Chasing Unicorns
- By Ira Thorpe
- December 3, 2015
- Comments Off on Chasing Unicorns
Although the incident happened nearly ten years ago, I still remember it clearly. I was a newly-minted NASA scientist and was attending a workshop about future space-based scientific facilities. At a coffee break I started chatting with some other young scientists, one of whom asked what I worked on. I … Continue Reading →
Archiving the Past for the Future
- By Koji Mukai
- March 9, 2012
- 1 Comment
There is a group here at Goddard is called the HEASARC – High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center. This is where we keep data from old and new satellites. Even though every new satellite is an improvement over the last in one way or another, it is important to … Continue Reading →
Try It At Home: Cosmic Times
- By Barb Mattson
- February 22, 2012
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Extra! Extra! Read All About the Universe! The Universe is expanding faster and faster and faster! But, how do we know that? Our current knowledge of the Universe is built upon a foundation of research done by previous generations of scientists. Sometimes it seems that science moves slowly, but when … Continue Reading →
A Visit to Palomar
- By Maggie Masetti
- August 24, 2011
- 4 Comments
The last time I visited an observatory, it was an ancient Chinese one. This time I visited one a little closer to home. When I learned that I was going to be in Southern California (visiting my husband who was there for back-to-back science conferences), I knew I had to … Continue Reading →
Paying Tribute to the Scientists of the 16th & 17th Centuries
- By Koji Mukai
- August 15, 2011
- 1 Comment
We all know that Nicolaus Copernicus revolutionized our view of the universe. Who would you pick as the top scientists who further developed astronomy during the 16th and 17th centuries? I would pick Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, and Edmond Halley as my top five. I got … 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 →
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 →
Awesomeness Round-up – 2/7/11
- By Maggie Masetti
- February 7, 2011
- 2 Comments
Check out this amazingly cool orrery, created by the creative director, of Dynamic Diagrams, Piotr Kaczmarek. It shows the motion of the planets in our solar system. You can change it by setting the date, and you can speed it up or slow it down! You can even click on … 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 →
But That’s Midnight to You
- By Kevin Boyce
- November 12, 2010
- 2 Comments
It’s 1 PM, and I’m sampling the local cuisine, 7000 miles from home and 50 km from my second home outside Tokyo, hoping I can make it back before dark on my rented bicycle. Hi everybody, I’m new to Blueshift, but not new to Japan. I’ve been coming over to … Continue Reading →
