One thing that became clear from the talks at .Astronomy is that the days of our traditional model of observational astronomy are numbered, and the Web 2.0 lies at the very heart of the transformation. A shift is occurring in the philosophy of astronomical research.
Networked Astronomy
September 24, 2008 By
I haven’t posted for the last few days while I’ve been at the .Astronomy conference in Cardiff, UK, which was organised by a group of astronomers who are really passionate about the web as a means for carrying our astronomical research, and involving everyone around the world in the process. There have been some really great talks and my head is kind of buzzing with new ideas and the coolness of it all. Also, I feel very very technologically inept and have a lot to learn when it comes to Web 2.0.
There will definitely be more on the conference here later, when I’ve had the chance to digest! Back soon.
In the mean time you can check out the site and the organiser’s blog.
APOD: Another science myth bites the dust
September 21, 2008 By
I didn’t even know about this myth – but apparently some people believe that the equinoxes are the only day of the year when you can balance eggs on their ends (riiiight).
Twice a year the path of the Sun crosses the Earth’s equator, making night and day precisely the same length. Most people know these days as the start of springtime (the vernal equinox) and the start of autumn (the autumnal equinox). Of course the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere is the autumnal equinox in the South, and so on. The northern automnal equinox takes place tomorrow!
Anyway so today’s APOD shows photographic evidence that this is not the case, courtesy of mr. Bad Astronomer Phil Plait, who managed the extraordinary feat in late October back in 1998.
Oh look, he even posted a little video with instructions on how to repeat the experiment with your own equipment. In that case, I’ll excuse him the sloppiness of the original experiment in showing no evidence of the date the photo was taken.
Clap clap.
Beyond Hubble: Gearing up for JWST
September 21, 2008 By
This model of the MIRI detector (in green) is similar to the charge-coupled devices in digital cameras. It's housed in the brick-like unit called a focal plane module. Credit: NASA JPL-CalTech
The Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990, has enabled some amazing advances in astronomy and enthralled people around the world with stunning imagery from space. A final servicing mission will travel to the Hubble later this year for one last upgrade to carry the telescope through to the end of its life.
Meanwhile, in laboratories across the US and Europe, preparations have been in full swing for Hubble’s successor, the James Webb Space Telescope. Just two days ago, NASA issued a press release reporting on a crucial milestone in the development of JWST’s instrument for the mid-infrared wavelength regime (from 5 to 28 microns), MIRI – website here. For the last 4 days I’ve been holed up in the lab over in the UK to help prepare for the final flight testing of MIRI, due to take place in a year’s time.
Maybe an Exoplanet, but Hold Your Horses
September 16, 2008 By
I was just about to publish a long post about this story that has appeared on various news websites (also here) and blogs (here). But then I read to the end of the press release and decided to have a look at the paper which was posted to the preprint server astro-ph – as astronomers usually do with new publications.
It says ‘Submitted to ApJ Letters‘. Ha.
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