Like podcasts? Here are some of our favorite space listens

Enlarge / Your personal astrophysicist. (credit: Star Talk Radio)

Podcasts are all the rage. In 2006, just 11 percent of Americans aged 12 or older said they had ever listened to a podcast, but that number grew to 36 percent as of last year, according to data from Edison Research. This increase has been fueled in part by the rise of brilliant investigative podcasts, such as Serial or In the Dark, as well as podcasts from mainstream media like The Daily at The New York Times.

At Ars, we love podcasts (we even have one; it's a podcast on TV). And as the format has become more popular, more people have been inspired to start shows, leading to a lot of specialization even in my area of interest-space. I've listened to many podcasts related to astronomy and spaceflight over the last decade, and today I'm sharing some of my favorites to help others with similar interests. Please note, this is far, far from a comprehensive list. There are many other excellent ones, I am sure; the following shows are simply ones that I regularly listen to and enjoy.

Of all the podcasts on this list, Neil deGrasse Tyson's Star Talk Radio is probably the one most readers are familiar with (it ranks 44th on the chart of top iTunes podcasts). The show is an amalgamation of interviews and discussions with celebrity guests (i.e. Bill Nye) about science, as well as shows in which deGrasse Tyson-who styles himself "your personal astrophysicist"-answers astronomy questions on the fly from listeners. DeGrasse Tyson is an extremely gifted scientific communicator, and as he often pairs himself with a comic, the show often contains some great humor as well. If there's a downside, it's that our personal astrophysicist is a little too in love with his own brilliance, and if you're listening with kids you have to watch for occasional digressions into sex or off-color humor.

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