Blueshift ponders… how would you wake up the astronauts?
- By Maggie Masetti
- March 10, 2011
- 8 Comments
As you may or may not know, each “morning,” the astronauts aboard the shuttle are woken up with specially selected music. Sometimes they get the original band to play the tune, sometimes it’s a favorite song or a parody (during the last Hubble servicing mission, I have it on good … Continue Reading →
Discovery’s Last Hurrah
- By Maggie Masetti
- March 2, 2011
- 3 Comments
On February 24, 2011 the space shuttle had a successful launch – it also happened to be Discovery’s last flight. It was actually coincidental that I was in Florida on the day of the launch. My friends and I had made plans ages ago for the Disney Princess half-marathon. Some … Continue Reading →
Fly By a Space Telescope
- By Maggie Masetti
- February 25, 2011
- 2 Comments
Ever wish you could virtually fly-by a space telescope, and then reach out and give it a good spin? Well, now you can! There’s a brand new 3D interactive model of the James Webb Space Telescope that will allow you to move it around and explore all of its different … Continue Reading →
Meet the Press
- By Sara Mitchell
- February 18, 2011
- 3 Comments
Some things seem very simple when you just see the end product… but behind the scenes, it can be a very different story. When Maggie was covering the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle a few weeks ago, she stopped in to catch one of the press conferences. It was … Continue Reading →
“Always Keep Your Sense of Wonder”
- By Maggie Masetti
- February 16, 2011
- 1 Comment
Last year I did an interview with Sharon Bowers, the teacher the James Webb Space Telescope is collaborating with on an educational engineering design challenge called “RealWorld-InWorld”. Part of this challenge (the real world part) takes place in the classroom – but the other part happens in a virtual world … Continue Reading →
Happy Valentine’s Day!
- By Maggie Masetti
- February 14, 2011
- 2 Comments
Here are a few pretty astronomical images that are Valentine themed! This image shows a ring… of black holes! Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/S.Rappaport et al, Optical: NASA/STScI This object is known as Arp 147 – it’s actually a pair of interacting galaxies, a spiral one on the right, that collided with … Continue Reading →
Even Spherical Cows Have Udders
- By Koji Mukai
- February 11, 2011
- 1 Comment
In astrophysics, we often use the term “standard candle.” It is a highly useful, yet also very dangerous, term. The danger is that outsiders – the press, the general public, and even some scientists who are not intimately familiar with this particular subject – see this term and take it … Continue Reading →
Top Five Awesome Things About Webb Telescope
- By Maggie Masetti
- February 4, 2011
- 2 Comments
Thanks to NASA’s twitter feed (and my own not-so-top secret identity as @NASAWebbTelescp) I was alerted to this really cool YouTube video that talks about what is awesome about the James Webb Space Telescope. It was made by Hank Green as a part of vlogbrothers – which is a series … Continue Reading →
Blueshift ponders… where were you?
- By Maggie Masetti
- February 1, 2011
- 3 Comments
This Red Rover cartoon was recently posted on NASA.gov in honor of the astronauts that have lots their lives in the pursuit of space exploration, and we wanted to share it with our readers too. It’s a sad and thoughtful time of year for NASA, as we mark the anniversaries … Continue Reading →
Astronomers in Seattle
- By Maggie Masetti
- January 20, 2011
- 5 Comments
There are many different meetings and conferences for professional astronomers, but one of the most widely attended is the American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting. These are held twice a year, in June and January, though January is better attended. The location of the meeting changes each time, but every four … Continue Reading →
