Spaced Out – never out of space!
Astronomy Educator David Britten features on the fortnightly Spaced Out segment on 95bFM Drive where he chats all things space science, Stardome and stargazing.
To keep up to date on these headlines make sure to have a listen around 4:40pm Tuesdays fortnightly (or catch up on it later here). Then check back here on ‘Spaced Out – never out of space!’ every two weeks to see the headlines summarised, as well as anything else that you need to know to ensure you remain the most knowledgeable person in your friend group!
Spaced Out has been broadcast fortnightly since July 2011 – read more here
Podcast archives of Spaced Out at bFM can be found here
Spaced Out is part of the 95bFM Drive show with Johnny and Big Hungry, 4-7pm weekdays – read more here
12 May 2020
NZ astronomers find Earth-like planet – further reading here and here
Heaviest uncontrolled re-entry since 1991 passes over Central Park on way to Atlantic annihilation
Exploding Sun – astronomy blog
Head of Russian human spaceflight programme dies after Covid-19 positive test
Richard Branson to sell stake in Virgin Galactic to prop up other businesses
Possible resolution of biggest discrepancy in cosmology
Tom Cruise plans filming aboard ISS
Big disappointment as Comet Atlas disintegrates
European Mars Rover launch delayed till 2022
May the 4th Star Wars Challenge (check Stardome Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for details)
More than 120 of largest telescopes now closed because of pandemic
NZ Rocket Lab catches Electron rocket mid-air with helicopter
50-Year anniversary of Apollo 13 drama – further reading here and here
Black hole that bends light back on itself
Trump signs executive order promoting exploitation of lunar resources – further reading here
Dealing with sickness in space – clean, check, isolate, clean, research, clean, …
How astronauts deal with severe isolation – further reading here
Satellites visible (naked eye) above New Zealand
Citizen science projects – helping with scientific research from home – further reading here and here
Daylight Saving Time ends 3am Sunday 5 April (move clock back 1 hour)
SpaceX launches 60 more Starlink satellites – total now 360 launched
520 Megapixel camera finds 139 new objects beyond Neptune
Obituaries – Katherine Johnson, Mike Hughes, Heather Couper
Servicing private satellites in orbit
China to build a new space station
Earth formed much faster than we thought
Physicist and visionary, Freeman Dyson, has died
Rocket Lab scores Moon mission for NASA
Fifth batch of 60 Starlink satellites launched – total now 300
Breakthrough Listen releases 2 petabytes of SETI data
Two Russian satellites are stalking an orbiting US spysat
Trump’s 2021 NASA budget proposal axes 2 telescopes, 2 Earth science missions & STEM grants
Will satellite constellations clog the night sky? – further reading here and here
Awesome images from largest solar telescope
The world’s oldest asteroid may have thawed the Earth
Competition for Rocket Lab in Oamaru
Spitzer Space Telescope will shut down on 30th January
NZ Defence Force aims to develop space capability
Material older than the Sun found in Australian meteorite
Milky Way supermassive black hole generates hybrid stars
Largest structure in our galaxy
Treating a surprise blood clot in space
Is Betelgeuse fainting a feint, or is it getting ready to explode?
Chinese lander and rover mark one year exploring lunar far side
Chang’e 4 scientific data release
Doug Ellison processed images from Chang’e 4 and Yutu 2
Planets as light as candy floss
Star and exoplanet get official Maori names – further reading here
Space X ‘Space Train’ threat to night sky – further reading here.
Enceladus’ tiger stripes explained
Our supermassive black hole may have a companion
Iron meteorites may be hidden under Antarctic ice
Our future if climate change is not stopped
Southland teenager leads project to build satellite
Astronomy from the far side of the Moon
UFOs – the USS Nimitz UFO Incident – further reading here and here
White House in lockdown over mysterious slow moving blob
Rocket Lab launch mistaken for mysterious UFO
Evidence of first alien planet orbiting a white dwarf star
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter still providing valuable data
Parker Solar Probe revealing secrets of our Sun
Car accident with creature from outer space
Government funding for NZ space mission control centre – further reading here
Japanese spacecraft heads home with asteroid samples
Voyager 2 data raises questions about interstellar space – further reading here
Supernovas more powerful than anyone imagines
India confirms its Vikram lander crashed on the Moon
Black holes may be completely different to what we thought
The 11 biggest unanswered questions about dark matter
Most massive neutron star almost shouldn’t exist – further reading here
Last transit of Mercury until 2032
Russia keeping cause of ISS hole secret
LRO fails to find India’s ‘Vikram’ lander on Moon’s surface
Asteroid impact on Jupiter confirmed
India finds lost lunar lander – further reading here and here
Cometary interloper from another solar system
Thousands of tardigrades litter the moon after crash
NASA activates deep space atomic clock
US military assesses strategic value of cislunar space
NASA used to think female astronauts needed makeup
Aussie prospector finds large rare meteorite 4.6 billion years old
Virgin Galactic space port opens for tourists
Bernie Sanders will tell about aliens if elected President
Rocket Lab to catch booster rockets with a helicopter
Rocket Lab eighth flight launches four satellites
Chang’e-4 rover sends stunning photos of Moon’s far side
Another comet falls into the Sun
Satellites launched from NZ will be tracked to monitor traffic and debris
Concern over Starlink satellite failures
Astronomers very concerned about SpaceX’s megaconstellation
Dark sky astro tourism centre opens in Tekapo
Curiosity Rover 7-year anniversary on Mars
European Mars lander suffers parachute damage in test
New Zealand withdraws from Square Kilometre Array Project
TESS space telescope finds its smallest planet so far
2019 Quick Space Highlights
Formation of Ultima Thule in the Kuiper Belt beyond Pluto
Opportunity Rover lost after monster dust storm on Mars
First image of a black hole – further reading here
Night time for first probe on Moon’s far side
Moon crash site found! NASA probe spots Israeli lunar lander crash site
India finds its Vikram lunar lander, but still no signal
Neil Armstrong’s family received $6 million in a secret settlement
20 New moons found orbiting Saturn, bringing total to more than Jupiter