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Astronomy Cast

Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela Gay

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Take a fact-based journey through the cosmos. Tune in to hear weekly discussions on astronomical topics ranging from planets to cosmology. Hosted by Fraser Cain (Universe Today) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (Planetary Science Institute), this show brings the questions of an avid astronomy lover direct to an astronomer. Together Fraser and Pamela explore what is known and being discovered about the universe around us. Astronomy Cast is supported thru patreon.com/AstronomyCast.
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Join amateur space weather enthusiast Isaac Bredeman for the current space weather conditions, a forecast for the next few days and beyond, and to learn details about fascinating space weather phenomena. This podcast is released on the third Saturday of every month.
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The show focuses on the latest innovation in technology and science, and on news from graphics cards to landing rovers on Mars. That might not seem like enough, but with the podcast megastar Rishu Sheth, it is more than enough! New episodes returning on April 21, 2021. This is being written on October 2nd 2023. Imma be honest, another episode is never being released again. But we only up from here. And this will be an incredibly cringy time capsule that I can look back on in a couple years t ...
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How does a short passage in Mark chapter 2 point to Jesus as Lord and God? And what might Jesus' healing of the paralytic say about the nature of the universe and our place within it? Can we trust Mark's account as real history? This is a short audio essay examines these questions in greater detail and hopefully provides us with some encouragement …
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 769: Little Red Dots By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Oct 20, 2025. New instruments bring new mysteries, and when James Webb came on line it uncovered a collection of strange, compact, bright objects shifted deeply into the red end of the spectrum. These were dubbed "Little red dots" or LRDs. And the astronomical …
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 768: Comets' Unpredictability By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Oct 13, 2025. So it's been decades since we've seen a bright comet in the sky. And actually there was a pair — Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake. And then, silence! And unmet promises by the Universe to give us a bright comet. Comets are unpredictable, and they …
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 767: Black Holes in Extreme Circumstances By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay Streamed live on Oct 6, 2025. You can only describe a black hole by its mass and its spin. And maybe it's charge. But allow us to propose a new criteria: the personal experience. Some black holes have seen things…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 766: How Spacecraft End By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay End-of-Life Planning for Your Spacecraft! Streamed live October 1, 2025. Your spacecraft has reached the end of its mission. You've done everything you can to keep it operational, but now it's time to say goodbye. How do space agencies deal with spacecraft to shut them down …
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 765: Rockets vs The Environment By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Sep 22, 2025. We don't launch a lot of rockets every year, so their impact on the environment is minimal compared to other forms of transportation. But that number is steadily increasing with rates that we'll have to take seriously. What's the curren…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 764: Cleared For Launch! By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live September 17, 2025. This week, we look at the process behind rockets getting licensed to launch, and everyone around the pad getting notified to stay away as T-0 approaches. (Can you say "errant boat"?) We have a saying around here: "One does not simply book a…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 763: Interstellar Comets By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live Sep 8, 2025. Welcome to the first episode of our 19th season! This week we look at objects coming from other solar systems that come passing on by our Sun. During the summer hiatus the 3rd interstellar object was discovered: Comet 3I/ATLAS! So now we have 3 di…
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Atheists have often claimed that the Bible makes no scientific predictions and therefore cannot be a valid source of knowledge about the universe. But this is simply unfounded. First, modern science as we understand it today did not exist thousands of years ago. To demand that our modern expectations should be imposed upon the text of Scripture is …
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How does philosophy inform modern physics? And how do physicists incorporate philosophy into their research? On this episode, we dive into those questions with philosopher Dr. Timothy McGrew and astrophysicist Dr. Luke Barnes in order to help you fine tune your thinking about the fine tuning of the universe. Critics of the fine-tuning argument will…
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The brand new Vera Rubin Observatory recently opened its 28-foot diameter mirror and snapped a few stunning images that astronomers displayed to the public for the first time in June. You can explore the amazing imagery of the heavens at the observatory's website at this site: https://rubinobservatory.org/news/first-imagery-rubin Why so many stars?…
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Despite how secular most disciplines in the physical sciences are today, those who study nature assume that nature is intelligible and that it should be explored. But how does modern science actually explain what nature is saying to us? How do the explain that nature is intelligible to us at all? Is science the only way to understand the physical u…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 762: Science in Crisis - NASA's New Budget By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Jun 30, 2025. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay Normally we try to end the season on a high note. But there's unfolding news that we just HAVE to cover before we leave you for the summer. NASA's new budget is here, and it's 25% …
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 761: It's Here! The Vera Rubin Observatory By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live June 25, 2025. The time has come. The mighty Vera Rubin Observatory has finally come on line and delivered its "first light" images. And by Pamela's rules that means we get to talk about it! So let's do that! After decades of waiting, we have…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 760: What to Look For This Summer By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Jun 16, 2025. It's almost time for our annual summer hiatus, but before we go, we wanted to direct you towards all the fun and space stuff we'll be enjoying this summer. We've got meteor showers, planets, rocket launches, TV shows, movies! Here's w…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 759: The Commercial Space Program By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Jun 9, 2025. Humanity has turned its focus back to the Moon, sending a fleet of spacecraft to the lunar surface. Some are run by the government, but there's a whole new group of commercial landers bearing instruments to the lunar surface. Is this t…
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Solar storms have a range of potentially disrupting effects on satellites, radio communications, and the power grid. While harm almost never comes from the average geomagnetic storm, it is important for companies to prepare in the event that an extreme storm brings risks of power blackouts or satellite loss. What is truly at risk, and how do we pre…
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The Bible tells us that we can see and understand "God's invisible attributes" through what He has created. And this is precisely what former atheist Michael Ray Lewis discovered as he spent three years examining the evidence for Christianity. One of the most impressive arguments he encountered during his time of searching was that of the fine tuni…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 758: Non-Roving Rovers By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on May 26, 2025. Some of our favorite robots are rovers currently roving around the surface of the Moon & Mars. But there's some pretty tricky terrain out there and engineers are scheming up clever ways to explore other worlds inspired by life that crawls, slith…
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This is why we produce Good Heavens! God's creation shows us His invisible attributes. He uses His creation to lead us to Christ, through whom and for whom the entirety of the heavens and earth were made (Colossians 1). Dan recently met a former atheist who became a Christian and has recently completed the final edits on a remarkable docudrama film…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 757: CubeSats By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on May 19, 2025. Computers are getting smaller, faster and more capable, which has enabled an entirely mew class of satellites: CubeSats. A mission small enough that you can hold it in your hands, and yet powerful enough to even travel to other planets and send messages …
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 756: SphereX By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on May 12, 2025. NASA's newly launched SphereX mission is up & operational and has completed its initial checkout and "first light". Everything looks good! And now it's starting its science operations. And that's good enough for Pamela! And THAT means we can talk about it…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 755: Intermediate Mass Black Holes By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on May 5, 2025. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay. There are stellar-mass and supermassive black holes. But very little evidence of anything in between. Where are all the intermediate-mass black holes that should be the building blocks of …
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 754: K2-18b By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Apr 28, 2025. You've heard the news! Astronomers are reporting the discovery of biosignatures at K2-18b. Is this proof of life or should we all be more skeptical? It's in the news and people are claiming aliens... but is it aliens? Let's see what the data actually says.…
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Neptune is the Roman name for the Greek god of the seas and of earthquakes. Poseidon, in Greek mythology, is the father of Polyphemus, the tyrannical, man-eating cyclopes of Homer's Odyssey. Because the Odysseus blinded Polyphemus, it was Poseidon and his wrath which ultimately made Odysseus' trip home a little more circuitous than was to the Big O…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 753: Why is the Moon's South Pole So Interesting? By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Apr 21, 2025. I'm sure you've heard that all eyes are on the Moon's southern pole. This is where various NASA and Chinese missions are targeting. What makes this region so special and what are the special challenges that explorers w…
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You don't hear much about Uranus these days. Probably because it's 1.8 billion miles away, or maybe because the last time an Earth-launched satellite probe visited the enigmatic ringed world was in 1986. A few years ago the James Webb Space Telescope took the beauteous portrait of Uranus you see in the thumbnail, but for the most part, most folks d…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 752: Should We Go to the Moon or Mars Next? By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Apr 16, 2025. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay There is an ongoing debate on where NASA should go next with humans: to the Moon or Mars. (Or maybe an asteroid or one of Mars' moons). We are on the verge of sending humans back …
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 751: Vacuum Energy By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Apr 7, 2025. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay. Even empty space isn't empty. It's filled with the quantum fluctuations of spacetime itself. Which can be measured with famous experiments like the Casimir Effect. There is a surprising amount of energy i…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 750: Supernova Early Warning System By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Mar 31, 2025. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay When enormous stars detonate as supernovae they release a burst of neutrinos that can be the first sign of a coming explosion. Now, astronomers have built a network to watch for that flas…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 749: Dark Energy Changing Over Time By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Mar 24, 2025. The Hubble Tension is a vexing problem, with astronomers measuring the expansion of the Universe at different points in its history and getting different results. Errors have mostly been ruled out, which leaves the potential for new…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 748: Fast Radio Bursts By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Mar 17, 2025. For the briefest of moments, some dead stars can flash brighter than their entire galaxy (in Radio light) and then live to do it again and again. It's time for an update on fast radio bursts, a phenomenon we've only known about for a few decades…
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It's been known for over a century that auroral storms are stronger and more frequent around the spring and fall equinoxes. Why is this the case? In this episode I dig into the dynamics of the Russell-McPherron effect, a explanation for this variation proposed in 1973. And in the process, you just might learn a little more about the Bz and why it's…
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Streamed live on Mar 10, 2025. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay Most planets orbit stars. That's the rule, right? Well, maybe not. In fact the vast majority of planets could be floating freely through the Milky Way. Today we're gonna talk about rogue planets. Sometimes planets just go rogue. Let's learn about planets living free from st…
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What does the Bible say about the sun? What is the purpose of the sun? Why did God create it? How does the sun remind us of God's invisible attributes? How could there have been life on earth before the sun? How can we best understand both what the Bible says and what science says about our sun? The sun was designed and created for God's glory; for…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 746: Dust Storms By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live Feb 24, 2025. We have dust storms on Earth and of course the famous dust storms on Mars. There are even dust storms on Titan. What causes these storms and how do they work differently on the worlds in the solar system. But what about the exoplanets? The bane of solar …
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Our thumbnail image this week is not a doctored or photoshopped image, but a genuine picture of the sun from October 2024. Taken in 193 angstrom light on Oct. 26, 2024, NASA captured our sun in a state of rejoicing, or so it seemed (image credit NASA/GSFC/SDO). The darker regions you see that comprise the eyes and mouth are actually regions of the …
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 745: How We Know If Asteroids Will Attack By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live Feb 20, 2025. I'm sure you've heard the news, asteroid 2024 YR4 has a tiny chance of hitting Earth in 2032. How do astronomers discover these dangerous asteroids, measure their future impact risk and track the changes over time? When should we…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 744: Lunar Time By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Feb 10, 2025. What time is it? OK, fine, what time is it on the Moon? The Moon orbits the Earth, so it doesn't fall into a specific time zone. Also, there's lower gravity on the surface of the Moon, which changes the rate that clocks tick. Well… It's time to introdu…
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How might things like "spooky action at a distance" or mysterious as "dark matter" point us to the glory of God? Whether you are a theist or a non-theist or a Christian who believes in a young or an old universe, we can all agree on at least one thing. The universe is a fascinating place in which we find ourselves. That the universe is intelligible…
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As human beings we occupy a wondrously peculiar size in the cosmos. With our unique stature, we are able to see and comprehend scales of the universe at the inconceivably huge and the unimaginably small. We here at Good Heavens! believe God has arranged this peculiar state of affairs and wants us to know and delight in what He has made. The heavens…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 741: Technosignatures By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Jan 20, 2025. As humanity developed more advanced technology, we're having a larger effect on our environment. The more we do, the more we could be detectable. And this gives us ideas on how we could detect other civilizations, even if they don't realize we're…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 740: Sneaky Stars! By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Jan 13, 2025. Why stars can't be trusted! If you're an astronomer you depend on accurate observations of stars, but there's a problem. Stars are sneaky! Changing in size, brightness, color, they hide their chemistry, their age and even their companions from all b…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 740: Drones! By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live January 9, 2025. From little Ingenuity to the future Firefly and all our Earth Science fliers, let's look at the buzzy scientists. NASA's Mars Ingenuity helicopter showed us how wonderful a flying science platform can be on another world. Soon there'll be a helicopter fly…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 736: Gift Guide 2024 By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Dec 2, 2024 It's time for our Holiday Gift Guide, where we suggest ideas for presents for the space fans in your life! What books are we reading? What games are we playing and what telescopes are we admiring? SUPPORTED BY YOU !!! This Episode is made possible t…
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Black holes continue to amaze and surprise us. Just when it seemed the scientific community was settling in on how black holes form, a string of recent discoveries has begun to call those assumptions into question. How about a triple black hole system? Or how about a black hole that is "feeding" itself many times faster than astrophysicists thought…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 735: Albert Einstein By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Nov 25, 2024. Last week we talked about the Einstein probe. So this week it is only natural that we talk about the man himself, Albert Einstein. He revolutionized the field of physics, played a vital role in the early 20th century and struggled to unite the for…
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Black holes remain one of the most enigmatic and wondrous entities in the cosmos. We have only known about them for less than a century. And just when you think you've got a handle on what exactly they are, new discoveries begin to challenge these assumptions. Just in the last decade, astrophysicists have not only photographed a black hole but have…
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 734: The Einstein Mission By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Nov 11, 2024. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay. Another day, another space telescope! Today we're looking at the newly launched Einstein Probe. A collaboration between the Chinese Space Agency and the European Space Agency. The mission has been…
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The telescope technology of our time has revealed wonders in the cosmos our ancestors could only dream about. But have these discoveries in any way undermined the biblical account of creation? Our guest again this week, astrophysicist and author at Reasons to Believe, Dr. Jeff Zweerink tells us that we have nothing to fear, not even the multiverse!…
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