Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Reminder: This Week’s Weekly Space Hangout with Special Guest Alan Stern

Just a reminder that we’ll be doing our regular live Weekly Space Hangout On Air on Thursday at the usual time of 18:00 UTC (1 pm EST, 12 Noon CST, 10 am PST) with our regular group of space journalists (Fraser Cain, Phil Plait, Ian O’Neil, Pamela Gay, Emily Lakdawalla, Alan Boyle, Nicole Gugliucci and Nancy Atkinson). But this week we will be joined by a very special guest, Dr. Alan Stern, the Principal Investigator for the New Horizon’s mission to Pluto and the LAMP instrument on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. You won’t want to miss this unique chance to hear directly from Dr. Stern.

To watch the Hangout on Air, circle Fraser on Google+ and watch his feed for the link to the Hangout. There you can join in on the conversation and post your questions for Dr. Stern by posting comments on the feed.

If you aren’t on Google+, you can also watch it live on the CosmoQuest Hangouts page, where there is also a place to post comments and questions. And we’ll also try to have a live feed on Universe Today. Just look for a video player in the upper right hand corner of the site and click the ‘play’ button. If you can’t watch live, we’ll post a recording of the Hangout later on UT.

Additionally, as a heads up, I’ll be doing a live Hangout on Air interview of astronomer Mike Brown on Friday, Feb. 17 at 18:00 UTC — and you can watch live by the same means as above.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Live Hangout Interview with Rover Driver Scott Maxwell

It was history in the making: Our first live interview via a Google+ Hangout On Air! We talked with Mars rover driver Scott Maxwell, and he told us about the plans for the Opportunity rover’s upcoming winter, we took a look back at the 8 years of the MER on Mars, and looked ahead to the Curiosity (MSL) rover mission, set to land in August this year. Thanks again to Scott for being a wonderful first live interviewee!

To watch these interviews live, circle Fraser and watch his feed for updates. If you’re not on Google+, you can still watch these episodes live. Today, we were able to have a live feed on the main page of Universe Today while the interview was taking place (it was on the upper right hand corner). But you can also visit the Cosmoquest Hangouts page and you’ll see them when they happen.

And I’ve got great news: Next Friday, February 17, we’ll have our second live interview with astronomer Mike Brown from Caltech. The interview will take place at 18:00 UT (1 pm EST, 12 noon CST, 10 am PST).

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Watch Live Webcast from the Keck Observatory

On Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012, Keck Observatory will be hosting a live webcast of an astronomy talk by Dr. Tom Soifer of Caltech, who is the Director of the Spitzer Science Center. The title of the talk is “Seeing the Invisible Universe,” and Soifer will discuss the latest exciting results from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. The webcast begins at 7 pm Hawaiian Time, 9 pm Pacific Time (5 am GMT, Feb 10) and will be streamed from the Kahilu Theatre in Waimea-Kamuela, on the Big Island of Hawaii. Watch in the window above (click the play button) or watch on the Keck website.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Join UT’s First Live Interview with Rover Driver Scott Maxwell

Rover Driver Scott Maxwell with a model of MER. Photo courtesy Scott Maxwell

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How often have you wanted to be a fly on the wall during media interviews of top scientists and engineers? Here’s your chance! On Friday, February 10, we’ll be having our first live interview via a Google+ Hangout On Air. We’ve done the weekly Space Hangout for several weeks now and Fraser has done multiple virtual star parties via a Hangout On Air. Now we’ll start the first of what we hope are many live interviews that we’ll share with our readers and fans. We’re excited that Mars rover driver Scott Maxwell, will be joining us, and he will provide insight on the plans for the Opportunity rover’s upcoming winter, a look back at the 8 years and counting for the rovers, a look ahead to the future, and more.

The Hangout On Air will start at 18:00 UTC (1 pm EST,12 noon CST, 10 am PST) or you can check here at the fancy-schmancy time and date announcement Scott put together that shows the time in almost every time zone possible.

How do you find the Hangout? The best way is to join Google+ and “circle” Fraser and the Hangout On Air will show up in his timeline. You can also circle Nancy, who will also provide a link, but within Fraser’s timeline there will also be the opportunity for you to post questions that we can ask Scott during the live interview.

If you can’t watch live, the Hangout will be recorded and we’ll post it later on Friday on Universe Today.

We hope you’ll join us!

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Virtual Star Party – Feb. 8, 2012

Here was the virtual star party that we held last night on Google+. We’ve actually been holding 1-2 of these star parties every week as we figure out the best way to organize and coordinate all the telescopes streaming into the Hangout. I don’t normally post them all on Universe Today, but last night was particularly special, with amazing views of the Rosette Nebula approximately one hour into the broadcast. A big thanks to Gary Gonella for sharing his telescope view with us.

If you’re interested in watching future livestreamed telescope virtual star parties, make sure you circle me on Google+.

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Astronomy Cast Ep. 249: Schrödinger’s Cat

You’ve probably all heard of Schrödinger’s Cat, that bizarre thought experiment designed by Erwin Schrödinger to show how the strange predictions of quantum theory could impact the real world. No cats will be harmed in the making of this episode, maybe.

You can watch us record Astronomy Cast live every Monday at 12:00 pm PDT (3:00 pm EDT, 2000 GMT). Make sure you circle Fraser on Google+ to see it show up in the feed. You can also see it live over on our YouTube channel.

If you’d like to be notified of all our live events, sign up for our notification email at Cosmoquest. You can check out our calendar here.

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Astronomy Cast – Episode 248: Carina Constellation

Time for another detailed look at a constellation; one of the most fascinating in the sky, but hidden to most of the northern hemisphere: Carina. Home to one of the most likely supernova candidates we know of: Eta Carinae. Let’s talk just about this constellation, how to find it, and what you can discover in and around it.

You can watch us record Astronomy Cast live every Monday at 12:00 pm PDT (3:00 pm EDT, 2000 GMT). Make sure you circle Fraser on Google+ to see it show up in the feed. You can also see it live over on our YouTube channel.

If you’d like to be notified of all our live events, sign up for our notification email at Cosmoquest. You can check out our calendar here.