Featured Posts
Bad Astronomy
16 May 2013, 11:30 UTC
Today is the official U.S. premier of the new movie, Star Trek Into Darkness, and yes, I’m excited. Maybe too excited. I’m a Galaxy-class Trek dork (here's plenty of proof of that), and have been since I was a little kid. I actually liked the 2009 reboot, mostly (see below), and liked all the series and movies to a certain degree (except Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, but c’mon, right?). Still, as a scientist, I can’t help but notice that every now and again, just sometimes, maybe, Trek ventures into some pretty dicey science territory. Let me be clear: I have no problem with faster-than-light travel, time travel, teleporters, the Universal Translator, or anything like that. Every genre has a conceit, a gimme, and in scifi that means advanced tech that we can’t necessarily explain today. That’s fine, and as long as it’s internally consistent in the story I’m happy. My beef is usually when the plot relies on some error in science, or when the tech is used inconsistently. If you discover, say, a Fountain of Youth in one episode, you’d better establish why everyone in the Federation isn’t young after that. Say. Anyway, what follows are some ...
Star Trek: The Search for Science
16 May 2013, 11:30 UTC
Today is the official U.S. premier of the new movie, Star Trek Into Darkness, and yes, I’m excited. Maybe too excited. I’m a Galaxy-class Trek dork (here's plenty of proof of that), and have been since I was a little kid. I actually liked the 2009 reboot, mostly (see below), and liked all the series and movies to a certain degree (except Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, but c’mon, right?). Still, as a scientist, I can’t help but notice that every now and again, just sometimes, maybe, Trek ventures into some pretty dicey science territory. Let me be clear: I have no problem with faster-than-light travel, time travel, teleporters, the Universal Translator, or anything like that. Every genre has a conceit, a gimme, and in scifi that means advanced tech that we can’t necessarily explain today. That’s fine, and as long as it’s internally consistent in the story I’m happy. My beef is usually when the plot relies on some error in science, or when the tech is used inconsistently. If you discover, say, a Fountain of Youth in one episode, you’d better establish why everyone in the Federation isn’t young after that. Say. Anyway, what follows are some ...
ESO Announcements
16 May 2013, 09:00 UTC
The former ESO representative in Chile, Massimo Tarenghi, was awarded the Grand Cross, highest rank of the Bernardo O'Higgins Order, by the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a ceremony in Santiago on 10 May 2013. In the presence of government officials and representatives of the diplomatic corps, the Foreign Minister, Alfredo Moreno, granted Tarenghi this decoration in recognition of his 35 years devoted to the construction of major telescopes in Chile. "Massimo is not only a scientist, an outstanding professional and an entrepreneur, but also a friend who, over the years, has become a great promoter of our country. With his energy, experience and hard work, he has contributed to the process of making public the virtues of Chile," said Minister Moreno during the event. Since 1979, Tarenghi has been in charge of the construction and operation of several of the most important ESO telescopes in Chile, including the New Technology Telescope (NTT) at La Silla, the Very Large Telescope (VLT) on Cerro Paranal, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) on the Chajnantor Plateau. ALMA was inaugurated on 13 March 2013 during an official ceremony. "I'd like to thank you for this great honour that has been bestowed ...
Massimo Tarenghi Awarded Grand Cross by the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs
16 May 2013, 09:00 UTC
The former ESO representative in Chile, Massimo Tarenghi, was awarded the Grand Cross, highest rank of the Bernardo O'Higgins Order, by the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a ceremony in Santiago on 10 May 2013. In the presence of government officials and representatives of the diplomatic corps, the Foreign Minister, Alfredo Moreno, granted Tarenghi this decoration in recognition of his 35 years devoted to the construction of major telescopes in Chile. "Massimo is not only a scientist, an outstanding professional and an entrepreneur, but also a friend who, over the years, has become a great promoter of our country. With his energy, experience and hard work, he has contributed to the process of making public the virtues of Chile," said Minister Moreno during the event. Since 1979, Tarenghi has been in charge of the construction and operation of several of the most important ESO telescopes in Chile, including the New Technology Telescope (NTT) at La Silla, the Very Large Telescope (VLT) on Cerro Paranal, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) on the Chajnantor Plateau. ALMA was inaugurated on 13 March 2013 during an official ceremony. "I'd like to thank you for this great honour that has been bestowed ...
NPR
16 May 2013, 07:03 UTC
Scientists have discovered water that was sealed in Canadian bedrock for nearly half of Earth's history. It may contain the descendants of ancient microbes. The discovery could give scientists new insights into early life on Earth and inform the search for life on other planets.» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Water Trapped For 1.5 Billion Years Could Hold Ancient Life
16 May 2013, 07:03 UTC
Scientists have discovered water that was sealed in Canadian bedrock for nearly half of Earth's history. It may contain the descendants of ancient microbes. The discovery could give scientists new insights into early life on Earth and inform the search for life on other planets.» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Space Safety Magazine
16 May 2013, 02:30 UTC
Putting all the information together, one might think Skylab’s destiny was to test NASA’s nerves and crisis management ability. Whereas the launch and onset of operations 40 years ago showed how dedicated NASA was to solving all the faults and glitches that threatened the project from the start, the final episodes of the station’s life were marked with planning and scheduling errors and [...] NASA’s Skylab program paved the way for the International Space Station (Credits: NASA). Putting all the information together, one might think Skylab’s destiny was to test NASA’s nerves and crisis management ability. Whereas the launch and onset of operations 40 years ago showed how dedicated NASA was to solving all the faults and glitches that threatened the project from the start, the final episodes of the station’s life were marked with planning and scheduling errors and inaccurate estimates. As a result, the station that had enabled scientists to gather invaluable data about the Sun and made the discovery of coronal mass ejections possible, became a synonym for dangerous uncontrollable space debris. During the final stages of re-entry, controllers lost track of the station and learned with horror that it struck a rather populated area of Western ...
The Unpredictable End of Skylab
16 May 2013, 02:30 UTC
Putting all the information together, one might think Skylab’s destiny was to test NASA’s nerves and crisis management ability. Whereas the launch and onset of operations 40 years ago showed how dedicated NASA was to solving all the faults and glitches that threatened the project from the start, the final episodes of the station’s life were marked with planning and scheduling errors and [...] NASA’s Skylab program paved the way for the International Space Station (Credits: NASA). Putting all the information together, one might think Skylab’s destiny was to test NASA’s nerves and crisis management ability. Whereas the launch and onset of operations 40 years ago showed how dedicated NASA was to solving all the faults and glitches that threatened the project from the start, the final episodes of the station’s life were marked with planning and scheduling errors and inaccurate estimates. As a result, the station that had enabled scientists to gather invaluable data about the Sun and made the discovery of coronal mass ejections possible, became a synonym for dangerous uncontrollable space debris. During the final stages of re-entry, controllers lost track of the station and learned with horror that it struck a rather populated area of Western ...
Starts With A Bang!
16 May 2013, 00:30 UTC
“Supposedly she’d died, but here she was again–somewhat changed, but you couldn’t kill her. Not when the truest part of her hadn’t even been born.” -Denis Johnson Over the past 100 years, our picture of the Universe has changed dramatically, on both the largest scales and the smallest. Image credit: Richard Payne. On the large-scales, we’ve gone from a Newtonian Universe of unknown age populated only by the stars in our own Milky Way to a Universe governed by General Relativity, containing hundreds of billions of galaxies. Image credit: Rhys Taylor, Cardiff University. The age of this Universe is dated at 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang, the observable part of which is some 92 billion light-years in diameter, filled with normal matter (and not antimatter), dark matter, and dark energy. On the small scales, the revolution has been just as dramatic. Image credit: 2011 Encyclopaedia Britannica. We’ve gone from a Universe made up of atomic nuclei, electrons and photons, where the only known forces were gravitational and electromagnetic, to a much more fundamental understanding of the smallest particles and interactions that make up the Universe. Nuclei are made up of protons and neutrons, which — in turn — ...
The Rise and Fall of Supersymmetry
16 May 2013, 00:30 UTC
“Supposedly she’d died, but here she was again–somewhat changed, but you couldn’t kill her. Not when the truest part of her hadn’t even been born.” -Denis Johnson Over the past 100 years, our picture of the Universe has changed dramatically, on both the largest scales and the smallest. Image credit: Richard Payne. On the large-scales, we’ve gone from a Newtonian Universe of unknown age populated only by the stars in our own Milky Way to a Universe governed by General Relativity, containing hundreds of billions of galaxies. Image credit: Rhys Taylor, Cardiff University. The age of this Universe is dated at 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang, the observable part of which is some 92 billion light-years in diameter, filled with normal matter (and not antimatter), dark matter, and dark energy. On the small scales, the revolution has been just as dramatic. Image credit: 2011 Encyclopaedia Britannica. We’ve gone from a Universe made up of atomic nuclei, electrons and photons, where the only known forces were gravitational and electromagnetic, to a much more fundamental understanding of the smallest particles and interactions that make up the Universe. Nuclei are made up of protons and neutrons, which — in turn — ...
AmericaSpace
15 May 2013, 22:29 UTC
United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V 401 lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., carrying the Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF-4 satellite. Photo Credit: United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance has successfully launched its Atlas V rocket on an ambitious mission to insert the Global Positioning System (GPS) [...]
Atlas V Boosts GPS IIF-4 Satellite Into Orbit
15 May 2013, 22:29 UTC
United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V 401 lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., carrying the Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF-4 satellite. Photo Credit: United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance has successfully launched its Atlas V rocket on an ambitious mission to insert the Global Positioning System (GPS) [...]
The Planetary Society Blog
15 May 2013, 22:02 UTC
I've been out of town for a couple of days and am overwhelmed with work and an overflowing email box. So what do I do about that? I ignore what I'm supposed to be doing and play with Cassini raw image data, of course. Here is a "mutual event" of Mimas (the bigger moon) and Pandora (the outer shepherd of the F ring).
