SpaceTime with Stuart Gary Series 19 Episode 28 Show Notes

KIC mystery not solved but it’s most likely not aliens
For months the tabloids have been speculating about the strange goings on around a distant star which could be providing the first scientific evidence of life – intelligent life – beyond Earth. At the centre of the speculation is that the mysterious star KIC 8462852. Hundreds of uneven, unnatural-looking dips have appeared in the star’s light curve which are difficult to explain through normal astronomical actions.

Flying Observatory Detects Atomic Oxygen in Martian Atmosphere
A new study of atomic oxygen in the Martian atmosphere has discovered that levels have dropped dramatically over the last forty years. Atomic oxygen has a significant impact on the red planet’s atmosphere, because it affects how other gases escape the planet.

A rare celestial spectacle as Mercury transits the Sun
In a celestial spectacle lasting some seven and a half hours, sky watchers were mesmerized as Mercury -- looking like a tiny black dot -- slowly crossed in front of the blazing disk of the Sun as seen from Earth.  The rare astronomical event -- known as a transit -- only occurs about 13 times in a century.
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SpaceX nails another mission
SpaceX has successfully placed a Japanese communications satellite into orbit -- and successfully returned the rocket’s main booster stage back to the surface for eventual refurbishment and for reuse. The 70 metre tall Falcon 9 rocket carrying the JCSAT 14 communications satellite blasted off from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida with its 9 Merlin 1D first stage engines lighting up the night sky with a fiery orange trail with 1.5 million pounds of thrust. 

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