A big week for astronomy March 30, 2009
Posted by sarah in: science . 1 comment so far
This week, starting 2 April, one of the biggest events in the International Year of Astronomy will take place. 100 Hours of Astronomy, one of the year’s Cornerstone programmes, will get thousands of people looking through a telescope at the skies, just like Galileo did 400 years ago, over the course of 5 nights. Tons of great events are taking place, from star parties organised by local astronomy organisations around the world to global webcast events.
The webcast events look particularly fun. The first, called Live Science Centre, will allow anyone with a weblink to participate in discussions about space and astronomy throughout history with scientists in places as far-flung as Germany, South Africa and the US. The Science Centre webcast takes place on 2 April at 17:00 UTC (follow the link to see the time at your location). Around the World in 80 Telescopes is a really cool continuous 24-hour webcast, starting on 3 April at 09:00 UTC that hops around 80 world-class telescopes scattered around the globe and in space to follow live what astronomers are up looking at.And yes, that does include the space telescopes like Hubble, Spitzer and the newly launched Kepler!
This is really one of the big highlights of the IYA and it will be well worth your while to take a peek. So follow the jump over to the website to see what’s happening in your area and mark the webcasts in your diaries. You can also get updates via twitter (@100Hours and @telescopecast). If you own a telescope, take it out onto the street and get your neighbours out.
Bringing open source to astronomy March 28, 2009
Posted by sarah in: science . 3commentsA very interesting paper was posted on astro-ph this week on software development in astronomy. Authored by Benjamin Weiner of Steward Observatory in Arizona and many colleagues, the paper is one of many on the State of the Profession submitted to the 2010 Decadal Survey for astronomy and astrophysics (lots of interesting papers in this category, check out the full list here). The position paper describes a problem that I think is well known in the astronomy community: that software development for instruments and large simulations is not adequately funded, and that the developers do not get the recognition they deserve for their extremely valuable work. They call for changes in the way that software development is tackled in research. I entirely agree.
Alaskan volcano erupts March 25, 2009
Posted by sarah in: geology, pics, science . 2comments
Location of Mt. Redoubt (Image: J. Schaefer/AVO/ADGGS)
It’s a good week for gelogy nerds. After last week’s undersea volcanic eruption in the South Pacific, the Alaskan volcano Mt. Redoubt erupted violently several times last weekend, and continues to rumble. Ash clouds rose to about 16 km according the Alaskan Volcano Observatory (AVO) and the eruption caused significant flooding (see this cool picture). The Alaskan volcanoes form part of the Pacific Ring of Fire which is littered with active volcanoes and a frequent site for earthquakes and eruptions.
Check out the AVO page on Redoubt for updates or follow on Twitter.
**Update, 29/03/09** Redoubt isn’t done erupting yet, more explosive eruptions took place in the last couple of days. The AVO Twitter feed is the best way of keeping up to date!
Webcam image of Redoubt erupting on Saturday. (Image: AVO/USGS)
**Update, 30 March 09**. Explosive eruptions have continued at Redoubt in thel last few days and AVO is reporting the first ash falling on Achorage. There’s no danger to the population though. More spectacular pictures have appeared on the AVO website, this one is particularly striking.
Lightning during one of Redoubt's eruption events on 28 March (image credit: Higman, Bretwood)
Ada Lovelace, Girl Geek #1 March 24, 2009
Posted by sarah in: science, women . Add a commentToday is Ada Lovelace Day, a day to celebrate women in in IT and technology. Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) was Lord Byron’s daughter – yes, that Lord Byron – and she was a truly exceptional woman. In a time when it was unusual, if not frowned on, for a woman to be involved in any serious intellectual pursuits, Lovelace was one of the first people in the world to see the potential of computers and write computer programs. And this all before Charles Babbage even built his “computer engine”.
Big Picture: Ballooning into space March 21, 2009
Posted by sarah in: pics, science, space . Add a comment
The second even featured in the Big Picture was the brilliant story of the Spanish high school kids who built their own high-altitude weather station attached to a large helium balloon. The balloon floated up 30 km into the atmosphere and a cheap off-the-shelf digital camera took pictures on the way up and down. They are fantastic! Quickly, someone give these guys a job before they become bankers or lawyers.
The group also have a page on Flickr with a larger set of images here and a blog.
Image credit: Meteotek08 team
