Mini-Cast Show Notes: Those Holiday Gifts!

Astronomy a Go Go! Mini-podcast: Having fun with those new presents!

Closing song: "Just Dream" by Ginnicide

First off those MP3 players!

Here is what you need to listen to podcasts:

• a computer
• a connection to the Internet
• a free audio player, (standard part of Windows, Apple, Linux installation)
• a free podcast aggregator (these programs store and check for subscription updates for you)

 

Most podcasts have website that will allow you to listen to specific episodes without a subscriptions or additional software. But if you find a podcast you like having an aggregator makes life much easier.

There are several places to find directories of podcasts the current favorites being:

• iTunes music store podcast section
• Podcast Alley
• iPodder
• Liberated Syndication directory (Libsyn hosts my podcast)
• Podcasting News directory
• Podcast Pickle

...and since there seem to be as many podcast directories as podcasts check out the list created by Robin Good.

Here are our favorite astronomy and science podcasts.

General Public

• Astronomy a Go Go!
• Slacker Astronomy (quite hysterical)
• The Naked Scientist Radio Show
• StarDate
• Science at NASA
• Science Fridays from NPR

More Scientific

• Universe Today
• The Keck Observatory

Blogs without podcasts

• Bad Astronomy
• NASA Breaking News
• Planetary Society
• Space.com

And now for those new telescopes!

For those of you who are old hats at telescopes this will a review but if this is your first telescope you probably just can't wait to get that scope outside. The first rule of telescopes, binoculars and your eyes is never, never, ever look directly at the sun. We will talk about solar viewing at a later date for now just trust me permanent eye damage is no laughing matter. It is also a good thing to remind your friends and family looking through your scope as well.

Use the internet to search for "astronomy clubs", astronomers and knitter are probably the most prolific sharing groups on the internet! My club, the Tacoma Astronomical Club keeps a great website with all of our free public nights on the calendar. In North America you can go to the Astronomical League website to look for a list of member clubs in your area.

Find or make a red flashlight. White light kills your night vision so get or make a couple of red flashlights and keep them with your astronomy gear.

Learn about your scope. There is a very good beginers article at Sky and Telescope about choosing telescopes.

Practice aligning you finder tool The idea is that you look through the finder to find and center the telescope on the area you want to see. However this doesn't work if the finder isn't pointing the same way as the telescope. Not matching the finder with the telescope is probably the first, and most common mistake for all astronomers. This is a perfect afternoon activity.

Start out with big things! This time of year the waning crescent moon, the planets, the Orion nebula, and the Pleiades are all good first objects. You can find a free December star map at www.skymaps.com. We will be talking about planispheres on our next podcast so make sure you join us for that show.

Collimating your scope. Your refractors and most Cassigrains will not need collimating as long as they are handled carefully. However your reflectors/Newtonians will need collimating the first time you get them and any time you decide to toss it in the back of the car and find a super bumpy road to drive on. Follow the steps in your manual or check out one of these pages. Sky and Telescope article Step-by-step guide

I let you go I would like to thank the band 3 Blind Mice for their lovely comment on my first show, I played their song "Watchstar" and I would like to thank Stephanie, Arthur and Nic for their wonderful and supportive comments.

Good night everyone thanks for listening and we will talk to you in a few days at our end of the year podcast!