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Spidey senses to tingle in orbit?

Posted 16 years ago by Anonymous

Dava Newman models her BioSuit on the MIT campus. Donna CoveneyEver since NASA has launched people into space, astronauts have worn bulky, gas-pressurized outfits. Over time, these suits have increased in weight to 300 lbs. — limiting mobility. Thanks to MIT, astronauts could don a sleeker outfit on future missions.Dava Newman, Jeff Hoffman, her students, and design firm Trotti and Associates have designed a Spandex and nylon BioSuit. According to MIT, this isn't your grandfathe...

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Roving Mars animation

Posted 16 years ago by Daniel Pendick

Do you want a little help appreciating the utter inherent coolness of the Mars Exploration Rover missions? Check out the video created by up-and-coming digital artist Daniel Maas. The 9-minute video, accurate to the smallest detail, depicts the launch, landing, and surface meanderings of a rover. Two of the robotic buggies, Spirit and Opportunity, remain alive and well on Mars. My favorite sequence is the rover's bouncy air-bag landing, after which the rover's triangular carrier opens li...

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Don't fear the filter (part 1)

Posted 16 years ago by Michael Bakich

With Mars beginning to brighten to its best appearance of the year (which will happen Christmas Eve), I thought I'd blog about filters. Lots of articles will explain the best way to observe Mars — you can catch mine in December's Astronomy — and they'll all have something to say about color filters. It's a big subject, so I'm breaking it down into three parts.First, a small point about filters. No filter makes any part of any astronomical object brighter. Because ...

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A lucky anniversary

Posted 16 years ago by Rich Talcott

Several dark spots mar Jupiter’s atmosphere after Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 smashed into it between July 16 and 22, 1994. NASA/Hubble Space Telescope Science TeamWhere were you 13 years ago? If you're like me, you were eagerly anticipating a once-in-a-lifetime event — with no clue as to how it would play out. Astronomers and backyard observers around the globe had their sights set on Jupiter. More than 20 fragments of a rogue comet known as Shoemaker-Levy 9 were steaming towa...

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Are you sure ... ?

Posted 16 years ago by Michael Bakich

My wife and I maintain a running gag. Let's say she and I are observing a meteor shower. Perhaps I saw a nice meteor and exclaimed, "There's one through Triangulum, heading south; magnitude –1; 10° trail." If she didn't see it, her response, based on our gag, would be, "That's an unconfirmed observation." This all started at the 1999 Texas Star Party (TSP), which is held in the Davis Mountains. My observing buddy Mike Marcotte (who now occasiona...

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Life as we don't know it

Posted 16 years ago by Daniel Pendick

Could NASA's current approach to exobiology — the study of alien life forms — end up with astronauts stumbling across extraterrestrial life and not even realizing it? A report by the National Research Council (NRC) released Friday raises this provocative question. (The NRC is part of the National Academies, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, expert advice to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine.) You can read the report online, or buy it for $24.95.For m...

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The Vatican Observatory Summer School (part 3)

Posted 16 years ago by David Eicher

The past two blogs I've posted described the Vatican Observatory Summer School and its activities. What a tremendous group of students — I had a wonderful time visiting with them, seeing the Vatican Observatory's treasures, and meeting the skilled faculty who lead these grad students in their quest for knowledge. Each year at the VOSS, the students study hard, but they also have an opportunity to absorb a bit of Italian culture by traveling to some of that nation's greatest cities. W...

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Exoplanet preview from Santorini

Posted 16 years ago by Daniel Pendick

I just caught some hot news about exoplanets on the "Centauri Dreams" blog by Paul Gilster, a veteran science and technology writer and author of Centauri Dreams: Imagining and Planning Interstellar Exploration. If you have never seen Paul's blog, try it. In his own words, it's "a review of research issues in deep space exploration, with an eye toward interstellar possibilities."On Friday, June 29, Paul reported on some blog postings from astronomer Steinn Sigurðs...

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The Vatican Observatory Summer School (part 2)

Posted 16 years ago by David Eicher

As I mentioned in my last blog, 27 graduate students from 22 countries are attending the Vatican Observatory Summer School (VOSS) this year. It continues until July 6. During my visit last week, I talked with many of the students, who represented such diverse nations as New Zealand, Armenia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Brazil, the Ukraine, Taiwan, South Africa, Mexico, and Indonesia. The students were all effervescent in voicing their opinions about what VOSS means to them. "It'...

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The Vatican Observatory Summer School (part 1)

Posted 16 years ago by David Eicher

This summer, starting June 9, the Vatican Observatory hosted a summer school for graduate students who are studying a particular theme in astronomy or astrophysics. The seventh Vatican Observatory Summer School (VOSS), held at the Vatican Observatory at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome, focuses on extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs. On the first day of school, the 27 students from 22 countries who were chosen to attend gathered at the historic observatory, overseen by director José Funes and this ...

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Serendipitous science

Posted 16 years ago by Daniel Pendick

The sweetest discoveries in science are often the ones nobody ever expected to make. Such is the story of the discovery of pulsars 40 years ago by Irish physicist Jocelyn Bell-Burnell and her Ph.D. thesis advisor, Antony Hewish. To earn her doctorate in physics, Bell-Burnell was to use a new radio telescope at the University of Cambridge, England, to study quasars, about which little was known at the time. About a month into her project, Bell-Burnell noticed an "annoying bit of scruff&...

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Astronomical League Webmaster Award

Posted 16 years ago by Anonymous

The Astronomical League has announced their winners of the Webmasters for the 2007 Webmaster Award. 1st place: Travis Swaim of the Oklahoma City Astronomy Club. 2nd place: Ken Slater of the Springfield Telescope Makers. 3rd place: Chris Reich of the Etna Astros. ...

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Space tourism skeptics come out of the woodwork

Posted 16 years ago by Daniel Pendick

So far, the nascent space-tourism industry has enjoyed a global media cuddle. In my own blogs, I've been pretty positive about the idea, seeing a potential boost to interest in space, in general, and the start of a new industry and new wealth. But not everybody is so impressed, judging from a few fascinating tidbits that came across my media radar recently. A surprisingly class-conscious critique comes to us courtesy of Günter Verheugen, the European Union's commissioner for en...

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From 0 to 60 light-years through the eyepiece

Posted 16 years ago by Anonymous

The Visio 8x25 binoculars retail for $199. William OpticsMany of us will never be able to afford a high-performance sports car. Instead, we pretend while driving our low-end autos by gripping the steering wheel with Porsche gloves, sitting on Lamborghini seat covers, or sporting a Corvette satin jacket. Thanks to William Optics, skygazers can now combine that ownership fantasy with observing.William Optics has partnered with automaker Ferrari S.p.A. to create the Racing series of binocula...

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Sketch-pad astronomy

Posted 16 years ago by Michael Bakich

SpringerIf you've read any of my observing stories in Astronomy, you know I'm a big fan of sketching what you see through a telescope. I think it's the foremost activity that can make you a better observer. Sketching causes you to look for minute details, and it teaches you patience while observing.Imagine my joy, then, when this book crossed my desk: Astronomical Sketching — A Step by Step Introduction by Richard Handy, David B. Moody, Jeremy Perez, Erika Rix, and Sol R...

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A room with no view

Posted 16 years ago by Francis Reddy

Looking for a different sort of vacation? Consider a trip to Mars. The European Space Agency (ESA) wants you. The mission, slated to begin next summer, is to work and live in a simulated spaceship for a 520-day round-trip to the Red Planet. Aside from weightlessness and radiation, the simulation will follow a real Mars mission as close as possible. ESA's call for candidates went out Tuesday. By late Thursday, the agency had received 2,000 applications. If selected, you'll first jet to Mo...

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I hope his math is correct

Posted 16 years ago by Anonymous

We know Isaac Newton as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and philosopher, but a doomsayer debunker? The Hebrew University of Jerusalem recently released papers from Newton in which he detailed the earliest date of the Apocalypse. According to his calculations, the world will end no sooner than 2060."It may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner," explains Newton. "This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash con...

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All about aurorae

Posted 16 years ago by Michael Bakich

SpringerMost observers I know love atmospheric phenomena almost as much as deep-sky objects. And if these airborne effects occur after sunset, so much the better. The classic example of a nighttime atmospheric occurrence is the aurora borealis, or, for Southern Hemisphere observers, the aurora australis. If you'd like to learn more — and I mean a lot more — about this phenomenon, pick up Neil Bone's new book, Aurora: Observing and Recording Nature's Spectacula...

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There’s a little Jansky in all of us

Posted 16 years ago by Daniel Pendick

This week, scientists from around the world are gathering in Charlottesville, Virginia, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). The NRAO, headquartered on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, designs, builds, and operates radio telescopes. Scientists all over the world use NRAO instruments to explore the universe in wavelengths not visible to optical telescopes. Pulsars were first detected by a radio telescope, for example, in...

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Houston, we have a baby

Posted 16 years ago by Anonymous

Typically, parents use video baby monitors when they want to keep a remote eye on their precious flesh blobs. Chicagoland mother Natalie Meilinger received a different picture when looking at her receiver: Her baby had aged more than 50 years and obtained a Ph.D. in geosciences.No, this isn't a variation of the Bugs Bunny classic cartoon when the unknowing rabbit harbored fugitive bank robber Babyface Finster. Meilinger's monitor televised video of astronaut Jim Reilly's spacewalk. T...

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Venus whips the stars

Posted 16 years ago by Rich Talcott

That bright point of light you see hanging in the western sky after sunset is none other than Venus. Aim your telescope at it, and you'll find it's more than a point. The "evening star" currently displays a disk some 25" across and just under half-lit.Sure, Venus appears bright. Even a casual stargazer can see it beats Jupiter, the second-brightest light in the evening sky. (Jupiter now stands low in the southeast during the early-evening hours.) Venus seems to shine even ...

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Sacred objects

Posted 16 years ago by Daniel Pendick

How much would you pay for the telescope Galileo used to observe Jupiter's moons? Or how about the eyepiece through which Halley peered at his comet for the first time?Such astronomical objects — if you could get your hands on them — would be akin to religious relics. And they would be fantastically expensive and difficult to acquire.Good news: You, too, can own your own astro-relic. The organizers of Stellafane, the famous telescope-making conference held in Vermont every year, ...

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Help with buying and using a scope

Posted 16 years ago by Michael Bakich

Springer-Verlag London LimitedA new book from a longtime observer has come to my attention. If you're new to amateur astronomy, thinking about buying a telescope, or wondering what you can point your new telescope at, pick up James Mullaney's A Buyer's and User's Guide to Astronomical Telescopes & Binoculars (Springer-Verlag London Limited, 2007).Rather than select a specific piece of equipment for you, Mullaney introduces you to the universe of binoculars, telescopes,...

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La Cosa Astra

Posted 16 years ago by Anonymous

Because I work for Astronomy magazine, one might assume my favorite show would be Carl Sagan's Cosmos or any of the Shatner, Stewart, or even Bakula varieties of Star Trek. Actually, my top pick is HBO's The Sopranos, which ends this Sunday night. If you've never viewed an episode, it is a crime drama featuring mob boss Tony Soprano and his New Jersey families — both the one he shares a house with and the one better known as La Cosa Nostra. Really, there isn't any connectio...

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Mercury or bust

Posted 16 years ago by Rich Talcott

After a weeklong stretch of off-and-on clouds, Tuesday evening dawned clear in Wisconsin. There, gleaming in the west as it has for the past several months, brilliant Venus dominated the sky. But Venus had added allure this evening: A new spacecraft was skimming just above its cloud tops.No, I couldn't see it. As someone who has explained countless times why the Apollo lunar modules can't be seen from Earth, I'm not about to claim a spacecraft of similar size can be glimpsed across i...

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Astronomy at Arecibo may soon be off the radar

Posted 16 years ago by Anonymous

Pulsars, quasars, radio galaxies — these are all astronomical objects we know about thanks to radio astronomy. Giant dishes, like the 305-meter (1,000 feet) Arecibo Telescope in Puerto Rico, are necessary to gather faint and invisible radio-frequency whispers from the cosmos. Arecibo, completed in 1963, remains the largest and most powerful radio telescope in the world.Radio-astronomy facilities like Arecibo have also made important contributions to the study of asteroids. In a recent and ...

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Walking the lava line

Posted 16 years ago by David Eicher

What do astronomers do the day after a 13-hour trip up and down Mauna Kea, Hawaii? A few of them, led by expert volcanologist Stephen James O'Meara, spent the day exploring erupting lava from the Kilauea volcano. Each month, Steve writes the highly popular "Stephen James O'Meara's secret sky" in Astronomy, and he is renowned as a skilled astronomical observer. Less known to Astronomy readers is the fact that Steve and his wife Donna are highly accomplished students of Hawai...

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Your home observatory (part 7)

Posted 16 years ago by Michael Bakich

In this last installment of my mini-series on building your own observatory, I'll talk about permanent piers. Most amateurs install a pier upon which to place their main telescope. If this is the route you're taking, you'll need a footing, a block of reinforced concrete set into the ground. Any concrete column (or, in certain cases, steel tube) above the ground is called the pier. The telescope mount attaches to bolts pre-set into the concrete pier. Alternately, you can attach a stee...

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A dream trip up the mountain

Posted 16 years ago by David Eicher

Every activity has its sacred ground. For sports fans, it may be Yankee Stadium or Lambeau Field. For history buffs, perhaps the Giza Plateau or Rome would make the list. For astronomy enthusiasts, one site that consistently tops the list is the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Not only is Mauna Kea the most expansive collection of important professional telescopes in the world, but, at an elevation of 13,796 feet, it offers possibly the best observing site on Earth. The combination simply cannot ...

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Planets are common - duh!

Posted 16 years ago by Daniel Pendick

Honolulu is a planet-hunter's paradise this week. If you've read Dave Eicher's blog posts from Hawaii, you already know an army of astronomers is basking in the balmy heat of Honolulu at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). And if you've read a newspaper, scanned news sites on the web, or watched national TV news this week, you know researchers at AAS reported the discovery of an additional 28 exoplanets , bringing the grand total to 236.Part of my daily...

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