Our ancestors looked up at night and saw white specks in the sky.
Today, if we know the distance to any object in space, we automatically know a lot more about it. Calculating the distance to truly distant objects has always been tricky, but brilliant minds applying the rules of maths and science have just added a new measuring rod to our distance measuring toolbox.
And the best thing of all? Great science can be explained with exquisite clarity.
So have a listen and enjoy: Click to play
Astrophiz 20: ‘Black Hole Echoes’, RedShift & Doppler,FRBs, Peggy Whitson ‘What’s up in the Night Sky’ and ‘The Astrophotography Challenge’
Black Hole Investigator and Norwegian-born PhD candidate Natalia Sommer explains her novel technique of interrogating the echoes from active galactic nuclei to develop a standardisable candle to measure the distances to galaxies far far away.
Dr Nadezhda Cherbakov Skypes in from Tver in Russia to tell us about Red Shift, Blue Shift and the Doppler Effect.
In the News: Fast Radio Bursts and the oldest woman in space and most travelled NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson.
Our observers and Astro feature: What to look for in the night sky this week, the ecliptic explained and the Astrophotography Challenge.
Astrophiz: An Astronomy Podcast 