Everywhere I look a the moment I see astronomy in unexpected places. First, I spotted this post:
from moby.com
No, not a blogging astronomer, but super cool Moby professing his nerdiness and love for astronomy on his blog. But ok, an electronic music artist loves science – maybe that’s not so very surprising.
Today I was alerted by the Daily Mail that über-of-the-moment British designer Christopher Kane’s latest collection is inspired by the Universe, in a very literal sense:
Kane's collection on Net-A-Porter.com
These clothes have recently been worn (I’m told) by Alexa Chung and Carey Mulligan – it don’t get much hipper than that right now. I think I have a few old conference t-shirts like this in my wardrobe that I’ve never felt quite geeky enough to wear . Maybe now’s the time to break them out? Of course, it’s ironic that the people who actually built the telescopes and produced these images would never be able to afford to wear the clothes. Is there at least an image credit on the label? Some citations to interesting papers?
Note that one of the celebs in a Kane skirt is Samantha Cameron – that’s definitely one to put on a banner next time the UK budget gets cut.
I think we should really enjoy this moment in the flashbulbs. How often do we get the opportunity to teach our subject using Samatha Cameron’s bottom, or Carey Mulligan’s midriff? And if you’re busy writing a proposal right now, you may want to add these images to illustrate the potential legacy and economic impact of your data.
The International Year of Astronomy is here, yay! Check out the website to find out about the activities taking place in 2009, and follow the links to your country’s IYA webpages to see what’s happening near you. Here’s some of the projects I like:
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