Naked Astronomy, from the Naked Scientists

As Comet ISON draws near to its close approach with the Sun in November, much uncertainty remains over how brilliant it will be. Dominic Ford speaks to Matthew Bishop at the Lowell Observatory to find out more. He also talks to Apostolos Christou from the Armagh Observatory about a group of asteroids which closely follow the orbit and Mars, and appear to fragments of a much larger pair of asteroids which collided. Tamela Maciel from the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge reports on the lonely exoplanet which doesn't seem to have a parent star, and Kirsten Gottschalk from the International... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham discover what it's like to undergo G forces with a special podcast from QinetiQ's centrifuge facility - the only one of its kind in the UK. As Sue spins around, guests Dr Jon Scott and Dr Simon Brown discuss the physical stresses on the body and the demands on astronauts and pilots. There's also a close up look at the James Webb Space Telescope mirrors and we hear from veteran US pilot Wally Funk, who had the right stuff to become an astronaut in 1960 but is still waiting for her chance to go into space. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Dominic Ford reports from the European Planetary Science Congress, where he heard about the latest misisons to Mars and the Moon. Lewis Dartnell explains how the ExoMars mission, due to land on Mars in 2018, will go about looking for signs of lifeforms that may have died out billions of years ago. Dina Pasini discusses her more speculative ideas about how the life we see on Earth could have started on Mars. And Bernard Foing and Jessica Barnes discuss what we're still learning about the Moon. Plus, we have more answers to your space science questions. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham present a Mars podcast special. Interviews include Curiosity Rover's Principal Investigator for its Radiation Assessment Detector, and the British physics student who's applied for a one way trip to Mars. Studio guests are Dr Robert Massey, from the Royal Astronomical Society, and its space scientist president, Professor David Southwood from Imperial College London - also the former director of science and robotic exploration at the European Space Agency. Not forgetting Richard's report from Lockheed Martin in Denver beside the new... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This autumn, the Gaia spacecraft will be launched on a mission to find out where the Milky Way's stars came from. I catch up with two of the astronomers at the Lund Observatory who've worked on designing the spacecraft, and with one of the astronomers who's hoping to use data from the spacecraft to calculate where and when the stars of our galaxy formed.Plus, I hear about a new technique which is being used to work out what the atmospheres of planets around other stars are made of, and about observations of a recent gamma ray burst which are helping us to unravel what triggers these... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham are joined by a cosmic hedgehog with a report from NOAA's space weather centre in Colorado and details on how to own the latest affordable pocket spacecraft to the moon. Studio guests include space artist Vix Southgate and rocket insurer David Wade - plus the final stage of Sue's brave attempt to become an astronaut. It will end in tears... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month I've taken to the seaside to bring you a special episode of Naked Astronomy from the National Astronomy Meeting, which was held in St Andrews in the first week of July. I find out about the sparkles that can help us to understand solar flares, plans to let school children loose on a new research-grade telescope, and a technique that could produce the first high-resolution images of quasars. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space Boffins Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson go to a comet, Mars and into space. This month's podcast is from the Open University's Rosetta mission room and includes NASA's Curiosity rover mission specialist Daniel Limonadi, British space scientist Maggie Aderin Pocock and Anousheh Ansari, the first Iranian woman in space. Meanwhile studio guests Dr Dan Andrews and Professor Ian Wright explain why their Ptolemy instrument on board Rosetta's comet chasing mission is not a burglar alarm (even if it looks like one) but an advanced technology, state-of-the-art electronic nose. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

How much detail can amateur astronomers see on Jupiter, and how can space scientists use this to probe the Solar System's largest storms? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

A full, frank and funny interview with Tim Peake, Richard goes inside NASA's 'crazy ideas', and Sue meets with 'astrogirls'. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists