AstrotalkUK

Not for profit podcast. Astronomy, Deep Space Exploration and International Collaboration

Episode 100 Sandra Benitez Herrera – ESA Education Outreach

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Astrophysicist Sandra Benitez-Herrera  talks about the opportunities for teachers and students made available by the European Space Agency‘s CESAR (Cooperation through Education in Science and Astronomy Research) program. This episode was recorded in Athens in July during Cospar 2022.

If you are a student or a teacher in Europe or beyond, Sandra explains how you make use of CESAR’s resources – optical, solar and radio telescopes, online seminars, face-to-face training and an enormous quantity of space data from ESA and other space agencies. All in one place and with no charge. She starts with an explanation of what CESAR is – in audio and Youtube video below.

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Episode 99 Professor Stamatios Krimigis – Exploring the Solar System with Voyager

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This episode was recorded in Athens in July 2022 during Cospar 2022 and he speaks about his remarkable career guided in large part by his mentor, physicist James Van Allen.

Professor Stamtios Krimigis

He started studying physics at the University of Minnesota in the same month that Sputnik was launched. A chance meeting with James van Allen led Stamatios Krimigis to build instruments for Mariner 3 and 4. Eventually assigned as the Principle Investigator for the charged particle instrument on the voyager program which was initially known as Mariner Jupiter Saturn 77 program.

It is released today to mark his 84th birthday tomorrow on September 10th. Audio and youtube video below.

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Episode 98 Astrophotography with Nik Szymanek

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Nik Syzamnek is one of the UK’s leading astrophotographers and one who has been doing it for almost four decades.

Nik Szymanek

In this episode, Nik shares his unique perspective on how the hobby of astronomy and especially astrophotography has evolved since the 1980s when he first started.

We cover a lot of ground including modern software used for image processing and telescope control, increasing use of robotic telescopes e.g. Telescope Live by amateurs and the obstacles introduced by Climate Change and the mega-constellations of satellites. We conclude this episode on his lesser-known skills as a drummer in a band.

Books
2005 – Infinity Rising: A Personal View of the Universe
2018 – Co-author of – Spacerocks: A collectors’ guide to meteorites, tektites and impactites
2020 – Shooting Stars – 2nd Edition (AstronomyNow website)

Nik’s images on Flickr.

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A video of this interview is also available here on Youtube and includes many of his images.

As the lock-down begins to end – Nik is getting out and doing some talks live. If you are in the area – catch him live in 2021 here


2nd November: Stour Astronomical Society
17th November; Havering Astronomical Society twitter.com/HaveringSociety

Episode 97 Bob Heil’s Moon Bounce Experiment with NASA

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Bob Heil

Bob Heil is a sound engineer and has been an amateur radio operator since the 1950s. In addition to working on live stage shows for some of the legends of rock and roll (including Grateful Dead, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Dolly Parton ..). His first job was playing the organ in a 4-star restaurant called Schneithorst where in around 1962 he bumped into America’s first astronaut Alan Shepard. By chance, Alan Shepard’s was had grown up in a family with an interest in organs.

What emerged out of this encounter was an unexpected Moon-bounce experiment that involved Bob at his home in Illinois receiving a phone call from NASA in Houston, he patched the phone call through his radio and pointed his 128 element array antenna operating at 2m to the Moon. The reflection was picked up by a receiver directly by NASA in Houston. This was in the early 1960s and Bob never quite understood why NASA asked for his involvement. It would have been very easy for NASA to conduct this experiment without it.

128 Element Array used for the Moon-Bounce experiment
That is Bob in the centre of the image!

Bob is a great storyteller and has many unique stories to tell from a career spanning 6 decades. A few of the other topics we cover include the advent of DTH satellite TV in the USA and some of the work done by Bell Labs. He can be contacted here k9eid@arrl.net

A longer version of this interview is available on Youtube. Bob shares many of the pictures that you can hear him discussing. Link below.

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A video of this interview where Bob shares many images relevant to the themes discussed is available here.