Headline Astronomy

For the past couple of months Loch Ness Productions has been working with the Astronomical Society of the Pacific on a really cool project called Astronomy Behind the Headlines. It’s designed for folks who do informal science education — people like planetarium lecturers, scout troop leaders, amateur astronomy club speakers and anybody else who talks with the public about astronomy.  The idea behind the project is that there is always some kind of news about astronomy and people want to know more about it. So, we banded together to create podcasts that feature interviews with astronomers who are doing the science behind the headlines. I’m writing and narrating them and interviewing the scientists. Mark is doing the soundtracks and adding in his lovely space music.

The first episode is about astrobiology, and it features an interview with  my old friend Chris McKay of NASA Ames, who is one of the world’s experts on the topic. The second podcast is about things that fall from the sky (meteorites, comet dust, etc.) and we talk with Peter Jenniskens, the scientist at the SETI Institute who traveled to the Nubian desert last year to find pieces of an asteroid that fell to Earth as scientists tracked it coming in.  The scientists have great things to say. Check out these podcasts, and keep checking every month for a new one.

I’d also like to put in a good word for Astronomical Society of the Pacific — it’s a great organization that does a lot of really good work with professional and amateur astronomers as well as formal and informal science educators. I’m a member and urge you to join, too. Check out their website for more details, and by all means, have a listen to Astronomy Behind the Headlines.