The 365 Days of Astronomy

Hosted by our Director, Avivah Yamani.
Explore the August 2026 equatorial sky, from the Perseids and Milky Way to bright planets and the August 12 total solar eclipse.
 
We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. 
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Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! 
Every bit helps! Thank you!
------------------------------------
Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness!
http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. 
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------------------------------------
The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu
Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org.

Hosted by Steve Nerlich.
We are still out there.
Dear Cheap Astronomy – Why do some space missions last so long?
So, we're all familiar with the stories of the Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, landing with mission lifespans of 90 days, that then went on to rove the surface of Mars for 15 years. And the Voyager probes, launched in 1977, were supposed to have five-year missions, which are now going on 47 years and counting. So, what's going on? Is NASA just crap at predicting mission lifetimes?
 
Dear Cheap Astronomy – How much faster is nuclear thermal propulsion?
The idea behind nuclear thermal propulsion or NTP is that you have a nuclear fission core, which is probably uranium-based. This can generate a lot of heat over long periods and you then feed in a propellant that will expand on heating, for example liquid hydrogen. The expanded gas then shoots out a rocket nozzle and pushes your spacecraft forward on the basis of Newton's actions produce opposite reactions.
 
We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. 
Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can!
Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! 
Every bit helps! Thank you!
------------------------------------
Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness!
http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. 
Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!)
------------------------------------
The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu
Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org.

http://www.astronomycast.com/archive/
From October 19, 2009.
Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest)
Every now and then, the Moon destroys the Sun. Okay, not destroys, covers. Well, not really covers, but from here on Earth, sitting inside the shadow of the Moon, that's what it sure looks like. These events are called eclipses, or more precisely, transits and occultations. They occur whenever one object passes in front of another from a 3rd perspective. They're beautiful and exciting, and deliver a tremendous amount of science as well.
 
We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. 
Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can!
Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! 
Every bit helps! Thank you!
------------------------------------
Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness!
http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. 
Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!)
------------------------------------
The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu
Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org.

Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( @Nmcanopus ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. travelersinthenight.org
From December 2025.
Today's 2 topics:
- Meteors, shooting stars, or falling stars are different names for the streaks of light in the night sky which are in reality the dying embers of tiny asteroids. These small interplanetary travelers were speeding along at between 7 and 44 miles per second when they entered the Earth's atmosphere. In space, they are called meteoroids and typically ranged in size from that of a grain of sand to perhaps ones as big as of a piece of driveway gravel. Large space pebbles can produce fireballs which are brighter than the planet Venus. 
 
- At about 2AM on July 18, 2011 several people in near Tata, Morocco saw a bright fireball which was described by one of them to be initially yellow, then turned green, and finally exploded into several pieces producing two sonic booms. In October of 2011 desert wandering nomads began finding very fresh looking dark fusion-crusted stones which were radioactively dated by Dr. John Duke of the University of Alberta to be less than 5 years old. In total 15-24 lbs of meteorites consistent with a very recent fall were found in a strewn field, were whisked away to receive high prices from collectors, and named after the town of Tissint, about 30 miles from their discovery location.
 
We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. 
Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can!
Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! 
Every bit helps! Thank you!
------------------------------------
Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness!
http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. 
Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!)
------------------------------------
The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu
Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org.

Hosted by Rob Sparks.
The 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time has officially started, marking the beginning of a new era in astronomy and astrophysics. Over the next ten years, Rubin will relentlessly observe the entire southern sky every few nights to create an ultra-wide, ultra-high-definition time-lapse record of our Universe. This long-awaited milestone is the culmination of years of effort by thousands of people around the world. In this podcast, Dr. Christina Williams and Dr. Yumi Choi describe the LSST and its science goals as well as what they are most excited about researching with its groundbreaking data. 
 
Bios: 
- Rob Sparks is in the Communications, Education and Engagement group at NSF's NOIRLab in Tucson, Arizona.
- Dr. Yumi Choi is an Assistant Astronomer at NSF NOIRLab. Her research focuses on understanding the formation and evolution of nearby galaxies. Her primary work utilizes high-precision, multi-band photometry to analyze resolved stellar populations in those galaxies. Beyond my independent research programs, she is a dedicated member of the Rubin Observatory Community Science Team.
 
Dr. Choi earned her PhD in Astronomy from the University of Washington in 2016. She subsequently held postdoctoral research positions at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory, Montana State University, and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). Prior to her current appointment at NSF NOIRLab in 2023, she spent a year as an Assistant Researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.
 
- Dr. Christina C. Williams is an Associate Astronomer at NSF NOIRLab in Tucson, Arizona And an Assistant Research Professor at University of Arizona and a member of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) NIRCam instrument and science teams. Her research focuses on high-redshift galaxies, galaxy evolution, and star formation in the early Universe.
 
We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. 
Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can!
Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! 
Every bit helps! Thank you!
------------------------------------
Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness!
http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. 
Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!)
------------------------------------
The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu
Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org.