Cosmic Vertigo

I'm pleased to announce the LAUNCH of my new space podcast, Cosmic Vertigo, made with co-host Alan Duffy and our amazing producer Joel Werner.

"Do you ever feel dizzy when you think about the incomprehensible scale of space? We call that feeling Cosmic Vertigo. Welcome to a head-spinning conversation between two friends who study the sky for a living."

Rest state: Alan and I cracking up (Photo: ABC/Radio National)

The three of us had a lot of fun creating this series, and I'm in awe of Joel's editing and production genius.

Dream Team: Alan Duffy, Joel Werner, and yours truly (Photo: ABC/Radio National)

The first two episodes are now LIVE with a new one released every two weeks.... so GO LISTEN and COMMENT and SUBSCRIBE wherever you get your podcasts!

All 5 bright planets up in the morning sky!

all of you early risers may have noticed the lovely line of bright planets across the sky in the morning hours before sunrise lately.  definitely get out and have a look between jan 20th and feb 20th for a spectacular view, no matter where on earth you live!

you'll need to be able to see low on the horizon to spot mercury until early february or so, but you can do it if you have an unobstructed view!

this alignment of the planets has not occurred for over ten years. it's rare because all the planets have to be on the same side of the sun in their orbits.  while venus, mars, jupiter, and saturn have been in the morning sky all year, mercury is just getting ready to transition from being visible in our evening sky to being visible in the morning sky.  hopefully the visualisation below makes that clear.

via The Conversation

so... get out early and LOOK UP! 

Journey to the edge of a forming galaxy

in early july i spent two weeks as "scientist in residence" at the ABC as a result of the Top 5 Under 40 award.  the main project i worked on was producing a science ninja adventure story that went live on the science show on radio national yesterday afternoon!

LISTEN HERE:
journey to the edge of a forming galaxy (website)
journey to the edge of a forming galaxy (mp3)

Artwork by Mischa Andrews from photo by Jenny Gabache and galaxy image by David Malin

long time readers may remember the seeds of this story from a blog post in 2010. you never know what direction random inspiration will go!

transforming the written story into something radio-ready was an interesting challenge.  phrases that look lovely on the page do not sound smooth or conversational when spoken out loud.  i wrote many versions of the story (in less than 2 days) before settling into one that i could read out loud comfortably.

Artwork by Glen Nagle

once the story was ready, i had the amazing luck of booking an entire afternoon in the studio with award-winning sound engineer Russell Stapleton.  i had shared an early draft of the story with him and he came prepared with directories of "space and ninja" sounds that he had been working with for the last 20 years!  he really made the story come alive and it was fascinating to watch him work. such a unique experience to work with him to create the depth of sound you hear throughout the story.


the science show producer asked me for some unique artwork to display with the story on the webpage, since a regular galaxy image would be a bit boring.  i was busy at a workshop during the couple days i had to produce the image, so i asked twitter for volunteers to help.  they certainly came through - the images are displayed through this post.  thanks so much to Mischa Andrews and Glen Nagle!

Put together by Glen Nagle from photo by Jenny Gabache and galaxy image by David Malin

Hope you enjoy the adventure!

kalaya - beautiful australian night sky timelapse

the australian night sky never disappoints, especially when viewed from far out into the outback.  a talented australian astrophotographer, greg priestley, was able to capture the milky way and the "emu" rising above uluru and kata tjuta in may 2014.

kalaya is the aboriginal word for emu.

beautiful work!

Kalaya - David Malin Awards from Greg Priestley on Vimeo.

planetary pair: venus & jupiter approaching!

venus is incredibly bright in the evening sky right now, and if you get out and LOOK UP, you won't miss the other bright object right by it - the planet jupiter!  they will keep getting closer and closer to each other over the next week and a half, culminating in what will appear to be a very bright double star system on july 1st.

it's quite a beautiful sight - make sure you enjoy it!  read more by tanya munro at the conversation.

here was the view from Brno, Czech Republic as photographed by Pavel Gabzdyl.

Photo by Pavel Gabzdyl

the view it turned around from the southern hemisphere!  this shot was taken by chris wyatt in australia.

Photo by chris wyatt

I'm speaking around sydney

if youre in sydney and want to hear some sciencey astro goodness - i'm speaking at a few events you can attend in the next week and a half. I'll think i'll be incredibly exhausted by the end of this run, but i'm really looking forward to ALL the events.  let me know if you will be attending any!

1) The Storytelling of Science - Saturday, 16 May 2015, 2-5pm
2) Pint of Science - Tuesday, 19 May 2015, Doors Open at 6:30 for 7pm start

3) Astronomy Open Night at Macquarie Uni- Saturday, 23 May 2015, 6:30-10pm

4) The Story of Light - The Astronomer's Perspective - Sunday, 24 May 2015, 2 - 3:30 pm

details below....

Australian Astronomical Observatory on YouTube!

i've been working to launch an AAO YouTube channel and guess what - it finally happened!  our first instalment is a new time-lapse video from AAO's Angel Lopez-Sanchez filmed at siding spring observatory.

please enjoy "the sky over siding spring observatory" and subscribe to the AAO's YouTube channel to keep up to date with the video releases i'll be posting once a month or so.  topics to be covered include: what is a spectrum, a short documentary about observing, how we re-aluminize the 4-meter telescope mirror, the construction of a new $18 million dollar instrument, and possibly a ukulele rock video ;)  stay tuned!

tornadoes of light

i thought these great night time shots were created with small drones, but apparently they are made from throwing hooped lined with LEDs into the air!  good experiment, excellent results.

see more from martin kimbell on flickr.

comet ISON

when discovered late in 2012, many sources pointed out the potential for comet c/2012 s1 (ISON) to be incredibly bright after it passes around the sun and near the earth late this year!

so far, ISON has not disappointed several photographers around the world!

Comet ISON 27 Oct 2013 (Credit: Damian Peach)

Comet ISON 26 Oct 2013 (Credit: Mike Broussard)

when will we be able to see comet ISON with our eyes alone?  it will be visible from the southern hemisphere throughout november, but close to the eastern horizon.  here is an illustration from nick lomb showing visibility from sydney, australia.

Comet ISON and Mars as viewed from Sydney, Australia.  
ISON 1 shows the position of the comet on 1st November 2013
(Credit: Nick Lomb)

the mystery of comet ISON is that we cannot predict exactly how bright it will get because it may be hugely disrupted or even destroyed when it passes around the sun on 28th november.

this video from NASA gives an idea of just how close to the sun comet ISON will pass!  all comets have such elongated orbits, where they zoom in very close to the sun and then shoot way out to the farthest reaches of the solar system.



we'll just have to wait and see what happens to comet ISON when it grazes past the sun.  

stories from siding spring observatory

some colleagues at the australian astronomical observatory and i have put together a photo exhibition which opens to the public this week at the sydney observatory! 

the inspiration came immediately after the bushfire swept through siding spring observatory in january.  we were feeling helpless and on the brink of hopeless while waiting for investigations to inform us of the extent of the damage to the observatory facilities.

this photo, found in a google search by one of the AAO engineers, prompted him to send a few of us an email:

Rainbows at sunrise from the AAT (photo credit: me!)

he suggested we collect our favorite photos from siding spring observatory that capture our experiences up there, in order to share inspiration with each other and bring together all members of the AAO during the difficult experience.

we quickly developed the idea for a full photo exhibition, to share with the public what we enjoy most about the observatory and working with such interesting new technologies and fascinating people.   we asked all AAO colleagues to contribute what they deemed their best images.  

we collected several hundreds of photos and finally, with much effort, reduced the collection to 26 amazing images.   we have printed and framed each image, and are currently hanging them to display at the sydney observatory.  

from this thursday, 18th april 2013, until mid-august, you can visit the "stories from siding spring observatory" photo exhibition for free during regular hours at sydney observatory. 



i'll share one more photo from the exhibition here, because i think it is spectacular!

AAT dome and Milky Way (Photo: Jamie Gilbert)

i havent seen this beautiful panorama printed out and framed yet.   i'm really excited to visit the observatory and see all the photos large, live and in person!  please go visit the observatory if you can - view the photos and let me know what you think!


our official blurb for the exhibition:

Siding Spring Observatory sits on a mountaintop in the Warrumbungle Range, 400 km northwest of Sydney and 25 km west of the town of Coonabarabran.  Run by the Australian National University, it is Australia's most important site for optical astronomy. 

On 13 January 2013 a bushfire swept through the observatory.  Despite damage to some buildings, the telescopes were unharmed and are now back at work.

The photos in this exhibition tell stories of life and work on the mountain.  They were taken by staff of the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO), which operates two telescopes there: the 4-m Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) and the UK Schmidt telescope.

peaceful motion

sometimes gifs get it right.

via head like an orange.

jupiter, moons, and comets

two comets visible from the southern hemisphere are caught in this lovely timelapse by alex cherney:

Comets Lemmon and PanSTARRS sweeping through the Southern Skies from Alex Cherney on Vimeo.


and a couple pictures of the recent conjunction of the moon and jupiter shot from around australia. 

from angel lopez-sanchez:

from david finlay:

name that space rock!

this is a fun game to play with your friends: name that space rock!   amaze your friends with the knowledge you gain after reading through this informative graphic by tim lillis!

credit: narwhal creative

unfortunately, i cannot say that knowing the difference between these space rocks has ever helped me in a pub quiz, but that doesnt mean it wont in the future!

visible asteroid 2012 DA14

on feb 15/16, a little chunk of rock (45 meters = 150 feet across), known as asteroid 2012 DA14, which has been orbiting around the sun for a long time on a not-quite-circular orbit, will pass close by the earth. 

Photo Credit: NASA

actually, asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass very close to the earth - only 17,200 miles (27,680 kilometers) away, which is closer than the moon's orbit and even closer than some high-orbiting communications satellites!

but do not worry, asteroid 2012 DA14 will not hit earth. 

Photo Credit: NASA via Calgary Herald

the asteroid will not be visible to the naked eye, but should be visible using binoculars to many people across the planet, if you know where and when to look.  check out satflare.com or http://www.heavens-above.com/ to see if it will be visible where you are. 

moon meets morning star

in mid-august, the moon met venus for a somber ascent.

Photo Credit: APOD

as you can see the from video below, the clouds cleared just in time over taebaek, korea, so that Kwon O Chul could capture the moon passing in front of venus on the rise.

Venus - Lunar Occultation. 2012. Aug. from kwon, o chul on Vimeo.

if it seems unlikely that such a thing would happen, just remember that the moon is always moving around the earth.   it covers the full 360 degrees in about 29 days, which mean it moves 12 degrees in the sky each day! if you reach your hand out at arms length, pinky and first finger spread, that is 15 degrees! 

Photo: link

that's almost how far the moon moves every day.   but the moon itself is only half a degree across (half of your first finger held out at arms length), and moves about the size of itself in the sky every hour.

what does all that mean?  it means the moon is actually moving quite quickly all the time, we just dont notice at a quick glance.  it becomes very clear when it is shown during occultation like this!

the moon, mars, saturn and spica

we managed to get a few good shots around siding spring observatory this week, including the lovely trio of mars, saturn and spica! 

the dome of the AAT 4-meter telescope

Photo Credit: @mehmsy

you can see the AAT dome's silhouette in the lower left.   the top of the triangle is a mars, the bottom right is saturn and blue star at the bottom left is spica.  what struck me about this conjunction on the sky was how obviously the distant star spica twinkled through the atmosphere while the mars and saturn shined unflinchingly.

Photo Credit: Gabriela Iacobuta

Photo Credit: Gabriela Iacobuta

you can see the coalsack dark nebula right in the middle of this lovely image.

Photo Credit: @mehmsy

and because i never get tired of watching these creatures hopping around and eating grass....

Photo Credit: @mehmsy

planetary triangle

be sure to pop outside for the next couple nights to watch the sunset and the show soon after.   you'll see a crescent moon above the setting sun, which will sit in the sky very close to a special planetary and stellar alignment.   forming a nearly equilateral triangle is a bright mars, saturn, and spica. 

notice at how amazingly red mars looks compared to the other two!

Map from Sky & Telescope

this is a perfect setup to view with binoculars, as they typically have a 7 degree field of view and the triangle fits within 6 degrees. 

enjoy, and dont forget to wave to curiosity ;)

the stars from earth's orbit

here's a fascinating timelapse video of the views from the international space station. the final shot with the milky way is incredible!

sit back and enjoy!

The Stars as Viewed from the International Space Station. from AJRCLIPS on Vimeo.

venus and jupiter set with the sun

i'm heading up to siding spring observatory tomorrow for a week of (hopefully) good galaxy gleaning!

make sure you get outside around sunset these days and look west to see an incredibly bright pair of planets: venus and jupiter. they are their closest in the sky tonight and will start separating again. the slightly brighter one is venus. enjoy!

Photo Credit: Shawn Malone

orion overhead

i love the lights of city shining through the low clouds in this shot, and seeing most of orion hanging brightly overhead.

i first saw this image a while ago and might have even posted it here, but i cannot remember. while i saw it this time around here, i dont know who to give credit to for creating the image. (please cite your findings, tumblrs!)

UPDATE: thanks for the comment, chris! the photo was captured by david kaplan and reminds me of his incredible photo on APOD earlier this year showing the moon and venus over switzerland.