IYA posters redesigned

the whole set by simon page is great!

space day and moon watch

we're hosting a space day and moon watch event at the nottingham castle in honor of the international year of astronomy 2009.


i've never organized an event as large as this and its been an interesting exercise in administrative business dealings. i've been in complete control of planning everything: instigating, organizing, scheduling, justifying and seeking funding, allocating, etc... overall, it has been fun, but exhausting! i'm extremely grateful to all those around the community who have volunteered their time and resources to help organize!

since the event takes place on halloween, we're having a costume contest and i finally have mine together! i'll let you guess what it is when i take pictures at the event!!

maybe the best part of the event is that my mom is coming all the way from the US to enjoy the day and visit for a while! cant wait to see her and spend time together - i hope she wears a costume ;)

UKIRT - from 100 hours of astronomy

this video, created as part of the 100 hours of astronomy project for the international year of astronomy, describes the UKIRT telescope - where i'm spending my week.

space day and moon watch

mark your calendars... we're putting on a "space day and moon watch" event at nottingham castle on october 31st (halloween!), 2009! i'm really excited for it, even though it's quite a complicated series of tasks to organize such a huge event!


thanks and props to mark hammonds (of supernova condensate) for designing the great poster.

100 hours of astronomy

from april 2nd to the 5th, people all over the world will be celebrating 100 hours of astronomy. the goal is to get as many people to look thru a telescope as possible! the dates correspond with the first quarter moon, which is my favorite object to view thru small telescopes, and saturn is up right now as well! many local astronomy societies will be holding events, most universities have some sort of telescope they use for public observing, or visit the official site to see what is being planned around your town!


there will be several events you can follow online if the weather doesnt cooperate with your evening sky gazing: around the world in 80 telescopes allows you to see tours by professional astronomers of some of the world's most advanced observatories!

click here to view all the other online activities planned for both adults and children during the 100 hours of astronomy!

enjoy!

she is an astronomer

happy international womens day all!

in somewhat related news, i'm heading to london later this week to attend the one-day conference: Tomorrow’s Women, Tomorrow’s World: The science, engineering and technology workforce and workplace in 2030.

"Women form less than 25% of the workforce in most areas of science, engineering, and technology and are concentrated in the lower income levels. Can such a loss of talent and potential be allowed to continue?"

hopefully this conference will be interesting! i was the only female in my physics undergraduate program, but had many more female colleagues when i entered graduate school. i'd like to reach out to young people as much as possible to let them know that they can do anything they want, regardless of the typical populations of people who have done that thing in the past! hopefully, this conference will give some ideas as to how to communicate these ideas with the next generation of visionary thinkers!

i will be live-twittering the event, so you can follow along in real time here: thursday, 12 march 2009.


this conference also marks the opening of the she is an astronomer cornerstone project of the international year of astronomy 2009 festivities!

"The aim of the project is to provide neutral, informative and accessible information to female professional and amateur astronomers, students, and those who are interested in the gender equality problem in science. We believe that providing this information will help increase the interest of young females to study and pursue a career in astronomy."

i will try to write a bit more about these issues over the next couple days, and reflect on the conference after its over. in the meantime, here is a resource guide and a list of some of the women in astronomy.

two thousand nine

the year 2009 begins in a few short days! two thousand nine is the international year of astronomy as initiated by the international astronomical union and UNESCO "to help the citizens of the world rediscover their place in the Universe through the day- and night-time sky, and thereby engage a personal sense of wonder and discovery."

i'm excited about the 365 days of astronomy project, where different people from anywhere in the world talk about their interest in, fascination of, or knowledge about a particular aspect of the universe! there will be a unique podcast available for everyone to listen to every day next year! and there are still many days available throughout the year for anyone to create podcasts, so i encourage anyone and everyone to participate!

i've agreed to create a couple podcasts throughout the year, but i wanted to ask you all a favor... i'm looking for inspiration for more topics to talk about and so i'd like to get your suggestions. what questions do you have about the universe? what would you like to hear someone talk about for 5-10 minutes? my research focuses on galaxy formation and evolution, but i would be willing and interested to talk about anything if an interesting question sparks an idea. the challenge for me, i think, is that i'm so used to using visual aids in the classroom or on this blog, that it will be exciting to create the proper effect via auditory senses only.

thanks for your help!

NASA student ambassador - IYA 2009

as part of NASA's participation in the international year of astronomy (IYA 2009), applications are being accepted until sept. 29, 2008 to be a student ambassador.

The NASA International Year of Astronomy Student Ambassadors Program is designed to encourage undergraduate and graduate students to participate in NASA's IYA activities and to help generate excitement about NASA scientific discoveries in astrophysics, planetary science and solar physics within their local communities and beyond. These students will serve as role models to others in the community.

Up to 52 students will be selected for a one-year award of up to $2,700. Students will receive a $2,000 stipend and up to $700 for reimbursement of materials, supplies, and travel expenses for the execution of their activities.

Two NASA IYA Ambassadors will be selected to participate in the IYA Opening Ceremony in Paris, France, January 2009 and each will received a travel allowance of up to $5000. Only undergraduate students are eligible for this component.

Participate in activities that align with the NASA IYA goals “to offer an engaging astronomy experience to every person in the country, nurture existing partnerships, and build new connections to sustain public interested in astronomy” to help generate excitement.

Full details and instructions, including an online application form, are available at http://spacegrant.org/niya/. The National Space Grant Foundation administers this program under a grant from NASA. Applications are due Sept. 29, 2008. Questions about this opportunity should be directed to webmaster@spacegrant.org

good luck all!! let us know the results!

be excited about 2009

2009 is the UN-declared international year of astronomy. this marks the 400th anniversary of the first time a telescope was used to look upward into the skies instead of outward across the lands. galileo used his refracting telescope to look at the details of the craters on the moon and discover that jupiter had moons of its own... demonstrating that it was possible for an object, other than the earth, to be the center of *something*!!


this also adds to the long list of reasons why i'm excited to move to the UK... i'll be close enough to venture to the places where astronomy as a science was first practiced... during their celebrations of the international year of astronomy!

50 years of space science

the US space studies board has put together an international public seminar series called "forging the future of space science: the next 50 years." this year marks the 50th anniversary of the international geophysical year which saw the launch of the first satellites: soviet union's sputnik, the US's explorer 1; the creation of NASA, and the beginning of the space science board! while reflecting on the last (first) 50 years of human space flight, this seminar series attempts to activate young minds to consider the possibilities for what the next 50 years of space science could bring!

austin, texas hosted one day of events last wednesday! the first event was an afternoon panel discussion.

while the current generation of UT graduate students and postdocs were encouraged to participate in the panel discussion, the panelists definitely represented the previous 50 years of space science! here are three of the distinguished old white men panelists:


(i couldnt stop giggling in my seat as i sat there watching some of them closing their eyes and bobbing their heads, so i took a picture :)

on the left is UT astronomy professor, president of the american astronomical society and consistent bearer of a rocking 'stache - j. craig wheeler. in the middle is former deputy administrator of NASA and current UT aerospace engineering professor - hans mark. on the right is nobel prize winning physicist and current UT physics professor - steven weinberg.

the panelists spoke briefly about how space technology has prominently affected their research over the years, but i was hoping to hear a bit more about their visions of the future of space science. weinberg didnt disappoint with his candid negativity towards manned space flight, specifically regarding the moon-mars initiative proposed by G. W. Bush in 2004!

i thought the best part of the discussion began when the audience joined in. i jumped up to say that i wanted to hear more benefits about the science resulting from manned space flight. i didn't initially support the moon-mars initiative because i did not trust the motives of the man who proposed it, but more importantly, i did not like the way NASA'a budget would have to transform itself to meet the demands of this new plan while not fundamentally increasing. the direct drawback to my particular science would be decreased funding for the james webb space telescope: the only planned successor to the hubble space telescope.

a couple graduate students from the aerospace engineering school pointed out that science would come from going to the moon and/or mars: properties of fluid dynamics, for example. it was also pointed out that while robots are useful technology, it takes the mars rovers 2 days to turn around and dig a shallow hole into a rock face, where it would only take a human a matter of minutes.

their major claim was that it is arrogant to discount manned space-flight as not scientifically useful just because one's own "science" might not be benefited. this is a point i take to heart as it is directly pertinent to my apparently selfish astronomer views!!

but i am not convinced that sending humans to deep space will teach us more than the effects of deep space on humans. let's send 100 robots to mars instead of a human, because ultimately, that would be cheaper. weinberg claimed that if we had built many hubble space telescopes to launch into space, in the event that things went awry, instead of sending astronauts on servicing missions to fix the telescope/instruments, we would have saved a lot of money for performing just as much science.

and let's not forget that exploring space is COOL!! exploration is an exhilarating experience for human beings and necessary to learn more about our local solar system and the universe beyond. focused questions pertaining to the existence of life, the origins of earth, etc... should be asked and answers should be sought!! but i dont think our best immediate move is to send humans. lets send lots of robots of increasing capability and when/if they find something excitingly unexplainable.... then lets send humans! weinberg makes the statement that exploration of space is a good, beneficial thing, but NASA shouldn't tout manned space flight as a misleadingly strict "scientific endeavor."

all this being said, if i was invited to be an astronaut, i would go up into space to experience weightlessness in a second - without hesitation!!! however, i think this statement supports independent spaceflight and not manned, NASA-funded missions.