Space Station 2010 Calendar

Available here, just in time for the New Year. Enjoy!

What came first: the galaxy of the black hole?

One of the biggest questions in galaxy formation is this: which came first, the galaxy or the supermassive black hole observed in the center of practically every galaxy. Go here to read about recent results which might help answer this question.

Lakes on Titan

Read this interesting article concerning why almost all of the lakes on Titan, Saturn's largest moon, are found on one side of this object. Enjoy!

Aurora on Saturn

Check out this movie courtesy of NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Enjoy!

Merge Galaxies on your computer!

In my opinion ne of the best astronomer projects out there, Galaxy Zoo, has branched out to cover galaxy mergers. Go here for more information. Enjoy!

The History of Globular Cluster Terzan 5

one of the oldest, densest, and most massive collection of stars in the Milky Way. Go here for more information.

Astronomy Gift Idea #1

If you are thinking of the perfect gift to get the (radio) astronomer in your life, how about “Under the Radar: The First Woman in Radio Astronomy, Ruby Payne-Scott.” Miller Goss, one of the authors of this book, is one of the most pre-eminent radio astronomers in the US and was a former director of the Very Large Array. Go here for more information, and check back this site soon for an interview with Dr. Goss on this fascinating subject (I know it is on my hard drive someplace....)

Happy Holidays!

From Hubble.

WISE telescope launched

A "small" (only 40 cm in diameter) telescope launched to survey to entire sky at mid-infrared wavelengths (where brown dwarfs, stars and AGN behind lots of dust, and dusty galaxies are easiest to detect), WISE is going to be an extremely important telescope for years to come (even though it is only designed to work for a year). Because it will make the most sensitive all-sky map at these wavelengths, it is likely to discover new classes of sources, and identify interesting objects for the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope and Atacama Large Millimeter Array to observed in detail. Go here for more information, and wish them luck!

Update: Here is a nice summary of different news articles regarding what different astronomers hope WISE will discover. Even though most of the objects I work on (neutron stars, pulsar wind nebulae) are unlikely to be detected by this satellite, I think projects like this one are some of the most important in astronomy. All-sky surveys have the greatest potential of discovering new things we didn't know and didn't guess exist, that is almost always the most exciting discovery of all. Stay tuned!

Planet 51 and NASA

Not surprisingly, NASA and Planet 51 the movie have banded together to make some public service announcements about space exploration. Go here to see them. Hope you enjoy!

Investigating a Galaxy's "stomach"

As I've discussed on previous shows, astronomers believe that the major way galaxies grow is by merging with other galaxies. Read here how astronomers have detected the remnants of one of these mergers in a nearby galaxy, Centaurus A. Hope you enjoy!

Edge-on Spiral Galaxy

From this picture you can see this thin layer of dust and gas believed to lie in the inner part of every spiral disk galaxy, including the Milky Way. Courtesy of Hubble, of course.

Robot Probe from Jupiter

Sort of. Go here to see what I'm talking about.

Happy 10th Birthday XMM-Newton

Launched ten years ago TODAY, XMM-Newton - the European Space Agency's X-ray satellite and the largest X-ray satellite ever (and likely to hold that title for at least 20 years) - is still going strong (for the most part). Go here for more info on the birthday celebration. I'm presonally hoping for at least 10 more years of XMM and Chandra...

Want to be a Martian?

Well, thanks to a collaboration between NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Microsoft you can. Sort of. Go to this webpage to see for yourself. Hope you enjoy! And please let me know what you think...

Star Formation Movie

This is NOT an artist rendition of gas collapsing gravitational to form a star, but a movie made from REAL data showing this process. Go here to learn more. Hope you enjoy!

Gorgeous Galactic Center Image

Available here courtesy of NASA's Great Observatories. Taken just in time for the holidays as part of the International Year of Astronomy celebrations (and for lots of very interested scientific reasons. The center of the Milky Way is a hotbed of star formation, stellar explosions, etc. that is very poorly understood). Also available here.

Solar Sails!

Continuing our mini-theme of new technologies in space travel, read this New York Times Science article on Solar Sails. Hope you enjoy!

High School Summer Internships at JPL

JPL is looking for a few highly motivated high school students who have a strong interest in and aptitude for science, technology, engineering and/or math for its JPL Summer High School Internship Program (JPL SpaceSHIP). This program runs for eight weeks during the summer of 2010. Applicants must be at least 16 when the program starts. They must also live within a 50-mile radius of JPL, which is located in Pasadena, Calif., and have a 3.0 GPA. Each student has a mentor – a NASA/JPL scientist, engineer or staff member who provides guidance about the project and answers questions about careers in science and engineering. For more details about this opportunity, go here, and good luck.

If you get it, I'd love to hear about what you did....

Space Elevators!

Long a staple of science fiction, NASA has been funding some research to try and make them a technological fact. Go here for some neat little computer games to describe what a space elevator is. Hope you enjoy!

NASA "Moon Work" Competition

From the official NASA email:" The 2010 NASA Moon Work engineering design challenge seeks to motivate college students by giving them first-hand experience with the process of developing new technologies. To participate in the contest, students will submit their original design for tools or instruments that can help astronauts live and work on the moon. Top-ranked students will be offered a chance to intern with a team from NASA's Exploration Technology Development Program.

Students should submit a notice of intent to enter the contest by Dec. 15. Final entries for the Moon Work challenge are due May 15, 2010. All entries must be from students at U.S. colleges or universities. Although non-citizens may be part of a team, only U.S. citizens may win NASA internships or travel awards.

For complete details and to enter the contest, visit: http://moonwork.larc.nasa.gov."

Good luck!

BLAST! DVD Discount Extended

The best Astronomy movie of the year, BLAST! is no available for a 20% educator's discount using code 5G7S5K now through December 11th. Go here for more information. Enjoy!