Asteroid 16 Psyche
The trick the finding asteroids is to look in the same place more than once. I did this both with my own telescope and using SLOOH, the online telescope network. This was my first asteroid find.
Blog
10 Step Guide to the IAU Program Book
1) Open book to summary page.
2) Realise this isn’t the summary. Repeat step 1.
3) Nearly there, try again. It’s at the back.
4) Find the session you’re interested in. For the time of that session, find the list of concurrently running Joint Discussions, Special Sessions, Symposia and random titles with roman numerals next to them. (Note: [...]
IAU General Assembly Update
Well I hope you are following Twitter! WiFi at the conference is really poor so Twitter has once again come to the fore and allowed many of us to continue posting.
The talks at this event really are fascinating and I have learned a lot about many topics, but specifically the life of Sun-like stars and [...]
IAU Inaugural Ceremony
Sitting waiting for the opening ceremony to begin. The President is here, so are the governor and the mayor.
They are showing images of dwarf planets on the central screen.
The lights are dimming. I wonder if I can liveblog from the iPhone?
1416: Yes it seems I can.
1422: Whenever you’re ready guys, no hurry. The lights have [...]
Preciso Pensar
So I am currently lying here at 6:30am thinking about the day ahead. I have been in Rio for less than 12 hours and already I don’t know what to make of it.
Brazil is a country that wants to be invited to major economic summits, that wants to be on the UN security council. Rio [...]
A List of IAU Bloggers and Twitterers
I can’t find a decent list of blogs and Twitterers covering the IAU General Assembly in Rio. Let’s make one!
If you’re blogging or tweeting the event why not add your name in the comments and we’ll create a list.
Obviously I will be there as will my Twitter account http://twitter.com/orbitingfrog
Also if you are tweeting it, follow [...]
Southern Stars
Partly to test out the use of email posting to this blog – something I’ll be using a lot next week at the IAU – I thought I’d share this wonderful photo of the Southern Cross from Flickr user joka2000.
The Southern Cross is a circumpolar constellation that is used to mark the position of the [...]
Open Science
The Internet represents an opportunity to change the 300-year-old system of scientific endeavour. Yesterday I gave the final departmental astrolunch of the semester, which reviewed Michael Neilsen’s excellent Physics World article ‘Doing Science in the Open’, which tackles how we might change it and why.
An Extra Positron Problem
Astrolunch is a weekly talk here at the Department of Physics and Astronomy where speakers give talks on a topic outside of their usual expertise. This week’s Astrolunch talk was by Lucy Wilcock, a PhD student studying star formation here at Cardiff University. She overveiwed a recent paper in Nature, covering some results from PAMeLA and the [...]
Tracking the Remains of Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251
It is now possible to track the debris from last week’s accidental satellite collision using Google Earth and my Satellite KML code. You can download the necessary Google Earth file in this post and follow events in real time.
Triple Conjunction
I took some images of the triple conjunction of Jupiter, Venus and the Moon. It was a very pretty event, and I’ve hardly done it justice, but I thought I’d add my photos into the mix.
Height (from xkcd)
Just wanted to point out this wonderful xkcd comic. I like that it ends (or starts, if you like) with ‘folks’. This is why I love xkcd.
xkcd – A Webcomic – Height
Life from Venus Blown to Earth
“Prof Chandra Wickramasinghe and Dr Janaki Wickramasinghe claim Venus’s clouds contain chemicals that are consistent with the presence of micro organisms.”
These two are from Cardiff’s centre for Astrobiology and the elder of the two has singlehandedly given the field a bad name over the past twenty years.
The whole concept of this idea is that life [...]
Sunshine on a Rainy Day
Ah here I am in ever-so sunny Aix in the south of France. I’m blogging from my iPhone right now because I’m by the pool and too comfy to go and find my laptop. I’m also testing out the Wordpress app from the App Store.
The skies here are big and clear and even these early [...]
Astronomy iPhone App in Store
Was just looking through the App Store on iTunes and found an astronomy application for the iPhone/iPod Touch called Starmap. It will be fun to play with this tomorrow when I can actually install any of these apps. Why Apple has let me browse and buy these things a full day before I can even use them, I don’t know. (Screenshots inside).
Police say UFO was Just the Moon
I love that this happened just down the road from where I live. Police called out to a 999 call about an unexplained object in the night sky solved the mystery straight away for their when they realised it was actually the Moon. Well worth listening to.
Carnival of Space 61
Mang is hosting his first Carnival of Space this week. I’d like to highlight a couple of articles from the list here, too.
Sarkozy: Spaceman
President Sarkozy is looking for UK support to bolster his ideas as France takes over the ESA presidency today. He wants to lead Europe into space in a way that doesn’t leave it trailing the likes of Indian, China and Japan.
UK Physics Teacher Shortage
Almost one in four secondary schools in England no longer has any specialist physics teachers, a survey suggests.
Carnival of Space 60
It doesn’t seem that long ago I hosted my first Carnival and that was number 40. Now the Carnival gets a bus pass as it turns 60.
Martian Skies
An awesome page about atmospheric effects on Mars, including a great dust devils animation. Mars has a rich atmosphere and this is the first planet for which we are really starting to understand the climate.
Home Made Plasma, Country Wife
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tat8BH6kMcE 351 291]
Here is a short science experiment at home. They guy seems to be showing us how to create a plasma inside our microwaves (please be very careful if you actually want to try it). The video is hilarious though for the reaction of the guys wife/girlfriend at the very end.
YouTube – Home Made [...]
Carnival of Space 59
This week’s Carnival is up so get over there and get reading!
Also found this image via the Carnival which I rather liked.
Jodrell Bank Future Improving
The future of eMerlin, a crucial upgrade to the world-famous Jodrell Bank observatory, in Cheshire, is starting to look brighter.
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Jodrell Bank future looks better
English Monks Observe ‘Lunar’ Explosion
From Wired, a nice, little, true story about some twelfth century monks and the crater they may have seen being formed.
A Universe Made of Maths
According to Dr. Tegmark, “there is only mathematics; that is all that exists.” In his theory, the mathematical universe hypothesis, he updates quantum physics and cosmology with the concept of many parallel universes inhabiting multiple levels of space and time. This is a cool idea. read more | digg story
Astronomy and Spuds: Spudstonomy
Astronomy and agriculture – yet more ways astronomy has advanced mankind without much notice. How humble astronomy can be! Also, Stuart has made a connection between IYP2008 and IYA2009.
Astronomy Blog
The Science of Mentos and Diet Coke
The startling reaction between Diet Coke and Mentos sweets, made famous in thousands of YouTube videos, finally has a scientific explanation.
If you drop a pack of Mentos into a bottle of Diet Coke, you get this huge fountain of spray and Diet Coke foam coming out,” says Tonya Coffey, a physicist at Appalachian State University [...]
Your Life and the Age of the Universe
A peculiar little way of visualising your own brief existence with that of the whole universe: in pixels. Illustrates the point nicely. read more | digg story
Where are the Sunspots?
Universe Today is reporting what I have seen other sites reporting on over the past few days: a lack of sunspots. It seems there is “a small worry” that something untoward may be afoot with the current lack of magnetic activity on the Sun two years after Solar minimum.
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@jpsmythe I'm just so glad there are people out there willing to put their time into things like this. [orbitingfrog]
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RT @jpsmythe: The thought of a 1-year-old Happy Meal thrills & disgusts me equally: http://bit.ly/ch0vev #fb [orbitingfrog]
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RT @sarahkendrew: tampon advert banned in the US for using the word vagina *sigh* http://icio.us/edt1rk [orbitingfrog]
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@arfon 85! [orbitingfrog]
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@the_zooniverse is filled with enthusiasm, cutting-edge ideas and people who say 'let's try it' instead of 'that's not how things are done' [orbitingfrog]
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@carolune I love animations in talks - Keynotes makes them easy too. [orbitingfrog]
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Funny that anyone is surprised that a plant that evolved to look just like a toilet - might actually be a toilet! http://j.mp/cbAxl7 [orbitingfrog]
