Photo Gallery (With Thanks to Inger Carter)
Welcome Talk
Evening of February 4th at the Radisson Blu [Slides]. I gave a summary of our trip to come, and the current state of space research and exploration.
Lecture #1: The Aurora
Morning of February 6th on board MS Finnmarken [Slides]. A quick tour of the Solar System and a description of the Sun’s connection to the Earth – and the nature and origins of the aurora.
Lecture #2: The Earth’s Orbit
Afternoon of February 7th on board MS Finnmarken [Slides]. The Earth’s path around the Sun – spinning on its axis all along – defines much about our world’s climate, and our daily lives.
Lecture #3: Citizen Science
Afternoon of February 8th on board MS Finnmarken [Slides]. How astronomy is part of a movement to engage the wider public in science. I am part of a team that build crowdsourced science websites, asking for volunteers to help analyse datasets that are too big for researchers.
Aurora Websites and Forecasts:
Tromsø all-sky camera where you can view the sky over Tromsø in near real time.
Geophysical Institute’s aurora forecast page
Live solar data in multiple wavelengths from the NASA/ESA SOHO mission.
Spaceweather.com – news and updates on Solar activity, aurora and sunspots.
Books, Apps and Websites You Might Find Useful:
Usborne First Encyclopaedia of Space – sometimes it’s best to start with the kids books – they’re fun too!
A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson’s wonderfully relatable history of modern science.
Bang! A Complete History of the Universe – by Patrick Moore, Brian May and Chris Lintott
Zoo in the Sky: Beautiful book that balances make-believe, poetry, and facts perfectly. Just lovely
Zooniverse – citizen science across many research domains.
RedShift for iOS – comprehensive planetarium and star-spotting app for iPhones and iPads.
Solar System for iPad: Interactive tour of the planets and moons, with beautiful photos and rich descriptions.
Spot the Station: Get email alerts for the International Space Station (ISS) going over your location.
Heaven’s Above: A website that lets you determine spotting-times for satellites, the planets, comets and more.
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You can contact Inger on ingermcarter [at] hotmail.com – and myself on robert.simpson [at] astro.ox.ac.uk or via Twitter @orbitingfrog.
Orbiting Frog 