Infrared: Beyond the Visible
- By Maggie Masetti
- September 26, 2012
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As many of you know, aside from Blueshift, I work on the James Webb Space Telescope, which will be the successor the Hubble Space Telescope. It’s not a replacement, partly because Hubble isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but also because the Webb is primarily an infrared telescope. Astronomers use something … Continue Reading →
Ask a Nobel Laureate about James Webb Space Telescope science!
- By Maggie Masetti
- September 24, 2012
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Got a burning question about the science the James Webb Space Telescope will do? Because we’ve had some big news at NASA Goddard recently with JWST’s first two flight mirrors arriving to our cleanroom here, we’re celebrating! There will be a special tweet-chat Tuesday, September 25th from 2-3pm EDT with … Continue Reading →
What the Higgs are you talking about?
- By Umberto Cannella
- September 21, 2012
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It’s been a little while since the big announcement has been made: two experiments at CERN have discovered a new fundamental particle of Nature, one that very much resembles the famous Higgs Boson, also known as the God particle. A view of the ATLAS experiment at CERN: the level of … Continue Reading →
What is a Galaxy?
- By Koji Mukai
- September 17, 2012
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“Galaxy,” Defined — when I came across a paper with this title while browsing a recent issue of Astronomical Journal, I was intrigued. You would think that such a widely known term, one so fundamental to modern astronomy, would have been defined a long time ago. But then, sometimes the … Continue Reading →
Try It At Home: Life Cycle of a Massive Star Activity
- By Maggie Masetti
- September 13, 2012
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Stars and planets form in the dark, inside vast, cold clouds of gas and dust. The James Webb Space Telescope’s large mirror and infrared sensitivity will let astronomers peer inside dusty knots where the youngest stars and planets are forming. The Webb telescope project has developed a bookmark and an … Continue Reading →
Podcast: Keeping Skepticism Alive, Part 1 of our Interview with “The Bad Astronomer,” Dr. Phil Plait
- By Maggie Masetti
- September 10, 2012
- 1 Comment
Click to listen! (9MB MP3, right-click to save) Transcript (Text, PDF) At its heart, science is about asking questions – looking at the universe around us and asking, “How? Why?” Science takes our natural curiosity and adds structure and rigor, examining things methodically to answer our questions and ask the … Continue Reading →
Science on a Sphere
- By Maggie Masetti
- August 27, 2012
- 3 Comments
One of the things you can see if you visit NASA Goddard (or dozens of museums and other institutions worldwide) is a 68-inch sphere on which moving images are projected – it’s called “Science on a Sphere.” Goddard has one on display in its Visitor Center, and there’s also a … Continue Reading →
Awesomeness Round-Up – 8/24/2012
- By Alexe Helmke
- August 24, 2012
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Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Curiosity has successfully made it to Mars! While it’s gotten a generous amount of press in recent days, we wanted add our own nod to the successful landing of the Mars Science Laboratory aboard its rover, Curiosity, (after its Seven Minutes of Terror) at 1:32 a.m. EDT, Aug. … Continue Reading →
Who cares about gravity?
- By Umberto Cannella
- August 22, 2012
- 1 Comment
Numerical simulation of two merging black holes performed by the Albert Einstein Institute in Germany: what this rendition shows through colors is the degree of perturbation of the spacetime fabric, the so-called gravitational waves. Credit: Werner Benger Who cares about gravity? Shouldn’t this be a settled question by now? This … Continue Reading →
Relating Science and Science-Fiction at Otakon
- By Jillian Brown
- August 20, 2012
- 1 Comment
During the last weekend of July Baltimore was host to about thirty-two thousand very interesting people (in addition to the devoted sports fans at Camden Yard and M&T Bank Stadium). Nerds, geeks, fans and enthusiasts alike gathered at the Baltimore Convention Center for Otakon 2012, the nineteenth-annual Baltimore convention devoted … Continue Reading →
