At Age 11, Venetia Burney Named Pluto (Cool Weird Awesome 807)
Today in 1918, the birthday of Venetia Burney, who at age eleven, did something few people have done: she named a planet!
Caroline Herschel Discovered Comets And Became A Star (Cool Weird Awesome 733)
Today in 1750, the birthday of an astronomer who definitely made her mark on the sky: Caroline Herschel, the first woman to discover a comet.
Could Jokes About Uranus Prevent A Mission To Uranus? (Cool Weird Awesome 641)
Humans make a lot of jokes about the seventh planet from the sun. But do scientists who study Uranus think the jokes are funny? The website Futurism found out. Plus: today is the first day of Magic Week, and there's a magic shop in Burnsville, Minnesota that's the oldest in the US.
Could Juggling Be The Next Big Olympic Sport? (Cool Weird Awesome 586)
Competitive juggling is a sport that requires skill, concentration, technical mastery and creativity. And there's a push to bring it to the Summer Games someday. Plus: the Sun and Earth are now in an alignment with Saturn, which means our most famous ringed planet is at its brightest in the night sky.
Guillaume Le Gentil, The 18th Century Astronomer With the Worst Luck (Cool Weird Awesome 549)
Today in 1769, Captain James Cook and his crew observed the transit of Venus from Tahiti, a big deal for astronomers then; only his French colleague Guillaume Le Gentil had spent years preparing to do the exact same thing, and had much worse luck on his expedition. Plus: for World Bicycle Day, a visit to a giant bicycle sculpture in South Dakota.
What Do Sounds Sound Like On Mars? Perseverance Rover Is Going To Find Out (Cool Weird Awesome 469)
The next Mars rover is set to land next month, and it's equipped with microphones to make the first audio recordings on another planet. So how does sound work on Mars, which has about 1 percent of the atmosphere Earth does? Plus: Saturn's ringed moon Rhea is getting a chemical coating that likely started on another moon.
Cincinnati Built An Observatory Any Stargazer Could Use (Cool Weird Awesome 415)
Today in 1843, former president John Quincy Adams joined thousands to dedicate a public observatory in Cincinnati, a building known as "the birthplace of American astronomy." Plus: this month would be a good time to get out a telescope, cause there's lots happening in the night sky.
Earth Is Habitable, But Some Planets May Be Super-Habitable (Cool Weird Awesome 396)
We’ve known for some time that at least a few exoplanets could support liquid water, making them potentially habitable. But a paper from Washington State University suggests some of those planets may be super-habitable - as in, they may be more appropriate for life than Earth is! Plus: a new map fills Mars with water, so we can see what the Red Planet would look like if it wasn't red.
The Hubble Telescope’s First Space Photo Was Kind Of Blurry (Cool Weird Awesome 302)
It was on this day in 1990 that the Hubble Space Telescope took its first photo from space. Unfortunately the telescope had a problem with one of its mirrors that required astronauts to go up and fix. Plus: for World Bee Day, the story of an Irish bee enthusiast who built a hive out of LEGO.
The Earth’s Rotation Is Slowing, Thanks To The Moon (Cool Weird Awesome 257)
We’re hearing a lot about how a research project has shown that Earth days used to be about a half-hour shorter than they are now. Why is our planet rotating more slowly now? It's mostly because of the moon. Plus: in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the National Shag Dance Championships are getting underway.