Space, Science, Technology
ALMA's view of Herbig-Haro object HH 46/47. This image interweaves optical data (pink and purple; from ESO's New Technology Telescope) with radio observations (orange and green; from the Atacama Large Millimete Array). A newly-formed star is spewing out a large jet at each end, which are seen moving away from us in the optical (left-hand-side).... Continue Reading →
Tonight (and last night too) have been your best chance to see this year's Perseid meteor shower. With little or no Moon to wash out the skies, it's a great chance to see, and to snap a picture of, this fantastic annual display. Astrophotographer and general space image wizard Mel Gigg has produced a superb... Continue Reading →
The Large Magellanic Cloud is a dwarf galaxy orbiting around our own Milky Way. You can see it from the Southern Hemisphere but not like this! This image combines Spitzer and Herschel data to show up some of this object's amazing star formation activity. Just wonderful! [via Large Magellanic Cloud | Herschel Space Observatory]
Once you have a Meade ETX-90 Telescope aligned and ready to go (no small feat, at times) you can see some pretty cool objects in the Summer sky. Saturn is currently riding high, and the rings are at a lovely angle - but that's about it for the Solar System as I'm not willing to... Continue Reading →
In a word: this. A great blog post that totally sums up my annoyance with a growing number of websites and apps, and the 'digital' movement in general.
NASA have released the raw version of Friday's #WaveAtSaturn photograph of the Earth from Cassini. This image shows the Earth and the Moon as two bright stars; it was received on Earth yesterday, July 20th. The camera that took this image was 898,410,414 miles (1,445,851,410 km) away, on the Cassini probe orbiting the Saturnian system.... Continue Reading →
Smile for the camera... in space! In fact it's cameras as two spacecraft will be taking images of the Earth tonight - there might still be time to get your hair done. The two spacecraft are Cassini and Messenger and although you'll not even be a pixel in this image - the concept is quite... Continue Reading →
For better or worse citizen science has become a fashionable term, but what is it and why do people like it? Citizen Science is a big component in a larger movement of public participation and engagement. There are makers and hackers everywhere and participation in science feels like it is increasing in general. This is... Continue Reading →
Plants aren't something I know very much about, but I remember the concept of turgor pressure from my GCSEs. Plant cells absorb water a different way to the cells in our bodies because they contain 'vacuoles' which our cells don't have. Plant cells also have cell walls, and as the vacuole absorbs more and more... Continue Reading →
A new journal begins today, Astronomy and Computing, covering the intersection of astronomy, computer science and information technology. This journal is desperately needed in my view and I wish it every success. The timing is interesting as many people at the intersection of these research areas are skeptical of old-style journals and the current state... Continue Reading →