Dave's Universe - Astronomy Magazine - Interactive Star Charts, Planets, Meteors, Comets, Telescopes

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Sci-fi movie "51 Degrees" to premiere at Starmus Festival

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

I’ve kept you apprised of the many exciting activities planned for the Starmus Festival in the Canary Islands this September. We already have numerous astronauts, Nobel Prize winners, rock stars, and other notable speakers. And now we have the premiere of a fantastic science-fiction film as well!The film is set in London and deals with an asteroid colliding with Earth. This is not your typical sci-fi treatment, however. Astrophysicist and Queen guitarist Brian May contributed music to the ...

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Press release: Starmus takes off, the most ambitious all-star science festival

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

• The Starmus Festival announces a supreme lineup featuring the biggest names in science today, including Stephen Hawking, Brian May, and Richard Dawkins• The Canary Islands is the chosen setting for the only festival in the world that brings together Nobel Prize winners, astronauts, astrophysicists, biologists, and anthropologists at the same event• The Canary Islands confirms its place as the location of choice for astrophysi...

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Starmus Festival releases full schedule

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

We now know exactly what will happen at the Starmus Festival in the Canary Islands, to be held September 22–27, on Tenerife and La Palma. This spectacular event will bring together numerous astronomers, cosmologists, astronaut-explorers, musicians, and artists for a week of talks, music, socializing, a film premiere, and much more. And there will still be some surprises.But now we know that Starmus Founder and Director Garik Israelian will kick off the festival — along with some...

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The surreal experience of editing Stephen Hawking

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

A couple days ago I got an email from Garik Israelian, the founder and director of the Starmus Festival, attaching a document. It was a foreword to the Starmus book we have been working on, a contribution written by the great theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. The second Starmus Festival will take place this September 22–27 in the Canary Islands, bringing together a who’s-who of astronomers, astronaut-explorers, cosmologists, biologists, chemists, and musicians to celebrate our k...

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A guest blog: More than a Telescope

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

When I was a young amateur astronomer growing up in southwestern Ohio, I had the pleasure of getting to know quite a few amateurs in the Cincinnati and Dayton areas. One of these was a kind and brilliant telescope maker named Dick Wessling, who sadly died in 2010, and we lost one of the most gracious friends and telescope experts around. One of Dick’s Cincinnati friends, Jeff Hutton, who is a an academic officer at Xavier University, contributes this special remembrance of Dick —&nbs...

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Astronomers Without Borders launches Telescopes to Tanzania campaign

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

Our good friend Mike Simmons, driving force behind the outreach group Astronomers Without Borders, sent the following press release, which will no doubt be of interest.Please check it out and support them in every way you can! Telescopes to Tanzania campaign launches on IndiegogoTanzanian Students Reach for the StarsCalabasas, CA – International astronomy advocacy group Astronomers Without Borders (AWB) today launched its Indiegogo fundraising campaign dedicated to building The C...

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Another Chilean photo memory

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

Our group at the 1.5-meter SMARTS Telescope, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Cerro Tololo, Chile, May 29, 2014. Photo by Daniel Thorpe. Thanks for sending this along, Daniel! ...

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A Chilean photo memory

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

Our Chilean tour group at ALMA’s Operations Center, near San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, May 26, 2014. Photo by Daniel Thorpe.Thanks for sending this along, Daniel! ...

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Astronomy magazine partners with Starmus astronomy and music festival

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

Waukesha, Wis. (July 7, 2014) – This fall, the greatest minds in space exploration, astronomy, cosmology, and planetary science will gather in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Their destination is the second Starmus Festival, a weeklong celebration consisting of talks, a star party, and a concert. Space enthusiasts from around the world are making arrangements to travel to Spain’s Canary Islands (a destination analogous in distance and travel time to most continen...

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Astronomical League names award winners

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

The Astronomical League, the nation’s affiliation of astronomy clubs, has just announced two award winners for 2014. I give you two news releases from League President Carroll Iorg for details:The Astronomical League Award is Announced Kansas City, MO —The Astronomical League is pleased to announce the winner of the 2014 Astronomical League Award. The Astronomical League Award is presented to any person, either amateur or professional, who has made worthwhile contributions to the sci...

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Winding up IPS 2014 in Beijing

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

The last two days of the International Planetarium Society (IPS) meeting in Beijing, China, held last week at the Beijing Planetarium, went by in a flurry. A huge variety of activities brought together more than 350 planetarium professionals to explore all aspects of communicating science to the public. I have enjoyed my first IPS meeting greatly and stuck around through the entirety of the meeting after delivering my keynote address on Tuesday.Thursday, June 26, was a busy day. Sun Xiaochun of ...

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Visiting one of the oldest observatories in the world

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

On Wednesday, June 25, the International Planetarium Society meeting in Beijing, China, which has been going on for several days, started up as usual. But it wouldn’t be a usual day for long. Indeed, there were morning paper sessions presented by a variety of planetarium professionals, from a survey of customers at Adler Planetarium in Chicago to a history of planetarium projectors in China, to a call for a new committee investigating the best quality options for providing audio in new-gen...

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Speaking at the IPS in Beijing

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

Tuesday morning, June 24, began with my keynote address to the 350 attendees of the 22nd International Planetarium Society meeting at the Beijing Planetarium in, China. My talk was titled “Does the Universe Really Care About Itself? Communicating Astronomy in the 21st Century,” and it focused on the challenges we have with spreading the truth about science in this age. I examined the trends making it hard for younger people to get into serious subjects like astronomy, influenced more...

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International Planetarium Society meets in Beijing

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

Hello from Beijing, China, site of the 22nd International Planetarium Society (IPS) conference, which is taking place at the magnificent and spectacularly large Beijing Planetarium, in the heart of the city. Invited as one of four keynote speakers at this week’s event, I arrived in Beijing on Sunday afternoon and was able to enjoy the opening evening reception before passing out, after hardly sleeping a wink for a day. I want to thank Dr. Jin Zhu, director of Beijing Planetarium, the marve...

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Greetings from Dr. Brian May

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

My wife Lynda, son Chris, and colleagues and friends Rich and Evelyn Talcott had the great pleasure of attending the Queen concert in Chicago last night, June 19, 2014. It was the first show of Queen’s North American/Australian tour this summer, and it was absolutely incredible.You may know that Dr. Brian May, Queen’s guitarist, vocalist, and founding member, is also a Ph.D. astrophysicist and member of Astronomy magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board.Brian sends warm greetings to...

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Delivering keynote speech at IPS Beijing

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

On Saturday morning, I’ll be leaving for Beijing, China, to attend and speak at the International Planetarium Society meeting. This great assemblage, the big meeting of the world’s planetarium professionals, takes place every two years. This year, it occurs June 21–28 and will chiefly be centered on the great new Beijing Planetarium. Hundreds of planetarium professionals will be in attendance, and I will be reporting on the event, its meaning, and the crucial role planetaria pl...

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Going to see Brian May and Queen in Chicago

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

Many of you know that Brian May, guitarist, vocalist, and founding member of the rock group Queen, is also a Ph.D. astrophysicist, having completed his degree on zodiacal dust in the solar system years after his success with the band began. In addition to being a musician and scientist, Brian is active in promoting animal welfare, particularly with the badger cull situation in England, and very active with his stereophotographic interests as well. You may also know that Brian is a member of Astr...

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Solar astronomy guru "Barlow Bob" dies

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

I’m sad to mention another loss in the amateur astronomy community: Robert “Barlow Bob” Godfrey, a fixture at the Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF) for more than a decade, always pushing to show kids and adults alike views of the Sun, died last week. “Barlow Bob was the Johnny Appleseed of solar astronomy,” says Phil Harrington, a friend and longtime contributing editor to Astronomy magazine. Friends and colleagues who saw him at NEAF this year say he seemed his...

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Guest blog: Comet hunter William Bradfield dies

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

The amateur astronomy community receives sad news in the form of the death of the great Australian comet hunter William Bradfield, on June 9, 2014. Our good friend Amar Sharma of the Nikaya Observatory in Bangalore, India, sent this obituary for Bradfield with material from a chapter on Bradfield he was preparing for a documentary film about comet hunting. Bradfield was born in New Zealand and discovered 18 comets; his name was very familiar to comet enthusiasts over the last 40 years. I share ...

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Spectacular Mars image from Don Parker

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

A handful of astroimagers on this planet are among the best at capturing planets in our solar system, and Don Parker of Coral Gables, Florida, is one of them. Check out Don’s amazing image of Mars taken May 29, 2014, with his 14-inch SCT at f/23.8, ASI 120MM CCD camera, Astrodon filters, and composite exposures. This is about as good as the Red Planet gets! Congrats, Don!...

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Talk set for IPS China and Starmus

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to hammer away on a speech I’ve been slowly working on and finally finished it. I’ll be giving this talk as one of four keynote addresses at the International Planetarium Society meeting in about two weeks in Beijing, China. I’ll also deliver a modified version of the talk later this year at the Starmus Festival in the Canary Islands. The talk is titled, “Does the Universe Care About Itself?: Communicating Astronomy in the 21s...

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Cool virtual reality pan of ALMA

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

Our group of more than 30 Astronomy readers had a spectacular time over the last couple weeks in Chile, seeing the greatest skies on Earth and some of the largest telescopes. One of the folks on our tour was Mike Smithwick, creator of the great planetarium program Distant Suns, a partner of Astronomy magazine.In Chile, Mike created some very cool virtual reality pan images at different sites. This one shows the operations building and a few antennae belonging to the Atacama Large Millimeter/subm...

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Cool virtual-reality pan of the 8.2-meter Antu VLT

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

Our group of more than 30 Astronomy readers had a spectacular time over the last couple weeks in Chile, seeing the greatest skies on Earth and some of the largest telescopes. One of the folks on our tour was Mike Smithwick, creator of the great planetarium program Distant Suns, a partner of Astronomy magazine. In Chile, Mike created some very cool virtual-reality pan images at different sites. This first one I’ll share shows the 8.2-meter “Antu” telescope, one of four scopes...

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Guest blog: An interview with Starmus founder Garik Israelian

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know a really wonderful guy, Garik Israelian, over the past several months. Along with Brian May, Garik and I worked on the forthcoming book about the first Starmus meeting in the Canary Islands, which took place in 2011. Garik is the founder and director of the Starmus Festival, an incredible gathering of astronaut-explorers, astronomers, cosmologists, biologists, musicians, and artists that will take place for the second time this fall (see starmus.com...

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Behind-the-scenes at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

From May 21 through May 30, a group of more than 30 Astronomy readers accompanied me and our tour leaders, Daniel and Julie Thorpe of MWT Associates, to the Chilean Atacama Desert. Arguably the best observing location on Earth, the Atacama is host to numerous major observatories, the greatest telescopes and institutions of Southern Hemisphere astronomy. We had a sensational time and covered a vast amount of ground, from Santiago to Antofagasta to the desert locale of San Pedro de Atacama. Our tr...

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Adventures in the Atacama Desert

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

The last few days of Astronomy’s 2014 trip to Chile were so busy that I barely had time to keep up with the activities, let alone to write the blog. So here goes: On Tuesday, May 27, our group of more than 30 readers left our hotel very early in San Pedro de Atacama, in the Atacama Desert. The travelers trekked deep into the desert to see one of the planet’s most notable geothermal sites, the Tatio Geysers, or El Tatio, at an elevation of some 12,900 feet in the Andes Mountains. Bubb...

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Behind-the-scenes tour of ALMA, the world's greatest radio telescope

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

Coming off the heels of the greatest night of observing our Astronomy magazine tour group had ever experienced, we were in for another treat on Monday, May 26. Our Chilean adventurers, more than 30 strong, were in heaven as they became the first large tour group of astronomy enthusiasts to visit the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the world’s most sophisticated radio telescope.A joint European/North American/East Asian project, of course with Chile as a partner and the...

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The Atacama Desert and the greatest observing night of our lives

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

On Sunday, May 25, our Chilean trip with more than 30 readers of Astronomy magazine continued. We started off from our base in Antofagasta, Chile, and journeyed on a long bus ride into the Atacama Desert, typically the driest desert on Earth and the best place on our planet for astronomical observing. As we set off, we heard about what was for this region a major snowstorm to our east the day before, which dropped some 5 inches (8 centimeters) of white powder. By some accounts, it was the bigges...

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Visiting the Very Large Telescope in Chile

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

More than 30 readers of Astronomy magazine are still in the early stages of a spectacular astronomical journey through Chile, and the past two days have flown by like a dream. On Friday, May 23, we left our arrival base in Santiago, the nation’s historic capital, and flew northward to the coastal city of Antofagasta. This area of Chile is the gateway, eastward over the coastal Andes range, to an area with an incredibly rich history in mining and mineralogy, and also the entrance into the A...

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Guest blog: Stephen Hawking will be headlining the STARMUS Festival

Posted 10 years ago by David Eicher

The famous theoretical physicist will speak at the conference in Tenerife“To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit” – Stephen Hawking After a recent visit to Stephen Hawking at his home in Cambridge (United Kingdom), Garik Israelian astrophysicist, founder, and director of the festival STARMUS and researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), said that the renowned British physicist and cosmologist has d...

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