Space

The Daytime Astronomer's Career Path

So you wanna be an astrophysicist? Try this route! Leave a well-paying NASA job to get a Ph.D. Begin studying solar CMEs... while the sun is at solar minimum. Assessing how the web is kicking print media's butt, consider shifting career to... journal ...

Blog Post - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - May 1 2009 - 12:21pm

What Happened In The First Trillionth Of A Second After The Big Bang? Let's Look Back In Time And See

What happened in the first trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang?  Super-sensitive microwave detectors, built at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), may soon help scientists find out. The new senso ...

Article - News Staff - May 3 2009 - 11:46am

New Research Claims It Will Throw Cosmology Into Crisis And Debunk Newton (Again)

It's certainly the case that 'dark matter', like 'Smurf' or 'government regulation', has in recent times become a de facto explanation for the unexplained.   We aren't big believers in magic so mysterious, undetected ...

Article - News Staff - May 5 2009 - 10:09am

Jupiter Ignites!

While I was napping, Jupiter became a 2nd sun. Although it was observed in January by STEREO, we forgot to tell people. Or perhaps we were hiding the truth. Also, it was so well covered on YouTube that we didn't think we had to bother with a press rel ...

Article - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - May 5 2009 - 12:36pm

Fermi And HESS Do Not Confirm A Dark Matter Signal

The Fermi collaboration released yesterday a paper describing their measurement of the electron and positron flux of cosmic rays. Simultaneously, a second paper was published by the HESS collaboration on the very same topic. Together, these two important n ...

Article - Tommaso Dorigo - May 6 2009 - 1:24pm

The Daytime Astronomer's Satellites

I've just wrapped up my time with another mission!  Can you match each satellite picture with its name? A B C  D E F Asca (Astro-D) RXTE (XTE) Astro-E SWIFT ...

Blog Post - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - May 8 2009 - 3:57pm

Astronomy and Green Space

Astronomy and green space? Yes, indeed. As an astrophysicist I always find great pleasure in pointing out that the Earth is a planet, just like all the rest of the bunch orbiting our Sun and thus an astronomical object. The Earth is special though because ...

Blog Post - Bente Lilja Bye - May 10 2009 - 5:58pm

Star Trek Versus Intelligent Design

The recent Star Trek movie raised a new set of conundrums about time travel and alternative realities. As an astrophysicist, I am clearly most able to tackle these issues. Basically, time travel theories fall into two classes. C. J. Ander posits 6 Theories ...

Article - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - May 13 2009 - 9:00am

Hope Is On The Way For Hubble

Monday afternoon the space shuttle Atlantis blasted off into the Florida sky carrying with it the hopes and dreams of astronomers like me and people around the world.  Seven NASA astronauts have set out to repair the aging Hubble Space Telescope and upgrad ...

Article - Dan Coe - May 13 2009 - 11:04pm

My Life's Work, All Mixed Up

They did a great job describing the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, but an awful job showing a picture of it.  "They" will remain nameless, as they otherwise put together a really great exhibit of images from the Hubble Space Telescope.  But in a panel ...

Blog Post - Dan Coe - May 14 2009 - 11:02am