George's Random Astronomical Object

25/06/2025

Podcast episode 152 about the quasar PKS 2126-158 is now online at https://www.randomastronomicalobject.com/object0152.html . Here is an image from the PanSTARRS survey. (It's more interesting than this image makes it look.)

09/06/2025

Podcast episode 151 about the evolved star Beta Ceti is now online at https://www.randomastronomicalobject.com/object0151.html . Here is an image from the Digitized Sky Survey. (It's hard to find a better creative commons image.)

01/05/2025

I nearly completely forgot to post that the latest podcast episode of the globular cluster Messier 54 is now online at https://www.randomastronomicalobject.com/object0149.html . Here is a Hubble Space Telescope image of the cluster (credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA).

14/04/2025

Podcast episode 148 about the Algol-type star system DI Pegasi is now online at https://www.randomastronomicalobject.com/object0148.html . Here is an animated gif of what the stars at the center of this system look like (credit: Merikanto).

31/03/2025

Podcast episode 147 about the cluster of galaxies Abell 1142 is now online at https://www.randomastronomicalobject.com/object0147.html . Here is an image from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

17/03/2025

Podcast episode 146 about the peculiar supernova SN 2002cx is now online at https://www.randomastronomicalobject.com/object0146.html . Here is an image of what the system may have looked like before the explosion (credit: Christine Pulliam (CfA)).

Also, if anyone was having download issues related to security certificates, those have hopefully been fixed.

03/03/2025

George's Random Astronomical Object podcast episode 145 about the double neutron star system PSR J1518+4904 is now online at https://www.randomastronomicalobject.com/object0145.html . Unfortunately, I don't have a good image to show. I even tried to use AI to generate an image, but that created something where the stars were way to close together.

This episode's object is the star system PSR J1518+4904 located at a distance of 2635 light years (808 pc) in the constellation Boötes [1]. The PSR in this star system's name indicates that it contains a pulsar, which is a rapidly rotating neutron star that was once the core of a very large hydroge...

17/02/2025

Podcast episode 144 of George's Random Astronomical Object, which features the open cluster NGC 6253, is online at https://www.randomastronomicalobject.com/object0144.html . Here is an image from Wikimedia (credit: Legacy Surveys / D.Lang (Perimeter Institute) & Meli thev), which is one of the very few creative commons images on the internet.

04/02/2025

Episode 143 of the podcast George's Random Astronomical Object featuring the red dwarf GJ 887 and its exoplanets is now online at https://www.randomastronomicalobject.com/object0143.html . Here is an illustration of the star system from NASA (credit: NASA, ESA and D. Player (STScI)).

21/01/2025

Podcast episode 142 of George's Random Astronomical Object about the dwarf galaxy Segue 2 (the littlest galaxy ever found) is now online at https://www.randomastronomicalobject.com/object0142.html . Here is an image from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey of the patch of the sky where the galaxy is located, although I don't think I see it.

06/01/2025

Podcast episode 141 of George's Random Astronomical Object about the spiral galaxy Messier 74 is now online at https://www.randomastronomicalobject.com/object0141.html . Here is the image of the center of the galaxy from the James Webb Space Telescope. (Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team. Acknowledgement: J. Schmidt.)

23/12/2024

Episode 140 of the podcast George's Random Astronomical Object is now online at https://www.randomastronomicalobject.com/object0140.html . This episode features the incredibly dusty supernova remnant SN 1995N. Here is a picture of the galaxy where the supernova lives (credit: ESO).