I have been saving so many of these articles and just never got around to posting them. Some seem to have some age on them, so I'll leave them out and just share the good stuff.
Astronomically Far Away: How to Measure the Universe
Defining missions for the Ocean Worlds (since we are finally going to send a probe to Europa)
Beyond Earth (Day) Where will alien life be discovered first?
Send us your most ambitious spaceship designs (mainly aimed at students in K12 education)
My new favorite company - SpaceX!
And finally, in honor of the Mercury Transit today
I have been meaning to write about space tourism and I will get my act together and share what is on my mind.
Monday, May 9, 2016
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Good astronomy news
Using neutrinos in space:
Are we ready to send humans to Mars?
How to measure the universe:
The largest sunspot ever observed, and I saw it through my telescope!
Monday, April 11, 2016
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Some recent science news (Black holes and Mars, but not together)
I have been meaning to catch up and have a few links to share today. I have had some ideas about both citizen science (such as galaxy zoo) and space tourism (ala Richard Branson) about which I have been meaning to write. Those are upcoming, I promise. Or you can take away my blogging salary.
Tomorrow begins our spring break here at school, and on top of that, my family and a few lucky friends are going to see Superman vs Batman. It has been much anticipated and I am looking forward to it.
Clocking the rotation rate of a supermassive black hole (But whose clock to use?)
Mars Radiation Risk: How Would 'The Martian' Hero Fare? (Not well, I think).
New gravity map gives best view yet inside Mars
Tomorrow begins our spring break here at school, and on top of that, my family and a few lucky friends are going to see Superman vs Batman. It has been much anticipated and I am looking forward to it.
Clocking the rotation rate of a supermassive black hole (But whose clock to use?)
New gravity map gives best view yet inside Mars
Success with hyperlinking!
Monday, March 14, 2016
More about general relativity
Great link about the first 100 years of general relativity and how that has led to recent discoveries with gravitational waves.
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Double astronomy Tuesday
I am enough of a Star Wars nerd to love anything that resembles Tatooine. So when astronomers investigate double sun systems (binary systems) with planets, I am all ears.
And of course my favorite dwarf planet, which needs no introduction.
A gas cloud out for revenge? That sounds like Star Trek! Now you're talking!
Refrigerator update: delay due to ice and snow. It will be delivered on Saturday.
Monday, February 15, 2016
Gravitational waves
I am sitting here at home on a snowy President's Day morning, waiting for our new refrigerator to arrive, and I started thinking about the recent gravitational wave discovery and what that means. Even after having several days to let the discovery sink in, I am still coming to grips with it.
(To add a side comment, this has already been an incredible year to teach astronomy for the first time. We've had the Pluto flyby, eclipses, exoplanet discoveries, possibly another planet discovery and now LIGO's announcement.)
Very simply, the discovery of gravitational waves opens up an entire new realm of astronomy. Astronomers use every wavelength available (radio, microwave, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, X Ray and gamma ray) and use a range of methods to gather information from them. (They also use cosmic rays and neutrinos now that I think about it.)
One of the best ways to learn more about an object is to compare it in multiple frequencies. Now they use gravity as a tool as well.
Much has been made about the double black hole merger that LIGO described in their big announcement. ANY rearrangement of matter would also lead to these waves. Supernovae, colliding stars and who knows what else is colliding and rearranging out there in the universe.
It is a higher leap forward for astronomy and for science as well.
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Black holes and neutrinos, but not together
Black holes and their weird properties (from Symmetry magazine)
Are neutrinos and anti neutrinos the same particle? (Again, from Symmetry magazine, how, what's the word I'm looking for?)
I'll offer some commentary on these articles in a future post.
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Physics for the snowbound
This week marks the fifth time in my 21 years of teaching that I have had an entire week of school cancelled due to weather and snow. We have about 26 inches (66 cm) of snow outside and it has made the roads treacherous and now the sidewalks are impassible. And now I have heard that tomorrow (Friday) will be our fifth day in a row of no school. So that means that our planned snow days are used, and any more days off will have to made up. Hmm.
At least the internet works!
Babylonian mathematics was 1500 years ahead of others.
Archival film footage from CERN from 1961!
And finally, Quantum physics themed short stories. They are actually quite good - check them out.
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Quantum magnetic loops???
Perhaps the most fascinating news that I have heard lately is that of scientists using magnetic fields to tie particles in loops. I don't even know what that means yet, but it sounds absurdly interesting. And I do like the absurd.
My son and I have really been into the Mythbusters this season, even as they end their show. I predict that Adam will continue to have a TV presence, and Jamie will disappear into his workshop, never to be heard from again. The Mythbusters, as well as other people at Discovery channel, have been working on content for a virtual reality app for phones. Instead of watching a screen that is the size of you device, you can turn and point your device to view their show in a 360 degree circle. Very cool.
To round it out today, I was dipping into the past this weekend to listen to a lot of David Bowie. I am not poetic enough to really say much about him, other than he was an original and will be missed. Okay, one more thing about Bowie - he was three years ahead of grunge music.
CNN tribute to David Bowie
Ground control to Major Tom...
Success with hyperlinking!
My son and I have really been into the Mythbusters this season, even as they end their show. I predict that Adam will continue to have a TV presence, and Jamie will disappear into his workshop, never to be heard from again. The Mythbusters, as well as other people at Discovery channel, have been working on content for a virtual reality app for phones. Instead of watching a screen that is the size of you device, you can turn and point your device to view their show in a 360 degree circle. Very cool.
To round it out today, I was dipping into the past this weekend to listen to a lot of David Bowie. I am not poetic enough to really say much about him, other than he was an original and will be missed. Okay, one more thing about Bowie - he was three years ahead of grunge music.
CNN tribute to David Bowie
Ground control to Major Tom...
Success with hyperlinking!
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
So much news
I am doing a news blast here with many articles that I have collected, and some that I have yet to read. Enjoy, and send me a message if you really like one of them.
Planetary Exploration Timelines: A Look Ahead to 2016
What could dark matter be?
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