Allan I Carswell Observatory Presents: York Universe

We look at this week in history and have a discussion on Artemis II and other worthy news items! Please note that we had a bit of a technical glitch on the recording near the beginning of the show but all the important bits are there. Illustration of Orion in Low Earth Orbit - Image Credit: ESA

A possible Challenge to Cold Dark Matter? A sad anniversary for the Space Shuttle Challenger Hubble solves the mystery of Blue Straggler stars Groundhog Day!  

This week, we look at astronomy and space history, including important events in space exploration. We then follow up on the restoration of NASA and other science funding by US Congress, and give updates on manned space exploration.  Image: Veritas Spacecraft in orbit around Venus - Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech  

Here we touch on some brief history and then go onto what kind of astronomy we are looking forward to in 2026 including the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope, Artemis as well as the Pandora and Plato missions to find exoplanets.

Welcome to our last broadcast of 2025.  We will be looking at the solstice this week and some of the ways it has been marked in the past as well as moon and venus landings and other current news.   Image : Heart O'Ireland - Cropped version of: File:Newgrange 053.jpg, CC BY 2.5, from Wikimedia commons    

Tonight we discuss some fun history items, and of course the recent news about sugars and more on Bennu! The host is Dr. Elaina Hyde and we are joined by special guest Mahesh Aravamudan, a RASC Toronto Center member and astronomy enthusiast to investigate. The allsky camera for AICO mentioned in this episode can be found at: https://www.yorku.ca/science/observatory/observers/ Image credit: Aview across asteroid Bennu's southern hemisphere and into space. The image was obtained on March 7, 2019, by the PolyCam camera on NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.

Welcome to our holiday show! What was the star of Bethlehem? What is a great gift for an astronomer?

Here we look at a few Mars related topics, including possible karstic (water eroded) caves and other findings around the solar systems.   Image (open access) from Ravi, Sharma et al 2025 APJL 993 L36  

Tonight the Leonid meteor shower peaks.  Here we look at the Leonids in detail as well as comets and Frank Drake. Image: Leonid meteor storm of 1833 (Public Domain)    find out more about the observatory at https://www.yorku.ca/science/observatory/  

Julie Tomé and Dr. Elaina Hyde discuss many satellites - most good, some bad! From Lunar Orbiter 2, San Marco 1, and Sputnik to giant space mirrors (shudder) and the JWST (hurray!), explore some of the history and news around satellites. Podcast Image: AICO, Sunna Withers, Zena Khadour

Tune in to go back in time to Tycho's Supernova of 1572, the history of daylight savings time, and how our view of the Universe was revolutionized, twice! This week's host's Paul Mackin and Sunna Withers also discuss astronomy news, including Comet 3I/Atlas and the chaos of galaxies in the early Universe.  Image Description: Comet 3I/Atlas on July 21, 2025, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope   Image Credit: NASA, ESA, David Jewitt (UCLA); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

This episode features a round up of comets past and current, a bit of fun history, and some discussion of the 2025 Astronomer in Residence program. The host Dr. Elaina Hyde is joined by special guest John Wilmot, one of our 2025 astronomers who went out to Killarney Park as both an expert, and an amateur! Join us for a bit of fun, and keep in mind that the live views on YouTube for this episode include one of our comets from THIS season C2025/R2 (SWAN). The link to the observatory website mentioned in this episode is: https://www.yorku.ca/science/observatory/ .   Image credit: Comet C2025/R2 SWAN as imaged by the AICO 1m telescope on YouTube during the live broadcast for this podcast on Oct 27, 2025: AICO, Sunna Withers, Nakul Sethuram Ramjee 

Here we look at a number of interesting objects in our solar system, and missions to the less frequented places in the inner solar system like Mercury and Venus. 

Julie and Jeremy chat about the history of exoplanet discovery, notable astronomers Riccardo Giacconi and Ejnar Hertzsprung, and the discovery of Triton. In the news, a rogue planet is acting like a star, old data sets are reanalysed to get new insights into Venus and Enceladus, and the Universe might not expand forever. Episode image credit: Sunna Withers, AICO

Join hosts Paul Mackin and Sunna Withers as we discuss spacecraft and astronomers who have gone boldly! We discuss both astronomy and sci-fi, including the nature of our Universe and the impact of Star Trek.  Image: DART Impact Image Credit: NASA/Farnham et al. 2025

This week's episode is all about planets and solar systems! Join this week's hosts as we disucss the Earth's autumnual equinox, planetary exploration, the search for extraterrestrial life, and an important milestone in exoplanet discovery!  Podcast Image: Cassini image of Saturn near its equinox in 2009 Photo Credit: NASA

Here we have special guests Nathan Minuk and Robin Metcalfe. Nathan is a member of York student rocketry group.  They are talking about the Canada Launch competition If any York students are interested please see arbalestrocketry.ca   We also talk about Osiris- Rex,the contributions of amateur astronomers, and other recent news.   Episode Artwork courtesy TheSkyLive.com

It's all about the Solar System this week! Join our hosts Professor Jeremy Webb and Sunna Withers as we discuss history surrounding Jupiter's Moon Europa, Pluto's declassification, and the discovery of S/2025 U1, a new moon of Uranus!  Image description: Uranus and its New Moon S/2025 U1 Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Maryame El Moutamid (SwRI), Matthew Hedman (University of Idaho) 

Here we look at a number of phenemenon we have observed in the solar system including, eclipses, aurora, lunar quakes and rainbows on Enceladus. Apollo 11 Seismic Experiment Image Courtesy NASA

Join Paul Mackin and Sunna Withers as we discuss interstellar visitors, the most distant black hole ever observed, and what's up in the sky this week. Also tune in for special guest Robin Metcalfe to learn about the upcoming Launch Canada Challenge! Image: Apollo 8 Command Module - Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago Il. Photo Credit: Paul J. Mackin