Feb 24, 2020
560: Betelgeuse
Astronomy Cast 560: Betelgeuse
by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay
You might be surprised to hear that we've never done an episode of Astronomy Cast featuring Betelgeuse. Well, good news, this is that episode. Let's talk about the star, why it might be dimming, and what could happen if it explodes as a...
Feb 17, 2020
559: The Surface of the Sun
Astronomy Cast 559: The Surface of the Sun
by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay
A brand new telescope has completed on Maui's Haleakala, and it has just one job: to watch the Sun in unprecedented detail. It's called the Daniel K. Inouye telescope, and the engineering involved to get this telescope...
Feb 10, 2020
558: Supernova SN 2006gy
Astronomy Cast 558: Supernova SN 2006gy
by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay
We've been following this story for more than a decade, so it's great to finally have an answer to the question, why was supernova 2006gy so insanely bright? Astronomers originally thought it was an example of a supermassive...
Feb 3, 2020
557: Red Dwarfs: Friend or Foe
Astronomy Cast 557: Red Dwarfs: Friend or Foe
by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay
On the one hand, red dwarfs are the longest lived stars in the Universe, the perfect place for life to hang out for trillions of years. On the other hand, they're tempestuous little balls of plasma, hurling out...