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Discover the Universe: Southern Colorado

Posted 13 years ago by Bill Andrews

Many astronomy groups took advantage of National Astronomy Day on May 7 to host public events. One of them, the Southern Colorado Astronomical Society of Pueblo, held a successful public star party as part of Astronomy’s Discover the Universe program. Public relations director Alan Knight elaborates: The Southern Colorado Astronomical Society (SCAS) observed National Astronomy Day by hosting a stargazing party in the middle of Pueblo, Colorado, May 7. SCAS Pueblo President Walter Russell ...

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Astronomy magazine now available on Nook

Posted 13 years ago by Chris Raymond

In response to reader requests, Kalmbach Publishing Co. launched its first-ever digital version of Astronomy magazine today on the Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader. From the Nook Newsstand, users of this increasingly popular hand-held device can now order single issues or subscribe directly on their Nook wherever they have a Wi-Fi connection.Starting with the June 2011 issue, Astronomy is available for the single-copy price of $5.95. Nook users choosing to subscribe to the world’s best-sel...

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NEAF 2011: How did you get interested in astronomy?

Posted 13 years ago by Michael Bakich

I had a great time attending the 2011 Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF) held in Suffern, New York, April 16–17. During the event, I wandered from booth to booth with a small video camera in hand asking astronomy vendors, astroimagers, and one very happy Astronomy contest winner one simple question: “How did you get interested in astronomy?” Check out the three videos below to see the answers of people like NEAF Solar Star Party’s Barlow Bob, Meteorite Men’s Geoff Not...

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Guest blog: STS-134 nears launch date (again)

Posted 13 years ago by Karri Ferron

Prep for the final launch of space shuttle Endeavour continues in Titusville, Florida. The takeoff has been postponed several times since the original launch date of April 29, which was scrubbed because of an electrical short. Since then, NASA has overcome the problem by replacing parts and wires and retesting the whole system. Monday, May 16, 2011, is the date set for the next attempt to launch Endeavour for its last mission. In the meantime, Brenda Culbertson, an observational astronomer, astr...

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Out-of-this-world 2010 update

Posted 13 years ago by Bill Andrews

Just over a month ago, we announced that the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit had won our 2010 Out-of-this-world Award for public outreach. Ruben Gutierrez, the group’s president, recently let me know how they’re doing, and how they’ve put the award money to good use. On May 7, 2011, the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit (SBAU) not only celebrated National Astronomy Day, but also held our much-anticipated debut of the UC2 (You See Too) wheelchair-accessible telescope viewing syst...

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Guest blog: Witnessing an Atlas V launch

Posted 13 years ago by Karri Ferron

Brenda Culbertson, a friend of Astronomy magazine and an observational astronomer, astrophotographer, and outreach educator from Kansas, continues to wait in Titusville, Florida, for the launch of space shuttle Endeavour, now scheduled for May 16 at 8:56 a.m. EDT. In the meantime, she got to experience a pretty cool event at Kennedy Space Center — an Atlas V launch. Most of the media has gone, and the media center is pretty quiet at Kennedy Space Center. Those of us who are left are ...

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IceCube After Dark

Posted 13 years ago by Bill Andrews

My colleague Liz Kruesi did a great job covering some of last week’s highlights at the Antarctic Science Symposium and IceCube and particle physics symposium, but unfortunately she couldn’t stay for the final event. That’s too bad, because it was mostly just a celebratory conclusion, complete with free food and beer. But since the conference took place in Madison, Wisconsin, where I live (while Liz had to drive more than an hour home afterward to rescue her dog), I graciously v...

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On the road: IceCube and particle physics symposium, April 29–30, 2011

Posted 13 years ago by Liz Kruesi

Hundreds of astrophysicists were in Madison, Wisconsin, Wednesday through Saturday of last week to celebrate the completion of the IceCube neutrino detector — on time and on budget. (This is a pretty awesome achievement in astronomy experiments.) While talks on Wednesday and Thursday were geared toward general science in Antarctica, the presentations on Friday and Saturday related to more-general particle astrophysics and cosmology. Friday had a few sessions about the history of neutrino...

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Guest blog: STS-134 — the last mission of space shuttle Endeavour

Posted 13 years ago by Karri Ferron

If we could, an Astronomy staff member would attend every shuttle launch down in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Unfortunately, that’s not in the budget, so we rely on friends of the magazine to represent us at such events. When we found out Brenda Culbertson, an observational astronomer, astrophotographer, and outreach educator from Kansas, was traveling to Kennedy Space Center to witness the final mission of the space shuttle Endeavour, we offered her press credentials to report on the launch. ...

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Falling Stars: Harvey Harlow Nininger

Posted 13 years ago by Mike Reynolds

Perhaps the most-famous meteoriticist of all time is Dr. Harvey Harlow Nininger (1887–1986). His fascination with meteorites started when he witnessed a fireball in 1923. Nininger, a biologist, yearned for the opportunity to collect and research meteorites as a full-time endeavor in lieu of his college professorship. He spent most of his career at McPherson College in Kansas. Unfortunately, he lived in an era when most scientists ridiculed those who recovered, studied, and researched meteo...

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Observe like a pirate

Posted 13 years ago by Michael Bakich

I just learned about one of this season’s earliest star parties, and I thought I’d share it here. The 5th annual Bootleg Astronomers Star Party will begin at 10 a.m. Friday, June 3, and continue through noon, Sunday, June 5. The event takes place at Green River Conservation Area, Harmon, Illinois. People who have attended claim the site has some of the darkest skies in Illinois. Upon your arrival, star party organizers will provide you with an informational packet full of goodies, i...

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On the road: The Antarctic Science Symposium, April 27, 2011

Posted 13 years ago by Liz Kruesi

The Antarctic Science Symposium in Madison, Wisconsin, started off with a few presentations about drilling technology. It’s definitely an important topic because one of the reasons scientists utilize Antarctica as a lab is the ice — either used as a detection material, or a record of climate change. However, Astronomy magazine doesn’t cover drilling technologies, so on to what you, the readers, really want to know. Scientists are planning to install a lot of detectors in Antar...

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Astronomy in Antarctica

Posted 13 years ago by Liz Kruesi

In December 2010, the IceCube collaboration placed its last string of detectors 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) into the Ataractic ice. This project consists of 86 strings, for a total of 5,160 detectors embedded in 0.4 square mile (1 square km) of ice. The IceCube project is searching for neutrinos — extremely low-mass particles that interact only through the weak nuclear force (one of the four fundamental forces, it works solely within atoms and can induce radioactivity). The plan is for Ic...

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Discover the Universe: Virginia Beach, Virginia

Posted 13 years ago by Bill Andrews

For the second time is as many weeks (after Thessaloniki, Greece), Astronomy’s Discover the Universe program can claim an event full of successful sidewalk astronomy. Ted Forte of the Back Bay Amateur Astronomers reports: The Back Bay Amateur Astronomers (BBAA) of southeastern Virginia set up their telescopes on April 15 in a popular Virginia Beach city park to help the crowds “discover the universe” during the third annual Mount Trashmore Star Party. Our members arrived arou...

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Astronomy magazine exclusive: Getting to know the field observatories of Caltech astronomers

Posted 13 years ago by Karri Ferron

Ever wonder what it’s like to be part of an astronomy department at a major university — what instruments the scientists use, and what research they’re doing? Peter V. Mason of the Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena offers Astronomy readers this glimpse into the studies going on at Caltech. This is the first in a series of blogs he will write for us. In this entry, Peter introduces us to some of the field observato...

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Discover the Universe: Thessaloniki, Greece

Posted 13 years ago by Bill Andrews

Astronomy magazine’s Discover the Universe program is only a few months old, but we’ve already had our first successful event! Andreas Vossinakis of The Friends of Astronomy club in Thessaloniki, Greece (http://www.ofa.gr/), explains: On April 9, our astronomy club organized a public event at the city waterfront to celebrate Global Astronomy Month. We set up 19 telescopes (including one for solar observations) and a set of giant binoculars. We started at 6 p.m. local time with solar...

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On the Road: Northeast Astro Imaging Conference, April 15, 2011

Posted 13 years ago by Michael Bakich

Friday, April 15, the second and final day of the 2011 Northeast Astro Imaging Conference (NEAIC), proved to be even better than the first. NEAIC occurs at the Crowne Plaza Conference Center in Suffern, New York.This is a new facility for NEAIC, which, until this year, was held at Rockland Community College, the site of the Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF). One of the conference organizers told me that they had to limit the attendance of prior NEAICs to 120 attendees because of the limitations o...

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On the Road: Northeast Astro Imaging Conference, April 14, 2011

Posted 13 years ago by Michael Bakich

The Northeast Astro Imaging Conference (NEAIC) kicked off Thursday, April 14. This meeting of astroimagers occurs during the 2 days preceding the Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF). Both are held in Suffern, New York — NEAIC at the Crowne Plaza Conference Center, and NEAF at Rockland Community College. NEAIC is a much more focused event than NEAF, which caters to skygazers of all levels, and even to those with only a passing interest in the hobby. NEAIC blends imaging talks from professiona...

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Face time with astronomy enthusiasts and subscribers

Posted 13 years ago by Karri Ferron

I have a confession to make. I spend a lot of time at the Astronomy offices here in Waukesha, Wisconsin. As the magazine’s copy editor, most of my interaction with the astronomy community comes from comments on the website, e-mails I receive, and the occasional phone conversation. I’ve talked with many high school and college students about working in the magazine industry for a science publication, but most aren’t subscribers. So, it’s a treat when I get to spend face-to...

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Some more out-of-this-world astronomy outreach

Posted 13 years ago by Bill Andrews

Last week, we announced the Santa Barbara Astronomy Unit as the winner of Astronomy magazine’s 2010 Out-of-this-world Award for public outreach. They’re a great group, but as Astronomy Editor David J. Eicher said, it was a struggle to choose the winner, and I wanted to shine a spotlight on some of the other fantastic groups who reached our final round and made the decision so hard. The Albuquerque Astronomical SocietyFor more than 60 years, The Albuquerque Astronomical Society has b...

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Kings of the constellation heap

Posted 13 years ago by Michael Bakich

I’m a constellation kind of guy. So in that spirit, I thought I’d chat about some of the star figures now up in the Northern Hemisphere’s spring sky. Did you know that you can find the three largest constellations all at the same time? That’s right. The top three of the sky’s 88 total constellations are visible in the early evening right now. In order of size, they are Hydra the Water Snake, Virgo the Maiden, and Ursa Major the Great Bear. The latter contains the s...

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A ridiculously basic problem on the set of "Cosmic Adventures"

Posted 13 years ago by Liz Kruesi

Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes of “Liz and Bill’s Cosmic Adventures”? We just debuted Episode 4, and reviewing the final draft of the video reminded me how much of a pain it was to film one of the scenes. (Spoiler alert if you haven't yet watched it!) Bill and I had the brilliant idea to film raisin bread rising while baking. (It’s one way to show some consequences of the expansion of the universe.) Well, it turns out making bread with yeast is a talent ...

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NASA: Please keep delaying STS-134

Posted 13 years ago by Chris Raymond

Last June, I shared my excitement about submitting a photo of the Astronomy magazine staff to NASA’s “Face in Space” website so we could vicariously fly aboard space shuttle Endeavor on STS-134, the final mission of the U.S. space shuttle program. At the time, that flight was scheduled for November 2010.Well, the intervening 10 months since my post have witnessed not only repeated delays in that mission’s launch, but also the addition of another flight. Atlantis will now ...

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We’re on Blueshift!

Posted 13 years ago by Bill Andrews

I know I work for a big famous magazine with thousands and thousands of readers, but it can be weirdly easy to forget that fact. Working in an office, seeing the same co-workers, receiving a new issue every month — sometimes it can feel like we’re the only ones who have anything to do with Astronomy. And then something awesome happens, like a shout out from NASA’s Blueshift blog by Sara Mitchell of the Goddard Space Flight Center. I’m always a little nervous featuring p...

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On the Road: Tunisia, in search of ancient meteorites, Day 9

Posted 13 years ago by David Eicher

Astronomy magazine’s tour group of 22, accompanied by Chris McKay of NASA Ames, Melita Thorpe of MWT Associates, and your editor, enjoyed its last day of touring Tunisia on Monday, March 28. Intermittent Wi-Fi availability at our final hotel delayed my posting of this last day’s blog until today. But Monday was an exciting day: We traveled from our hotel to explore the ruins of Carthage, the ancient city that sprang up nearly 3,000 years ago on the Mediterranean Sea. This was a big ...

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Archaeoastronomy in Georgia

Posted 13 years ago by Bill Andrews

Many of my American friends seem slightly startled to recall that there’s another Georgia in the world besides the “Peach State.” Some of my astronomy friends, though, might be surprised to learn about a discipline related to their field now taking root in the southeast European country. Professor Irakli Simonia of Ilia State University wrote us this guest blog explaining a little bit about his school’s program in archaeoastronomy and cultural astronomy, which he develope...

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On the Road: Tunisia, in search of ancient meteorites, Days 7 and 8

Posted 13 years ago by David Eicher

Astronomy magazine’s group of Tunisian travelers, 22 strong and accompanied by Chris McKay of NASA Ames, Melita Thorpe of MWT Associates, and me, had a very busy weekend. On Saturday, March 26, we employed Tozeur, Tunisia, in the far west, as a base. We had traveled across the great salt lake of Chott El Jerid; now we would set off by Toyota 4-wheel-drive SUVs for the Atlas Mountains, moving high up from the desert base of the Sahara. We journeyed to the oasis of Nefta, where we saw lush ...

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On the Road: Tunisia, in search of ancient meteorites, Days 5 and 6

Posted 13 years ago by David Eicher

Today’s blog covers the past two days of our Tunisian trip as the Internet at our hotel in Matmata dropped out Thursday night. The Astronomy magazine group is now headquartered at a fine hotel in Tozeur, in western Tunisia, for the next couple of nights and the connection to the outside world seems much better. The group of 22, accompanied by Melita Thorpe of MWT Associates, planetary scientist Chris McKay, and your editor had a busy past two days. On Thursday, we set off from Tataouine, ...

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The night sky lights and motion

Posted 13 years ago by Michael Bakich

In my role as photo editor here at Astronomy magazine, I receive a great deal of images but surprisingly few videos. So, when a nice one does come in, I’m eager to share it. Astroimager Miguel Claro, who lives in Corroios, Portugal, sent in this time-lapse video along with the following explanation: I took this time-lapse photography during the night of March 16, 2011, between 22h32m and 01h31m local time, from Fonte-de-Telha, Portugal. I set up my camera in a small pine forest near the A...

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On the Road: Tunisia, in search of ancient meteorites, Day 4

Posted 13 years ago by David Eicher

Imagine picking up a piece of the asteroid Vesta from a rocky desert hillside, the first person ever to touch that meteorite in history. That’s exactly what all of the members of Astronomy magazine’s Tunisian tour group got to do around noontime on Wednesday, March 23. We were guests of Aljane Habib, director of the Museum of the Memory of Earth, the geological museum in Tataouine, Tunisia. He escorted us about 4 kilometers northwest of the town to a hillside containing mostly Jurass...

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