Exposing PseudoAstronomy

A year ago tonight, Mike Bara presented "The Choice" to over 10 million people. One man called him out on his numerous, basic, fundamental mistakes relating to astronomy. I interview that man in this episode.

It's a fact that Earth's magnetic field strength is decreasing. Young-Earth creationists use this to argue Earth is only a few thousand years old. Is this plausible?

The idea of a hollow planet - specifically Earth - has been around for a long time. And though it's rare, there are people who still believe Earth and the other planets and moons are hollow. I go through some of these ideas and give you no less than four independent methods to determine that Earth is indeed solid.

Stuart gave a live, one-hour talk about the Apollo Moon "Hoax" at the Colorado Springs Skepticamp in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in August 2011. This is the live recording.

Astrology is an ancient science about the predictive power of the heavens. But put under a modern light, what are its inherent contradictions, observational problems, and what do statistical studies show?

Two classes of claims about why Apollo astronauts never landed on the moon deal with heat and radiation. Find out why your common-Earth-sense doesn't help you on the moon, and why these claims aren't worth the energy.

For some odd reason, there are a lot of crazy claims out there about Comet Elenin. In recognition of its closest approach to the sun on September 10, this bonus episode addresses many of the common claims out there about the comet including an exposé into Richard Hoagland's magical numerology that apparently proves it's a spaceship.

A mainstay of young-Earth creationist arguments is that comets prove the solar system cannot be more than 10,000 years old. Listen in and find out why this claim ignores science.

Often you will hear "expert" witnesses proudly and with certitude declaring the distance, size, and enormous speeds of UFOs (where "UFO" despite its actual meaning is taken to be an alien craft). I discuss why this is simply not possible based on a visual observation.

In this episode, I gave an overview of what the podcast is going to be like as well as my own background in astronomy and public outreach. I then briefly discussed the misconception of a "dark side" to the moon, when there really is no side of the moon in permanent shadow.