Over the course of the next month, we'll see the arrival at Mars of not one, not two, but three spacecraft: Nasa’s Perseverance Rover, with its little helicopter Ingenuity; the Chinese Space Agency's Tianwen-1 mission, which comprises an orbiting spacecraft, a landing platform and a rover; and the UAE's Hope mission, which is an orbiting spacecraft. In this episode we'll be hearing about the upcoming missions to Mars, as a bit of insight into the Chinese Space Programme. Of course, a sensible question is: why all the interest in Mars? It's a dead planet now – or certainly pretty dead – but perhaps that wasn’t always the way. To find out more I spoke to Dr Peter Fawden, whose expertise is the geological history of Mars. Peter is based at the Open University where he works on the imaging cameras of a future mission: the Rosalind Franklin Rover, due to launch in a couple of years. On Earth we can dig up rocks, or go to a cliff, perhaps by a beach, and look at the layers of rock, studying the order in which they were laid down, and taking samples all the time. But what about on Mars, when we can’t get so up-close and personal with the rocks? Well, it turns out, it's not so very different after all. Peter explains the geological history of Mars, where the Perseverance Rover is going to explore, and what the plans are for Rosalind Franklin rover in a couple of years. We also touch on two very intersting aspects of Mars - water and methane. While it's relatively easy to find people working on Nasa and ESA missions, it's somewhat hard to get information about Chinese missions. Who better to speak to than someone who has their ear to the ground, Freelance journalist Andrew Jones. Andrew writes for a range of publications, where he reports on the Chinese Space Programme. Andrew provides us with some fascinating history of the Chinese Space Programme, and what its other high-profile missions are up to, notably the Chang'e 4 and 5 moon missions. Peter Fawden 03:30 - Martian Geology 13:30 - Perseverance 17:00 - Water on Mars 21:20 - ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Rover 25:25 - Methane on Mars Andrew Jones 29:00 - Chinese Space Agency 38:40 - Chang'e 4 and 5 Moon Missions 45:30 - Tianwen-1 plans 48:20 - Hope

Pythagorean Astronomy

The Martian Triple

With the end of one of the craziest years in living memory, we start with astronomical reflections on the last 12 months - and how far we've come over the course of the last decade. A new results has been published about the structure of our own Milky Way Galaxy, using the emission from carbon monoxide gas. The results, from the SEDIGISM team, show that the galaxy is much more "flocculant", or fluffy, than previously thought. Cardiff-based team member, Dr Ana Duarte Cabral Peretto, explains how the survey of the galaxy was done, and what the results might mean. 00:00 - Reflections of the Year and Decade 08:00 - Galactic Structure

Review of the decade and Galactic dynamics

A show of two halves, this month, starting with watery moons. One isn't so surprising - Jupiter's icy Europa. Known to have an ocean under the thick ice shell, models suggest that the plumes that have been observed may not be from the global reservoir, but from smaller briny pools within the icy crust. The second moon is perhaps more surprising, being our own Moon. New measurements from the airborne observatory SOFIA have shown that there is molecular water within the rocks in some places on the surface, and not restricted to the permanently-shadowed craters. Lunar geologists Marissa Lo and Dr John Pernet-Fisher from the University of Manchester (and the Cosmic Cast podcast) explain why water on the moon is of so much interest. And what are we likely to learn when China's Chang'e 5 mission brings samples back from the Moon later this year. Moving further afield we return to Fast Radio Bursts - phenomena we've covered before a number of times on this podcast. We now have an example of a fast radio burst within our own galaxy, which is repeating its bursts. This gives us a great opportunity to study them in more detail. We finish with some more somber news: the announcement that the beleaguered Arecibo telescope, jewel in the crown of the world's radio astronomy and star of films such as Contact and Goldeneye, is to be decommissioned. Cardiff graduate Dr Rhys Taylor, who previously worked at Arecibo Observatory and regularly uses the telescope, explains quite how impressive the 300metre-diameter telescope is, and what an important role it has played in radio astronomy. 00:00 - Europa 05:05 - Water on the Moon 18:30 - Fast Radio Bursts 21:45 - Arecibo Telescope

Watery Worlds and Tumbling Telescopes

Chris North and Edward Gomez give a round-up of the month in astronomy. Towards the end of October, NASA's Osiris Rex spacecraft grabbed a sample from the asteroid Bennu. What happens next, and what might we learn from these samples? Chris and Edward discuss. There's also an update on Betelgeuse (however you chose to pronousne it), which is not estimated to be closer than previously thought - which means it's smaller? But we're still safe when it goes supernova. Right?! Further afield, telescopes around the world spotted a star getting spaghettified by a supermassive black hole - what an Earth does that mean? An finally, October is the month that Nobel Prizes are awarded. With Sir Richard Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez sharing the prize for discoveries related to black holes. (Crucially, recorded before the recent announcement regarding the Moon - but we have something to talk about next month!)

Asteroid Tagging and Stellar Spaghettification

This is a special episode - released a couple of weeks earlier than normal – that’s because we’ve got a very special story to talk about this time. A team of astronomers has detected hints that indicate the possibility that there may be life in the clouds of Venus. Despite the maybes and possibilities, this is an astonishing statement, and we'll explore the discovery in this episode with a few of the people involved in the discovery. This month is also an anniversary of sorts. This podcast has its roots in a monthly item on the Pythagoras Trousers radio show 10 years ago this month. The format has changed over the years, with this extended version of the podcast came later, but when Rhys Phillips and I started, I don’t think we thought we’d still be going 10 years later. The focus right now is definitely on Venus. Although its surface is pretty hellish, at about 50km altitude it's much more pleasant in terms of temperature and pressure, though there's the problem of sulphuric acid clouds. To find out more, we're joined by three people involved with the study - Prof Jane Greaves, from Cardiff University, and who led the study, Prof Sara Seager from MIT, and Dr Dave Clements from Imperial College London.

It's (Almost) Never Aliens

If there’s anything that pricks up the ears in astronomy, it’s black holes. And this month we have not one, but two black hole stories. And, depending on how you count them, four black holes, though two of them no longer exist – if that sounds confusing, then don’t worry, it’ll become clear! Regular listeners will be no stranger to black holes, with them featuring regularly – largely thanks to the work of the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave experiments, which detect the subtle ripples in the fabric of spacetime as pairs of black holes merge. Those black holes are thought to be the remnants of dead stars, and are typically called “stellar mass” black holes since their masses are typically between a few and a few tens of times the mass of our Sun. The detection we’re talking about this month comes from the third observing run, and is the latest in a string of announcements as the long list of candidate events have been studied in further detail and released. Called GW190521 it was observed in May 2019, and immediately caused a stir among the researchers. To find out why, we're joined by Dr Patricia Schmidt. Patricia was a PhD student here in Cardiff a few years ago, and after working the US and the Netherlands is now back in the UK, where she’s a lecturer at the University of Birmingham. We also come across black holes in the hearts of galaxies, and it’s thought that all large galaxies harbour a so-called supermassive black hole at their core, typically measuring millions or even billions of times the mass of the Sun. A recent study measured the mass of one of these supermassive black holes and found that it, well, isn’t so super. Dr Federico Lelli, from Cardiff University explains all, from what a supermassive black hole is, to why this one is so interesting. An extended edition of an original broadcast on 3rd September 2020 as part of Pythagoras' Trousers on Radio Cardiff.

Black holes - too big and too small

In astronomy, the month of July has been the month of two things: comets, and Mars. Comet Neowise, or to give it it’s full title C/2020 F3 NEOWISE, has graced the skies of the northern hemispheres, becoming the first naked eye comet for some time. Some have even argued it’s the best comet for decades. In terms of new missions, then this summer marks the best window to launch missions to Mars. These windows come around roughly every two years, or so, since that’s how long it takes for the Earth to line up with Mars’ position around its orbit. This launch window, no fewer than three countries are taking advantage of the opportunity: the United States with the Perseverance Rover, China with the Tianwen-1 orbiter and rover and the United Arab Emirates with the Hope mission. But from missions to Mars to mission to the Sun. Back in February this year the European Space Agency launched the Solar Orbiter mission to study our star and try to answer some of the remaining mysteries. With the first set of initial images and results out, Professor Lucie Green, from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, provides an update. An extended edition of an original broadcast on 30th July 2020 as part of Pythagoras' Trousers on Radio Cardiff.

Solar Orbiter: Not Suitable for Vegetarians

Science news stories normally revolve around something new that's been learned, or some question that’s been answered. But sometimes, and these are often the most interesting times, there’s an observation or discovery that raises a whole new set of questions – and the mystery deepens. This month we discuss two such discoveries. First of all, an unusual gravitation wave event, detected back in August 2019 and dubbed GW190814. We’ve discussed gravitational waves a number of times on Pythagorean Astronomy before – these ripples in space that are caused by, among other things, massive objects spiralling in and merging. Cardiff University researchers Dr Fabio Antonini and graduate student Charlie Hoy explain why this discovery is unusual, and what we know about the source objects. Second up is the conundrum of Fast Radio Bursts. First discovered in 2007, the latest discovery in the unravelling detective story was made by the CHIME telescope, and involves a fast radio burst that appears to repeat on a roughly 16 day timescale. The study was led by Dongzi Li, a graduate student in Toronto University, who explores what might create such a peculiar signal. An extended edition of an original broadcast on 2nd July 2020 as part of Pythagoras' Trousers on Radio Cardiff.

Mass Gaps and Radio Bursts

Amid the turmoil of not only coronavirus, but also anti-racism protests across the US and now internationally, it's been a notable month for spaceflight. At the end of May, SpaceX launched their first crewed Dragon capsule, which became the first private vehicle to dock with the International Space Station. But the private space sector is much bigger than SpaceX, and is a very international field. There are many companies based here in the UK, including Small Spark Space Systems Ltd, based here in Cardiff. Comprising around a dozen people, and led by CEO Joe Ward, SmallSpark is a relative newcomer. Joe is, in fact, one of our own - a Cardiff physics graduate from a couple of years ago. This month, Joe explains what SmallSpark is, and what the future might have in store for commercial launches from the UK. An extended edition of an original broadcast on 4th June 2020 as part of Pythagoras' Trousers on Radio Cardiff.

SmallSpark

The Hubble Space Telescope is 30 years old - something that even its most enthusiastic supporters couldn't have dreamt of when it launched in 1990. With the help of a host of astronomers and space scientists, Chris North explores the history of the mission and the revolutionary discoveries that have been made. Prof Anu Ojha, Director of the National Space Centre, recaps the launch of the mission and subsequent visits to repair and upgrade it. Cosmologist Prof Steve Eales (Cardiff University) explores how Hubble has reached into the most distant reaches of our Universe. Prof Jane Greaves (Cardiff University), however, delves into the hearts of star-forming regions where solar systems are in the process of forming. Closer to home, planetary scientist Prof Leigh Fletcher (University of Leicester) uses Hubble to study the atmospheres of the giant planets in our Solar System, over both long and short timescales. Lastly, we look to the future, and the James Webb Space Telescope - often billed as the successor to Hubble. Dr Sarah Kendrew, ESA instrument scientist on the MIRI instrument, explains what this future telescope has learned from Hubble, and what we can expect in terms of discoveries. We finish with a look at one of Hubble's most iconic images, and what it means for both astronomers and the general public. An extended edition of an original broadcast on 30th April 2020 as part of Pythagoras' Trousers on Radio Cardiff.

Hubble at 30

In these unprecendented times, it's hard to argue that much of space science and astronomy is key infrastructure, or its staff key workers. And while that's true, like many organisations work cannot simply stop altogether. The European Space Agency runs a multitude of missions, from space observatories to interplanetary explorers, and from solar probes to space stations. Prof Mark McCaughrean, Senior Science Advisor at ESA, tells Chris North how the agency is coping with the lockdowns in force around the world, with staff either self-isolating or working from home. Of course, there are also astronauts on the International Space Station, and they really don't want a serious illness infecting the crew Finally, are there lessons we can learn from those who have entered isolation voluntarily, in places like Concordia Base in Antarctica, or as part of the Mars500 programme. An extended edition of an original broadcast on 2nd April 2020 as part of Pythagoras' Trousers on Radio Cardiff.

Isolation Space

Betelgeuse is still misbehaving, though we're starting to get more information in from observations by some of the largest telescope. Astronomers are narrowing in on the possible explanations. While the dimming of Betelgeuse isn't anything to do with aliens, the SETI programme is still going with a new project designed to focus on planets around stars that might be able to detect Earth's presence. And in the centre of our galaxy there's another hint of a mysterious object - an "intermediate mass black hole" being orbited by a bunch of gas clouds. Chris, Edward and Claudia discuss what the implications might be. In space missions, it's out with the old and in with the new. NASA's Spitzer mission has ended, after over a decade and a half in space. Meanwhile, ESA's Solar Orbiter mission has launched and got underway - after a slightly bumpy start! Finally, Christina Coch has returned to Earth from the International Space Station, after a record-breaking spaceflight. What are we learning from such long duration space flights? An extended edition of an original broadcast on 27th Feb 2020 as part of Pythagoras' Trousers on Radio Cardiff.

Dimming stars, Galactic waves and misbehaving gas clouds

The astronomy world has been a-buzz with news of Betelgeuse, the bright red star in Orion, which appears to be dimming. Chris North, Edward Gomez and Claudia Antolini discuss how unusual this is, and what it means for the star's future. Further afield, there's a newly identified wave in our Galactic neighbourhood, changing our understanding of the nearby region. There are also new hypotheses about the nature of some oddly-behaving gas clouds near the galactic centre - what could explain their unexpected behaviour? Finally emminent astronomer Dr Vera Rubin has been recognised in a couple of ways. A nearby galaxy which was important in developing Rubin's understanding of dark matter has been dubbed Rubin's Galaxy, and an important telescope of the future is to be official known as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Finally, Claudia has a recommendation for something space fans might be interested in... An extended edition of an original broadcast on 31st Jan 2020 as part of Pythagoras' Trousers on Radio Cardiff.

The final episode of 2019 includes a look back at a few things that have happened this year, and a look forward to the future. Chris North and Edward Gomez discuss the developments in exoplanet discoveries, and what future missions (such as CHEOPS, Plato and Ariel) may be able to tell us about the wide range of planets out there. We've also had the visitation of interstellar Borisov, which we've discussed a-plenty on Pythagorean Astronomy. Meanwhile, IOP Wales' Engagement Officer Dr Claudia Antolini recaps why spacecraft have been visiting some of the smaller objects in our Solar System, and what we'll learn from upcoming missions such as HERA and DART. Specifically - how might they help protect the Earth one day? Finally there's one of the biggest stories of the last year - the first image of the horizon of a supermassive black hole in galaxy M87 with the Event Horizon Telescope. An extended edition of an original broadcast on 2ndJan 2020 as part of Pythagoras' Trousers on Radio Cardiff.

What the future holds

This month saw the announcement of two follow-up discoveries of two explosive events. Firstly observations of one of the highest energy ever gamma ray burst ever seen, detected back in January, have identified where it originated. Meanwhile, colleagues in Cardiff University have been searching for signs of a remnant neutron star at the heart of Supernova 1987A (which was observed to explode back in 1987) - and they may have found crucial evidence! Closer to home, there are more signs of water vapour plumes erupting from Europa, and evidence that Hygeia, one of the largest objects in the asteroid belt, could be eligble to be characterised as a dwarf planet. Over recent months, there has been excitement about Comet Borisov, a comet which originated in another Solar System. Prof Alan Fitzsimmons, from Queens University Belfast, is one of a number of astronomers from all around the world studying this interstellar visitor. We also discuss the impact on asteroid and comet searches of the recent launches of large groups, or "constellations" of satellites by groups such as SpaceX. An extended edition of an original broadcast on 28th November 2019 as part of Pythagoras' Trousers on Radio Cardiff.

Stellar Explosions and Interstellar Visitors

Astronomy news and interviews with scientists involved in the discoveries.

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Pythagorean Astronomy

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