See other posts from April 2012

Planetary Radio: Taking Back the Night

Posted By Mat Kaplan

2012/04/17 03:39 CDT

Topics: Planetary Radio, astronomy, dark sky preservation

There are millions of urbanites who have never seen the wonders of a truly dark night sky. Scott Kardel of the International Dark Sky Association is fighting to restore the sky our ancestors knew so well. Visit the Planetary Radio page to listen to my interview of Scott. Also in this week's show: Emily Lakdawalla takes us out to an asteroid named Lutetia, while Bill Nye asks for help to Save Our Science (SOS). Astronomer Bruce Betts tells me about some of the brighter objects in that night sky during What's Up! Listen for the special space trivia contest prize this week.

Speaking of the trivia contest, here's this week's question:

What is different about the tail section on the Shuttle carrier aircraft as compared to a normal 747? 
NO SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS PLEASE!

To submit your answer: 
Send an email no later than Monday, April 23, at 2 pm Pacific time to planetaryradio@planetary.org containing:

1. Your answer
2. Your name
3. How to pronounce your name
4. Your mailing address
5. Your email address !
6. Your t-shirt size

And here's the answer to the question from the week before last:

Question from the week before: 
When was a dark spot first discovered on Uranus? 

Answer: 
In 2006, by the Hubble Space Telescope.