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Astronomy

Living in the city, it's easy to forget to look up at the night sky. You just can't see much to write home about other than perhaps the flashing lights on the nearest radio tower. But venture out past the suburbs, and suddenly it's like a whole new world...

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  Video chat this weekend? Maybe.
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Just a quick note: it’s the holiday weekend, my nephew the microbiologist is in town, and I have no clue if I’ll be around Sunday to do a live video chat or not. I’d like to, so stay tuned here and I’ll let y’all know on Saturday or sometime Sunday morning. The next coupla Sundays [...]

  Famous astronomers, free podcasts
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The Astronomical Society of the Pacific — a non-profit educational group that does great work in getting the word out about astronomy — has just released a dozen free audio recordings of lectures from well-known astronomers. They include SETI scientists Frank Drake and Jill Tarter, planet finder Geoff Marcy,...

  Oot and aboot
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It’ll take a few days for the Canadian accent to fade away… anyway, here are some short things to be aware of. 1) The new Carnival of Space is up at The Bat Page. It’s a good roundup, with a veritable explosion of Tunguska posts. Ha ha. 2) There is a gravity simulator just put online called [...]

  Theory of Relativity Passes Another Test
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Einstein's theory of General Relativity has been around for 93 years, and it just keeps hanging in there. With advances in technology has come the ability to put the theory under some scrutiny. Recently, taking advantage of a unique cosmic coincidence, as well as a pretty darn good telescope, astronomers looked at [...]

  MESSENGER Provides New Insights on Mercury
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Data from the MESSENGER spacecraft's first flyby of Mercury in January of 2008 are now turning into science results. Several scientists discussed their findings at a press conference today highlighting the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging mission, the first spacecraft to visit Mercury...

  Teen Skepchick, open for business
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I read Skepchick every day, and I have a pretty broad and bawdy sense of humor, but even I know that it’s not really appropriate for more tender ears (well, eyes). So whaddya do? You start Teen Skepchick. Well, if you’re Rebecca Watson, founder of Skepchick, that is. Branching off of Skepchick, the teen version...

  What was your first?
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My friend Emilie Drobnes is an astronomy education specialist, and she’s taking a survey related to the International Year of Astronomy 2009. She sent out an email to a bunch of other astronomers asking, "What was the first object you ever saw through a telescope?" Mine was Saturn. I’ve told the story...

  International Group Studies Mars Sample Return Mission
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Until humans can actually set foot on the Red Planet, the next best thing would be a sample return mission, to bring Martian soil samples back to Earth. A sample return would exponentially increase our knowledge and understanding Mars and its environment. And in order to pull off a mission of this magnitude, [...]

  Explosive Spacewalk?
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Explosive bolts that help detach the Russian Soyuz capsule from the International Space Station may be the source of the problems the spacecraft has encountered during the last two landings. Investigative space journalist and Jim Oberg at MSNBC, who is one of the best experts on the inner workings of the Russian space [...]

  Phoenix oven may short out
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I haven’t written about the Mars Phoenix lander in some time — I figure y’all get your news from Emily — but just in case I think I’d better mention that the oven on board the lander may short out the next time it’s used. This is bad news. The main goal of the lander [...]

  
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