#35 - May 2015

Download Episode!


The Discussion: Paul savours a quiet month of teaching astronomy
and enjoys sketching Markarian’s Chain of galaxies, while Ralph
gets into a few debates following an article publication and gets
back to imaging the planet Venus. All in a month when the Project
Helium Tears balloon took listeners’ names to the edge of space!


The News: This month we take a look at the discovery of complex
organics in a new star system 455 light years away, a new study
of the movement of dark matter during galactic collisions, a gas
cloud passing the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole turns out
to be a star – lucky not to get destroyed, SpaceX suffer another
setback, Russia announce bold moon ambitions, Dwarf Planet Ceres
gives us a few more answers but also some questions and we take a
look at the new Star Wars movie trailer.


The 5 Minute Concept: Returning to our sceptical roots, Paul digs
out the tin foil hat and takes leave of his senses as he delves
into the barking world of the moon hoaxer and dispels the myths.


The Interview: This month we relive the Project Helium Tears
space launch as slave John tagged along with Matt Kingsnorth and
Phil St Pier – mission controllers to the edge of space for
£1,200. The we bring them into the studio to talk about the
mission, lighting up social media, appearing on TV and going
viral with ‘Objective 2’.


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:


Constellations are based on arbitrary positions relative to
Earth. So how far would you have to travel before they appear to
move?Alex Speed, Bedfordshire UK, via Twitter.

When I die, if I was to get fired from a cannon into outer
space, would my body decompose? Darren Knight, Cambridgeshire UK
via Twitter.