#75 - September 2018 Part 1

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The Discussion: Jeni returns after getting the flu, Paul’s science shows were a wash out at Camp Bestival and Ralph gets a great email about a telescope library service.

The News: In the new revamped show format we have 3 minutes to round up the astronomy news stories you might have missed:

Jeni:

• New Gaia data shows us the distance and shape of familiar objects like never before
• India’s Chandrayaan-1 finds water ice in the moon’s north and south pole craters
• The Andromeda Galaxy’s dwarf companion was canibalised by a galactic collision

Ralph:

• An ultra-hot 4,000ºC exoplanet
• An ultra compact dwarf galaxy with a huge supermassive black hole
• Astronomy favourite Albireo isn’t a binary star after all

The big news story:

• New Horizons spacecraft confirms Voyager data on the Heliosphere

The Skyguide:

• Jeni runs through some top facts about the planet Neptune
• Paul tells you where to find it and what you can expect to see
• Ralph runs through the autumn equinox, the constellations Cygnus & Lyra and visiting comet 21P Giacobini Zinner
• Paul finished with this month’s moon phases

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 take a look at astronomical time travel:

I’m still trying to get my head around if bigger telescopes looking at the same thing as my 6 inch reflector are seeing it at a different time or in just more detail. Take the Whirlpool Galaxy for example, can it be seen at different stages in its existence? From Peter Coates in the UK.

Episode 75 Part 2 on space exploration comes out in the middle of the month.