Space

Discovery- COROT-Exo-7b Is Smallest Exoplanet Yet

COROT has found the smallest terrestrial planet ever detected outside the Solar System. The amazing planet is less than twice the size of Earth and orbits a Sun-like star. Its temperature is so high that it is possibly covered in lava or water vapour.   Ab ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 3 2009 - 1:50pm

LIfe as a Daytime Astronomer: Coffee

I don't drink coffee, and to some degree this has impeded my astronomy career. Coffee is the one social connection even the most isolated theorist engages in. Heck, our wall of 3x3 monitors showing the newest data from our satellites is intentionally ...

Blog Post - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Feb 4 2009 - 7:35am

NGC 4921 Gets Its Close Up

An unusual spiral galaxy in the Coma galaxy cluster has been imaged using data obtained by the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope. It reveals fine details of the galaxy, NGC 4921, and an extraordinary rich background of more remote g ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 5 2009 - 11:22am

Life as a Daytime Astronomer: Star Trails

We had an exciting two hours back when the STEREO solar telescope satellites were first launched. The first summed image of several hours of first-light data showed a clear distortion in one of the ten SECCHI detectors. Doom! Tragedy! Can we compensate for ...

Blog Post - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Feb 6 2009 - 7:39am

Life as a Daytime Astronomer: Street Cred

I gave a talk on my dissertation work.  Several of the more senior scientists were amazed at the bonafide science it contained.  They'd had me pinned as someone who did 'service work'-- programming, project management, all the stuff that ena ...

Blog Post - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Feb 9 2009 - 8:06am

On "Barriers to Innovation": NASA isn't allowed 'hail marys'

The recent video "Barriers to Innovation" has some great thoughts about the culture of NASA and its barriers to innovation. Arriving from a Johnson Space Center study, the 10 minute video is worth a look. Ultimately, yes, I wish NASA had more of ...

Blog Post - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Feb 9 2009 - 10:07am

Cosmic Dawn, Formation Of First Big Galaxes, 'Seen'

Scientists have used a computer simulation to predict what the very early Universe would have appeared like 500 million years after the Big Bang.  The images, produced by scientists at Durham University's Institute for Computational Cosmology, show th ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 11 2009 - 1:03am

Life as a Daytime Astronomer: Being a Generalist

One of my readers (via Facebook) said he loved my blog but still had no idea what I did.  Good point.  While most career scientists hyperspecialize, I've moved among multiple fields of astronomy, often confusing myself in the process. Currently, I cre ...

Blog Post - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Feb 12 2009 - 6:03am

Art as a Daytime Astronomer

Just a little weekend tidbit, art from the science world. Sometimes, during talks, I'll see art where others see just a data or figure. Here are two cases from a recent conference that I love. This one could be called "Relationship between a CME- ...

Blog Post - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Feb 13 2009 - 3:06pm

The Daytime Astronomer on Space Websites

I often get the query "what is a good website for astronomy?". My instant answer is "Astronomy Picture of the Day". If you're only going to check one site, choose this. One picture plus a paragraph of text each day, that's it ...

Blog Post - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Mar 18 2009 - 8:45am