Clear Skies in La Palma
- By Koji Mukai
- August 25, 2010
- Comments Off on Clear Skies in La Palma
I’m a new blogger for Blueshift – I work for the Japanese-US Suzaku X-ray astronomy project here at Goddard, and have done education and outreach related works over the years. I used to do ground-based optical observations, so I decided to write about my visits to the international observatory on … Continue Reading →
Awesomeness Round-up – 8/23/10
- By Maggie Masetti
- August 23, 2010
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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 →
Blueshift ponders… should Hubble go in a museum?
- By admin
- August 18, 2010
- 16 Comments
We’re starting a new feature here at Blueshift, and we want you to talk back! We’re going to bring up some hot topics that are related to the things we do here at the Astrophysics Science Division, offer our own opinions, and then ask for yours! Here is our first question: … 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 →
Awesomeness Round-up – 8/16/10
- By Sara Mitchell
- August 16, 2010
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Last week, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope team announced that they had spotted something that had never been seen before – gamma rays coming from a nova. Back in March, Japanese amateur astronomers saw a dramatic change in a star in Cygnus and informed the professional astronomy community. Swift took … 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 →
How To Kill A Dinosaur From Space
- By Faith Tucker
- August 11, 2010
- 3 Comments
Go ahead and take a moment to think back to those blissful years of childhood, all those mandatory naps and the impish grins that let you get away with anything. Ah, the good old days. Well, I’m willing to venture a guess that right about the time that the sand … Continue Reading →
Awesomeness Round-up – 8/9/10
- By Sara Mitchell
- August 9, 2010
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Our big news this past week? Webb Gotchu! But if you’ve seen our coverage, and the other behind-the-scenes coverage at Geeked on Goddard… how about Bad Astronomy’s coverage of our coverage? Or perhaps the Oakland Skepticism Examiner’s coverage of Phil’s coverage of our coverage? Whew. I guess it would be … 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 →
