#55 - January 2017

The Discussion: As we welcome in the New Year Paul’s been mixing
science with art, Jeni’s professional astronomy looks to be
taking her to South Africa or Mexico and we read out some of our
listeners’ emails


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


The death of John Glenn – a true pioneer and legend

ESO’s Very Large Telescopes glimpses something from nothing

And we take a look at NASA latest release list of its
spin-out technologies



Hat of Woo: In our latest and final Hat of Woo we put Astrology
under the magnifying glass.


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’re tackling a question about a recent news story covered in a
previous episode:


The number of bodies in the Solar System featuring subsurface
oceans seems to increase with every planetary mission sent out
there. Many of these are bodies of water of great depth, with
Europa and Ganymede possibly having oceans 100km deep. Given that
the deepest part of our own ocean is a 'mere' 11km deep and
barely studied, what kind of conditions could future explores
expect at such depths? Would the enormous pressure at a depth of
100km cause the water to act differently and what implications
would this have for life in these oceans? Steve Brown, Yorkshire,
England.