• Vinnie

    Updated: 2009-12-31 07:06:13
    Jump To Content Home Webcam ThrockNet Projects Links Comment Username : Password : Register 34d 13h 28m 10s left Vinnie Posted by nuxi on 2009-Dec-31 at 02:06:13 in My Life Login to reply So back in 2008 I took care Mary's dog Cleo for a bit . This time I have her other . doggy Vinnie decided to stretch right as I took that photo . Here is his Where is Cleo face that he's been giving me all . day And finally , the when are you going to sleep : face

  • MARIAN IS BACK!

    Updated: 2009-12-30 21:28:52
    Cheers, all.  I know you missed me… admit it.  Sorry for the sudden abandonment, but hopefully life has returned to normal for me.   I believe I owe Dwight a post about planetary development.  So without further ado: The most generally accepted theory on planetary development is that they come together through accretion of matter.  That’s when [...]

  • Red Blue Moon

    Updated: 2009-12-30 13:47:00
    Astronomy Blog You are : in Astronomy Blog archive Red Blue Moon An astronomy blog usually but not always based in the UK . Pondering questions such as What is in an exoplanet name Red Blue Moon The International Year of Astronomy 2009 is almost over . It has been a busy year full of events the world over If you've not yet taken part in a global event , you still have chance on New Year's Eve when the Moon will be . full The Moon is full every moon-th but this will be the second full Moon of this calendar month This doesn't happen too often and is commonly named a Blue Moon Blue is just the name for it and the Moon won't actually turn that shade In fact , if anything , the Moon may actually go slightly red tomorrow night because there will also be a partial eclipse visible from Europe , Africa , Asia , Australia and bits of Canada Greatest eclipse will be at 19:22 UT Join people around the world taking a Blue Moon Walk look up , observe the Moon and welcome in 2010. Tags : Moon Blue Moon lunar eclipse Posted in astro blog by Stuart on Wednesday 30th Dec 2009 13:47 GMT Add a comment Permalink Comments : ADD A : COMMENT Don't provide an email URL unless really necessary as your

  • Science smorgasbord on the Web

    Updated: 2009-12-29 14:00:00
    Nature: 2009 review of the year 'Nova' on PBS: 'What Darwin Never Knew' N.Y. Times: Scientists compiling a microbopedia New Scientist: How I made 'Atomic Dogs' a hit  YouTube ..(read more)

  • A New Martian Crater

    Updated: 2009-12-28 19:55:56
    Pretty new anyways.  The crater is pretty small being only 18 feet (5.5 meters) across. This little crater was formed between January 2006 and May 2008. The crater was found because this area has been imaged earlier with the Themis instrument and no spot was present.  Then more recently the CTX camera was being used to  [...]

  • “The science of Avatar” – new S@N podcast episode

    Updated: 2009-12-27 17:31:26
    With the release of James Cameron’s new 3D movie Avatar, cinema-goers are being transported to the surface of an alien world called Pandora. Pandora is an exomoon (a moon of an extrasolar planet) and the setting for much of the film’s spectacular action. For the new episode of the Sky at Night Magazine podcast I [...]

  • No Riddle Today

    Updated: 2009-12-26 17:59:24
    I ran out of time, kind of bad planning on my part.  Sorry. How about a dance of Saturn moons instead? Source

  • A Day Off

    Updated: 2009-12-25 11:08:00
    A wish for the best of the season to our readers.

  • Wishing you wonder

    Updated: 2009-12-25 02:40:00
    Here's hoping that he ecember holiday season (Christmas, Hanukkah, Eid, Solstice, Kwanzaa, New Year's, Festivus) renews your sense of wonder for a whole year to come. Postings to Cosmic Log will resume on Monday. In the meantime, here are some Web links to see you through the long weekend: Wondering about the 'Star of Wonder' Telegraph: Angels can't fly, scientist says Planetary Society: Happy Christmas on Mars! AIR: Our shrinking solar system and 'Horton Sees a Pluto' ...(read more)

  • Sun and Moon and Tremors on Earth

    Updated: 2009-12-24 21:22:39
    Reuters has a very interesting story saying tidal forces parallel to a segment of the San Andreas Fault could be causing non-volcanic tremors, and a study published in Nature Magazine say the tidal forces are the tug of the sun and moon. These tremors could possibly used to predict earthquakes. From Reuters: Low-level tremors have long [...]

  • Wonder and whimsy on the Web

    Updated: 2009-12-23 21:49:00
    YouTube: The Known Universe by AMNH CICLOPS: Holiday greetings from Saturn!  Washington Post: SETI quest gains momentum POGO: Researchers accidentally blow up building Pwned Experiments: All your data are belong to us Interstellar mission studied (via Space Coalition Blog) Science @ NASA: Voyager makes interstellar discovery Cracked: ix adorable cat behaviors with evil explanations ONN: Net archaeologists find ruins of 'Friendster' civilization ...(read more)

  • A Grand Tour

    Updated: 2009-12-23 21:00:06
    I’d be going to this if I could!! THE KNOWN UNIVERSE: A GRAND TOUR WHAT: The American Museum of Natural History presents Known Universe: A Grand Tour, The longest and most exhilarating trip a New Yorker can take without leaving the city. .. Join astrophysicist Brian Abbott as he leads guests on an adventure from Earth to the edges [...]

  • The Battered Moon Rhea

    Updated: 2009-12-22 21:18:42
    This Cassini image highlights just how battered the Saturn moon Rhea really is.  There is more than what I thought.  Clicking the image will bring up a larger version and shows some nice detail. From the Cassini site: Craters imprinted upon other craters record the long history of impacts endured by Saturn’s moon Rhea. This view looks toward [...]

  • VISTA Starts Work

    Updated: 2009-12-21 21:16:38
    No it’s not a computer program, no it’s a new telescope has started work at the ESO’s Paranal Observatory and this is one of the first releases.  The telescope is the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy, or VISTA for short.  VISTA is surveying the sky at infrared wavelengths and is the largest telescope [...]

  • A chilly crescent

    Updated: 2009-12-20 18:28:58
    Despite the bitterly cold wind, tonight’s crescent Moon was a sight that I couldn’t resist photographing. The first and third shots show an interesting phenomenon known as ‘Earthshine’ where the shadowed part of the Moon is partially illuminated by light reflected off the Earth. If you look closely at the first image you’ll be able [...]

  • The Cosmic Keyhole at The Book Depository

    Updated: 2009-12-20 11:06:27
    I’m very pleased to say that my new book The Cosmic Keyhole is now on sale at the online book store The Book Depository. At the moment it’s available for a discounted price of just over £15 (a discount of over 40%) and you can get free delivery to the UK and many other countries [...]

  • Video Podcast: Citizen Sky Lite Brite

    Updated: 2009-12-18 02:37:15
    Hey, all. We made this video describing epsilon Aurigae and the Citizen Sky project. Similar to our supernovae video from 2006, this was done almost entirely with diagrams made with Lite Brite pegs. BTW, the first phase of the eclipse will be ending any day now as the star reaches minima. However, there are [...]

  • Hubble reveals a sparkling spectacle in the LMC

    Updated: 2009-12-15 21:41:21
    A section of the new Hubble image showing the star cluster R136 and surroundings. Credit: NASA, ESA, and F. Paresce (INAF-IASF, Bologna, Italy), R. O’Connell (University of Virginia, Charlottesville), and the Wide Field Camera 3 Science Oversight Committee. Click for a larger version. I’ve thought hard about how I might write this post. How do you go [...]

  • Geminids 2009

    Updated: 2009-12-13 04:18:00
    Astronomy Blog You are : in Astronomy Blog archive Geminids 2009 An astronomy blog usually but not always based in the UK . Pondering questions such as What is in an exoplanet name Geminids 2009 Tonight I've been watching the Geminid meteor shower preview : the peak isn't until about 5am GMT on Monday morning Even so , tonight I've seen 5 Geminids and 1 sporadic in the hour or two that I sat on my balcony . Not bad for the middle of . Manchester Meteor spotting is not difficult and is best done without a telescope or binoculars . All you need is a reclining chair , clear skies and patience . Actually , on a clear night at this time of year it gets quite cold up here in the north so I also made sure that I was wrapped up warm with extra socks , gloves , a scarf , a hot water bottle and a hat . Cups of tea are also . welcome If it is cloudy where you are there are other ways to enjoy the Geminids . You can watch the growing image archive created by scibuff follow the MeteorWatch conversation or even listen to live radio echoes Orion in the early hours of 13th December 2009 as seen from my balcony . I didn't have a tripod and I was shivering so apologies for the shake . : CREDIT

  • Podcast: Heat

    Updated: 2009-12-12 18:04:13
    Our last episode of the 2009 version of the 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast aired today, December 12th, 2009. We put the extended version of this episode on the Slacker Astronomy feed, or you can listen right now using the player below. Our topic is heat and we discuss heat, temperature, thermodynamics, black bodies and associated [...]

  • A quick guide to the Geminid meteor shower

    Updated: 2009-12-12 15:38:16
    A meteor from the 2009 Geminid meteor shower darts through the constellation of Hydra, close to the star Alphard, as captured by Pete Lawrence. Credit: Pete Lawrence The annual Geminid meteor shower will put on a celestial show over the next few nights with some predictions suggesting that over 100 meteors could be spotted shooting across [...]

  • Chromoscope

    Updated: 2009-12-10 23:43:00
    Astronomy Blog You are : in Astronomy Blog archive Chromoscope An astronomy blog usually but not always based in the UK . Pondering questions such as What is in an exoplanet name Chromoscope Although many other places have already covered Chromoscope in the past week , I thought I'd should write something too . Why Well , I wrote the code behind it . I was helped by Rob Simpson and Chris North who sourced images and created a blog to go with it . We created Chromoscope for the Royal Society Summer Exhibition as a way to illustrate why astronomers observe the Universe at different wavelengths . We weren't guaranteed an internet connection so we needed something that could run on a standalone laptop . Google Maps seemed to want to talk to the Googleplex and I seemed to be struggling to get OpenLayers to work as I wanted so I thought I'd try to make my own slippy map It turns out that you don't need legions of . developers Making it has been both interesting and fun . As a result I now know my way around the sky in Galactic coordinates much better than before . Even though I've seen plenty of sky surveys at different wavelengths , this is the first time I've been able to fade nicely

  • .Astronomy 2009

    Updated: 2009-12-07 00:50:00
    Astronomy Blog You are : in Astronomy Blog archive Astronomy 2009 An astronomy blog usually but not always based in the UK . Pondering questions such as What is in an exoplanet name Astronomy 2009 CREDIT : Carolina Ödman For the past week I've been at Astronomy in Leiden , . Netherlands For those that don't know , Astronomy was created by Rob Simpson to provide a conference to bring together astronomy with internet-based technologies . The first Astronomy was hosted in Cardiff and it went so well that Sarah Kendrew and Carolina Ödman suggested that a second be held in Leiden . The planning for Astronomy 2 started many months ago and I'm glad to say that all the emails and telecons were well worth . it Morning talks have covered topics ranging from Sixty Symbols to Galaxy Zoo Sky Map and the Virtual Observatory The afternoons saw 101 sessions covering things such as Google Maps , podcasting and LEGO as well as discussions about everything from open science to new citizen science projects and astronomy in the developing world . Being a networked conference , the talks were streamed and one was even given direct from the speaker's bed Is that a first for an astronomy conference In the

  • Slide through the spectrum with Chromoscope

    Updated: 2009-12-04 19:49:24
    A section of the Milky Way in microwaves. Credit: NASA / WMAP Science Team If you’ve ever wondered what the Orion Nebula looks like in the far-infrared or what the Milky Way looks like at microwave wavelengths then you’re going to like Chromoscope. This exciting new website is the brainchild of professional astronomers Stuart Lowe, Rob [...]

  • Season’s Greeting from Hubble

    Updated: 2009-12-01 05:12:52
    fire up your color printer and have a happy holiday. –Ben This year, say it in stars! Send your friends and relatives best wishes for the season with our printable holiday cards. Messages of joy and peace are illuminated by the natural splendor of the universe. The cards are designed to be printed out at photo [...]

  • New more astronomy audio?

    Updated: 2009-11-18 05:44:36
    We have a ton of astronomy audio content laying around here at Slacker Astronomy. We have our entire podcast feed, which dates back to February 2005 and spans entire epochs of Slacker Astronomy casts and styles. Then there is the little known Extra feed which has tons of interviews and oddball content. We also have [...]

  • We've Moved!

    Updated: 2009-11-12 21:06:08
    Twisted Physics is no more! Or at least, it's no longer a separate blog. All the Discovery News Space bloggers have joined together to form one big happy family (or socialist collective if you're the paranoid conspiracy sort) at the...

  • NASA’s Great Observatories Celebrate International Year of Astronomy

    Updated: 2009-11-11 08:34:07
    cool pic. too bad GRO isn’t around any more –Ben NASA’s Great Observatories Celebrate International Year of Astronomy November 10, 2009: A never-before-seen view of the turbulent heart of our Milky Way galaxy is being unveiled by NASA on Nov. 10. This event will commemorate the 400 years since Galileo first turned his telescope to the heavens in 1609. In celebration of [...]

  • WiFi in the Sky

    Updated: 2009-11-04 04:46:39
    Quick question: what do black holes and your laptop's WiFi connection have in common? A recently honored astronomer and engineer named John O'Sullivan has the answer. There are lots of astronomy related prizes out there, but the 2009 Australian Prime...

  • Axel Mellinger’s All-Sky Milky Way Panorama 2.0

    Updated: 2009-11-02 18:40:09
    fyi: –Ben ==================== Axel Mellinger’s All-Sky Milky Way Panorama 2.0 Between October 2007 and August 2009, a new digital all-sky mosaic image was assembled from more than 3000 individual CCD frames. Using an SBIG STL-11000 camera, 70 fields (each covering 40° × 27°) were imaged from dark-sky locations in South Africa, Texas and Michigan. In order to increase the [...]

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