Awesomeness Round-up – 9/20/10
- By Maggie Masetti
- September 20, 2010
- Comments Off on Awesomeness Round-up – 9/20/10
Remember that squirrel that photobombed that couple’s vacation photo? Well, this is kind of like the astronomical equivalent! This image of dwarf galaxy PGC 39058 is dominated by this bright star that just happens to lie between us and the galaxy! The star, much dimmer when viewed from Earth, shines … Continue Reading →
Awesomeness Round-up – 9/13/10
- By Maggie Masetti
- September 13, 2010
- 1 Comment
Another milestone for the James Webb Space Telescope – the first primary mirror segment to be coated in gold (it’s a flight spare and engineering design unit) is undergoing cryo testing! Isn’t it pretty? I can’t wait to see what the whole mirror assembly will look like once it’s all … Continue Reading →
Blueshift ponders…who’s your favorite fictional scientist?
- By Maggie Masetti
- September 10, 2010
- 17 Comments
If you recall this week’s link round-up, we linked to a very cool subway map of science. Sara printed out her own copy (it’s easier to follow if you can see the whole thing at once, instead of scrolling around on a screen), and this got us thinking of what … Continue Reading →
Solving Real World Problems Virtually!
- By Maggie Masetti
- September 8, 2010
- 2 Comments
Those of us who work on education and outreach for the James Webb Space Telescope have wanted to do an engineering design challenge for a long time. The chance finally presented itself in the form of a teacher from Virginia – and a project where students get to solve real … Continue Reading →
Awesomeness Round-up – 9/6/10
- By Maggie Masetti
- September 6, 2010
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You might remember when Stephen Colbert “interviewed” to become an astronaut – we linked to the segments in one of our older link roundups. NASA Johnson just released a whole bunch of images of Colbert’s visit. Here he is on the C.O.L.B.E.R.T: (Speaking of things named for Colbert, we named … Continue Reading →
Awesomeness Round-up – 8/23/10
- By Maggie Masetti
- August 23, 2010
- Comments Off on Awesomeness Round-up – 8/23/10
Do we have any science fiction fans out there? It seems like solar sails are a mainstay of spaceships in many books and movies (Avatar had a cool-looking ship with one). Are we one step closer to making this a reality? Meet NanoSail-D, which was designed and built by NASA. … Continue Reading →
Beijing’s Ancient Observatory
- By Maggie Masetti
- August 20, 2010
- 10 Comments
I just got back from a trip to Beijing, China, which was a very interesting experience. Beijing seems to me to be a study in contrasts – ancient, yet very much rebuilt. Structures from the 15th century Ming Dynasty lasted for centuries, and some still exist today, yet later conflicts … Continue Reading →
RXTE, Black holes, and Pulsars – Oh My!
- By Maggie Masetti
- August 17, 2010
- 15 Comments
Black holes and pulsars are two of the most mysterious (and coolest-sounding) cosmic objects – and we study both of them here at the Astrophysics Science Division. Here is Blueshift’s inside look at two recent discoveries made using data from the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (which I personally like to … Continue Reading →
Meteor Crater
- By Maggie Masetti
- August 13, 2010
- 3 Comments
Faith recently blogged about the meteor strike that killed the dinosaurs. That may have been the Big One, but the Earth has gotten hit by meteors plenty of other times. Meteor Crater is east of Flagstaff in the Arizona desert. It’s nearly 3/4 of a mile across! It was created … Continue Reading →
Webb Gotchu follow-up
- By Maggie Masetti
- August 9, 2010
- 5 Comments
I’m really happy the new Hubble Gotchu segment from Jimmy Fallon got such a good reaction – again, it was so fun watching them film, and helping out behind-the-scenes. Also, it isn’t often that you see science presented in a way that is fun while not losing all of the, … Continue Reading →
