Observations/astronomy cast

AstroCast ep. 174: Mysteries of the solar system part 1

Out of the 174 episodes of astronomy cast, and out of the 100 or so that I have listened to, the series about the mysteries of the universe will most likely be the most interesting. While most of the shows play out with Cane acting as the listener, having a basic to intermediate understanding of astronomy and asking questions at that level to Gay, who has more advanced knowledge of the subject, with this one they were both at relatively the same level, although Gay did manage to provide many theories and hypothesis for the various mysteries brought up in the episode, such as methane on Mars (it may be alive, either tectonically or biologically), Venus and Neptune’s screwy rotations (large impact most likely). All in all, I plan on “tuning in” to the next several episodes (as much as one can tune into a podcast.)

AstroCast ep. 175: Mysteries of the solar system part 2

As above this episode switched the format than the regular episodes, providing more questions than answers. Two of the questions dealt with things that we have dealt with in class: the Sun’s corona temperature and Saturn’s hexagon.
Gay was able to provide better explanations about the corona problem than the history channel (nano-flares vs. sound waves [in space? Really history channel?]). With the problem of the hexagon, she was able to provide an explanation involving fluid dynamics, although her explanation did not explain the hexagon, but other polygons.