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!