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Blog Post:
August 2009 web extras for magazine subscribers
Karri Ferron
Now that the August 2009 issue of Astronomy is in the mail or already in hand, we’ve updated Astronomy.com with our newest web extras to give subscribers exclusive complementary information to this special issue about our return to the Moon. Take a sneak peek inside the August 2009 Astronomy magazine...
on
Tue, Jun 23 2009
Blog Post:
LRO scientist Michael Wyatt blogs for Astronomy
Daniel Pendick
If all goes as planned, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will launch from Cape Canaveral either Thursday or Friday, depending on the launch of space shuttle Endeavour. Brown University professor and LRO researcher Michael Wyatt is at the launch site, and starting today, Wyatt will share his impressions...
on
Tue, Jun 16 2009
Blog Post:
Your Mars questions, Dr. C answers
Daniel Pendick
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Mars Exploration Program web site has a fun new feature — Ask Dr. C, “your personal Mars expert.” You can type in a simple question — the simpler, the better — and get a pretty good answer. A computer program tries to match your question with an extensive database of responses...
on
Fri, Jun 5 2009
Blog Post:
Sorting through the wreckage in the Andromeda Galaxy, an in-depth interview with an Andromeda expert
Daniel Pendick
Thanks to painstaking observations and computer modeling, astronomers have discovered that the Milky Way Galaxy is littered with the debris of stellar cannibalism. Small galaxies unlucky enough to be captured by our powerful gravity get torn to shreds and consumed. It’s sometimes hard to sort out...
on
Fri, May 29 2009
Blog Post:
Updated: Historical telescopes at the Adler Planetarium
Daniel Pendick
***Images updated.*** Next week, you can check out the rich collection of astronomical instruments at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. In celebration of the 400th anniversary of the telescope, the planetarium opens its a new exhibition, “Telescopes: Through the Looking Glass,” on May 22. The show spotlights...
on
Thu, May 21 2009
Blog Post:
SETI's "Earth Speaks" lets you suggest a message to alien civilizations
Daniel Pendick
On May 15, the SETI Institute — the planet’s leading extraterrestrial searchers — launched “ Earth Speaks .” The project invites the public to submit proposed messages to alien civilizations. According to Thomas Pierson, CEO of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, “By submitting text messages...
on
Tue, May 19 2009
Blog Post:
The biggest model rocket in history
Daniel Pendick
On April 25, Steve Eves of Ohio launched the largest model rocket in history : a 1,700-pound, 36-foot-high replica of the legendary Saturn V booster that took the first astronauts to the Moon. It rose to about 4,400 feet, deployed chutes, and settled to the ground — upright. Check out this YouTube video...
on
Thu, May 7 2009
Blog Post:
All the pretty mergers
Daniel Pendick
Here is what the future of computer-simulated galaxy mergers may look like. This image to the right — unusual for its vivid color and detail — shows five stages of a collision between two virtual galaxies, cooked up by computer programs that simulate the processes at work. View a bigger version of this...
on
Thu, Apr 30 2009
Blog Post:
Low-mass extrasolar planets aplenty
Daniel Pendick
Tuesday at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science meeting in Hatfield, England, astronomers announced a new milestone: an extrasolar planet with the lowest confirmed mass of any yet discovered around a normal star . “Confirmed” . . . “normal star” . . . seems like a lot of caveats, doesn...
on
Wed, Apr 22 2009
Blog Post:
AT LAST! The next-next big thing in space telescopes?
Daniel Pendick
Astronomers eagerly anticipate the final Hubble Space Telescope (HST) servicing mission, set to blast off May 12 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. And they are already hard at work designing the observatory that will take over after Hubble sees its final light. Hubble is, in the lingo...
on
Thu, Apr 16 2009
Blog Post:
“400 years of the telescope” documentary airs
Daniel Pendick
Telescopes have extended the human senses to unimaginably distant and inhospitable parts of the universe. A documentary beginning to air this week on public television stations in the United States tells the story of the telescope and its unveiling of the cosmos — starting with that simple little tube...
on
Wed, Apr 8 2009
Blog Post:
The quiet Sun
Daniel Pendick
Last summer, my colleague Michael Bakich, a senior editor at Astronomy , kindly gave me a special filter that fits on the front of my 4-inch Celestron NexStar, thus allowing me to observe the Sun without turning my eyeball into a poached egg. I looked at the Sun with the new setup. Nada. Nothing...
on
Fri, Apr 3 2009
Blog Post:
Naked-eye supernova in Sagittarius! Duck!
Daniel Pendick
OK, April Fool’s Day is over. Some pretty clever pranks bounced around the Net yesterday, including a rumor that Admiral Adama of Battlestar Galactica fame is being considered for the post of NASA administrator. And then there was the one about the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and Pluto...
on
Thu, Apr 2 2009
Blog Post:
World’s strongest astronomer!
Daniel Pendick
When you see a photo like this, you stop and look. And you wonder: What’s that guy’s story? Who is this kilt-wearing fellow with the big stone ball on his shoulder? And what does this have to do with astronomy? Let me introduce you to Mike Sidonio, former competitor for the title of World’s Strongest...
on
Tue, Mar 31 2009
Blog Post:
Join the pulsar hunters and work from home
Daniel Pendick
“Wanted: a few hundred thousand computers with a little spare time on their hands.” That’s the basic job qualification if you (and your personal computer) want to join Einstein@Home, a massive international project that uses donated personal computer time to crunch data for real scientists. The project...
on
Thu, Mar 26 2009
Blog Post:
WorldWide Telescope adds Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter images
Daniel Pendick
Megacorps are practically lining up for the privilege of disseminating fantastic volumes of astronomical images to you, John and Jane Q. Public. Recently Google added a “Live from Mars” function to its 3-D visualization of Mars within Google Earth. The feature allows you to see images from the Mars...
on
Wed, Mar 25 2009
Blog Post:
Caught: a satellite on amateur astronomer’s first video?
Daniel Pendick
Check out this video from Astronomy reader Robert Massey of Fort Worth, Texas. Look to the top left of the grouping of four bright stars, at about the 11 o’clock position. A blob appears to move to the left. The video shows an object — a satellite or perhaps an asteroid? — tumbling through the field...
on
Fri, Mar 20 2009
Blog Post:
Our man in Cape Town III: Big radio telescope science
Daniel Pendick
In recent blogs, I introduced you to Benne Holwerde, a researcher at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He’s on a team of scientists building a new radio telescope called MeerKAT (Karoo Array Telescope). Holwerde and his group hope MeerKAT will solidify South Africa as the host site for the...
on
Tue, Mar 10 2009
Blog Post:
Frozen-finger astronomy in the North Country
Daniel Pendick
Did you see the gorgeous moonset Friday night (February 27)? A slender crescent Moon — “horns” pointing upward — set along with Venus close by. Earthshine illuminated the body of the Moon above the horns. Someone once told me this is called “the new Moon in the cradle of the old.” If you looked at...
on
Mon, Mar 2 2009
Blog Post:
Exclusive: Q&A with Europa expert Richard Greenberg
Daniel Pendick
Richard Greenberg, a professor of planetary sciences at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, is an expert in celestial mechanics and carries out NASA-sponsored investigations of solar system evolution and planet formation. He is also author of the current book Unmasking Europa...
on
Thu, Feb 19 2009
Blog Post:
Top 10 ways to celebrate Pluto Day
Daniel Pendick
Today, February 18th, marks the 79th anniversary of Pluto's discovery by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh. Strange, when I wrote that, I almost typed “the planet Pluto.” But as you may know, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) decided Pluto is a dwarf planet — to be precise, a type of dwarf...
on
Wed, Feb 18 2009
Blog Post:
Here comes Galaxy Zoo 2
Daniel Pendick
It’s not every day you get a mysterious new celestial object named after you. But that’s what happened to Hanny van Arkel (pictured below), a primary schoolteacher from The Netherlands. And all she had to do was point and click. Van Arkel discovered a glowing green gaseous object, which scientists...
on
Tue, Feb 17 2009
Blog Post:
Our man in Cape Town II: What science could MeerKAT do?
Daniel Pendick
In a recent blog, I introduced you to Benne Holwerde , a young researcher at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Check out the view from his office in the image at right. He’s on a team of scientists hoping to build a giant new radio telescope called MeerKAT ( Karoo Array Telescope ), a project...
on
Fri, Feb 13 2009
Blog Post:
Europa vs. Titan: Which will NASA explore in its next flagship mission?
Daniel Pendick
“There is an ocean beneath the icy crust of Jupiter’s moon Europa [pictured at right]. Strange creatures could be swimming in these alien waters, but so far no missions have been sent there to investigate this possibility.” So begins, " Hoping for Europa ," an article by Astrobiology magazine...
on
Wed, Feb 11 2009
Blog Post:
The latest Wow from Google: Mars in 3D
Daniel Pendick
You have probably heard that Google and NASA have finally released the Google Mars update for Google Earth. I finally got the time to install Google Earth 5.0 and play on the surface of Mars for a bit this morning. It’s amazing. I first heard about this project a couple of years ago after stumbling...
on
Mon, Feb 9 2009
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