#41 - November 2015

The Discussion: We welcome astrophysicist Jeni Millard from
Cardiff University onto the show as our new co-presenter! We
discuss the astronomy lessons, tuition and events we’ve been
involved with over the past month and name drop about an Apollo
moonwalker we might have interviewed…


The News: This month we take a look at NASA’s completed image
collection of the Pluto system from the New Horizons spacecraft;
‘Water on Mars’ get the very first Awesome Astronomy award for
Needing Another Sensational Announcement (the acronym is entirely
coincidental); we take a look at Brian May’s handling of the
estate of dearly cherished Patrick Moore; we despair at the
media’s handling of ‘that’ news story about an alien megastucture
that isn’t around a star with an unusual light curve; and finish
up with the European and Russian coalition to explore
habitability on the moon for human colonization.


The 5 Minute Concept: We continue our back-to-basics 5 Minute
Concepts season with a discussion prompted by many listener
questions about the value and use of filters for astronomical
observation.


The Interview: This month we bring you our interview with Dr
Kathy Thornton, recorded at Cosmiccon. Kathy is a veteran of four
Space Shuttle missions and earns our eternal gratitude for fixing
the Hubble Space Telescope after launch and giving it back its
sight.


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
Ralph & Paul answer:


One thing you might want to look at is the increasing number of
remotely accessible telescopes for the "ordinary" amateur. Not
sure if I get the same satisfaction from a remote image compared
to spending some nights in my dome and freezing my ears off to
get a good image. Would like to get your take on this… Clem Unger
from Mornington Australia, via email