is it bad that i feel proud after reading this opening phrase from a blog post by professional astronomer peter coles?
"I started thinking about the analogy between astronomy and pornography after seeing a hilarious blog post by Amanda Bauer..."
astropixie: because astronomy is the pornography of science
wait, what?
i dont know.... back to work.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
crescent moon and venus tonight!
if you have clear skies today, look for the tiny crescent moon and try to spot venus nearby! its rare (and exciting, i think) to see another planet during the day.
the pair will be brilliant in the evening sky as well!
the pair will be brilliant in the evening sky as well!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
crazy clouds from space
wired science has a nice gallery of clouds from space. the image below was taken by the Landsat 7 satellite in September 1999 and shows a pattern known as a von Kármán vortex street.
the spiral pattern is caused by processes of fluid dynamics. if you look to the lower left of the image, you see a little island just where the vortices start. as wind blows from the lower left to the upper right, it runs into the island and starts spinning into vortices, which are only visible because the clouds are there.
the same process happens when you stand in the ocean and a receding wave forms vortices as the water rushes past your ankles.
the spiral pattern is caused by processes of fluid dynamics. if you look to the lower left of the image, you see a little island just where the vortices start. as wind blows from the lower left to the upper right, it runs into the island and starts spinning into vortices, which are only visible because the clouds are there.
the same process happens when you stand in the ocean and a receding wave forms vortices as the water rushes past your ankles.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
fiery milky way
the royal observatory greenwich has posted the new "astronomer's gallery" for the month of may. this month's astronomer is stuart lynn who blogs at we are all in the gutter and works at oxford university with the makers of galaxy zoo and the new moon zoo.
stuart's gallery is called stories in the stars and shows an impressive collection of space imagery. this is my favorite:
it was taken by bobshots on flickr. i love the ancient tribal feel of the photo. the light from the huge fire sets the stage for the fresh outdoor atmosphere, and it almost looks like the milky way rises up as the smoke from the fire!
click through to stories in the stars to read stuart's impressions on these lovely images, and share your own!
stuart's gallery is called stories in the stars and shows an impressive collection of space imagery. this is my favorite:
it was taken by bobshots on flickr. i love the ancient tribal feel of the photo. the light from the huge fire sets the stage for the fresh outdoor atmosphere, and it almost looks like the milky way rises up as the smoke from the fire!
click through to stories in the stars to read stuart's impressions on these lovely images, and share your own!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
moon zoo
from the great group of people who brought you the wildly exciting, fun, and scientifically productive galaxy zoo, comes the new moon zoo!
using images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, you can explore the surface of the moon in great detail, helping to identify and describe craters so that scientists can learn more about the history of our moon.
from the website: "Craters can tell us more than just the history of the lunar surface though. In particular, you're asked in Moon Zoo to look for craters with boulders around the rim. Boulders are a sign that the impact was powerful enough that it excavated rock from beneath the regolith (the lunar 'soil') and so by keeping an eye out for these we can begin to map the depth of the regolith across the surface of the Moon."
enjoy the moon zoo!
using images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, you can explore the surface of the moon in great detail, helping to identify and describe craters so that scientists can learn more about the history of our moon.
from the website: "Craters can tell us more than just the history of the lunar surface though. In particular, you're asked in Moon Zoo to look for craters with boulders around the rim. Boulders are a sign that the impact was powerful enough that it excavated rock from beneath the regolith (the lunar 'soil') and so by keeping an eye out for these we can begin to map the depth of the regolith across the surface of the Moon."
enjoy the moon zoo!
sixty symbols does the solar system
now that we've completed videos on each of the major bodies in the solar system, brady has created an offical sixty symbols does the solar system webpage. you can go there for the full collection!
mercury's symbol kinda looks like a little devil, no?
mercury's symbol kinda looks like a little devil, no?
Friday, May 7, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
may the fourth be with you
after having a pleasantly productive week last week, i'm heading out of town this week for a couple different adventures.
i'm going to london tomorrow to support a colleague who made the final cut for the Institute of Physics Award for the Very Early Career Woman Physicist of the Year. i wrote her a letter of recommendation and i'm so proud of her achievements, that i'm going to the ceremony they're holding tomorrow to honor the nominees. each "very early career" physicist finalist will give a short talk summarizing their research and there are a few other invited speakers as well.
while in london, i'm hoping to see the Hubble 3D IMAX movie which is only playing in the UK at the science museum. also, happy 20th anniversary to the hubble space telescope! the hubblesite released this image of the carina nebula in honor of the occasion:
the hubble has taken some amazing images for us - after receiving an eye treatment soon after its launch. i wonder how many of you remember when it was discovered that hubble had a flawed mirror and needed fixing? what was your reaction when you heard the news?
i was twelve or so at the time and remember thinking: oops, that was a big mistake, wasnt it?! i also remember seeing before and after images from the hubble in the newspaper after they fixed it. i was amazed at what a difference there was between the blurry before shot and the crisp, detailed after shot. while i remember feeling slightly embarrassed for the scientists because they had made such a huge mistake when making the original mirror, i was really impressed that they could fix the problem, considering the telescope was already floating in space.
anyway, after the quick 2-day trip to london, i'll leave the next day for a 4-day musical escapade at the ATP festival, curated by matt groening. i think i'm most excited to see daniel johnston live, but there are several great bands playing!
oh yeah, and happy star wars day.
i'm going to london tomorrow to support a colleague who made the final cut for the Institute of Physics Award for the Very Early Career Woman Physicist of the Year. i wrote her a letter of recommendation and i'm so proud of her achievements, that i'm going to the ceremony they're holding tomorrow to honor the nominees. each "very early career" physicist finalist will give a short talk summarizing their research and there are a few other invited speakers as well.
while in london, i'm hoping to see the Hubble 3D IMAX movie which is only playing in the UK at the science museum. also, happy 20th anniversary to the hubble space telescope! the hubblesite released this image of the carina nebula in honor of the occasion:
the hubble has taken some amazing images for us - after receiving an eye treatment soon after its launch. i wonder how many of you remember when it was discovered that hubble had a flawed mirror and needed fixing? what was your reaction when you heard the news?
i was twelve or so at the time and remember thinking: oops, that was a big mistake, wasnt it?! i also remember seeing before and after images from the hubble in the newspaper after they fixed it. i was amazed at what a difference there was between the blurry before shot and the crisp, detailed after shot. while i remember feeling slightly embarrassed for the scientists because they had made such a huge mistake when making the original mirror, i was really impressed that they could fix the problem, considering the telescope was already floating in space.
anyway, after the quick 2-day trip to london, i'll leave the next day for a 4-day musical escapade at the ATP festival, curated by matt groening. i think i'm most excited to see daniel johnston live, but there are several great bands playing!
oh yeah, and happy star wars day.
carnival of space #152
the 152nd installment of the carnival of space is up at the martian chronicles. i submitted the story of the science ninja, even though its a bit light for the material that is usually highlighted.
to my delight, ryan included the article in the carnival, and shared this excellent image:
it's the cover art for music by reincarnation fish :)
to my delight, ryan included the article in the carnival, and shared this excellent image:
it's the cover art for music by reincarnation fish :)
Monday, May 3, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
robin hood is coming....
thanks to the upcoming release of the new robin hood movie (yes, an australian actor is playing mr hood), the month of may is officially "robin hood month" in the fair city of nottingham!
i saw this display in the main window of the downtown library:
i'll probably go out with some friends in a couple weekends and get dressed up in medieval garb, or at least wear a bunch of green. the challenge will be to make robin hood costumes that dont look too much like peter pan! maybe i'll play it safe and go with maid marian. any suggestions?
i saw this display in the main window of the downtown library:
i'll probably go out with some friends in a couple weekends and get dressed up in medieval garb, or at least wear a bunch of green. the challenge will be to make robin hood costumes that dont look too much like peter pan! maybe i'll play it safe and go with maid marian. any suggestions?
Saturday, May 1, 2010
imagine if the tea party was black
a very interesting perspective about the tea party protests in the US is given in this article by tim wise. i'll share some from the beginning, then you can read the rest if you like.
"Let’s play a game, shall we? The name of the game is called “Imagine.” The way it’s played is simple: we’ll envision recent happenings in the news, but then change them up a bit. Instead of envisioning white people as the main actors in the scenes we’ll conjure - the ones who are driving the action - we’ll envision black folks or other people of color instead. The object of the game is to imagine the public reaction to the events or incidents, if the main actors were of color, rather than white. Whoever gains the most insight into the workings of race in America, at the end of the game, wins.
So let’s begin.
Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protester — these black protesters with guns — be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic? What if they were Arab-Americans? Because, after all, that’s what happened recently when white gun enthusiasts descended upon the nation’s capital, arms in hand, and verbally announced their readiness to make war on the country’s political leaders if the need arose.
Imagine that white members of Congress, while walking to work, were surrounded by thousands of angry black people, one of whom proceeded to spit on one of those congressmen for not voting the way the black demonstrators desired. Would the protesters be seen as merely patriotic Americans voicing their opinions, or as an angry, potentially violent, and even insurrectionary mob? After all, this is what white Tea Party protesters did recently in Washington."
"Let’s play a game, shall we? The name of the game is called “Imagine.” The way it’s played is simple: we’ll envision recent happenings in the news, but then change them up a bit. Instead of envisioning white people as the main actors in the scenes we’ll conjure - the ones who are driving the action - we’ll envision black folks or other people of color instead. The object of the game is to imagine the public reaction to the events or incidents, if the main actors were of color, rather than white. Whoever gains the most insight into the workings of race in America, at the end of the game, wins.
So let’s begin.
Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protester — these black protesters with guns — be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic? What if they were Arab-Americans? Because, after all, that’s what happened recently when white gun enthusiasts descended upon the nation’s capital, arms in hand, and verbally announced their readiness to make war on the country’s political leaders if the need arose.
Imagine that white members of Congress, while walking to work, were surrounded by thousands of angry black people, one of whom proceeded to spit on one of those congressmen for not voting the way the black demonstrators desired. Would the protesters be seen as merely patriotic Americans voicing their opinions, or as an angry, potentially violent, and even insurrectionary mob? After all, this is what white Tea Party protesters did recently in Washington."
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
science ninja
the other night i had a science ninja dream that i can only describe by showing you this picture of my toothpaste.
i wish more products were labeled so informatively. in fact, while brushing my teeth, i usually read this list over and over and think to myself "if only the components of the universe were so easily stated, their origins identified, and their purposes described!"
so in my dream i figured out how i could make such a list for the universe: by becoming a science ninja!! one of the more bizarre premises of quantum theory is that the act of watching something changes the reality of the situation: the observer affects the observed reality. but what if the observer is a ninja?!?!
obviously a science ninja could observe the universe without affecting it, my dreaming self surmised!
so in my dream, i dressed myself as a science ninja (i'll leave you to imagine that...) and sped off into the distant crevices of the universe to create my toothpaste list. as a science ninja, i was also clearly not hampered by the bothersome passage of time or slow travel speed, so i zoomed to any location i wished... and watched.
my first stop was to sit at the outskirts of a galaxy with an active nucleus and watch the life cycles of its central supermassive black hole! i had a special science ninja device which allowed me to jump back in time to when the galaxy was forming. i watched as really massive stars formed quickly, turned into black holes because they were too big to do anything else, and sank towards each other in a gravitational dance (yes, i had special science ninja glasses that allowed me to "see" black holes). they quickly collided to form a single, central massive black hole which then happily reacted with gas left over from the explosions of nearby former-stars that werent quite big enough to become black holes, and therefore supernova-d. soon, jets shot out of opposite sides of the black hole in long, narrow streams, only to putter out a bit later.
these are my leftover memories of a dream that was obviously more vivid and twisted, and not limited to my waking life intuition of how the universe could work.
i remember in my dream excitedly scribbling down a long list of "ingredients" which minimally included: dark matter, super massive black holes, life, worm holes (that was a fun dream-ride!), photons, and electrons. i wish i could remember the "where it comes from" and "what it does" columns of my dream list :(
anyway, it was a fun dream. thanks for the inspiration, toothpaste!
i wish more products were labeled so informatively. in fact, while brushing my teeth, i usually read this list over and over and think to myself "if only the components of the universe were so easily stated, their origins identified, and their purposes described!"
so in my dream i figured out how i could make such a list for the universe: by becoming a science ninja!! one of the more bizarre premises of quantum theory is that the act of watching something changes the reality of the situation: the observer affects the observed reality. but what if the observer is a ninja?!?!
obviously a science ninja could observe the universe without affecting it, my dreaming self surmised!
so in my dream, i dressed myself as a science ninja (i'll leave you to imagine that...) and sped off into the distant crevices of the universe to create my toothpaste list. as a science ninja, i was also clearly not hampered by the bothersome passage of time or slow travel speed, so i zoomed to any location i wished... and watched.
my first stop was to sit at the outskirts of a galaxy with an active nucleus and watch the life cycles of its central supermassive black hole! i had a special science ninja device which allowed me to jump back in time to when the galaxy was forming. i watched as really massive stars formed quickly, turned into black holes because they were too big to do anything else, and sank towards each other in a gravitational dance (yes, i had special science ninja glasses that allowed me to "see" black holes). they quickly collided to form a single, central massive black hole which then happily reacted with gas left over from the explosions of nearby former-stars that werent quite big enough to become black holes, and therefore supernova-d. soon, jets shot out of opposite sides of the black hole in long, narrow streams, only to putter out a bit later.
these are my leftover memories of a dream that was obviously more vivid and twisted, and not limited to my waking life intuition of how the universe could work.
i remember in my dream excitedly scribbling down a long list of "ingredients" which minimally included: dark matter, super massive black holes, life, worm holes (that was a fun dream-ride!), photons, and electrons. i wish i could remember the "where it comes from" and "what it does" columns of my dream list :(
anyway, it was a fun dream. thanks for the inspiration, toothpaste!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
the eyes have it
i'm a bit queasy and uneasy when it comes to anything having to do with eyes, but for some reason i find this photo fascinating:
it was displayed on flickr by mjulep and shows the rear of the eye after a dye injection.
our eyes are incredibly impressive and sensitive lenses. we try to mimic the behavior of our eyes in order to see the distant universe by making massive telescopes. but in reality, our eyes are much better than any of our feeble designs. i guess thats the advantage of 540 million years of evolution!
it was displayed on flickr by mjulep and shows the rear of the eye after a dye injection.
our eyes are incredibly impressive and sensitive lenses. we try to mimic the behavior of our eyes in order to see the distant universe by making massive telescopes. but in reality, our eyes are much better than any of our feeble designs. i guess thats the advantage of 540 million years of evolution!
Monday, April 26, 2010
useless fliers
obviously, found at useless fliers:
download the pdf!!
ps. so it's spelled "fliers" and not "flyers?" i've been wondering this for a while....
download the pdf!!
ps. so it's spelled "fliers" and not "flyers?" i've been wondering this for a while....
Friday, April 23, 2010
walking in the warmth of the weekend
i'm visiting north wales this weekend! planned stops include caernarfon castle (car-NAR-von):
and the snowdon mountain top.
everything else will develop as it does...!
and the snowdon mountain top.
everything else will develop as it does...!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
the sun as art
NASA's solar dynamics observatory (SDO) just took the first test images of our fiery dominatrix (why cant i think of a better word right now?), the sun. the SDO was launched into orbit in feb 2010 on an atlas V rocket. the spacecraft will monitor the sun and its activity (visible in the video below) and study how solar activity creates "space weather" on earth.
the first image in the video is a composite image of the sun created from several different filters. i love the colors - it looks like art to my eyes. then the video shows a huge prominence growing from the upper left of the sun and then breaking apart. these loops are formed because of the sun's magnetic field. the big arc of solar stuff follows along magnetic field lines, giving us clues to their structure and strength.
the SDO will study how and why the sun's magnetic field changes. the effect of magnetic fields remains to be one of the largest mysteries about all objects in the universe because magnetic fields are mathematically complicated beasts with large influences but insignificant observational clues. in fact, at professional astronomy meetings when someone inevitably asks a person presenting their research about whether they've taken into account the effect of magnetic fields, the audience heaves a long collective sigh and rolls their eyes back to the speaker who doubtlessly answers with "not yet, due to their complicated nature."
the full resolution version of the image above (download here) is stunning!
the first image in the video is a composite image of the sun created from several different filters. i love the colors - it looks like art to my eyes. then the video shows a huge prominence growing from the upper left of the sun and then breaking apart. these loops are formed because of the sun's magnetic field. the big arc of solar stuff follows along magnetic field lines, giving us clues to their structure and strength.
the SDO will study how and why the sun's magnetic field changes. the effect of magnetic fields remains to be one of the largest mysteries about all objects in the universe because magnetic fields are mathematically complicated beasts with large influences but insignificant observational clues. in fact, at professional astronomy meetings when someone inevitably asks a person presenting their research about whether they've taken into account the effect of magnetic fields, the audience heaves a long collective sigh and rolls their eyes back to the speaker who doubtlessly answers with "not yet, due to their complicated nature."
the full resolution version of the image above (download here) is stunning!
octopus steals video camera
in this video, an octopus steals a diver's video camera and swims away, but the cameraman gives good chase. this is a good example of the incredibly weird parts of life that the internet gives us the opportunity to witness.
Monday, April 19, 2010
why volcano ash grounds flights
the gorgeous astronomy picture of the day today showing lightning over the erupting eyjafjallajökull volcano...
... reminded me that i wanted to show you the latest sixty symbols video which describes what volcanic ash actually does to jet engines. (view video here).
here is a photo by interactives on flickr showing volcano ash with 400x magnification. really looks like chunks of glass, no?!
... reminded me that i wanted to show you the latest sixty symbols video which describes what volcanic ash actually does to jet engines. (view video here).
here is a photo by interactives on flickr showing volcano ash with 400x magnification. really looks like chunks of glass, no?!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
most viewed on youtube: gaga
i read that lady gaga's video for bad romance is the most viewed video on youtube ever, with 181,955,979 views right now!
i find that her music sticks in my head for inordinate amounts of time. her songs dont reveal any interesting lessons about life or anything, but they're definitely catchy! i find lady gaga to be one of the more intriguing personalities in pop culture these days, and this video doesnt disappoint.
i find that her music sticks in my head for inordinate amounts of time. her songs dont reveal any interesting lessons about life or anything, but they're definitely catchy! i find lady gaga to be one of the more intriguing personalities in pop culture these days, and this video doesnt disappoint.
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