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Podcast: Ring around the Exoplanet

Click to listen! (11MB MP3, right-click to save) Transcript (Text, PDF) A college friend of Maggie’s, Dr. Eric Mamajek, discovered a cool potential exoplanet system that might also have a ring system – we reported on it last January after the American Astronomical Society exhibit. We checked with Eric a … Continue Reading →

What’s This? #4 – May 28, 2013

We haven’t had a What’s This? in a long time! This one is a little different than the previous ones we’ve done. Your hint is that this image is from our giant cleanroom at NASA Goddard. So check it out and try to figure out… what’s this object? Post your … Continue Reading →

Podcast: The Art of Space, Part 2

This is the second part of our interview with space artist Ron Miller. He’s an author, illustrator, former art director for the National Air & Space Museum’s Albert Einstein planetarium, and his work is truly inspirational! Here is Part 1 of our interview where we talk about how he got … Continue Reading →

Blueshift ponders… what’s one misconception in astronomy that drives you crazy?

Blueshift has covered the bad science in movies. In today’s “Blueshift Ponders,” we asked several of our colleagues: What’s one misconception in astronomy drives you crazy? Here are are their answers! What are yours? Tell us yours either in the comments, or on Facebook or Twitter! Korey Haynes: The “dark” … Continue Reading →

Podcast: The Art of Space, Part 1

Blueshift recently interviewed space artist Ron Miller. Not only is he an amazingly talented illustrator, but he’s also the author, consultant, and former art director for the National Air & Space Museum’s Albert Einstein planetarium. He’s written and illustrated many books, one of which, “Out of the Cradle,” is a … Continue Reading →

Podcast: Studying Simulated Stardust

  • By Sara Mitchell
  • April 25, 2013
  • Comments Off on Podcast: Studying Simulated Stardust

Dust – on Earth, it’s a nuisance. But in space, it’s a valuable natural resource, a raw material essential to the formation of nearly any object imaginable. NASA Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Christina Richey studies interstellar dust grains through laboratory-created analogs, comparing the properties of simulated stardust to data from missions … Continue Reading →

Come Together

If you’re at all a fan of astronomy, you’ve probably marveled over the many beautiful photos of spiral galaxies that are out there. Like this one of NGC 3344 captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASABut you may not know that galaxies have not always looked this … Continue Reading →

Comet Watch

If you’re an astronomy buff, you might know that Comet Pan-STARRS has been gracing our early evening skies over the last few weeks. I was pretty excited about this because when I was in college, we had two spectacularly bright comets appear – Hayakutake and Hale-Bopp – a year apart. … Continue Reading →

Awww! Cosmic baby pictures!

Protostars in Messier 78, as seen by multiple observatories Credit: NASA/ESA/ESO/JPL-Caltech/Max-Planck The side-by-side images above depict protostars found in Messier 78, a reflection nebula found within the constellation Orion (but not the Orion Nebula, which is Messier 42). These are some of the youngest stars that astronomers have ever seen … Continue Reading →

A Victorian Scandal

A recent event reminded me of a scandal of a sort that happened around 1850. At the center of it was John Russell Hind, a British astronomer (I mentioned him in a previous blog about archives). Hind was a superb observer who knew the sky very well. He discovered many … Continue Reading →

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