the Urban Astronomer Podcast!  This week, Cathrine continues her series on The Planets with the hottest world in our Solar System: Venus.  Allen then reports on the discovery, by a telescope at SAAO’s facility in Sutherland, of KELT-11b, an unusually inflated exoplanet.  And finally we look at what is apparently a common question in parts of the world: Is it safe to watch a Lunar Eclipse, while pregnant? This is Cathrine’s second appearance in … Continue reading →

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Picking fights with a flat-earther

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They tell us we’re living in a post-truth world, whatever that’s supposed to mean.  All I know is that there’s a growing number of people who look at the vast store of human knowledge, and reject it.  People who hear experts speak on science, politics, medicine, and say “Nope! I saw a YouTube about this, and I know better!”.  And there’s no starker demonstration of this than the modern flat-earther. How does this happen? What makes sane adults, with an education … Continue reading →

African Solar Eclipse of 2016

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There is an enormous amount of publicity being built up for the Great American Eclipse next year, but there’s another eclipse coming up much sooner, and closer to home (for me, at least): The Great African Solar Eclipse of 2016! Sure, it’s only an annular eclipse and I won’t be anywhere near the path of totality (yes I know that strictly speaking, annular eclipses don’t ever reach totality. But you know what I mean!), but it’s tomorrow so you don’t … Continue reading →