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Category Archives: Astronomy

Centennial receives $9,000 is astronomy equipment

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The Centennial School District has received $9,000 worth of astronomy equipment from the estate of a longtime Warminster resident.

Eileen Corbett, of Upper Southampton, donated a Meade, 12-inch Lx400 ACF telescope and a personal observatory dome to Centennial on May 28 from the estate of her deceased cousin, Joseph J. Franz.

Franz, 73, died Feb. 9, according to published reports.

He worked as an aerospace engineer at the Naval Air Development Center in Warminster for more than 30 years, leading innovations in high-altitude engineering. His work resulted in several patents, inventions, publications and honors, according to the school district.

The telescope and personal observatory dome are professional grade astronomy tools that Franz enjoyed at home, school officials said. The Meade 12-inch Lx400 is considered one of the most sophisticated and technologically advanced telescopes available for the serious amateur astronomer, according to the astronomy website, Skies Unlimited.

Its a community member who has lived in our school district and had a passion for her cousins work in terms of his own personal passion for astronomy, science and star-gazing. Its a lovely way for us to continue to inspire students, said Joyce Mundy, substitute superintendent of Centennial schools.

Mundy said the district would develop programs and opportunities for students and the community to enjoy the equipment.

Its a very generous gift. Its magnificent, if you think about it, she said.

Astronomy websites sets the telescope's retail value at a minimum of $6,000. The personal observatory dome the district received retails for at least $2,500, according to the websites.

The personal observatory domes enable an astronomer to keep the telescope in a safe and secure outdoor location for extended amounts of time.

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Centennial receives $9,000 is astronomy equipment

Margaritas to host fund-raiser for astronomy festival

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PORTSMOUTH Margaritas Mexican Restaurant will host a fund-raiser Thursday, June 6, to support the New England Fall Astronomy Festival.

The festival was created in 2011 to educate the general public on the cosmos and to encourage young people to pursue careers in the sciences. Held annually at the University of New Hampshire Observatory, the two-day event is full of activities for children, astronomy and space science displays, talks given by leading scientists, a variety of exhibits, and time to observe the sun, moon, planets and other astronomical objects firsthand. All activities are free and open to the public. This year's program is set for Sept. 13-14.

This year's keynote speaker is science writer Dava Sobel, author of "Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love," "Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time" and "The Planets and A More Perfect Heaven."

Organizers of Thursday's event will show telescope views of Saturn and other bodies in the restaurant parking lot during the fund-raiser, if the weather permits. Fifteen percent of proceeds from the evening's sales will go to support this year's programming at the festival. The fund-raiser will be held from 4 to 11 p.m., when the restaurant closes. For details on the festival, visit http://www.physics.unh.edu/observatory/nefaf.

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Margaritas to host fund-raiser for astronomy festival

European Astronomy Journalism Prize Expanded

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The European Astronomy Journalism Prize 2013 launched today has been expanded to now include entries from Europe and South America.

The competition is run by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO), in conjunction with the Association of British Science Writers and the Royal Astronomical Society.

"Astronomy is a global research discipline, and excites and inspires millions of people every day around the world, so we believe it's appropriate to expand the Prize to recognise a broader range of inspirational coverage of astronomy," ESO Head of Education and Public Outreach Lars Lindberg Christensen said today.

STFC Head of Communications Terry O'Connor said the inaugural competition in 2012 was open only to entries published or broadcast in English in the United Kingdom, but has now been extended to entries in English from any ESO member state.

"We're delighted to work with ESO to offer the winner a trip to the world's most advanced optical instrument: ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile," Terry said.

The VLT is located at the Paranal Observatory on Cerro Paranal, a 2,635m mountain in the northern part of Chile.

Entries for the Prize must be about astronomy and related areas of technology, or about the work and lifestyles of astronomers, engineers or others working in the field of astronomy.

The entries must reflect European interests and they can be online, written or broadcast. Entries must have been published or broadcast during the period 1 July 2012 to 31 July 2013 inclusive. Applications close on Wednesday 31 July 2013.

Entry is open to journalists, students of a recognised journalism course, students of a recognised qualification in astronomy, or holders of a recognised qualification in astronomy, whose work is published or broadcast and is accessible to the general public. You may be asked to provide proof of your status.

Please make sure that you have read all the terms and conditions carefully. They are available online at http://www.stfc.ac.uk/astroprize and at http://www.eso.org/public/astroprize/

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European Astronomy Journalism Prize Expanded

Outdoors with the AMC The stars are out with astronomy programs at AMC lodges

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The Appalachian Mountain Club's backcountry huts and roadside lodges in the White Mountains are the sites this summer of astronomy programs designed to teach visitors about the night sky - and the daytime sky - through firsthand observation.

In collaboration with AMC, astronomers from the Carthage Institute of Astronomy at Carthage College are slated to be on hand at various venues to point out celestial sights and assist sky-watchers with observations.

Starting June 8 and running through Aug. 23, when the weather is clear, visitors can join astronomers for daily sky observations at the AMC Highland Center at Crawford Notch. Special telescopes will be available to allow participants to view the sun safely, and telescopes will also be available for nighttime observation of stars and other celestial bodies.

At 5 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from June 10 through Aug, 23, astronomy discussions at the Highland Center will help participants develop their understanding of astronomy, with a separate topic slated for each day. Participants can learn about the latest developments in the field, including information on new astronomy-related apps, and they can try out different types of telescopes.

Astronomy-related evening programs are also set for the Highland Center and the AMC Pinkham Notch Visitor Center. The series, "Stars Above the Notch: Astronomy in the White Mountains," features presentations by physics and astronomy Professor Douglas Arion focusing on the interconnectedness of the universe.

These 8 p.m. presentations are slated for the Highland Center on June 8, 18, and 29, July 6, Aug. 3, and Sept. 7. Programs at the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center are set for Aug. 6, 13, and 20. If weather is clear, telescopes will be available for participants to view the night sky. These programs are free and open to the public.

Astronomy programs are also slated on certain dates this summer at some of AMC's backcountry huts in the White Mountains. Details are available by calling 466-2727.

This summer's astronomy programs are sponsored by Celestron, Inc.; Galileoscope, LLC; Atmosphere New Media and the International Dark Sky Association.

Trail work

Opportunities still available for summer teen trail maintenance, adventure programs.

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Outdoors with the AMC The stars are out with astronomy programs at AMC lodges

Summer astronomy shows scheduled at ASU

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SAN ANGELO, Texas Angelo State Universitys Global Immersion Center will present two full-dome public astronomy shows during its summer 2013 schedule beginning June 6 in the Vincent Nursing-Physical Science Building, 2333 Vanderventer Ave.

Each Thursday from June 6 to Aug. 8, except for the July 4 holiday, The Cowboy Astronomer will run at 7 p.m. and Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens will run at 8 p.m.

All shows are open to the public with admission prices of $3 for adults and $2 for children, active military and senior citizens. ASU students, faculty and staff are admitted free.

The Cowboy Astronomer features star tales and American Indian legends combined with constellation identification, star-hopping and astronomy tidbits, all told from the viewpoint of a cowboy astronomer.

Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens gives audiences a close-up one of the most dynamic planetary collections of the solar system.

For more information, call 325-942-2136 or visit angelo.edu/dept/physics/planetarium.php.

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Summer astronomy shows scheduled at ASU

Astronomer John Hawley wins 2013 Shaw Prize in Astronomy

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Public release date: 30-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Fariss Samarrai fls4f@virginia.edu 434-924-3778 University of Virginia

University of Virginia astronomer John Hawley and former U.Va. astronomer Steven Balbus, now at the University of Oxford, have been named co-winners of the 2013 Shaw Prize in Astronomy. The prize is considered Asia's equivalent to the Nobel Prize and is awarded in some categories like astronomy that the Nobel does not specifically include.

Hawley and Balbus will share the $1 million award and address the Shaw Prize selection committee during a ceremony Sept. 23 in Hong Kong. The Shaw Prize Foundation gives the international award, which includes a gold medal, each year to currently active individuals who are "furthering societal progress, enhancing quality of life, and enriching humanity's spiritual civilization." Its categories are Astronomy, Life Science and Medicine and Mathematical Sciences.

Hawley and Balbus are being recognized for their groundbreaking discovery in the early 1990s of the mechanism magnetorotational instability that accounts for the process of accretion, a widespread phenomenon in astrophysics. It plays a key role in star formation, mass transfer between binary stars, and black hole X-ray binaries, and contributes to the growth of supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies. Astrophysical systems powered by accretion are some of the most energetic phenomena in the universe, including quasars, active galactic nuclei and gamma ray bursts.

Matter that falls toward a compact star or black hole has too much angular momentum ("spin") to fall directly in, and instead settles into a disk orbiting the central body. Subsequent infall, or accretion, requires a mechanism, such as turbulence, to transfer angular momentum outward through the disk. Prior to the discovery, astronomers were certain that gases orbiting black holes were turbulent, but could not say why, as all hydrodynamic analysis showed the orbits to be stable. Balbus and Hawley's discovery was that magnetic fields make the crucial difference; magnetorotational instability makes the orbits unstable.

Their subsequent work on modeling its consequences in disks solved a fundamental problem in astrophysics and transformed the field of accretion disk theory.

To make their discovery, Hawley and Balbus, then working together at U.Va., combined mathematical analysis with detailed computer simulations of the behavior of turbulent magnetized gases. Their discovery paper was published in 1991. Subsequent research by both researchers and many other astronomers worldwide has substantiated and expanded upon the initial discoveries, and the magnetorotational instability is now part of the standard theory of activity in black hole systems. (To view a computer simulation of a black hole accretion disk, click here.)

"The Shaw Prize Foundation has been extremely selective over the years in awarding its astronomy prize to the most significant discoveries in the field," said Michael Skrutskie, chair of the astronomy department. "This highly regarded award is yet another validation of the strength of theoretical astrophysics at U.Va. really the foundation upon which this department was built in the modern era. We couldn't be happier to see John and Steve's work recognized with an award of such significance on the world stage."

Hawley learned of his $1 million award on Tuesday morning when he was at home checking email.

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Astronomer John Hawley wins 2013 Shaw Prize in Astronomy

Hubble stays relevant on astronomy's high frontier

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Despite steady advances in ground-based astronomy, the Hubble Space Telescope, with its famously flawed mirror, its equally famed redemption and more than two decades as an icon of world-class science, is more productive today than at any point in its history, scientists say.

Despite 23 years in the harsh environment of space, Hubble still stands at the forefront of optical astronomy, thanks to a string of dramatic shuttle servicing missions and a hard-earned understanding of the observatory's quirks and idiosyncrasies.

A dramatic photo of the famous Ring Nebula in the constellation Lyra, assembled from new observations by the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based instruments, shows a more complex structure than previously known. The distinctive "ring" is made up of gas blown away from a massive star some 4,000 years ago.

During the last shuttle visit in 2009, two new instruments were installed and two others were repaired by spacewalking astronauts. The shuttle crew also installed a full set of gyroscopes, new batteries and a refurbished fine guidance sensor to help the observatory find and lock onto its targets.

While no one knows how long Hubble will remain scientifically productive -- and with the shuttle's retirement, there is no way to carry out any future repairs -- the observatory currently is working in near flawless fashion. Mission managers are hopeful the telescope will remain scientifically viable through the end of the decade, if not longer.

"I think we can argue, reliably, that it's the most scientifically productive observatory of any kind, ever, in history," said Ken Sembach, head of Hubble operations at the Space Telescope Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

"We're now at about 11,300 papers published in scientific journals based on Hubble data and there are nearly a half million citations of those papers. So it's a huge piece of the scientific literature and a huge reference for future work in astronomy."

To use a different metric, Sembach said research based on Hubble data results in "essentially a new Ph.D. every 10 days."

Yet another way of assessing Hubble's value to the astronomical community is to consider the number of proposals received for each new observing cycle. The latest batch included nearly 1,100 requests for Hubble observing time.

"We can typically honor maybe 180 or 200, so the over-subscription is at least five- or six-to-one in terms of proposals and it's more than that in terms of time," he said. "We typically have about 20,000 orbits requested and typically only about 3,000 or 3,500 to give out."

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Hubble stays relevant on astronomy's high frontier

Recording of Fifth Live Session [Astronomy: State of the Art] – Video

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Recording of Fifth Live Session [Astronomy: State of the Art]
In this fifth live session Professor Chris Impey answers questions from students about a variety of topics, including cosmology and astrobiology, for the online class, Astronomy: State of the Art.

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Recording of Fifth Live Session [Astronomy: State of the Art] - Video


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