The Cosmic Companion - Astronomy, Space, Technology Advancing Humanity

This week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, we welcome Mark McCaughrean, Senior Advisor for Science & Exploration at the European Space Agency, to the show. We'll talk about the European Space Agency's BepiColombo mission to Mercury.We're also going to look at Comet Leonard as it makes its closest approach to Earth this week, and we'll tell you how to find it in the night sky. We're going to hear about an odd finding from a Chinese lunar rover on the far side of the Moon, and we look forward to the launch of the most advanced telescope ever sent into space – the James Webb Space Telescope.--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/support This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aicreatorhouse.substack.com/subscribe

The three brightest planets in the Solar System - Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, together with the Moon - will all line up tonight just after sunset.Here's a look at what's happening, and how to get the most out of this dazzling display!--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/support This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aicreatorhouse.substack.com/subscribe

On 10 December, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and the Moon will all line up just after sunset.   Here's a look at what's happening, and how to get the most out of this dazzling display!--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/support This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aicreatorhouse.substack.com/subscribe

Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion. This week, we are delighted to be joined by one of the world's most renowned oceanographers, Dr. Sylvia Earle. She's here to talk to us about her new book, National Geographic Ocean | A Global Odyssey. We're going to get an in-depth look at the oceans of our home world.We're also going to take a look up in the sky, as a trio of planets line up with the Moon, and the Geminid meteor shower aims to delight skygazers. And, we look in on an odd planet that is really metal. No, seriously. It's metal.--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/support This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aicreatorhouse.substack.com/subscribe

The Geminid meteor shower arrives on the night of 13 December 2021.   We take a look at how to view this display, where to look in the sky, and we take a glimpse at an alignment of planets happening on the other side of the sky. Cats may be involved for video viewers.--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/support This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aicreatorhouse.substack.com/subscribe

Matthew Bothwell, author of The Invisible Universe, discusses the 93% of "ordinary" matter we cannot see with the human eye - radio, infrared, ultraviolet astronomy, and more...    This week on Astronomy News with the Cosmic Companion, we also look at how machine learning recently discovered hundreds of unknown planets, we explore a massive world hotter than some stars, and Dart lifts off on a mission that could help us save the planet.--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/support This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aicreatorhouse.substack.com/subscribe

This week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, we take a close-up look at asteroids – those lumps or rock, metal, and ice racing around our solar system. We're going to examine five major missions happening right now, examining asteroids, and potentially, saving us from the fate of the dinosaurs.Bill Bottke, Director of Space Studies at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) joins us talking about the Psyche mission, exploring a metal-rich asteroid for the first time.We will also be joined by Esen Ercan Alp, senior physicist at Argonne National Laboratory, one of the few people in the world studying samples from the asteroid Ryugu returned from Haybusa2.In addition, we examine the Dart mission – the first-ever test in space, deflecting an asteroid by impacting it with a spacecraft!Together, we explore the OSIRIS-REx mission to Bennu, and hear from Cathy Olkin of SwRI, telling us of the journey of Lucy to the Trojan asteroids of Jupiter.All this and more in this week's episode of Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion!Next week 30 November (s5/e20): Matthew Bothwell talks about his new book, The Invisible Universe. He’ll tell us about the Universe we can’t see with our eyes. Subscribe or follow today and never miss an episode!--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/support This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aicreatorhouse.substack.com/subscribe

This week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, we welcome Dr. Rosanne Di Stefano from the Center for Astrophysics to the show, talking about her work finding the first planet yet seen in another galaxy.We also look in on the ailing Hubble Space Telescope, as that famed instrument unexpectedly shuts down. We're going to examine the first signs of water within a galaxy in the ancient Cosmos, and we will look up in the night sky as Uranus offers amateur astronomers a prime chance to view that world.--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/support This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aicreatorhouse.substack.com/subscribe

This week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, Dr. Tara Murphy from the University of Sydney joins us, looking at an odd radio burst seen near the center of the Milky Way galaxy.We will also look at a possible discovery of a planet in another galaxy, and examine a massive solar flare that nearly missed Earth over the weekend. Finally, we will head out to Jupiter, where NASA's Juno spacecraft made some intriguing new findings, before welcoming our special guest.--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/support This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aicreatorhouse.substack.com/subscribe

The Science of Halloween featuring Erika Engelhaupt, author of Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science.   Plus - Would Aliens Eat Humans? Extinction from an Asteroid, and the Scariest Objects in the Night Sky!--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/support This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aicreatorhouse.substack.com/subscribe