Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Watch Our Live Interview with Climate Scientist Michael Mann

If you missed it live, here’s the replay of our live interview this morning with climate researcher Michael Mann. We discussed his new book, “The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines,” his experiences — good and bad — of being one of the leading paleoclimatologists and dealing with deniers of climate change, as well as talking about the science being done by Mann and his colleagues.

Thanks again to Michael Mann for taking the time to join us for the latest in our series of live interviews via Google+ Hangouts On Air.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Upcoming: Live Interview with Climate Scientist Michael Mann

Michael Mann, Professor Director, Earth System Science Center, Pennsylvania State University. Credit: PSU

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Join us on Friday, March 16, 2012 at 14:00 UTC for another in our series of live interviews. This week we’ll be talking with climate scientist Michael Mann, who has written a new book, “The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines.”

Please note the different time than our usual interviews/Hangouts On Air: our interview with Mann will be at 14:00 UTC, 10 am EDT, 7 am PDT. Watch on CosmoQuest’s Hangout page, or on Fraser’s Google + page. We’ll be taking questions for Dr. Mann in the ‘chat’ areas on the Hangout.

If you can’t watch it live, we’ll post the video reply later in the day on Friday.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Weekly Space Hangout — March 8, 2012

In this episode of the Weekly Space Hangout, we talk about two different asteroid close passes, the solar storms buffeting the Earth, a recent space exploration conference, and a team of amateur astronomers flashing the space station. The regular team was there, with Phil Plait, Pamela Gay, Emily Lakdawalla, Alan Boyle, Nancy Atkinson and host Fraser Cain.

We were also joined by Ryan Kobrick – Executive Director of Yuri’s Night – to talk about the upcoming festivities on April 12.

Remember, we record this show live every Thursday at 10:00am PST / 1:00 pm EST / 1800 UTC. Join us at Cosmoquest Hangouts, or watch Fraser’s Google+ stream for the show to start.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

The Latest Exoplanet News from Kepler

We love exoplanets! And the Kepler mission is giving us more to love. Our special guest on our latest live interview via a Google+ Hangout On Air was astronomer Darin Ragozzine with the Kepler mission, sharing insight how Kepler is blowing our previous concepts on exoplanets out of the water. Darin is an ITC Fellow at the Harvard Institute for Theory and Computation. He studies the theory and dynamics of transiting exoplanets around other stars and Kuiper belt objects in the outer solar system.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Next Live Interview: The Latest Exoplanet News from Kepler

Artist's conception of "Super-Earth" exoplanet Kepler-22b, which is about 2.4 times larger than Earth. Credit: NASA.

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Coming up next in our series of live interviews with astronomers and scientists is a discussion of the latest news from the Kepler mission. Joining us will be Darin Ragozzine, a postdoctoral researcher with the Kepler mission, at the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory who studies transiting exoplanets, as well as the theory and dynamics of Kuiper belt objects.

The live interview will be a Hangout on Air, and be on Friday, March 2 at 18:00 UTC, 1 pm EST, 10 am PST. 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 us.

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. If you can’t watch live, we’ll post a recording of the Hangout later on UT.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Video: Weekly Space Hangout with Special Guest Alan Stern

If you missed it live, here’s the replay of this week’s Space Hangout. And don’t forget, on Friday, Feb. 17 at 18:00 UTC (1 pm EST, 10 am PST) I’ll be interviewing astronomer and Pluto killer (@Plutokiller) Mike Brown. 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 Mike 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, just like the one above.

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

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!