#76 - October 2018 Part 1

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The Discussion: Paul has snubbed the show to do astronomy on TV
so we’re keeping our spirits up with tales of AstroCamp and the
inspirational Libby Jackson from the UK Space Agency. Jeni
updates us with the progress of her PhD and invites you all along
to her Q&A session at Cardiff Book Talk on 22nd October,
before Ralph runs through listeners’ emails


The News: With 3 minutes to round up the astronomy news stories
you might have missed, we overshoot the time constraints by about
70%:


Jeni:


JAXA and NASA are exploring asteroids

Jupiter’s magnetic field gives us yet more surprises

Saturn’s hexagonal Jetstream appears to be hovering

More ‘research’ trying to get Pluto reclassified… again.



Ralph:


Hubble & BUFFALO image of gravitationally lensing galaxy
cluster

An unusual ring of black holes (or neutron stars) in a
distant galaxy

The galactic wind in the early universe

The 3rd Magellanic Cloud.

The big news story:

TESS finds its first exoplanet, amidst a little
astro-controversy.



The Sky Guide: Jeni and Ralph take you through their picks of the
night sky in October:


Ralph covers our solar system:


October 8th gives us the peak of the Draconids meteor shower

October 21st gives us the peak of the Orionids meteor shower.



Jeni takes a look into the deep sky:


Messier 33, the Triangulum Galaxy

Messier 34, open cluster in Perseus

Imaging target, the Heart Nebula in Cassiopeia.



The main event:


Uranus reaches opposition on 23rd October and we run through
some Uranus factoids and tell you what to expect from the ice
giant.



Q&A: Listeners’ questions via email, Facebook & Twitter
take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always
plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity. This month
we look at distance metrics:


Which point in other galaxies do astronomers measure galactic
distances to, the galactic core or the edge? From Steve Brown in
Yorkshire