Category: Blog

Phil mentioned it on Bad Astronomy, Pamela dropped a note on Star Stryder, we chatted about it on Astronomy Cast. And here’s Universe Today’s compelling coverage…

I’m going to be in Austin for the Winter Meeting of the American Astronomical Society. In addition to all the news journalism, we thought we’d get some socializing done too. 🙂

Phil, Pamela, Rebecca, and I will be hosting a reader/listener meetup at the Iron Cactus in downtown Austin on January 8th at 8:00pm. Here’s a link that gives you directions from the Austin convention centre to the Iron Cactus.

If you’re going to be coming, can you drop me an email and let me know so we can gauge how many people might be there.

I look forward to meeting you all.

If you’re a student or teacher, and you’re working through astronomy right now, we’d like to help you out. Pamela and I will be running a special edition of Astronomy Cast for high school students.
We’ll help you gather up all the astronomy questions from your class, and then we’ll do a special episode just for you, answering everything.

If you’re interested in participating, check out Pamela’s blog, where she explains things in more detail.

We’ll be announcing this in the podcast as well, but I just wanted to let you know here. A big thanks to NASA’s Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope Education and Public Outreach program for sponsoring this.

Thanks to everyone who responded to our listener survey a few months ago. As promised, the results of the survey are now available, and have actually been published in a research journal. So if you’re interested in learning about who’s listening to Astronomy Cast, check out the premier issue of Communicating Astronomy with the Public, published by the International Astronomical Union.

Our article is called, Astronomy Cast: Evaluation of a podcast audience’s content needs and listening habits. I guess the title sort of explains it all.

So once again, thanks to everyone who participated, you’ve given us great feedback, and helped us make some really pretty bar charts.

If I had to take away one piece of information, that really makes the whole podcasting thing worth while, it’s the change in interest towards astronomy. Check this out.

We found that 25% of our listener respondents had no interest or a passive interest in astronomy prior to listening to astronomy-related podcasts. After listening to astronomy-related podcasts, 70% of these individuals had begun to actively seek astronomy content or had become amateur astronomers.

You can download our specific article here.

Fraser Cain
Publisher, Universe Today (and co-host of Astronomy Cast)

It’s my turn to host the Carnival of Space again. This time we’re up to mighty 19! These carnivals grow up so fast.

First up, Advancednano considers a recent study suggesting how an Orion spacecraft could refuel itself in midflight, and then suggests a better way. Here’s a hint: there’s nanotechnology involved.

Speaking of Orion, it’s a constellation too. And Orion and Beyond is a blog. And on this blog, Tommy Smith suggests how you can enjoy stargazing with the kids.

Emily Lakdawalla from the Planetary Society stitches together 11 images of Rhea taken by Cassini, and explains how you can follow along on your own.

A Babe in the Universe, Louise Riofrio recently attended the Mars Society conference in Los Angeles and reports on what happened. I wish I could have gone.

Which worlds should we colonize first? Darnell Clayton has a few suggestions.

Cumbrian Sky has this report on how we’re being bombarded by amazing and stunning images from space probes and telescopes. But which ones can live on and become classics?

And finally, for my own humble offering, might I suggest this recent article by Universe Today contributor Nancy Atkinson. It’s called A Submarine for Europa, and suggests undersea vehicles that could explore this ice-covered moon.

As you can probably guess, running Universe Today is a pretty expensive process for me, so I’m always trying to figure out ways to offset the expense. I’ve signed up for a new banner network that’s serving up the top and sidebar ads. Before the network is willing to run better targeted ads for the site, they need my readers to complete a quick survey. It should only take about 2 minutes of your time, doesn’t store any personal information about you. Once enough people have completed the survey, the ad network will present Universe Today to more specific advertisers.

Here’s a link to the survey.

I’d also like you to tell me if you see obnoxious and inappropriate ads. I’d especially like to know if you see anything trying to take over the browser or causing popup windows.

Email me at [email protected]

Also, I don’t mind if you’re running something like Firefox with Adblock+. I run it too from time to time. If you’re concerned about ads, feel free to turn them off in your browser.

Thanks!

Fraser Cain
Publisher
Universe Today

The carnival is back in town. Once again, the carnival of space makes its home here at Universe Today. Enjoy the ride…

Let’s start with a some great detective work by Emily Lakdawalla from the Planetary Society Blog. Remember those “puddles on Mars? Perhaps someone should have looked at the evidence better. Emily did.

Advanced Nanotechnology has a good question for you. Why colonize space instead of the Gobi desert? It’s like asking, why not move out of the house when you could just live in your parents’ basement.

When’s the next asteroid strike going to happen? astropixie Amanda Bauer talks about the risks and the damage. Oh, there’s a terrifying Japanese video of the damage that would happen from a really big asteroid strike.

From Tales of the Heliosphere, we have a story about just how connected all life is to the 24-hour cycle. It’s going to make traveling in space very difficult.

The Space Cynics have an idea. Why not use the Fed to lower launch costs?

Does the Moon make you crazy? Can you get… moon madness?

Some astronomy can be done in the day. Thanks to Astroblog, here’s a cool picture of Venus in the daytime, with tips and tricks to find it on your own.

A Babe in the Universe shows how the International Space Station is really taking shape.

Colony Worlds has a great breakdown of all the major players in the private space industry. One of these people may help mankind become a truly space-faring race.

Henry Cate (who started this beloved carnival), has an article about how asteroids could be the next great gold rush, literally.

Think we’ve seen it all? Cumbrian Sky reminds us, we ain’t seen nothing yet.

I’m at the centre of the Universe, and so is Pamela Gay at Starstryder. And so is Gusplex over on Alpha Ecx. How can everybody be at the centre of the Universe.

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait is on an Eta Carinae death watch. Tick tock tick tock…

Alan Boyle from MSNBC’s Cosmic Log is over at Cern right now, learning about the Large Hadron Collider. Oh, I’m jealous.

Centauri Dreams looks at new research working to model extrasolar planetary atmospheres.

And last, but not least, I bring you an interesting theory. Don’t look down, but there might be a microscopic black hole gobbling up the Earth from beneath your feet.

I’m pleased to announce a new sponsor for Universe Today and Astronomy Cast: “The Universe” brought to you by the History Channel. This is a 13-week documentary series about, what else, the Universe.

The first episode starts on Tuesday, May 29 at 9:00pm (8:00pm Central), and it’s called – “Secrets of the Sun”. There’s another showing Wednesday morning at 1:00am.

Here’s the blurb about it:

It is a fireball in the sky, a bubbling, boiling, kinetic sphere of white hot plasma, exploding and erupting. Its size is almost unimaginable–one million Earths would fit within its boundaries. In this violence is born almost all the energy that makes existence on Earth possible, yet, its full mysteries are only now beginning to be understood. From Sun spots to solar eclipses, solar flares to solar storms, the birth of the sun to its potential death, discover the science and history behind this celestial object that makes life on Earth exist.

So make sure you tune in over the Summer. If you’d like more information about the show, check out their special website at: http://history.com/universe

Universe Today is hosting the Carnival of Space for a second week. This time, it’s the mighty carnival #4. Once again, we’ve got a round-up of cool space-related articles from writers and bloggers. If you want to get involved, and maybe even host the carnival in a future week, you can find out more at the Carnival of Space website. Thanks for dropping by, I hope you enjoy the stories.

First up, Chris Lintott takes us into the submillimetre spectrum. And it’s looking good.

At Cumbrian Sky, Stuart Atkinson is dreads the day when one of the Mars rovers dies. Not tonight…

The Astronomy Picture of the Day submits a dark night over Death Valley, and highlights the dangers of encroaching light pollution.

Deborah Byrd from the EarthSky Blogs is wondering is the line between science and science fiction is beginning to blur with the search for Spock’s homeworld.

From hi-tech to low-tech. Do modern assumptions about astronomical observation work when looking at astronomy in ancient societies? Alun Salt from Clioaudio ponders that question.

Alan Boyle from MSNBC’s Cosmic Log reports that James “Scotty” Doohan’s ashes have been found.

Centauri Dreams considers our future, when the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy crash into one another. Who keeps the Sun?

Amanda Bauer is a fan of robots for space exploration, especially those hardworking Mars rovers. But is it time to enact the three laws of robotics?

A Babe in the Universe blog reports on the new dedication for the SOFIA airborne observatory.

Getting to space isn’t easy. Staying fit in space is hard too. Read this post from James Watt.

Pamela Gay explains the wonders of jets. No, not airplanes; the torrents of particles blasting away from black holes, new stars, and now, a brown dwarf.

Robert Pearlman at collectSPACE has been following the launch of the Shuttle Launch Experience, a new $60 million simulator designed to deliver to tourists at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex the feelings and emotions during a ride to orbit. collectSPACE will be covering the public opening on Friday, but before then, they got an early look inside.

Ian Musgrave from Astroblog has news on an exotic Neptune-sized world covered in hot ice.

Terraforming Mars. Is that a good idea, or a bad idea? Colony Worlds weighs in with an opinion.

When he’s not furious, the Angry Astronomer calmly explains stellar evolution in a four part series (1 2 3 4).

Would you rather see a hundred thousand acres of restored prairie or the same space covered by solar collection arrays? Thought so. But only 62 miles away is nearly limitless room and sunshine undiluted by an inconvenient atmosphere. Brian Dunbar has his opinion.

And finally, I look forward 3 trillion years into our lonely future.

Thanks to everyone who participated, and thanks for letting me be the host. I had a blast. I’ll see you next week at the next stop in the Carnival of Space.

I’m sorry this is such late notice, nobody let me know this was happening. Although sidewalk astronomers have been hitting the streets in the US for years, Saturday, May 19, 2007 is going to be the first International Sidewalk Astronomy Night.

If you’ve never heard of Sidewalk Astronomy, it’s an absolutely ingenious idea founded by John Dobson – inventor of the Dobsonian telescope. Amateur astronomers take their trusty telescopes out to public locations, like parks and busy streets, and give the general public a chance to see some of the most spectacular objects. They time the events so that major planets, the Moon, etc are visible in the early evening; objects visible from light polluted skies.

And this year, that evening is May 19.

Unlike previous years, the event is going international. Amateur astronomers will be setting up their scopes across the entire planet, from San Francisco to Sao Paulo to Kharkov. The event organizers are hoping to get 1,000 telescopes set up across the planet, engaging the public in astronomy.

If you’re an amateur astronomer, and want to help out, or if you want to find out where an event is happening near you so you can check out what they have to offer, visit their site here.