I’m not cancelling it or stopping altogether; I’m just putting it on hold for a few months until things calm down. I’m hoping to restart it this summer if I can.

I apologize for having to do this, but… well, I’ll just say that some of the projects I’m working on will be very cool, and well worth the effort. You’ll see.

Viewing options:

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NOTE: If you are already a subscriber through iTunes, you may be getting both the video and the audio-only versions in your feed. This is because both versions were in one feed until last week. If you want to get only one or want to download both separately, then unsubscribe first and then click on the link(s) below.

Subscribe to AUDIO ONLY VERSION via iTunes.

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Astronomical objects have a bewildering array of names. Is it M1, or The Crab Nebula, or NGC 1952, or what? Why are there so many weird names for these things?

Find out in this week’s episode of Q & BA: By Any Other Name.

Viewing options:

Watch it right here, right now!

Watch it on YouTube.

Watch it on Google video.

Download it directly from LibSyn.

Download the audio only version from LibSyn.

NOTE: If you are already a subscriber through iTunes, you may be getting both the video and the audio-only versions in your feed. This is because both versions were in one feed until last week. If you want to get only one or want to download both separately, then unsubscribe first and then click on the link(s) below.

Subscribe to AUDIO ONLY VERSION via iTunes.

Subscribe to VIDEO VERSION via iTunes.

Show notes

The Question:

The question was sent in by Teri Bootelaydi:

What is the rational behind the naming and numbering of astornomical objects?!?!

I have shelves full of astronomy books and magazines, and close to a thousand sites and ‘papers’ in my Bookmarks — and not one — NOT A SINGLE ONE — explains the logic behind these labels. It’s a nightmare for an amateur to learn.

It’s as if the IAU gets together behind closed doors and laughs at us.

Images and Links

The image of Charles Messier is from the French version of Wikipedia.

The Comet SWAN picture is from makelessnoise’s Flickr collection (usage is under the Creative Commons license). That’s a meteor streak next to it! Pretty cool shot.

The Orion Nebula image is from Space Ritual’s Flickr collection (again, Creative Commons).

The image of Sirius is from Hubble.

All the myriad names for Sirius are from SIMBAD, an astronomical database.

The Crab Nebula is from the Subaru Telescope.

Well, not exactly. It’s all pretty empty on a cubic centimeter by cubic centimeter basis, but how empty is it?

Find out in this week’s episode of Q & BA: I Am Your Density.

Viewing options:

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Download it directly from LibSyn.

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Subscribe to AUDIO ONLY VERSION via iTunes.

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Show notes

The Question:

The question was sent in by Walter L. Williams:

When we talk of the vacuum of space, is it a total vacuum or "pretty much" a vacuum? Could you elaborate, perhaps telling us how much matter might be in say a "liter of space"?

Images and Links

The Orion Nebula and Carina cloud images are courtesy of NASA/Hubble/AURA

Barnard 68 is from the European Southern Observatory.

The marshmallow came from my baking drawer. When I was done, I ate it.

And I can prove it. Just watch Q & BA Episode 5: Spin Doctor and you’ll see how.

Viewing options:

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Download it directly from LibSyn.

Download the audio only version from LibSyn.

Once again, I’m trying something new. I’ve been asked to have two separate feeds; one for audio and one for video. Let’s see if this works!

Subscribe to AUDIO ONLY VERSION via iTunes.

Subscribe to VIDEO VERSION via iTunes.

Show notes

The Question:

The question was sent in by Mark Tillotson, of Emmaus, PA:

What would we experience if the moon was not ‘locked’ in it’s rotational period with the earth?

Would we see anything different on Earth? Would the tides be different? Would the lunar recession be different (moving away from Earth faster or slower)?

Images and Links

The essay I wrote about tides, the Moon’s rotation/revolution lock, and its recession can be found on my Misconceptions page.

The lunar phases image is from the amazing Lunar and Planetary Observation and CCD imaging website of Antònio Cidadão; specifically, his animations page.

The far side of the Moon image is courtesy NASA and the Galileo probe.

I bookmarked the site with the revolver image so I could link it here, but I appear to have lost it (it was a public site, like from a museum or government). Oh well. Don’t shoot me.

Just how strong is the gravity from the Moon compared to someone right next to you?

Well, listen to Q & BA Episode 4: "The Gravity of the Situation" and find out!

Viewing options:

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Download it directly from LibSyn.

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Subscribe via iTunes.

Show notes

The Question:

The question was sent in by Jesse C. of Doylestown, PA: "Does a person standing beside you have a greater gravitational pull on you than the Moon? I recently heard someone mention it. It sounds like a bunch of malarkey… but is it true?"

If you want to the calculations for yourself, then start with

where lower case m is your mass, upper case M is the mass of the object (the Moon, the other person, etc.), R is the distance between the two of you, and G is a constant. When you divide the force from the Moon by the force from the person, your mass and the constant divide out (your mass divided by your mass = 1). For the masses of the planets and such, go to The Nine Planets.

Images:

Mu Cephei is from Davide De Martin’s Sky Factory

Eta Carinae is from NASA/Hubble/AURA.

The Sun and Earth are from NASA (the Earth shot is from the fantabulous MESSENGER Earth flyby).

The pictures of the Flatiron/Rocky Mountains and of me fishing in Kansas are courtesy of, um, me.

And since I know people will ask: The T-shirt is available from the FSM website.

… and one more link. Guess why?

Q & BA Episode 3: "The Farthest Star" is now online. Here are your viewing options:

• Watch it here as an embedded YouTube video. (Note: I originally had this as a Gooogle video, but the audio and video weren’t synched for some reason. In the file I uploaded they were fine. I tried to re-upload a different file, and the same thing happened, so I have replaced the Google embed with the YouTube one). [Later note: I uploaded a new video to Google and it's fine now. There is a link to it below].
• Go to Google video to watch it (note: updated with a new version where the audio and video match)
• Go to YouTube (Another note: It took YouTube over 12 hours to get the video processed, and that was only after I had to upload it twice! YouTube is teh suck.
• LibSyn (video)
• LibSyn (audio)

I am also trying something new. The ITPC protocol supposedly lets you automatically subscribe to a podcast via iTunes. Here is that link. It worked for me when I tried it, but your mileage kilometerage may vary. If you click on it, tell me in the comments what happened. Unless your machine melts. Then it’s Apple’s fault.

Show notes

The question asked was, "How much of the Milky Way Galaxy do we see with the naked eye?", asked by Richard Saunders. Full disclosure: Richard is a dear friend, but his question was so good I decided to use it despite any possible accusations of cronyism.

For more info about stars, get yerself over to Jim Kaler’s site. He’s one of the nicest guys in astronomy, and his site is pretty cool.

Image pedigrees:

Deneb and Mu Cephei from Davide De Martin’s Sky Factory

Small star next to Sun: NASA/Walt Feimer

Star sizes (for giants): Wikipedia

Keck Observatory: JPL/NASA

GRB 990123: NASA/STScI/Andy Fruchter

M81: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Jupiter orbit: I did that one myself, using The Sky planetarium software.

Orion/Rigel: I had that image lying around at work for an educational activity we developed, and I had permission from the photographer, but danged if I can find it now. Pretty though, isn’t it?

Minties: the best candy lolly in the whole wide world. Yummy. Those are courtesy of many Aussie friends who keep me supplied. Thanks!

Caveat emptor — I made a mistake in the video. I don’t mean the five hydrogen atoms; I mean something else. Anyone catch it? It wasn’t important enough for me to edit out or anything, but to be honest I’m admitting it (sortof) here. Post a comment if you think you know what it is.

You can see this video on YouTube, on LibSyn (with much better resolution), or get it through iTunes (you need to follow the instructions I posted here).

Incidentally, after a few requests, I have made audio-only versions of the podcasts too. I’ll post them on LibSyn simultaneously with the vidcast, and they’ll have the same episode number as the vidcast, but with an "a" after them. Here is Episode 1a (galaxies), and Episode 2a (the current one about the Sun).

Don’t forget to keep those questions coming!