Well that was fast! 10 episodes (plus a bonus episode) later and it’s the end of Intergalactic Craic for 2020. Born out of lockdown, Armagh Observatory and Planetarium’s own podcast has been fun to research, record, edit and hit the publish button for the past 7 months. Today we offer you our last episode of the year, and some reflections on the very first season.

Season 1 has come to an end, and I still honestly can’t believe it has happened. I am so thrilled that we were able to create a podcast in, what is arguably, the most horrendous year in all human history. 

Heather

From the get-go, Courtney and I had a vision. We didn’t want this to be your run of the mill Space podcast. We wanted to be the different voices. The Norn Iron voices. We wanted to bring our brand of Space Craic to the masses.  

Heather
A screengrab from the recording of The Earth is Round, featuring Dr Conor Byrne, Heather and Courtney

Did we achieve this? In my opinion, yes, we did. I am proud of the content that Courtney and I have created. It was a new adventure for the AOP, to have its own podcast, and with our vision, we have created something that we are proud of. I really hope we can carry it on for as long as possible! 

Heather

The range of topics that we covered is huge! We did an all-rounder to start off with (general space knowledge quiz), followed by asteroids, the roundness of the earth, the international space station, satellites, neutron stars, women in science, the Hubble Space telescope, freaky stars, the history of AOP and finally some cool facts about some of the world’s most famous astronomers (as well as some unsung heroes of astronomy).

My personal highlight was the feedback we got from everyone. Members of our education team, astronomers from our observatory, staff from across the organisation as well as members of the public have all given us encouragement.

A screengrab from The Safest Dinner Party in 2020, featuring Heather and Courtney

Heather’s Highlights:

Convincing Courtney that Satellites are cool , learning about Neutron stars and how they are legitimately terrifying (Thanks for the nightmares Courts), learning all about just some of the amazing women out there who have done so much in the science world. I honestly think that was my favourite episode to record.  Also getting to grips with Type 1a and 1ax Supernovae and discovering that I can talk about the trickier topics. Of course recording episodes with Dr Rok and Dr Conor was especially fun (we love you guys!). Lastly, getting to record a podcast with Courtney, and have class craic. 

Heather

Season 1 is over, and the last episode is out now!

If any listeners or readers have suggestions for future topics and guests, please let us know. We appreciate all input and we want Intergalactic Craic to be inclusive of our listenership.

You can find us wherever you listen to podcasts, as well as Anchor!

Need Some Space? See you in Season 2!


2 Comments

Stacey K · December 5, 2020 at 09:19

Will you do an episode about your favourite planets? I really like Venus ?

    Courtney Allison · December 8, 2020 at 15:07

    That’s a great idea for an episode Stacy. Taking notes for Season 2!

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