SCITUATE BEN THERE, DONE THAT: Life lessons learned in a dorm room Nov 12, 2009
And all the while, you ll be wondering how to talk to that beautiful girl in your honors astronomy class. True story. (Scituate Mariner, MA)
SPIEGEL Interview with Umberto Eco, Susanne Beyer and Lothar Gorris, Spiegel Online Nov 12, 2009
A new worldview based on astronomy predominated in the Renaissance and the Baroque era. And there were lists. (Harper's Magazine)
Researchers Hunt For New Zeolites Nov 11, 2009
A project that goes back 20 years came to fruition earlier this year when Deem, Rice's John W. Cox Professor in Biochemical and Genetic Engineering and a professor of physics and astronomy, and his team came up with a list that shows the structures of more than 2. 7 million zeolite-like materials. (Science Daily)
E.T. PHONE ROME: Vatican looks for signs of alien life Nov 11, 2009
Chris Impey, an astronomy professor at the , said it was appropriate that the Vatican would host such a meeting ... Tommaso Maccacaro, president of Italy's national institute of astrophysics, said at the exhibit's Oct. 13 opening that astronomy has had a major impact on the way we perceive ourselves. (USA Today)
Supernova Mystery Solved Nov 11, 2009
Ivan Semeniuk is host of the podcast and a science journalist in residence at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto. Posted by Ivan Semeniuk, November 10, 2009 links. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
'Dropouts' Pinpoint Earliest Galaxies Nov 10, 2009
The research is based on data collected at Subaru Telescope, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan; the Hubble Space Telescope, operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555; the Spitzer Telescope, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA.. Adapted from materials provided by. (Science Daily)
Being neighbour with aliens? Nov 10, 2009
"What I have seen is maybe a UFO or some phenomenon in astronomy that we have not figured out yet," he said. "Anyway, no matter what it is, I will continue to study it after retirement.". (Xinhuanet, China)
Looking Up: Pondering life on other worlds Nov 7, 2009
Known as exobiology, the study has become a serious sub-field of both astronomy and biology. What is most unique about the study is, to date, the subject remains completely hypothetical. (Belmont Citizen Herald, MA)
Antarctica's Icy Lakes Home to Plethora of Viruses Nov 7, 2009
Friday, November 06, 2009. Researchers collected water samples from Antarctica's Limnopolar Lake to figure out the diversity of viruses. (Fox News)
New measurements confirm standard view of Universe Nov 7, 2009
The November 2009 issue of Astronomy Now, the UK's best-selling astronomy magazine, is now on sale at all good newsagents ... Our latest 132-page Astronomy Now special edition is an extravaganza of astronomy for the year ahead, with a complete 30-page guide to observing the planets, moon, meteor showers, two solar eclipses, and the deep sky in 2010 ... Available now from the Astronomy Now Store. (Astronomy Now Online)
Options for kids affected by furloughs Nov 7, 2009
Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo: Full day of science enrichment. Costs are $30 per day or $25 for Imiloa member families. (Honolulu Advertiser)
New theory tries to explain missing matter Nov 6, 2009
One of the greatest mysteries of astronomy is the problem of the missing mass: All of the matter scientists can see in the universe accounts for only a small percent of the observed gravity. Astronomers often invoke the to explain this discrepancy, but some researchers say the problem is really our understanding of gravity. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Giant Crack in Africa Will Become New Ocean Nov 6, 2009
Tuesday, November 03, 2009. Tim Wright, University of Leeds. (Fox News)
Rapid Supernova: New Class Of Exploding Star? Nov 6, 2009
"We think this may well be a new physical explosion mechanism, not just a minor variation of ones already known," said co-author Alex Filippenko, UC Berkeley professor of astronomy ... Co-author Joshua Bloom, UC Berkeley associate professor of astronomy, also views SN 2002bj as a "new beast" quite different from the two well-known classes of supernovae ... The spectrum had been obtained seven days after its discovery by Filippenko and Douglas Leonard, at the time a UC Berkeley graduate student,... (Science Daily)
Saturday stargazing at Lawrence Hall of Science Nov 5, 2009
It's been 400 years since Galileo first pointed his telescope to the sky to look at the stars, and what better way to celebrate this International Year of Astronomy than by having a look at Jupiter, the planet that so mesmerized the great Italian astronomer. Images. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Science)
Fiddler Crabs Exchange Sex for Survival Nov 5, 2009
Wednesday, November 04, 2009. John Christy, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. (Fox News)
'Weird Creatures' Finds a Mole Lizard Nov 5, 2009
Weird Creatures' Host Nick Baker Meets a Mole Lizard. Wednesday, November 04, 2009. (Fox News)
Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) Satellite Forms Three-pointed Star In The Sky Nov 4, 2009
To overcome this challenge, the SMOS mission has borrowed techniques used in radio astronomy. Radio astronomers, searching for celestial objects that are not detectable in optical astronomy, also faced the challenge of needing to detect small signals from point sources in space at a long wavelength, requiring a big antenna. (Science Daily)
Shedding Light On The Cosmic Skeleton Nov 4, 2009
The team is composed of Masayuki Tanaka (ESO), Alexis Finoguenov (Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany and University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA), Tadayuki Kodama (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo, Japan), Yusei Koyama (Department of Astronomy, University of Tokyo, Japan), Ben Maughan (H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, UK) and Fumiaki Nakata (Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan) ... Astronomy and... (Science Daily)
Dark Matter And Dark Energy Make Up 95 Percent Of Universe, Detailed Measurements Reveal Nov 4, 2009
The National Science Foundation funded the U.S. portion of the experiment, the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council funded the U.K. research and Enterprise Ireland funded the Irish contribution. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is a multi-program laboratory exploring frontier questions in astrophysics, photon science, particle physics and accelerator research. (Science Daily)
This Week's Sky at a Glance Nov 4, 2009
For an easy-to-use constellation guide covering the whole evening sky, use the big monthly map in the center of each issue of , the essential magazine of astronomy. Or download our free booklet (which only has bimonthly maps). (SkyAndTelescope.com)
3 in Hawaii win governor's innovation awards Nov 3, 2009
He joined the UH Institute for Astronomy in 1990. Innovation in Government: Hawai'i Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies. (Honolulu Advertiser)
Hawaii stimulus funds use draws fire Nov 3, 2009
4 million for UH astronomy, science and engineering. The governor will likely use the remainder on education improvements that may help the state qualify for Race to the Top grants. (Honolulu Advertiser)
13 billion-year-old light finally reaches Earth Nov 3, 2009
In astronomy, a larger distance. corresponds to an earlier time in cosmic history, because it takes longer for a farther-away photon, which travels at finite speed, to reach Earth, says Bing Zhang from the University of Nevada in the magazine. (USA Today -- Tech)
Speed Limit To The Pace Of Evolution? Nov 3, 2009
The study, appearing in the current issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was performed by Plotkin and Kryazhimskiy along with Ga;per Tkacik of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Penn. The study was funded by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, the James S. McDonnell Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency grant and the National Science Foundation. (Science Daily)
SMOS and Proba-2 ready for launch Nov 2, 2009
The rehearsal involved running a simulated launch countdown sequence in conjunction with operation centres at the French space agency CNES in Toulouse, France, and ESA's European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) in Villafranca, Spain, for SMOS and ESA's ground station in Redu, Belgium, for Proba-2. A formal review with the Russian State Commission was held today, where representatives of the various organisations involved were asked to report on the status of their activities. (Scientific American)
E-Infrastructures Give Real Boost To Virtual Observatories Nov 2, 2009
AIDA will take the work further, seeking to unify the digital data collections of Europe s astronomy centres, integrating their access mechanisms with evolving e-technologies, and enhancing the science extracted from the data. Pre-internet-age astronomy ... Sharing data in astronomy has a long history, preceding the internet by several decades reveals Genova. (Science Daily)
Looking Up: Answer the quiz, you might win a free star chart Nov 2, 2009
WIN THIS STAR CHART by answering the astronomy quiz in this weeks Looking Up column. There is no entry fee. (Belmont Citizen Herald, MA)
The power of music Nov 2, 2009
In ancient Greece, music was seen as the study of relationships between invisible, internal, hidden objects, along with astronomy, which was seen as the study of relationships between observable, permanent, external objects. The mind is a beautiful thing, but there is nothing like the soul to give it humanity. (Boston Globe -- Editorial)
New Celestial Map Gives Directions For GPS Oct 31, 2009
It was officially recognized as the fundamental reference system for astronomy by the IAU in August, 2009 ... Despite its usefulness for things like GPS, the primary application for the ICRF maps is astronomy. (Science Daily)
November 2009 Geology and GSA Today highlights Oct 31, 2009
Diverse aqueous environments on ancient Mars revealed in the southern highlands James J. Wray et al., Dept. of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA. Pages 1043-1046. In a study by Wray et al., data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal new mineralogic signatures of widespread water during the first billion years of Martian history. (EurekAlert!)
Scientists Build First 'Frequency Comb' To Display Visible 'Teeth' Oct 31, 2009
A frequency comb with such well-separated, visibly distinct teeth will be an important tool for a wide range of applications in astronomy, communications and many other areas ... The ability to directly observe and use individual comb teeth will open up important applications in astronomy, studies of interactions between light and matter, and precision control of high-speed optical and microwave signals for communications, according to the paper. (Science Daily)
Asteroid explosion was a whopper for Earth Oct 30, 2009
Preliminary investigation A preliminary look at the incident has been performed by Canadian researchers Peter Brown and graduate student Elizabeth Silber, of the Meteor Infrasound group in the department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. The researchers made a detailed examination of all International Monitoring System infrasound stations of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Star explosion is most distant space object seen Oct 29, 2009
"This explosion provides an unprecedented look at an era when the universe was very young and also was undergoing drastic changes," said Dale Frail of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. "The primal cosmic darkness was being pierced by the light of the first stars and the first galaxies were beginning to form. The star that exploded in this event was a member of one of these earliest generations of stars.". (MSNBC -- Technology)
The map that changed the world Oct 29, 2009
In the years immediately afterward, Schoner studied the map carefully, but as the decades wore on, as newer maps became available, and as his own interests shifted from geography to astronomy, he consulted the folio less and less. By the time he died, in 1545, he probably hadn't opened it in years. (BBC News -- UK)
How to Start Right in Astronomy Oct 28, 2009
Too many newcomers to astronomy get lost in dead ends and quit in frustration ... Astronomy is an outdoor nature hobby ... The Internet has put a gateway to the entire astronomy world on everybody's desktop. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
NASA Scrubs Ares 1-X Launch Due to Weather Oct 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009. The Ares 1-X rocket rolled out to its launch pad earlier this week. (Fox News)
NASA's Ares 1-X vs. the World's Tallest Rockets Oct 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009 By Tariq Malik. Oct. 20: The Ares I-X test rocket approaches launch pad 39B after a nearly seven hour journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building. (Fox News)
Statisticians Reject 'Global Cooling' Oct 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009. A graphic shows the departure from normal annual world temperature. (Fox News)
Adolescents' Gambling A Part Of A Cluster Of Problem Behaviors Oct 27, 2009
Astronomy students looking for supernovae examined photographs and found asteroids. They used both unaided eyes and computer analysis to identify the. (Science Daily)
AGU Journal highlights -- Oct. 26, 2009 Oct 27, 2009
However, they note that there are also many risks, including potential drought in some regions, continued ocean acidification, less sunlight for solar power, possible unexpected consequences, rapid warming if geoengineering were stopped, potential moral hazards, and problems for terrestrial astronomy. Title: Benefits, risks, and costs of stratospheric geoengineering. (EurekAlert!)
Shrimp Eyes May Lead to Ultra-Quality DVDs Oct 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009. A juvenile Mantis shrimp. (Fox News)
Check it out Oct 27, 2009
M-A: Well, it s always changing and evolving, like recently (when) Pluto was determined to not be a planet anymore, we needed to update our astronomy and physics books. You also want to keep your medical books updated, and your encyclopedias. (Wasilla Frontiersman, AK)
Phillies-Yankees World Series breakdown Oct 26, 2009
You might have even read about it in astronomy journals. The Big Bang Theory. (MLB.com -- NY Yankees Yankees)
Galileo's Notebooks May Reveal Secrets Of New Planet Oct 25, 2009
24, 2009) Galileo knew he had discovered a new planet in 1613, 234 years before its official discovery date, according to a new theory by a University of Melbourne physicist. Professor David Jamieson, Head of the School of Physics, is investigating the notebooks of Galileo from 400 years ago and believes that buried in the notations is the evidence that he discovered a new planet that we now know as Neptune. (Science Daily)
Female Saudi Reporter Lashed for Sex Talk Oct 25, 2009
Long ago Islam was a religion that protected science and philosophy (our number system, algebra, literature, astronomy, chemistry, and more). Now its core practitioners want to take the world back to the Dark Ages or worse. (CBS News)
Bay Area stargazers to honor Galileo Oct 24, 2009
It's all part of the International Astronomical Union's Year of Astronomy, with similar events scheduled around the world ... Public events begin tonight, when the UC Berkeley Astronomy Department holds a special free evening. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Science)
New Technique Identifies Versions Of The Same Song Oct 24, 2009
The technique, which appears in the New Journal of Physics, could be applied to analyse time series of data in other fields, such as economy, biology or astronomy. See also. (Science Daily)
Carbon Nanotubes Make Great Tomatoes Oct 24, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009. WASHINGTON Tomato seeds exposed to nanoparticles in the form of carbon nanotubes that are only 1/50,000 the width of a human hair, sprouted sooner and grew faster in what researchers are describing as a step toward the "goals of nanoagriculture.". (Fox News)
Galaxy Cluster Smashes Distance Record Oct 24, 2009
The paper describing the results on JKCS041 from Andreon and his colleagues will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. (Science Daily)
U.S. Belief in Global Warming Is Cooling Oct 23, 2009
Far Fewer Americans Believe in 'Global Warming. Friday, October 23, 2009. (Fox News)
Scouting Corner: Georgetown Scouts celebrate accomplishments Oct 23, 2009
Merit badges are badges that scouts can get ranging from astronomy to plumbing. A scout picks a subject and reads about it in a merit badge book. (Georgetown Record, MA)
'Most distant' galaxy group spied Oct 23, 2009
The paper describing the JKCS041 results will appear in a forthcoming issue of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. Bookmark with. (BBC News -- Science)
Panel Says NASA Should Skip Moon, Fly Elsewhere Oct 23, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009. WASHINGTON NASA needs to make a major detour on its grand plans to return astronauts to the moon, a special independent U.S. panel has told the White House. (Fox News)
Hawaii Sen. Inouye moves up in seniority Oct 22, 2009
As he moved up in seniority and influence, he has been able to help steer billions of dollars toward Hawaii on projects including astronomy facilities, university research, the military's Pacific Command headquarters and the Pacific Missile Range. "He's done so much for us in Hawaii for so long, that sometimes we forget that he's become a true national leader, paving the way for so many people and influencing policy on matters of war and peace," said Brian Schatz, chairman of the Hawaii... (Fresno Bee -- Nation)
Largest Ever Web-Spinning Spider Discovered Oct 22, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009. The spider Nephila inaurata can spin a web exceeding 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter, as shown here. (Fox News)
Spider Spins Monsterous Webs Oct 22, 2009
Largest Ever Web-Spinning Spider Discovered. Wednesday, October 21, 2009. (Fox News)
Astronomers Find Organic Molecules Around Gas Planet Oct 22, 2009
The institute is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for research in Astronomy, Inc., Washington, D.C.. JPL manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. (Science Daily)
An Astronomer's Astronomer: Kepler's Revolutionary Achievements in 1609 Rival Galileo's Oct 21, 2009
The International Year of Astronomy marks the 400th anniversary of German astronomer Johannes Kepler's breakthroughs as well as those of his better-known Italian contemporary ... Four hundred years ago this year, two events marked what scientists and historians today regard as the birth of modern astronomy ... It was the publication of Johannes Kepler's Astronomia Nova (The New Astronomy) in 1609, a treatise in which the German astronomer introduced the first two of. (Scientific American)
Penn team uses self-assembly to make molecule-sized particles with patches of charge Oct 21, 2009
The study, published as the cover article in the journal Nature Materials, was conducted by members of Penn's Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter, including David A. Christian, Aiwei Tian and Karthikan Rajagopal of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Wouter G. Ellenbroek and Andrea J. Liu of the Department of Physics and Astronomy; Ilya Levental of the Bioengineering Graduate Group; Paul A. Janmey of the Department of Physiology; Tobias Baumgart of the... (EurekAlert!)
At the centre of time Oct 21, 2009
" And while such political and practical considerations have caused time zones to change in relation to Greenwich over the years, scientific and technological advances have also challenged Greenwich's role as the centre of time and space. Leap secondsSince the 1960s, atomic clocks rather than astronomy have been keeping the world's time and have forced GMT to adapt. The combination of atomic clocks' super-accurate measurement and the fact that the rotation of the Earth is irregular and slowing... (BBC News -- UK)
New website aims to identify unknown objects Oct 20, 2009
The November 2009 issue of Astronomy Now, the UK's best-selling astronomy magazine, is now on sale at all good newsagents ... The project is being launched under the auspices of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA), and is timed to go alongside the IYA cornerstone project Galilean Nights, which will see astronomers hit the street for sidewalk astronomy sessions, where members of the public will be invited to look through telescopes on their way home from work, or on their way out for the... (Astronomy Now Online)
Rodger Doxsey, 62; helped extend Hubble telescope’s life Oct 20, 2009
When Riccardo Giacconi, who had founded the field of X-ray astronomy and later won a Nobel Prize, was appointed director of the newly founded Space Telescope Science Institute in 1981, Dr. Doxsey asked him for a job and became one of the first hired for the institute ... Along the way to Hubble s launching, Giacconi and his small band of recruits proceeded to reinvent the way astronomy was done ... Among other things, Dr. Doxsey became a master of the complex computer program that actually runs... (Boston Globe)
Nibiru - big planetary fun Oct 20, 2009
In fact, observatories and astronomy departments at universities are being flooded with inquiries about Nibiru and global devastation, so people are taking it seriously ... His publication, Astronomy Beat, printed an article by David Morrison, a senior scientist at NASA's Astrobiology Institute. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Science)
Parents weigh furlough options as 1st day approaches Oct 20, 2009
Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo: Full day of science enrichment. Costs are $30 per day or $25 for 'Imiloa member families. (Honolulu Advertiser)
