#69 - March 2018

The Discussion: Jeni and her Welsh brethren suffered an
Earthquake and Ralph takes a look through listeners emails which
prompts a discussion about the range of educational outreach that
AweAst listeners undertake.


The News: Rounding up the space and astronomy news this month we
have:


A new and pointless star ‘graces’ our night sky

We wave goodbye to the concept of the Late Heavy Bombardment

Astronomers publish results on the oldest supernova detection

Astronomy Concept: We delve into the wide array of visual
observation and astrophography filters in response to John
Lonergan’s request.



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 take a look at the nature of black holes:


1) I heard in the reporting that the black hole had a physical
spin. Does that support the idea that a black hole cannot be a
singularity/point since it has a physical spin?


2) The merging black holes lost multiple solar masses in the
merging process. If the mass loss wasn't from outside the event
horizons, then what was that huge mass loss mechanism when
supposedly "nothing can escape from a black hole"?


3) Can gravitational waves eventually be used by astronomers to
probe the interior of a black hole?" Lt Col Dave from Florida USA