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Explore how the universe began and evolved with Cosmic Origins

Posted 10 years ago by Liz Kruesi

In March, we introduced Cosmic Origins, a tablet app you can download and then purchase four fabulous interactive products that lie within. Three of these article packages focus on different categories of objects in the cosmos, like planets, stars, and galaxies. The fourth focuses on the universe itself. Each of the four products — essentially digital special issues — is chock-full of new research and fun ways to learn more about that science. In the product How the universe began, ...

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Why do science-fiction stories work?

Posted 10 years ago by Michael Bakich

I recently attended the fourth annual Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2). It ran from Friday, April 25 through Sunday, April 27. Because of Astronomy’s tie-in to the science end of things, I attended as a member of the press.One of the panels I attended was “Science Fiction.” During the hourlong session, authors John Scalzi (The Human Division), Daryl Gregory (Afterparty), and M. D. Waters (Prototype) talked about how they got into science fiction, their influences, ...

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Join me in Kalamazoo for Astronomy Day

Posted 10 years ago by Michael Bakich

This year, Astronomy Day falls on Saturday, May 10, and the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society (KAS) has a full day of activities planned. What a great way to introduce yourself, your family, or your friends to the wonders of our universe!The first activities take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Portage District Library located at 300 Library Lane. KAS club members will have telescopes set up outside to allow visitors safe, close-up looks at the Sun. Inside, hands-on activities include “Ma...

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An interview with time-lapse filmmaker Gavin Heffernan

Posted 10 years ago by Sarah Scoles

There are star trails, and then there are star trails. Filmmaker Gavin Heffernan specializes in the latter. As the founder of Sunchaser Pictures and a seasoned screenwriter and director, he’s well-versed in the ways of shots, lenses, and frames. Those skills have brought special cinematic qualities to his time-lapse videos of the night sky. To make his astronomical films, he animates sequences of long-exposure wide-field images — images taken in amazing western U.S. landscapes, with ...

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This is the last week to enter the Alien Worlds Student Story Contest

Posted 10 years ago by Sarah Scoles

If you have an imagination, like science, can write sentences, and are under 18 years old, you can submit a story to the Alien Worlds Student Story Contest. But hurry! There’s only a week left. To enter, just write a vivid tale about an imagined planet and the kinds of extraterrestrials that might flourish there. For ideas and inspiration, check out these real exoplanets. Submissions must be postmarked or emailed by May 5, 2014. Entries must be 100–300 words, submitted in...

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8 things I'm looking forward to at C2E2

Posted 10 years ago by Michael Bakich

The fourth annual Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) starts Friday, April 25 and runs through Sunday, April 27. I’ll be there as a member of the media for the third straight year. Of course the convention covers comics — from A to Z — but it also features speakers and other guests from movies and television, as well as from the realms of toys and video games. The festivities all happen in the massive South Building of Chicago’s McCormick Place. Here are...

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Explore galaxy formation and evolution with Cosmic Origins

Posted 10 years ago by Liz Kruesi

In March, we introduced Cosmic Origins, a tablet app you can download and then purchase four fabulous interactive products that lie within. Three of these article packages focus on different categories of objects in the cosmos, like planets, stars, and galaxies. The fourth focuses on the universe itself. Each of the four products — essentially digital special issues — is chock-full of new research and fun ways to learn more about that science. In the product How galaxies came to be,...

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Astronomy and flags

Posted 10 years ago by Michael Bakich

An electronic version of a fascinating book just arrived via email. Flags of the Night Sky: When Astronomy Meets National Pride (Springer, 2014) is a 341-page history of why many flags around the world currently display astronomical themes. The author, André G. Bordeleau, writes in his introduction: “Astronomy studies the night sky and all that it contains. Vexillology is the study of flags, their colors, symbols, and meaning. To most people, the two usually don’t meet. In th...

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Watch "The Amazing You," featuring space scientists, for free

Posted 10 years ago by Sarah Scoles

Ever since you were a little kid, everybody’s been telling you to live your dreams. You’re probably sick of hearing it, especially because the sentiment comes with so little practical advice. But what if someone famous told you to live your dreams, and then they told you how? The Amazing You, a new film produced by Dragos Bratasanu, features interviews from a number of fancy space-related people. They talk about the world’s future — technologically, scientifically, cultu...

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Catch tonight's lunar eclipse virtually!

Posted 10 years ago by Karri Ferron

With the first total lunar eclipse in more than two years coming up in less than 10 hours, many astronomy enthusiasts have their eyes glued to weather forecasts. Right now, things are looking OK for Waukesha, Wisconsin, home of Astronomy magazine’s offices, with an April snow shower (ick!) expected to pass and clear skies arriving in time for totality. But seeing as I don’t always trust weather forecasts, I’m keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed anyway.If the outlooks look les...

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Explore the universe of stars with Cosmic Origins' "How stars form and evolve"

Posted 10 years ago by Liz Kruesi

A month ago, we introduced Cosmic Origins, a tablet app you can download and then purchase four fabulous interactive products that lie within. Three of these article packages focus on different categories of objects in the cosmos, like planets, stars, and galaxies. The fourth focuses on the universe itself. Each of the four products — essentially digital special issues — is chock-full of new research and fun ways to learn more about that science. In the product How stars form and ev...

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Uwingu launches its first call for grant applications

Posted 10 years ago by Karri Ferron

Posted on behalf of the Uwingu team; Astronomy magazine is a proud partner of this effort to raise funding for space science. Space startup Uwingu announced today that it is soliciting applications from planetary science graduate students to support their travel to report research results at scientific meetings in 2014 and early 2015. Applications are due by April 30, 2014, at 11:59 p.m. PDT. Uwingu expects to make 10-15 awards of travel grants from this solicitation by early June....

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Explore planetary science with Cosmic Origins' "How the solar system formed"

Posted 10 years ago by Liz Kruesi

On March 5, we introduced Cosmic Origins, a tablet app you can download and then purchase four fabulous interactive products that lie within. We’re extremely excited about these article packages, and hope you check them out. Each of the four products — essentially digital special issues — is chock-full of new research and fun ways to learn more about that science. In the product How the solar system formed, you’ll explore different methods that astronomers use to find wo...

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The next big astronomy convention is in Wisconsin

Posted 10 years ago by Michael Bakich

Visitors to this website are always looking for the next sky happening, media event, or get-together. Regarding that last point, there’s an upcoming meeting you might want to attend.The 2014 North-Central Region of the Astronomical League (NCRAL) convention will take place April 4 and 5 at the Lakeview Conference Center in Port Washington, Wisconsin. The host organization is the Northern Cross Science Foundation, an astronomy club located in Mequon, Wisconsin.The speaker lineup is top-notc...

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The band Sound of Contact releases a space-based album called DIMENSIONAUT

Posted 10 years ago by Sarah Scoles

When someone tells you their latest tattoo is a quote from Carl Sagan, you know you should sit up and listen to whatever they’re going to say next. “It says, ‘We are a way for the cosmos to know itself,’” says Simon Collins, leader of the sonic collaboration Sound of Contact, a band that recently released an album called DIMENSIONAUT. The songs have trance-inducing melodies but are peppered with hard-rock chords and jam-band meanderings. The lyrics follow a human ...

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Introducing "Cosmic Origins," our awesome digital product!

Posted 10 years ago by Liz Kruesi

Here at Astronomy, we’ve been hard at work putting together the first ever digital astronomy experience that shows you how our universe and all the objects it contains form and evolve. This app, called Cosmic Origins, is composed of four separate interactive products for purchase, each focusing on a different astronomical topic. And it’s available now! In How the universe began, learn about the Big Bang and what may have initiated it, how the first elements formed, how tiny temperatu...

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Uwingu Mars Map to fly with Mars One

Posted 10 years ago by Karri Ferron

Last week, I introduced the latest effort from Uwingu, an organization dedicated to providing funding for space research and education. Its Mars Crater Naming Project gives anyone the opportunity to name any of the some 500,000 unnamed craters on the Red Planet in an effort to raise $10 million for future Uwingu-provided grants.Today, Uwingu is announcing even bigger news: The company is partnering with Mars One to bring the future Uwingu Mars Map to the surface of the neighboring world. The not...

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Name a Mars crater and help fund space science!

Posted 10 years ago by Karri Ferron

Science is facing a bit of a funding crisis, and astronomy is no different. As budget cuts squeeze the life from many government-funded research projects, scientists must look elsewhere for support. That’s where you and the scientists, educators, and businesspeople behind the space-funding company Uwingu come in.Today, Uwingu is launching a new initiative — along with a redesigned website — for the public to help fund grants for space exploration, space research, and space educ...

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Dundee Science Center hosts STEAM-based Lunar Observatory Event

Posted 10 years ago by Sarah Scoles

STEAM: It is what happens when you boil water because it’s really cold outside and you want tea. It’s also an acronym, which is why I capitalized it, that stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. That’s a mouthful, but it’s an important mouthful, one whose premise is that what we consider left-brained disciplines and right-brained disciplines are more interrelated — and intracranial — than we think. British scientist and novelist C. ...

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Help the Astronomy Legacy Project digitize photographic plates

Posted 10 years ago by Sarah Scoles

In October, I wrote about the Astronomy Legacy Project, an effort to digitize 220,000 photographic plates from the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute. The group has a new fundraising goal at Indiegogo, so if you like what you read below, go check it out and consider helping them do great science. Here’s a rerun of the earlier blog post, with updated links and statistics - Terabyte hard drives were not always $75 and the size of Post-it notes. Storage devices have been cumbersom...

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Zybek begins Kickstarter project for synthetic Moon dust

Posted 10 years ago by Sarah Scoles

I’m sorry to kill your dreams, but you will never go to the Moon. Here’s a bit of consolation, though: You can mess around with Moon dust. Or at least something that’s a lot like Moon dust. It’s called Lunar Simulant, and the company that makes it — Zybek — specializes in making materials that mimic the surfaces of celestial bodies. It may seem like a weird business to be in, or a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it. To find out how our rovers and la...

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Visiting the Discovery Channel Telescope

Posted 10 years ago by Michael Bakich

On Sunday, February 2, my wife, Holley, and I enjoyed a behind-the-scenes look at the Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT). We were the guests of Commissioning Scientist Stephen Levine, whose office is at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.The DCT is about an hour’s drive from Flagstaff near the tiny town of Happy Jack. It sits atop a mountain approximately 7,800 feet (2,380 meters) above sea level. Needless to say, the view was fantastic. But the contents of the observatory and its anc...

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Help astronomers find dust disks with new Zooniverse project

Posted 10 years ago by Liz Kruesi

Zooniverse just launched its newest astronomy-related citizen science project: Disk Detective, which involves users scouring images to identify possible dust disks around stars. Such structures could signal a young star with a disk of material that will eventually turn into planets or a mature planetary system with its own Kuiper Belt or asteroid belt. As a participant, you’ll look at a series of images — a flipbook, really — that shows an object in a range of wavelengths: vis...

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The 2014 Tucson Public Star Party is just around the corner

Posted 10 years ago by Michael Bakich

If you plan on being anywhere near Tucson on Saturday, February 8, 2014, join Editor David Eicher and me as Astronomy magazine hosts its second annual all-day skywatching party at the East Campus Observatory of Pima Community College (PCC). Last year, everyone involved had a blast, and this year looks to be even better. Activities begin at 10 a.m. and continue all the way through 9 p.m. Members of the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association (TAAA) will have telescopes set up day and night to allow...

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Stephen Hawking claims our picture of black holes needs a makeover

Posted 10 years ago by Sarah Scoles

If a group of astronauts falls into a black hole, they may be able to get out, according to a paper Stephen Hawking posted online January 22. You would not recognize the unfortunate space travelers, though, and you would not be able to piece their particles back together in a recognizable form. But information about who they were would not technically be destroyed. Hawking’s new theory, not yet through the peer-review process, proposes that black holes do not have event horizons and may no...

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"Hawking," an autobiographical documentary about the world's most famous Stephen

Posted 10 years ago by Sarah Scoles

You may know of Stephen Hawking because your mom gave you A Brief History of Time when you were a teenager and it blew your mind. Or perhaps you have nightmares about how black holes are in a constant state of evaporation because of Hawking Radiation. Maybe you’ve hummed along to “Symphony of Science” a time or two. Regardless of what you know about Hawking and his work, your perspective is a hole-filled outsider’s. Hawking, a new documentary about the world&rsq...

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An astronomy trip to remember

Posted 10 years ago by Ron Kovach

You probably remember the film The Bucket List, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as two terminally ill men who head off on a road trip with a list of things to do before they die. Now comes a to-do list with truly astronomical implications — the second edition of the Bucket List Astronomy Tour (BLAST Class), courtesy of Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. The June 1–22 tour, coordinated by the school’s Office of International Programs and its Physics D...

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Black holes are flaring and stars are being kicked out of the galaxy at the American Astronomical Society conference

Posted 10 years ago by Sarah Scoles

The American Astronomical Society's (AAS) meeting is winding up, but the news continues apace as the conference's final hour approaches. Here are some reports from the field: Big galaxies have big black holes (supermassive ones, in fact) at their centers. But Amy Reines and colleagues at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory discovered that tiny galaxies have tiny black holes. And here, “tiny” is relative, in that the black holes are known as “massive” rather than &ld...

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Heading to the International CES

Posted 10 years ago by Michael Bakich

The world’s greatest consumer electronics and technology trade show is taking place right now. The 2014 International CES officially runs yesterday, January 7, through Friday. But other shows, previews, and media day actually will make it more than a weeklong affair. I’ll be there starting today, and I’ll report what I see that’s related to our terrific hobby. The International CES is the world’s gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer techno...

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Taking pictures of nearby planets and distant galaxies at the American Astronomical Society conference

Posted 10 years ago by Sarah Scoles

NASA's Kepler telescope may be good at finding planets, but it's not good at finding all planets. It's a bit blind to worlds far from their stars. If Kepler were an alien telescope, it would have a hard time seeing our Jupiter, for instance. And its data implies “Hey! There's a planet! It's X miles wide!” rather than “Hey! There's a planet that is Y times Earth's mass and contains A, B, C interesting molecules!” For that kind of analysis, astronomers need a different...

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