Price Middle School Jan 6th 2014 Solar Astronomy
Please share these videos freely... Its about Science! Please support The Charlie Bates Solar Astronomy Project with your tax deductible donation at http://www.char...
By: Stephen W. Ramsden
Visit link:
Astronomy - Ch. 17: The Nature of Stars (25 of 37) Stellar Classification: Luminosity Class
Visit http://ilectureonline.com for more math and science lectures! In this video I will explain the stellar classification of luminosity class. Next video c...
By: Michel van Biezen
Read this article:
Astronomy - Ch. 17: The Nature of Stars (25 of 37) Stellar Classification: Luminosity Class - Video
Long past midnight, when Earth itself seems to undergird ones heartbeat, its not hard to make a momentary leap into the space-time continuum. Even without enrolling in an astronaut program, its the sort of instinctual connection thats always available to those who stop long enough to look up and listen. But were still left with some whopping questions.
Why is there something rather than nothing? Are we alone in the cosmos? Are we as humans really meant to leave Earth and our own solar system? And if so, why does that seem so difficult?
Heres also one that isnt bandied about too often: What meaning can we extract from the short temporal nature of our own human lifespans; particularly when compared to the projected 11 billion-year lifespan of our own planet? Or the estimated 100 trillion-year lifetime of the universe as a whole?
As Woody Allen once quipped, I dont want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve it through not dying.
Thus, if E.T. is out there, would some permutation of hyper-advanced sentient beings have long discarded their physical shells and literally begun living in an intelligent nexus between the stars? And, as such, with virtually no limit on their biological longevity?
Regardless of philosophy or religion, such questions refuse to go quietly.
The Milky Way as seen from the U.S. East Coast. Credit: Chris Bakley (chrisbakleyphotography.com)
Whats left of the unspoiled night sky from Earths surface still makes it easy to understand why so many astronomers remain so eager to answer the big picture questions shaped by the science of cosmology over the last century or more.
Even so, we also sometimes forget that technological progress in aerospace, in particular, has been nothing short of astonishing since that day in 1903 when Orville and Wilbur Wright gave us the worlds first powered, sustained and controlled airplane flight. After all, on geologic timescales, a hundred years is like a fleeting nanosecond.
But most researchers and engineers keep the philosophizing to a minimum and opt instead for long hours of hard data analysis. Astronomers seem to have figured out that understanding and making this life as we know it work for us, is likely only to come in a hard-won piecemeal process. Or maybe not at all.
The rest is here:
The public is invited to tour the universe and view the stars and sky at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 28 in Room 109 at Cooper Memorial Library, 2525 Oakley Seaver Drive, Clermont.
Astronomer Derek Demeter, director of the Emil Buehler Perpetual Trust Planetarium at Seminole State College in Sanford, will present the free program.
Following the presentation, Demeter will lead the audience outside and present a green-laser tour of the night sky through telescopes provided by the Central Florida Astronomical Society.
For more information, call 352-536-2275.
Michigan Day
The 68th annual Michigan Day potluck luncheon is Feb. 3 at the Eustis Community Center, 601 Northshore Drive. Former and current residents of Michigan are welcome. Doors open at 11 a.m.; lunch is at noon.
There is a $3 donation per person. Bring a covered dish to share. Chicken, coffee and water will be provided. There will be door prizes.
Details: Clarence Miller, 517-281-9766 or Steve Ellmer, 269-637-2777.
Meetings
The League of Women Voters of The Villages/Tri-County Area, a nonpartisan group, will meet at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 26 at The Villages Community Bank & Trust, 2285 Parr Drive off County Road 466. The focus will be planning and development for the coming league year, which begins April 1. Details: Kathy Hansen, 352-350-7317 or lwvtri.org.
Read the original here:
Undated handout artist impression of one of the two as-yet undiscovered planets as big as Earth or larger may be hiding in the outer fringes of the Solar System, scientists believe. Photograph: PA
Schoolchildren may need a new mnemonic to remember the sequence of planets as astronomers now believe there may be at least two new planets in our solar system.
The two planets which may both be bigger than earth could be orbiting in the furthest reaches of the solar system out past Pluto, which was demoted from the status of planet to a dwarf planet in 2006.
The discovery of possible new additions to our existing eight planets, if confirmed, has been described by one of the scientists involved as truly revolutionary for astronomy.
The research is being carried out by from scientists at the University of Madrid and the University of Cambridge. They have been tracking large asteroids known as extreme trans-Neptunion objects (Etnos) which orbit the sun at least six billion kilometres away.
The scientists have found the objects orbit the Sun in a manner consistent with them being subject to the gravitational pull of a planet at least as large as Earth.
Neptune was discovered in a similar fashion when astronomers accurately calculated its existence from irregularities in the orbit of its neighbouring planet Uranus.
Spanish lead scientist Professor Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), explained: This excess of objects with unexpected orbital parameters makes us believe that some invisible forces are altering the distribution of the orbital elements of the Etnos, and we consider that the most probable explanation is that other unknown planets exist beyond.
Professor Marcos concluded that there are at least two planets and probably more within the confines of our solar system.
Though more data was needed, the possibilities were truly revolutionary, he added.
See the original post:
Astronomy - Ch. 17: The Nature of Stars (24 of 37) Stellar Classification: Spectral Type
Visit http://ilectureonline.com for more math and science lectures! In this video I will explain the difference between spectra class and spectra type. Next ...
By: Michel van Biezen
Read more:
Astronomy - Ch. 17: The Nature of Stars (24 of 37) Stellar Classification: Spectral Type - Video
Astronomy - Ch. 17: The Nature of Stars (26 of 37) Stellar Classification: Examples
Visit http://ilectureonline.com for more math and science lectures! In this video I will give examples of stars of spectral class, spectral type, and luminos...
By: Michel van Biezen
Continued here:
Astronomy - Ch. 17: The Nature of Stars (26 of 37) Stellar Classification: Examples - Video
Mori astronomy: Dr. Pauline Harris (TBC)
By: Linux.conf.au 2015 -- Auckland, New Zealand
Here is the original post:
Heather dawn astronomy
Black holes.
By: Heather Dawn
The rest is here:
The B.M. Birla Science Centre, Hyderabad will organise a Physics and Astronomy Meet 2015 on February 4, Wednesday, a press release said.
Leading researcher Larisa Laperashvili from Moscow will deliver the keynote lecture. Other important physicists from a host of research institutes in India will also participate and speak on the occasion.
Faculty members, students and researchers can participate in the meet. Researchers can also present interesting papers. For details, contact the office of the director, B.M. Birla Science Centre on 2323-5081/93915-16839.
COMMENTS
Please Wait while comments are loading...
1. Comments will be moderated by The Hindu editorial team. 2. Comments that are abusive, personal, incendiary or irrelevant cannot be published. 3. Please write complete sentences. Do not type comments in all capital letters, or in all lower case letters, or using abbreviated text. (example: u cannot substitute for you, d is not 'the', n is not 'and'). 4. We may remove hyperlinks within comments. 5. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name, to avoid rejection.
Read more from the original source:
Astronomy - Ch. 17: The Nature of Stars (22 of 37) Stellar Classification: Spectral Class
Visit http://ilectureonline.com for more math and science lectures! In this video I will explain in more detail of stellar classification of spectra class. N...
By: Michel van Biezen
Follow this link:
Astronomy - Ch. 17: The Nature of Stars (22 of 37) Stellar Classification: Spectral Class - Video
Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014 - Young Astrophotographers Shishir and Shashallach
The winners of the Young Astrophotographer category of our global search for the best images of the cosmos talk about their stunning shot. See all the winners in our free exhibition at the...
By: Royal Museums Greenwich
Read more from the original source:
Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014 - Young Astrophotographers Shishir and Shashallach - Video
Introduction to Astronomy Crash Course Astronomy attorney clip9
By: News and Best Lawyers
Read this article:
Introduction to Astronomy Crash Course Astronomy attorney clip9 - Video
As part of a research team studying galaxies, two University of Maryland scientists recently helped find a wild one.
It doesn't fit into the two main galaxy shape categories and is even a bit too odd to belong with those astronomers call "irregulars," although loosely speaking it is. It appears in one respect a conventional spiral galaxy, but also in a class by itself, a cosmic eccentric dropping clues about galaxies and the mysterious objects believed to lie at the center of most of them: supermassive black holes.
University of Maryland astronomy professor Sylvain Veilleux and doctoral student Vicki Toy have been trailing this galaxy along with 11 researchers from other institutions, and in a recent development in the field help from amateur astronomers through such websites as Galaxy Zoo. Their research report appeared online last month and is scheduled to be in print next month in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Couched in the customary clusters of mathematical equations and graphs, the research report begins telling the story of a galaxy that like nearly all of the 700,000 galaxies loosely classified so far, a fraction of the total in the universe is identified only by catalog number: J1649+2635.
It's about 800 million light years from Earth, which in astronomical terms is in the neighborhood, and about the size of our own galaxy, the Milky Way: roughly 80,000 light years across. For some sense of scale, consider that one light year the distance light travels in a vacuum in 365 days is nearly 6 trillion miles. That's about 100 million trips from Baltimore to California and back again.
J1649+2635 is a "grand design spiral," meaning it shows well-defined spiral arms emanating in unbroken lengths from the center. In that respect it resembles the Milky Way, also a spiral, and conforms to one of the main established galaxy types.
Other features, however, set it apart, challenging some standing notions about galaxies. The anomalies are yet to be explained.
It has two elongated structures shooting out of it: jets or plumes of subatomic particles mostly likely electrons and protons that are emitting non-visible radio energy.
That's odd, as such jets are usually found in elliptical galaxies, which contain stars that are older than those found in spirals. This is only the fourth spiral galaxy found so far to emit these jets. It is also the first "grand design" galaxy to show a "halo" of visible light around it, probably the glow of a vast cloud of stars.
The researchers got onto J1649+2635 by following up information compiled on the Galaxy Zoo website, which allows anyone to look at images of galaxies and sort them into categories.
Read the original:
Wheres the best place to park a space telescope to find a planet-killing asteroid; that is, a kilometer-scale object capable of threatening human civilization? A team of astronomers at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has just concluded that the sweet spot for its proposed $500 million NEOCam (Near-Earth Object Camera) spacecraft is still relatively close to home.
Theyre talking the Earth-Sun L1 Lagrange point; a stable point of gravitational equilibrium, where soon after launch in 2021, NEOCam would set about discovering millions of new asteroids and comets. One goal is to determine their orbits with enough accuracy to figure out what miniscule fraction might also have the potential to catastrophically impact Earth.
In a paper to appear in The Astronomical Journal, the team describes computer simulations of a large swath of some 12,000 known near-Earth objects. The idea was to calculate how effective NEOCam would actually be at detecting objects as small as 140 meters when staring at an often observationally-confusing background of stars, galaxies, planets, minor planets, and known asteroids and comets.
Amy Mainzer, NEOCams Principal Investigator and an astronomer at NASA JPL, told Forbes. The first question is where do you put it? Weve now done detailed computer simulations that prove that staying relatively close to Earth is the best bet.
The Milky Way over an empty beach at Cape May, New Jersey. Credit: Chris Bakley (chrisbakleyphotography.com)
By staying at the Earth-Sun L1 point, Mainzer explains that the spacecrafts 50-cm telescope, equipped with Mercury Cadmium Telluride detectors, would be far enough from Earth to cool to temperatures near 40 Kelvin (or roughly minus 400 degrees F). This would enable the telescope to spot such distant dark asteroids while still close enough to receive mini-movies of such objects to the tune of 150 megabytes per second.
Between the inner solar system and Saturn lie millions of heretofore undetected asteroids and more than a few long-period comets; many of which are near-Earth objects (NEOs) that lurk on Earth-crossing orbits.
NEOCam is a candidate for selection as a NASA Discovery class mission later this Fall. If selected, its proposed 2021 launch would already fall a year after the U.S. space agencys initial Congressional deadline to find and characterize at least 90 percent of all NEOs larger than 140 meters.
Of some 12,000 known near-Earth objects (including both comets and asteroids), some 900 are thought to be planet-killing asteroids of a kilometer or more in diameter. Although roughly 90 percent of these kilometer-sized asteroids have been identified in known NEO populations, some 90 to 100 still remain undetected. The good news is that none of this known population are thought to be on Earth-impacting orbits. However, at least 90 to a 100 of these civilization-ending type objects still remain totally undetected. But Mainzer is quick to point out that NEOCam would have a good chance of finding the few remaining large ones out there.
With the NEOCam teams development of next generation mid-infrared detectors, during its five year nominal mission, the spacecrafts 32 megapixel camera, would be able to detect more than two-thirds of NEOs larger than 140 meters; thus making what the authors term a significant contribution in fulfilling the Congressional mandate.
See the article here:
NASA's Potential Next Move In Countering Catastrophic Impactors
Introduction to Astronomy: Crash Course Astronomy #1
Welcome to the first episode of Crash Course Astronomy. Your host for this intergalactic adventure is the Bad Astronomer himself, Phil Plait. We begin with answering a question: "What is astronomy?...
By: CrashCourse
Excerpt from:
Introduction to Astronomy: Crash Course Astronomy #1 - Video
Two Cardiff University astronomers have been honoured the Royal Astronomical Society.
Professor Steve Eales and Dr Haley Gomez, from the School of Physics and Astronomy, have been recognized for their contributions to astrophysics.
Professor Eales has been awarded the Herschel Medal for investigations of outstanding merit in observational astrophysics. This award was in recognition of his leading work on understanding the dust-enshrouded universe and his contribution to submillimetre astronomy, leading the first detection of cold dust in external galaxies.
His work led to the development of two major projects on ESAs Herschel Space Observatory, the Herschel Reference Survey and the Herschel ATLAS (see Figure), the latter being the biggest survey undertaken by Herschel. He has published over 250 refereed journal articles and has communicated his passion through popular articles on the dusty universe, textbooks and talks at the Hay Festival.
Professor Eales said: "It has been a privilege to take part in opening up the last electromagnetic frontier for astronomy. I have been fortunate in working with some outstanding scientists, both ones who have built the instruments I have used throughout my career and some very talented individuals who have worked with me on several projects, most recently surveys with the Herschel Space Observatory."
Dr Haley Gomez was awarded the Fowler Award for individuals who have made a particularly noteworthy contribution to astrophysics at an early stage of their research career. Her major contribution has been in increasing understanding of the origin and evolution of dust and of its role in galaxies.
Over the last few years she has played a key role in showing that dust is actually formed in supernovae and she was the first to see, with Herschel, exquisite filaments of cold dust shining in the famous Crab Nebula
.Dr Gomez has previously been awarded a prize by the RAS, winning the Michael Penston Thesis Prize in 2005 for the best doctoral thesis in astrophysics.
Dr Gomez said: "I am so happy to be honoured again by the RAS. The fact that Steve and I have been recognized for our research into cosmic dust is due to the incredible team involved in the Herschel Space Observatory and the significant Cardiff involvement in this amazing space mission."
Professor Eales and Dr Gomez join previous Cardiff University winners: Head of School Professor Matt Griffin (recognized in 2009, 2011 and 2014);
Read the original here:
Astronomy 101, folks: the Moon is the Earth's only naturalsatellite. Now, if only someone could've told that to this QVC host...
Isaac Mizrahi recently stopped by the shopping channel to promote his new designs, which, according to QVC presenterJane Treacy look "almost like what the Earth looks like when you're a bazillion miles away on the planet Moon."
Yeah, that happened.
While many were left scratching their head after Treacy's remarks, Mizrahi did absolutely nothing to clear up the confusion, and in fact, only made the conversation far more cringeworthy.
VIDEO: QVC host Lisa Robertson gets emotional during final show
"From the planet Moon," the 53-year-old fashion designer repeats as we're left hoping that a producer quickly performs a Google search.
"Isn't the moon a star?" Treacy replies, suddenly questioning her facts.
And that's when the conversation really took a turn for the worse.
"No, the moon is a planet, darling," Mizrahi says before Treacy continues, seemingly becoming more baffled as time continues, "Is the Moon really a planet?Don't look at me like that. The Sun is a star ... Is the Sun not a star?"
VIDEO: Arnold Schwarzenegger spoofs QVC with Jimmy Fallon
Read the original here:
Courtesy photo
On Jan. 23 a triple moon transit will cast shadows on Jupiter which can be seen through telescopes at the University on California, Riverside.
Posted: Thursday, January 15, 2015 4:26 pm | Updated: 4:29 pm, Thu Jan 15, 2015.
UCR hosts public viewing of coming astronomy treat
Astronomy enthusiasts are in for a treat in the coming week.
On Friday, Jan. 23, the public is invited to see a triple moon transit that will cast shadows over Jupiters atmosphere from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. a type of event that happens only twice in a decade, on average. Moons Callisto, Io and Europa will transit in front of Jupiter, casting their shadows onto the upper atmosphere of the giant gaseous planet.
The viewing for this event will take place on the lawn south of Pierce Hall, a short walk from the bell tower.
UC Riverside astronomers will be available at both viewings to discuss the phenomena (in English, Spanish and Farsi).
Posted in Entertainment, Collegiate news on Thursday, January 15, 2015 4:26 pm. Updated: 4:29 pm. | Tags: Ucr
View original post here: