#54 - December 2016

The Discussion: This month we take a look at the recent supermoon
and what it takes to make the moon ‘super’; Jeni goes teaching
kids about space and hones her exoplanet hunting skills; while
Paul’s been hosting events with British astronaut Tim Peake.


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


An update on Blue Origin’s spaceflight ambitions

More on Shiaparelli and Exomars part 1

A NASA Director’s worries about science in a Trump
administration

An Ocean like the Dead Sea under Pluto’s ice sheets

The roundest object in space

Could dark energy actually be an emergent property of
entropy?

The dinosaur-killing asteroid may have turned planet Earth
inside out



The Hat of Woo: Delving into the rank and putrid world of
conspiracy theories to debunk the nonsense that lies within. This
month Paul pulls Project Pegasus out of his fetid hat where a
young President Obama was part of a team of juveniles used in the
1980s to teleport to Mars and into the past. No, really!


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 go back to Tycho Brahe:


What is a plain regular (non-super) nova? Doug, @DesRon94,
Detroit Michigan