PODCAST · science
Astronomy Cast Full Raw Feed
by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela L. Gay
This is the full live stream audio of the Astronomy Cast episodes. The first half hour is the regular episode, and the second half hour is a Q&A session with questions submitted by live viewers and email.
Episodes
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Ep. 804: Mission Tech Series: Fairings, Docking & Airlocks
Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest) Streamed live on Oct 3, 2026. Mission Tech Part 3. Instead of sending up an entire space station for every mission, you can just send up a tiny can filled with astronauts. But that takes docking. And today we're gonna talk...
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Ep. 803: Mission Tech Series: Engines & Stages
Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest) Streamed on October 3, 2026. Today our series continues with our deep dive into rockets, their engines & stages. We fall into the tyranny of the rocket equation and discover what it takes to escape Earth's gravity and head…
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Ep. 802: Mission Tech Series: Rocket & Spacecraft 411
Streamed live on Sep 21, 2026 Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest) Today we begin a new series on rockets and spacecraft, dealing with each of their components. It's a big job, so it'll take us a bunch of episodes to get through. Today let's do an introduction...
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Ep. 801: The Beginning & End of Everything - Part 2
Streamed live on Sep 7, 2026. Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest) This show is supported through people like you on Patreon.com/AstronomyCast Today we do the sequel to our 2-part series. We jump to the end of the Universe, and all the major moments that will...
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Ep. 800: The Beginning & End of Everything - Part 1
Streamed live on Sep 7, 2026. Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest) This show is supported through people like you on Patreon.com/AstronomyCast To celebrate our 20th season, we thought we'd go back right to the beginning… of everything. Let's wind the clock back...
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Ep. 799: Heavy Lift Rockets
Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest) Streamed live June 22, 2026. The Saturn 5 was a monster, capable of sending humans and a lander to the Moon and bringing them back again. But the number of heavy lift rockets since then has gotten pretty sparse. Now, with…
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Ep. 798: Our Summer Media List
Streamed live on Jun 15, 2026. Well, we're just a couple of weeks away from summer hiatus and so it's time to give you some homework. Here's our list of stuff we've been reading watching and playing. This should fill the Astronomy-Cast-shaped hole in your media landscape. On the plane, on the...
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Ep. 797: Summer in Space
Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest) Streamed live June 10, 2026. We're about to take a much needed 2 month hiatus. But just because we're not here doesn't mean space stops existing and doing things. Today, let's give a preview of the big events due to happen…
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Ep. 796: Oceans & Organics on Mars
Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest) Streamed live on Jun 1, 2026. Mars is cold & dry today, but the evidence is growing that it used to be warmer & wetter. with seas & oceans that covered large parts of its surface. With the additional findings of the…
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Ep. 795: Expanse Science
Streamed live on May 10, 2026. This is the final episode of our series on sci-fi universes. And this week we will tackle "The Expanse". Now we've got fusion drives, Proto-matter, g-forces! Listen up, belta lawda! Let's look at the science of our own possible (with a side of aliens) future. This...
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Ep. 794: Stargate Science
Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest) Streamed live on May 10, 2026. We continue our ad-hoc miniseries through sci-fi franchises. This week we'll talk about Stargate, worm holes, mind parasites and self-replicating bots. There's a lot to talk about! This show is...
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Ep. 793: Star Trek Science
Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest) Streamed live May 4, 2026. Today we continue our mini-series; evaluating the science of various sci-fi franchises. We did Star Wars last week, this week tackle Star Trek. From transporters to warp drives, from phasers to...
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Ep. 792: Star Wars Science
Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest) Streamed live April 29, 2026. May the fourth be with you! Isn't that what people say on the international holiday known as Star Wars Day? Today we're gonna talk about the science in everyone's favorite sci-fi fantasy…
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Ep. 791: Chang'e Sample Return
Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest) Streamed live on Apr 20, 2026. Last week we talked about samples from other worlds delivered to Earth by meteorites. But sometimes you've gotta do the job yourself. Visit the far off place and bring the samples home. And…
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Ep. 790: Meteorites From Other Worlds
Hosted by: Fraser Cain ( @frasercain ) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay ( @CosmoQuest ) Streamed live April 17, 2026. Even though humanity has returned samples from a fraction of the worlds in the solar system, the cosmos has delivered many more without us having to lift a finger. Meteorites. We have...
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Ep. 789: What Happens When a Planet's Star Dies
Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest) Streamed live on Mar 30, 2026. A star like the Sun only lasts about 10 billion years and it becomes a red giant and finally a white dwarf. This is catastrophic for some of the planets, consumed by the expanding red giant…
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Ep. 788: Life's Molecules Form in Space
Hosted by: Fraser Cain ( @frasercain ) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay ( @CosmoQuest ) Streamed live on Mar 23, 2026. The theory of evolution how life takes on its wildly different forms. But how did life get started in the first place? It appears the Universe has been making life's molecules in space for...
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Ep. 787: Evolved Stars (They're not dead yet!)
Streamed live on Mar 16, 2026. Main sequence stars spend most of their time being… normal. Fusing hydrogen into helium in their cores. Producing radiation. But as their stockpiles of hydrogen run out they switch to other fuels, starting to climb the ladder of the periodic table of elements. And...
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Ep. 786: Wolf-Rayet Stars
Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest) Streamed live on Mar 9, 2026. You think the Sun is a terrifying ball of fire and fury? Wait until you learn about today's topic: Wolf-Rayet stars! These are massive, dying stars hurling their outer layers out into space…
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Ep. 785: Magnetars
Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain ) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest ) Streamed live March 6, 2026. Magnetars are a special type of neutron star with physics that defy comprehension. Magnetic fields so powerful they could strip you apart at an atomic level. But, where do they come from? So…
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Ep. 784: Pulsar-Powered Science
Streamed live on Feb 16, 2026. Pulsars are dead stars and fascinating in their own right, but astronomers can use their predictable rotation for exploring the cosmos in a series of amazing ways. We can detect gravitational waves, navigate the solar system, test general relativity and find...
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Ep. 783: Cataclysmic Variable Stars
Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest) Streamed live on Feb 16, 2026. There are many types of variable stars. Today we're gonna talk about cataclysmic variable stars, which are the result of a white dwarf stealing material from a companion star. And this whole...
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Ep. 782: Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transients
Streamed live on Feb 13, 2026. Modern astronomy has found that the Universe can surprise us. Here's one which astronomers have called Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transients. They're kinda like supernovas, they're kind of like gamma ray bursts, but they're not like them. So what are they? In the...
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Ep. 781: Awakening Black Holes
Streamed live on Feb 2, 2026. One long standing mystery in astronomy were the quasars. Incomprehensible energy blasting out of a point-like source, billions of light years away. We now know these are actively feeding supermassive black holes, which can turn off and on in a startlingly short…
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Ep. 780: When Asteroids & Comets Attack!
Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain ) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest ) Streamed live on Jan 26, 2026. We live in a cosmic shooting gallery. It's not a matter of "if" but "when"! Dinosaurs, blah, blah, blah. You know the drill. But seriously, folks, it's raining rocks & ice out there! How...
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Ep. 779: Milankovitch Cycles
Streamed live on Jan 12, 2026. Hosted by: Fraser Cain (@frasercain ) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (@CosmoQuest ) Humans live short lives, and from our perspective the seasons are something that come and go with perfect regularity. But astronomers know the terrible truth! And that there are cycles that...
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Ep. 778: Dyson Swarms
Streamed live on Jan 5, 2026. Freeman Dyson asked a fascinating question. What would it look like if a civilization was using all the energy coming from their star? And what form would this take? This introduced the concept of a Dyson Sphere, or more realistically, a Dyson Swarm surrounding a…
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Ep. 777: The Eddington Limit
Streamed live on Dec 29, 2025. How big can a star get? This is a calculation made by one of the original pioneers of modern astronomy, Sir Arthur Eddington. And it's named after him, the Eddington Limit. Now, astronomers are finding examples of giant black holes early in the Universe, calling…
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Ep. 776: The Matter - Antimatter Dichotomy
Streamed live on Dec 22, 2025. Shortly after the big bang there were almost exactly the same amounts of matter and antimatter in the Universe, but there was just enough of a difference that we live in a matter-dominated Universe. But it didn't have to be that way! Explaining this mystery has been...
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Ep. 775: The Hydrogen 21-cm Line
Streamed live on Dec 15, 2025. Atomic hydrogen is the raw material for stars, but there's a problem. It's cold & dark, but it can do a very rare trick, releasing a photon in a very specific wavelength, known as the 21 centimeter line. And thanks to this wavelength astronomers have mapped out star...
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Ep. 774: How Does Bad Science Happen?
Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay. Streamed live on Nov 8, 2025. [Editor's Note: Fraser says "Episode 773" at the head of the show. Not to worry, he was just confused. They recorded a few episodes out of sequence. I fixed the issue in the regular non-FullRaw episode.] Scientific...
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Ep. 773: What Would You Do With $1 Billion For Astronomy?
Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay. Streamed live on Nov 9, 2025. We are powerless fans of space exploration. But what if some fool gave us the authority and funding to make our space dreams a reality? Someone asked us what we'd do with a billion dollars. What missions? Which…
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Ep. 772: 2025 Gift Guide
Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay. Streamed live on Nov 9, 2025. It's time once again for our annual gift giving guide. We've got recommendations for books, movies, TV shows, games and of course astronomy gear to satisfy the space nerds in your family. The Christmas season is almost…
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Ep. 771: Comet Tails
Streamed live on Nov 8, 2025. With the arrival of the comet 3I/Atlas (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System), the world is getting a crash course in comets, their behavior, and of course their tails. Today we're going to talk about comets and their tails, why they exist, how they grow…
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Ep. 770: The Ethics of Mars Exploration
Streamed live on Nov 3, 2025. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay. It is arguable that humanity now has the technological ability to live on Mars. It would be done at enormous expense and sacrifice, and there are some tricky problems that we haven't solved yet. Although we could live on...
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Ep. 769: Little Red Dots
Streamed live on Oct 20, 2025. New instruments bring new mysteries, and when James Webb came on line it uncovered a collection of strange, compact, bright objects shifted deeply into the red end of the spectrum. These were dubbed "Little red dots" or LRDs. And the astronomical community continues...
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Ep. 768: Comets' Unpredictability
Streamed live on Oct 13, 2025. So it's been decades since we've seen a bright comet in the sky. And actually there was a pair — Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake. And then, silence! And unmet promises by the Universe to give us a bright comet. Comets are unpredictable, and they arrive precisely when they...
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Ep. 767: Black Holes in Extreme Circumstances
Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay Streamed live on Oct 6, 2025. You can only describe a black hole by its mass and its spin. And maybe it's charge. But allow us to propose a new criteria: the personal experience. Some black holes have seen things… Experienced the laws of physics at…
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Ep. 766: How Spacecraft End
End-of-Life Planning for Your Spacecraft! Streamed live October 1, 2025. Your spacecraft has reached the end of its mission. You've done everything you can to keep it operational, but now it's time to say goodbye. How do space agencies deal with spacecraft to shut them down gracefully, protect...
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Ep. 765: Rockets vs The Environment
Streamed live on Sep 22, 2025. We don't launch a lot of rockets every year, so their impact on the environment is minimal compared to other forms of transportation. But that number is steadily increasing with rates that we'll have to take seriously. What's the current and future impact of rockets...
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Ep. 764: Cleared For Launch!
Streamed live September 17, 2025. This week, we look at the process behind rockets getting licensed to launch, and everyone around the pad getting notified to stay away as T-0 approaches. (Can you say "errant boat"?) We have a saying around here: "One does not simply book a return trip from a...
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Ep. 763: Interstellar Comets
Streamed live Sep 8, 2025. Welcome to the first episode of our 19th season! This week we look at objects coming from other solar systems that come passing on by our Sun. During the summer hiatus the 3rd interstellar object was discovered: Comet 3I/ATLAS! So now we have 3 different interstellar...
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Ep. 762: Science in Crisis - NASA's New Budget
Streamed live on Jun 30, 2025. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay Normally we try to end the season on a high note. But there's unfolding news that we just HAVE to cover before we leave you for the summer. NASA's new budget is here, and it's 25% smaller. We'll cover what the changes are...
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Ep. 761: It's Here! The Vera Rubin Observatory
Streamed live June 25, 2025. The time has come. The mighty Vera Rubin Observatory has finally come on line and delivered its "first light" images. And by Pamela's rules that means we get to talk about it! So let's do that! After decades of waiting, we have images from Vera Rubin Observatory!...
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Ep. 760: What to Look For This Summer
Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay Streamed live on Jun 16, 2025. It's almost time for our annual summer hiatus, but before we go, we wanted to direct you towards all the fun and space stuff we'll be enjoying this summer. We've got meteor showers, planets, rocket launches, TV shows,...
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Ep. 759: The Commercial Space Program
Streamed live on Jun 9, 2025. Humanity has turned its focus back to the Moon, sending a fleet of spacecraft to the lunar surface. Some are run by the government, but there's a whole new group of commercial landers bearing instruments to the lunar surface. Is this the future of lunar exploration?...
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Ep. 758: Non-Roving Rovers
Streamed live on May 26, 2025. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay Some of our favorite robots are rovers currently roving around the surface of the Moon & Mars. But there's some pretty tricky terrain out there and engineers are scheming up clever ways to explore other worlds inspired by...
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Ep. 757: CubeSats
Streamed live on May 19, 2025. Computers are getting smaller, faster and more capable, which has enabled an entirely mew class of satellites: CubeSats. A mission small enough that you can hold it in your hands, and yet powerful enough to even travel to other planets and send messages home. Every...
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Ep. 756: SphereX
Streamed live on May 12, 2025. NASA's newly launched SphereX mission is up & operational and has completed its initial checkout and "first light". Everything looks good! And now it's starting its science operations. And that's good enough for Pamela! And THAT means we can talk about it. So let's…
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Ep. 755: Intermediate Mass Black Holes
Streamed live on May 5, 2025. Hosted by: Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay. There are stellar-mass and supermassive black holes. But very little evidence of anything in between. Where are all the intermediate-mass black holes that should be the building blocks of the biggest ones? Actually, the...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Astronomy Cast Full Raw Feed have?
Astronomy Cast Full Raw Feed currently has 528 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Astronomy Cast Full Raw Feed about?
This is the full live stream audio of the Astronomy Cast episodes. The first half hour is the regular episode, and the second half hour is a Q&A session with questions submitted by live viewers and email.
How often does Astronomy Cast Full Raw Feed release new episodes?
Astronomy Cast Full Raw Feed releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 528 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
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You can listen to Astronomy Cast Full Raw Feed on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Astronomy Cast Full Raw Feed?
Astronomy Cast Full Raw Feed is created and hosted by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela L. Gay.
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