Astrophiz Podcasts

Please enjoy this ‘Best of 2018 Astrophiz’ double episode where we have our two most popular astrophotography interviews for 2018, Dr Ian Musgrave @ianfmusgrave and Doug Ingram @douggyi . I have removed my ’News’ ramblings and our ‘What’s up Doc’ segments from these two episodes so you can enjoy excellent advice from these two astrophotographers, without any distractions, in a single episode. (62minutes)

Astrophiz 73: ‘Best of 2018’ Astrophysics Please enjoy this ‘Best of 2018 Astrophiz’ episode where we have our 3 most popular astrophysics interviews for 2018. I have removed my ’News’ ramblings and Dr Ian Musgrave's ‘What’s up Doc’ segments from these three episodes so you can listen to these three astrophysicists without any distractions in a single episode. (51min) Today’s first feature interview is with Dr Jane Kaczmarek, ( @jfKaczmarek ) who gives us the state of play on the new receivers on the 64m Parkes dish and what it’s like to work climbing way up above the dish to do her work in the focus cabin. Back in June in Episode 60, Jane told us about growing up in Wisconsin and how her love of astronomy developed, and how her penchant for asking questions and her serendipitous move out to Australia and how her PhD on immense magnetic fields spanning the Magellanic Clouds has lead her to work with the CSIRO as the commissioning scientist for the UWL receiver on the 64m Parkes dish that bought us visio

Astrophiz 72: Dr Brad Tucker ~ SUPERnova Space Detective Brad tells us about his research using the Keppler Space Telescope and how its successor TESS is generating great science already. He tells us how astrophysicists use a variety of tools to measure how the universe is changing over time. He explains how remote observing has radically changed the way astronomy is done around the world and how we now use telescopes with 100 times the light collecting area of the Hubble telescope and use lasers to correct for disturbances in the atmosphere. If you thought your 12 inch Dobbie was big, and it is, consider that researchers are now building telescopes with 25 to 30 metre mirrors. In our regular segment for astrophotographers and observers, Dr Ian 'Astroblog’ Musgrave presents ‘What’s Up Doc?’. In this episode he tells us about the planets, the geminid meteor shower and comets currently visible to the naked eye. In the News: .1. Dr Brad Tucker & team find a unique Type 1A Supernova. .2. Australian Home for ou

Astrophiz 71: John Sarkissian ~ ‘Aliens are cool!’ AKA SETI, PAFs & Cryogenics PLUS: 'What's up Doc', direct from Dr @ianfmusgrave ’s Astroblog Listen here: This is the fourth of 6 ‘Astrotour’ episodes of Astrophiz, where we are publishing recordings of interviews I did on a two and a half thousand kilometre tour of five of Australia’s finest Eastern state radio and optical observatories. Today’s feature interview is with John Sarkissian at the CSIRO Parkes Radio Observatory (Yes, he works with Dr Jane Kaczmarek who we featured in Episode 68) John tells us how ‘The Dish’ is contracted to work on the Breakthrough Listen project to search for extraterrestrial intelligences. It’s a SETI project involving some of the world’s most powerful radio telescopes. He explains beautifully why and how cryogenics is incorporated into the Parkes and other dishes and how their next upgrade after the amazing UWL (ultra wide band) receiver will be the design, build and installation of PAFs (Phased Array Feeds) In our regular

Astrophiz 70: Dr Jamie Stevens ~ The ATCA PLUS: 'What's up Doc' with Dr @ianfmusgrave Listen here: Astrophiz – Astrophiz70 This is the third of 6 ‘Astrotour’ episodes of Astrophiz, where we are publishing recordings of interviews I did on a two and a half thousand kilometre tour of five of Australia’s finest Eastern state radio and optical observatories. Today’s feature interview is with Dr Jamie Stevens, CSIRO’s Senior Systems Scientist for the Australian Telescope Compact Array, a unique mobile array of 6 x 22 metre dishes. Jamie tells us all about this beautiful facility, it’s technology and how it creates rich data sets for a huge number of researchers and gives us an idea of some of the current ATCA projects. In our regular segment for astrophotographers and observers, Dr Ian 'Astroblog’ Musgrave presents ‘What’s Up Doc?’. In this episode he tells us about the planets and comets currently visible to the naked eye and in his tangent he reveals a comet is approaching the Parker Solar Probe. IN THE NEW

This is the second of 6 ‘Astrotour’ episodes of Astrophiz, where we’ll be publishing recordings of interviews I did on a two and a half thousand kilometre tour of five of Australia’s finest Eastern state radio and optical observatories. Dr Chris Lidman, who is the first Director of the ANU Siding Spring Observatory, which is deep in a pristine dark sky parkin the Wurrumbungle ranges in North Eastern New South Wales in Australia. Chris was a member of the team which shared the 2011 Nobel Prize for Physics andhas more than 30,000 citations from 197 research papers and more than 100 other publications. So apart from being a very active researcher, he has responsibility for many of the telescopes based on site, from the powerful Skymapper right up to this immense 3.9m AAT We also extend our condolences to Dr Ian Musgrave, whose 96yo mother passed away recently. He will be back with us in two weeks. So in Ian’s absence for this episode, I’ll give a shortened version of Ian’s expert commentary “What’s Up Doc” an

This is the first of our series of 6 ‘Astrotour’ episodes of Astrophiz, where we’ll be publishing recordings of interviews I did on a two and a half thousand kilometre tour of five of Australia’s finest Eastern state radio and optical observatories. Astrophiz 68: Dr Jane Kaczmarek -Ultra wide band receiver commissioning scientist PLUS: 'What's up Doc' with Dr @ianfmusgrave Today’s feature interview is with Dr Jane Kaczmarek, @jfKaczmarek, who gives us the state of play on the new receivers on the 64m Parkes dish and what it’s like to work climbing way up above the dish to do her work in the focus cabin. Back in June in Episode 60, Jane told us about growing up in Wisconsin and how her love of astronomy developed, and how her penchant for asking questions and her serendipitous move out to Australia and how her PhD on immense magnetic fields spanning the Magellanic Clouds has lead her to work with the CSIRO as the commissioning scientist for the UWL receiver on the 64m Parkes dish that bought us vision of t

Astrophiz 67: Doug Ingram ~ DSLR Astrophotography 201 Today’s feature interview is with DSLR 'Nightscapades' astrophotographer Doug Ingram of Nightscapades fame, and he encourages us to dust off our DSLR cameras and learn how to start snapping the night sky, and for more experienced astrophotographers, he has some great tips and challenges. In our regular segment for astrophotographers and observers, Dr Ian 'Astroblog’ Musgrave presents ‘What’s Up Doc?' where he tells us what's up in the evening, night and morning skies for the next two weeks. In this episode he tells us about the planets currently visible to the naked eye, dust on the Apollo missions and Ryugu, and Comet 21P is fading in binoculars,. In the News: A rare long-period pulsar has just been discovered by the LOFAR Tied-Array All-Sky Survey (LOTAAS) with a period of 23.5 seconds. (the fastest known pulsar spins at 716 times/second) Next week your host is heading interstate and taking a personal Astrotour to conduct a series of interviews

Astrophiz 66: Professor Steven Tingay “Building the world’s biggest radio telescope”, ICRAR, the MWO and the SKA. https://soundcloud.com/astrophiz/astrophiz66-prof-steven-tingay This episode features an extended interview with John Curtin Distinguished Professor Steven Tingay, who is the Deputy Executive Director of ICRAR and leads the Curtin University node of ICRAR. ICRAR is the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research. Whilst with ICRAR, he was also the Director of the $50M Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) project, the fully operational precursor radio telescope for the Square Kilometre Array which is already producing some astonishing SKA science. In our regular segment for astrophotographers and observers, Dr Ian “Astroblog’ Musgrave presents ‘What’s Up Doc? where he tells us what's up in the evening, night and morning skies for the next two weeks. In this episode he tells us about the planets currently visible to the naked eye, and Comet 21P no visible in binoculars, and for asteroid hunters

Astrophiz 65: Dr Andrew Cameron This episode features an extended interview with a pulsar radio astronomer, Dr Andrew Cameron, who was awarded his Doctorate from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics and the University of Bonn. Andrew has just returned from China where he is working with the world’s largest instrument, the FAST radio telescope. It’s a massive 500m Spherical Telescope, and currently holds the record for the largest single-dish radio telescope in the world. He also uses the Parkes radio telescope for his pulsar research, and explains an exciting new pulsar search technique. In our regular segment for astrophotographers and observers, Dr Ian “Astroblog’ Musgrave presents ‘What’s Up Doc? where he tells us what's up in the evening, night and morning skies for the next two weeks. In this episode he tells us about the planets currently visible to the naked eye, and for Aurora Hunters who recently enjoyed an unexpected visit from ‘the lady’ Ian explains the ongoing mystery of

Astrophiz 64: Dr Shi Dai ~ Pulsar Hunter This episode features a fabulous radio astronomer, Dr Shi Dai, who is on a very exciting quest, to find elusive pulsar-black hole binary systems. To continue his search he is working with the CASS pulsar group which is part of the Australia Telescope National Facility, a division of CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science. Dr Shi Dai has his Doctorate in radio astronomy from Peking University, a major Chinese research university located in Beijing. and has recently been awarded the coveted Bolton Fellowship to continue his research which he takes up later this year. He researches many aspects of pulsar astronomy including pulsar timing, pulsar emission properties and mechanisms, gravitational wave research, scintillation studies and pulsar searching. Shi uses the Parkes radio telescope for the majority his pulsar research but is also involved with collaborations with the SKA and the new FAST instrument in China. Then Dr Ian “Astroblog’ Musgrave presents his regular segment

Astrophiz 63: Prof Lisa Harvey-Smith ~ When Galaxies Collide This episode features one of the icons of modern astronomy, Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith, Astronomy researcher, author and presenter of ABC television's Stargazing Live. She uses the world's largest radio telescopes to study the life cycle of stars and develops new world-leading precursor telescopes building the Square Kilometre Array. We find out how she left school at 11 and now has a Doctorate in radio astronomy and Masters in Physics with Honours in Astronomy & Astrophysics. She has scores of refereed journal papers to her name and her First book: "When Galaxies Collide" was launched yesterday and you can order the paperback or digital version from Melbourne University Press. She has won the Eureka Prize and CSIRO Chairman's Medal and runs a popular international astronomy distance learning course. Then Dr Ian “Astroblog’ Musgrave presents his regular segment ‘What’s Up Doc? where he tells us what's up in the evening, night and morning skies fo

Astrophiz 62: Prof Peter Coles 'Why the Universe is Extremely Overrated'~ on Soundcloud & iTunes Our feature story for this episode ‘Why the universe is extremely overrated’ from the blog at telescoper.wordpress.com by Dr Peter Coles, who is a Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics at Cardiff University in Wales and Professor of Theoretical Physics at Maynooth University in Ireland. His research is in the area of cosmology and the large-scale structure of the Universe. His fabulous blog is named 'In the Dark', where he writes under the name Telescoper, covering a range of topics including astronomy, science funding, opera, jazz, rugby and crosswords. Since 1999 it has been considered one of the greatest long-running physics blogs, and we wish him the best for his 20 year anniversary next year. Unfortunately we were not able to find a time for a live interview, but he has kindly given permission to read you this thought-provoking blog entry of his. I have made a couple of small edits just to making the rea

Astrophiz 61: Dr. Natasha Hurley-Walker ~ Seeing the Universe in Radio Colour ~ on Soundcloud & iTunes Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker is a GaLactic and Extragalactic MWA Survey Scientist who earned her PhD in Radio Astronomy at the University of Cambridge and is currently a Curtin Early Career Research Fellow who helped to commission the low-frequency SKA precursor radio telescope, the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), located in outback Western Australia. Today in our feature interview we hear about some of her amazing research projects, including her all-sky survey of 300,000 galaxies and her Gleamoscope App. Last year she was named the WA Tall Poppy Scientist of the year, and right now we congratulate her for just being recognised as one of the 5 brightest science communicators in Australia for 2018. Then Dr Ian “Astroblog’ Musgrave presents his regular segment ‘What’s Up Doc? where he tells us what's up in the evening, night and morning skies for the next two weeks, and in his tangent Ian explains how Earth

Astrophiz 60: Dr Jane Kaczmarek ~ 'The Dish’ Intensified ~ on Soundcloud & iTunes A full-length feature episode on the installation of revolutionary receivers on the famous CSIRO Parkes Radio Observatory ‘The Dish’, featuring Dr Jane Kaczmarek who led the commissioning of the Ultra Wideband with Low receiver, the UWL. Dr Jane is a CSIRO research scientist and post-doctoral fellow who has her BSc in Physics and Astrophysics from the University of Wisconsin and her Doctorate in Physics from The University of Sydney. Then Dr Ian “Astroblog’ Musgrave presents his regular segment ‘What’s Up Doc? where he tells us what's up in the evening, night and morning skies for the next two weeks, and in his bizarre tangent he explains how gravity waves interfering with the rings of Saturn can tell us how fast it rotates and many of Saturn’s internal properties. Dr Ian is a University pharmacology and toxicology lecturer, amateur astronomer and astrophotographer. Follow @jfkaczmarek, PULSE@Parkes and @ianfmusgrave on Tw

Astrophiz 59 Dr Ian Musgrave ~ Astrophotography 101 A full-length feature episode on astrophotography and astroimaging with Dr Ian Musgrave of Astroblogger fame. Ian is a University toxicology lecturer, amateur astronomer and astrophotographer, and he explains how to plan for a shoot, using telescopes, point&shoot cameras, and smartphone astrophotography, some worthwhile targets, some imaging software to try, and the sky visualisation softwares he uses. Then he presents his regular segment ‘What’s Up Doc? where he tells us what's up in the evening, night and morning skies for the next two weeks, and how, when and where to look to find the asteroid Vesta as a naked eye object. In the news: Mars Curiosity Rover discovers organics on Mars, and Mars methane levels are found to be seasonal, and we inch closer to a conclusion that life *may* be ubiquitous. However we are reminded that ‘organics’ means carbon compounds that are also found in comets, asteroids, Ceres, Titan, Pluto, meteorites and in interstel

Astrophiz 58 Dr Jessie Christiansen ~ Flying with @NASA_TESS to a billion planets Today our feature interview is with Dr Jessie Christiansen who started out in rural Queensland in Australia and is now a NASA Staff Scientist and working on exoplanet discovery with the just-launched TESS Mission. Follow @aussiastronomer on Twitter And that’s followed by university toxicology lecturer, amateur astronomer and astrophotographer Dr Ian Musgrave of Astroblogger fame, who will tell us ‘What’s Up Doc? Whats up in the evening, night and morning skies for the next two weeks, and in ‘Ian’s Tangent’ we hear about how lasers are used in astronomy. Follow @ianfmusgrave on Twitter In the news: 1. The just-launched relay satellite for the Chang’e 4 lunar mission to the ‘dark side’ of the moon. 2. A new hypothesis to explain repeating FRBs 3. An exciting supernova discovery live during the ABC/BBC Stargazing show. Follow @Astrophiz on Twitter, FB & Insta

Astrophiz 57: Dr Elaina Hyde ~ Data Science & Astrophysics Our feature interview is with Dr Elaina Hyde. Dr. Hyde speaks four languages, has four undergraduate degrees in astronomy, physics, optical engineering and planetary sciences; two masters degrees in engineering and astronomy and astrophysics; and a Ph.D. in astronomy and physics. She is an artist, a cool coder, and shares her code on Github. She uses data creatively to understand how our universe works. Follow on @AstroHyde on Twitter For observers and astrophotographers Dr Ian Musgrave gives us ‘What’s Up Doc’ and he tells us what to look for in our morning and evening skies, what planets, galaxies and nebula to look for and what occultations are happening. In Ian’s Tangent, we look at CO2 on Mars and Comet PanSTARRS In the news: The Breakthrough Listen Initiative has signed up for 1500 hours of observation time in 2018 with the multi-beam receivers on ‘the Dish’, CSIRO’s famous Parkes telescope and the recent tech upgrade with the multi-beam

In this episode we hear about weird Magnetars, Supercomputers and Gravitational Wave discoveries from Professor  Matthew Bailes. Dr Bailes  is the founder and Director of the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing at Swinburne University, Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav). He is an advisor to the Breakthrough Listen project as well as leading the MeerTIME project. His team also developed a supercomputer for the 50 year-old Molonglo telescope to transform it into a pulsar timing and FRB discovery machine.We should note here that Duncan Lorimer and Professor Bailes  were the original discoverers of FRBs, Fast Radio Bursts, which we have featured in a few previous episodes.  Dr Bailes has a huge number of papers published with 16 thousand professional citations in Astrophysics journals.  Most recently he is co-author of a paper about some puzzling discoveries about a re-awakening magnetar, using instruments including the new SKA precursor MeerKAT telescopes

Our feature interview is with Kathryn Neugent, who is PhD Astronomy student researching massive stars at the University of Washington in Seattle, research associate at Lowell Observatory in Arizona, discoverer of an amazing runaway Yellow Supergiant in the Small Magellanic Cloud, Photographer, Backpacker, and animal lover pretty much anywhere and everywhere! Follow @KathrynNeugent on Twitter and her blog at http://kathrynneugent.com Find out about massive Wolf-Rayet stars and Kathryn's team's discovery of a new class of WR Stars, and a new mystery for astronomers to grapple with. This is a wonderful example of how great science, while answering one question, will point to new avenues of discovery.  For observers and astrophotographers Dr Ian Musgrave gives us ‘What’s Up Doc’ and he tells us what to look for in our morning and evening skies, what planets, galaxies and nebula to look for and what occultations are happening. In Ian's Tangent, we look at a solar flare likely to eliminate  the possibility of l