mars and its robots

planetary astronomer and clever data visualisation enthusiast, alex parker, posted this cute little cartoon of mars on twitter this week with the caption "mars isnt much of a 'sharer'."

it's true, there arent any responsive rovers roaming around other planets or moons, but that doesnt mean mars cant have fun with its robots ;)

annular solar eclipse - on the news!

there was an annular solar eclipse this morning, visible along a thin strip in northern australia.  luckily, most of australia could see the sun partially blocked by the moon, and i went on live TV to talk about the event to ABC reporters!

live on the news, talking about the solar eclipse!  (photo credit: henry lee)

big thanks to henry lee for putting together the above image, which includes a screen shot of the ABC news program and a pinhole camera shot of the partial eclipse in progress.   

after my news spot, i rushed outside with my eclipse glasses to see the event for myself.  here's a shot of the maximum partial eclipse that we could see in sydney. you can see a dark sunspot near the top of the sun!

Credit: Anthony Horton

last night i made a simple pinhole camera to play with today, by poking holes in a postcard.  if on any day you poke a small hole in a piece of paper and project sunlight through the hole onto a surface, you will see a small circular image of the sun.  normally the image of the sun will be circular (because of the shape of the sun, not because of the shape of the hole!), but during an eclipse, while the moon is eating away at some of the sun, the projected image looks like little pacmans.  do you see them? 

so far my favorite photo of the event comes from sydney astronomer and photographer geoff sims, who traveled out to western australia to capture the distorted, squishy sun as it rose just above the horizon, covered by the moon.  

Credit: Geoff Sims

and finally, a peaceful shot of the eclipse over the ocean.

Credit: Stuart Harrington

fun day so far!

find an artist

a quote from avigdor pawsner spotted at this isnt happinesss.

annular solar eclipse: 10 may 2013

this friday morning there will be an annular solar eclipse.   an annular eclipse occurs when the moon passes exactly in front of the sun and covers it up, but not completely.   there will still be a small fraction of the brightly glowing sun around the full new moon, preventing the sky from going that ghostly dark that it does during a total solar eclipse, unfortunately.  (see eclipse video here)

credit: forrest tanaka

the maximum eclipse will be visible across far north australia and out into the ocean, but all of australia and much of oceania will be able to see a partial solar eclipse.  don't forget to wear protective solar filter glasses when viewing!   or else build yourself a simple little device to view a projection of the event.

from sydney, the eclipse will be visible this friday morning from 7:50 - 10:15 am, reaching maximum coverage at 8:58 am.  enjoy!  

map from eclipse-maps.com

UPDATE:  for sunrise shots of the eclipse tomorrow, follow #ase2013 on twitter or watch a live video feed from gerard lazarus here.

black hole paint

attach a long piece of metal to a drill, drip on paint, power on, and take photos super quick!!  gorgeous results...

 does the shape remind you of anything in the universe?

this project was created by fabien oefner.

An Ode to He

He is everywhere, in the heavens and earth,
He makes the stars shine yet He cannot be seen.
He is noble, abundant, and fills the universe.
He can lift you into the sky and bring you gently down.
He can take many forms.
He can help heal, He can help kill.
He can help create, and He can help destroy.

Praise be unto He,
Helium

 

he he :) 

 

UPDATE: unfortunately, i didnt write this clever piece, it was sent to me by a friend.  not sure of the source. 

what does the ISS have in common with a 2.7m telescope in texas?

earlier this week, international space station (ISS) resident chris hadfield posted a photo of a hole in the solar array attached to the earth's orbiting domicile.  see it?

a small space rock shot through the solar array and created that hole.   it was lucky that the rock didnt go through the main compartments of the ISS. 

unexpectedly the photo reminded me of my phd days observing with the 2.7meter telescope in west texas at mcdonald observatory. this telescope is a beast - with a casing built by a company that also built submarines!

the primary mirror has an interesting, unexpected history, that also involves holes, but of a different origin.  in 1970, a new employee at the observatory in west texas was struggling to settle into the quiet life experienced by those living in the isolated region. 

one night, he entered the telescope dome, went to the well-known astronomer operating the telescope, pointed a gun at him and told him to bring the telescope down to the horizon.  

when the telescope is lowered all the way, you can walk right down along the metal telescope tube and stand next to the thick mirror.   this guy was unhappy about something that i dont understand, and it caused him to walk up to the telescope with the gun and shoot directly at the primary mirror at point-blank range.

much to his dismay, the powerful gun shots did not shatter the telescope's mirror!   the stories i've heard describe how he then picked up a mallet in his frustration and tried to hit the mirror repeatedly in order to damage it.  no luck. 

he was stopped quickly after that by the security on site at the observatory, but the damage to the telescope was done, and you can still see it today.

bullet holes in the 2.7m telescope at mcdonald observatory (credit: bill keel)

it turns out that the bullet holes did not cause very much damage to the thick fused silica, which is definitely stronger than your average glass mirror.   the engineers and astronomers at mcdonald observatory at the time did several tests and determined that the holes only blocked 1% of the total amount of light that bounces of the mirror into the rest of the light path.  

they sanded off the inside of the holes and painted them black in order to prevent light from bouncing around inside the system, and otherwise, nothing changed.

whenever anyone visited me at the observatory, my tour would include lowering the telescope and showing off the bullet holes, because they're just so crazy!   here i am on the top of the dome that contains the 2.7m telescope (i wasnt officially allowed to be up there so ssshhhhh, dont tell anyone...).

i should say something here about the ridiculous US policy on gun control.   i've tried to write posts about this issue a couple times now, once after the shooting of representative gabby giffords in arizona in 2011, then after the sandy hook elementary school shootings last year, and another after the boston marathon bombings last month.  but i havent been able to finish those posts, for various reasons. 

instead, i'll just link to the daily show's series about the issue, which highlights the fact that australia instituted effective gun control policy three months after a major massacre occurred about a decade ago, and the policy has been 100% successful. the number of both gun-related homicides and suicides had decreased dramatically.   the evidence is obvious.   US politicians must stop pandering to lobbyists.   when did policy become about getting voted in during the next election and not about the best results for the people in the country?   it's despicable. 

saturn's hurricane

thanks to the cassini spacecraft, that is in orbit around saturn, we've known for a while that saturn's north pole features a massive storm in the shape of a hexagon, instead of earth's common circle-hurricane-storms.  check this out from november 2012:

saturn's north pole hexagon (credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute)

now look at this infrared image taken by cassini late last year.  the red shows low clouds deep in the atmosphere, and green reveals high clouds floating above on the outskirts of the storm.  the depth of the image has a dizzying affect.... especially when you consider that the red storm covers an area of 2000 kilometers (1200 miles) across!

saturn's storm (credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute)

amazing.

if you have a telescope, or access to one, saturn is visible in the night sky right now.  it's always worth the effort to see it with your naked eye, enhanced by binoculars or a telescope, fluttering through our atmosphere.

announcement: new job

big news: i've accepted a new job!

i'm thrilled to announce that i'll be staying in sydney for at least several more years, officially splitting my time as a research astronomer and the head of a new outreach office at the australian astronomical observatory (AAO)!

i'm very excited about the possibilities in this new role.  i look forward to continuing to investigate the unknown aspects of the universe that intrigue me most, while helping my colleagues translate their research for general audiences, and creating exciting events for us all to enjoy together.  there are scientists who don't enjoy talking to about their research to the public or students or politicians or the media, and that's ok, but i find myself completely energized by it. 

i've recognised over the last several years that my motivation and passion for astronomy is not just communicating research to seasoned scientists around the world.  i also want to inspire people to harness their inherent curiosity about the world around them by sharing the thrill of scientific discovery.  luckily, my super science fellowship and current employers at AAO have been incredibly supportive of this desire. 

the challenge i have faced in my recent search for the next satisfying stage in my career is that science communication is not a largely supported component of a scientist's professional responsibility.  the academic realm demands high publication rates in professional journals, the successful acquisition of (more and more) external funding, and maybe teaching or other departmental work.  positions are few and the competition is fierce.

researchers are expected to give back to their community through science communication, visiting schools, giving public talks, etc., and the US's national science foundation even requires an outreach component in grant applications, but these outreach activities are rarely acknowledged, measured or valued as more than an "added bonus" by potential employers. 

in order to commit to outreach activities on a large scale, a scientist often has to "drop out" of research roles, which i apprehensively suspected i might have to do this year.   there are desperately few positions available that officially combine research and outreach (there were exactly two world-wide that i found in astronomy in the last 6 months).  i see this as a shame.  aside from the experience, passion, and deep understanding of the science being communicated by an active researcher, lasting value comes from visibly encouraging researchers to interact more with the public.

in addition to having well-prepared teachers in classrooms to teach occasional astronomy lessons to students, a memorable experience meeting an active scientist, looking through a telescope or participating in a public event with family can have an incredible impact, as i hear over and over from people of all ages around the world.

a recent US sequester has pressured NASA to critically evaluate all public outreach and education programs.   as far as i understand, all NASA's outreach activities are currently suspended, but the extent of full cancellations are yet to be determined.  this is such bad news.   and this situation added an extra challenge for me this job round because i was originally hoping to move closer to my family in the US (to be fair, "closer" is anywhere that is not australia!).  lucky for me, i will be able to see my family regularly, and thankfully, i have their full support, but you can see how these career decisions only become more difficult with time, and the entire field suffers the consequences.

i'm proud to hold this new position because i think it has the potential to set a positive example for the professional astronomical community by demonstrating the added value of a position involving both public outreach and scientific research.  props to the AAO for creating such a position!

At the Stories from Siding Spring Observatory photo exhibition opening

astronomy provokes the potential of human imagination.   we can share beautiful astronomical images and science discovery stories to inspire people of all ages to harness their inherent curiosity about the cosmos and our place in it.  i will do my best to share this with as many people as possible. 

but sadly, my time as an official super scientist will come to an end later this year.  i feel like i've made the most of it though, sciencing with other supers and wearing my cape  whenever appropriate (or almost appropriate?).  i still have a ton of business cards so i might save them to give them out to anyone i might especially want to impress.  ;)

so, aside from the fact that i'm not actually going to be the science correspondent on the daily show, this is as close to a dream job as i can imagine getting.   thanks for your support, everyone!