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The overall winner in the Royal Observatory Greenwichs annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, M51 by Martin Pugh.

Want to see some absolutely gorgeous images of our Universe, all taken by amateur astrophotographers? Look no farther than the winners of the 4th annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, held by the Royal Observatory Greenwich and Sky at Night Magazine. The winners were announced last night at the Royal Observatory, with a record number of entries received in 2012 from photographers from around the world. Many of the pictures have been taken with equipment that was out of the range of the amateur many years ago, said Sir Patrick Moore, from the BBCs Sky at Night, who is a judge in the competition. I also like the choice of subjects: photographing people and the night skies is very difficult. The entrants have done very well indeed.

The overall winner was from Australian Martin Pugh with his beautiful and crisp shot of M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy.

The photographer has made the most of exceptionally good atmospheric conditions to capture an astonishing range of detail in his image of this iconic galaxy, said Dr. Marek Kukula, the Royal Observatory Public Astronomer and a judge in the competition. The beautiful spiral structure, dark lanes of dust, and the way the pink clouds of hydrogen really stand out its a remarkable achievement by an amateur astronomer; one of the best images of M51 that Ive seen.

Here are more of the winning shots (and you can click on any of these images for the larger versions on Flickr or the ROG site):

The People and Space winner was Laurent Laveder from France, with Facing Venus-Jupiter Close Conjunction.

See the original post:

The Universe Shines for Astronomy Photographer of the Year Winners

These stunning images from this year's Astronomy Photographer of the Year, run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in association with Sky at Night Magazine, were taken by seasoned astro-photographers and complete beginners from around the world.

The candidates were invited to enter their photographs in four categories - Earth and Space, Our Solar System, Deep Space, and Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year

Australian based photographer Martin Pugh claimed the top prize. He also won the accolade in 2009. As well as securing the 1,500 top prize, his image takes pride of place in the exhibition of winning photographs.

Click HERE to view the awe-inspiring images

The competition once again received a record number of entries with a huge range of subjects captured by amateur and professional photographers from around the globe. The Sky at Nights Sir Patrick Moore, who is a judge in the competition, said of this years contest: "Many of the pictures have been taken with equipment that was out of the range of the amateur many years ago. I also like the choice of subjects: photographing people and the night skies is very difficult. The entrants have done very well indeed."

Astronomy Photographer of the Year is now in its fourth year. The best of these exceptional photographs winners, runners-up or highly commended in the competitions different categories and special prizes are showcased in a free exhibition in the Royal Observatorys Astronomy Centre which is open to the public from 20 September 2012 until February 2013.

Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2012, 20 September 2012 17 February 2013, The Royal Observatory Greenwich, London, http://www.rmg.co.uk/astrophoto

Read this article:

Out of this world: Astronomy Photographer of the Year

NASA is exploring the use of a 2.4-m mirror system recently gifted to them by the National Reconnaissance Office; this system could be the nucleus of a new ultraviolet-optical (UVO) space telescope. Information is available at the website of a recent Princeton meeting:

http://www.princeton.edu/astro/news-events/public-events /new-telescope-meeting/

including a program with links to the presented talks. The first letter of intent to use this system focuses on astrophysics applications. NASA has indicated that broader usage (including planetary science) will be considered in a future announcement. Paul Scowen (Arizona State University) has offered to coordinate initial studies for non-astrophysics uses. He requests information about the requirements planetary scientists would have for a 2.4m UVO space telescope. The task would be to outline what performance specifications planetary astronomers would like/need in terms of imaging quality, resolution, throughput, wavelength bandpass, spectral resolution and coverage, field of view, and limiting surface brightness detection in, say, 1000 seconds. Someone is needed to coordinate responses from the planetary community and provide them to Paul, and responses are needed for the coordinator to coordinate. If you are interested being this coordinator, please contact Heidi Hammel (hbh@alum.mit.edu).

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.

The rest is here:

Request for Cootinator for Plaentary Astronomy Concepts With a Future 2.4-meter Telescope

Sticking with my theme of art and astronomy

Back in March 2012, I posted a remarkable video from NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center (where I used to work) showing the motion of the Moon and how its appearance changes over the course of the year. The video went somewhat viral probably because of the awesome music I added from Kevin Macleod and I was pleased with it.

But then my friend, the skeptic and awesomely talented mezzo-soprano Hai-Ting Chin, asked me about libration, because she was working on a musical piece about it. Shes done several scientific songs with her partner Matthew Schickele, so its not as weird as it sounds. At least, not for them. Or me.

So we chatted back and forth a bit, and the result is this amazing piece of haunting and lovely music.

She sang this at the 2012 NECSS, and I wish I couldve been there to hear it. Wow. My sisters a mezzo-soprano, so I have some familiarity here: Hai-Tings voice is incredible. The piano is played by Erika Switzer.

I know the words to operatic music can be difficult to understand, so here are the lyrics:

This is animation. Each frame represents one hour; the whole, one year. The moon keeps the same face to us, but not exactly the same face. Because of the tilt and shape of its orbit we see the moon from slightly different angles. In a time lapse it looks like its wobbling. This is libration. That rocking and tilting is real, its called libration.

The moons orbit is not a circle, but an ellipse. The speed varies, but the spin is constant. Together these geometries let us look East a little more, then West a little more. And the orbits tilt lets us look South a little more, then North a little more. This is libration. The moons libration.

How flipping cool is this? Hai-Ting and Matt write the Scopes Monkey Choir blog, which you should have in your feed reader.

I love how science inspires art. Love. I hope to see more and more of this kind of scientific art as time goes on. The more ways we can show people how amazing and wonderful the Universe is, the better.

View post:

Libration libretto | Bad Astronomy

The astronomy information and and video company Great Astronomy Videos has announced a new video offer on the YouTube Space Lab project for those interested in the event. The new video will provide insight on the annual contest and on the two finalists chosen for the event.Houston, TX (PRWEB) September 14, 2012 The astronomy video site, Great Astronomy Videos is announcing a new video promotion ...

Read more from the original source:

Great Astronomy Videos Launches New Video Offer For YouTube Space Lab Event

Astronomy started out as a purely visual science, but with todays electronics and techniques, you can also hear astronomy. It used to be that you to take classes, or else had to be in the right place at the right time to hear a lecture on astronomy. But, thanks to the Internet, there are many resources for hearing astronomy online.

Of course, you can hear astronomy information right here on this website, via the 90-second EarthSky interviews. You can also hear 22 minutes of science and music each week from EarthSky on the EarthSky 22 podcast.

And there is AstronomyCast with Frasier Cain and Pamela Gay.

But what really got me to thinking about this was the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures, a series of audio podcasts by eminent astronomers, from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Among the lectures are Dr. Jeff Moore (NASA Ames Research Center): New Horizons at Jupiter (and Some Saturn News); Dr. David Morrison (NASA Ames Research Center): Taking a Hit: Asteroid Impacts and Evolution; Dr. Dana Backman (SETI Institute and Astronomical Society of the Pacific): A Ringside Seat to the Formation of Planets; and Dr. David Grinspoon (Denver Museum of Nature and Science): Comparing Worlds: Climate Catastrophes in the Solar System.

You may already be familiar with Science at NASA, and there are also podcasts from the main NASA site, as well as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Well, that was just a start. I did a little online searching and was amazed to find all the places you can hear astronomy. You might want to do a little searching for yourself. If the links above dont give you enough to listen to, here are a few more.

I also found the Astronomy Media Player, which is actually web page with links to a number of astronomy and space podcasts from around the world.

If you have time to listen to more than this, Im sure a little searching will turn up much more. What are your favorite links? Tell us in the comments below.

See original here:

Listening to astronomy

GLOVERSVILLE - There will be an astronomy program, titled "Astronomy for Everyone," at 6 p.m. Monday in the Carnegie Room at the Gloversville Public Library.

The program will take participants on a virtual journey through the stars, a news release said. There will be hands-on activities included.

Weather permitting, the program will move outside and use a telescope to look at the rings of Saturn and other objects, the release said.

Continued here:

Astronomy program at library Monday

The winner of the first European Astronomy Journalism Prize, designed to help inspire the next generation of researchers, has been announced today (5 September 2012) at a reception in the House of Commons. Katia Moskvitch from the BBC was announced as the winner and awarded a trip to Chile, by a panel of judges representing the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) who ran the competition, together with the Royal Astronomical Society and the Association of British Science Writers. The aim of the prize was to increase media coverage of astronomy, a means to promoting the wonders of astronomy -- a subject regularly cited as a key reason for students opting to take up careers in science. The judges chose Katia as the winner, for her remarkable series on ESO's Very Large Telescope located in Paranal Observatory, Chile [1].

Katia's prize was announced at a reception primarily held to celebrate the UK's involvement in the Large Hadron Collider after the discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs Boson last month (http://www.stfc.ac.uk/About+STFC/39278.aspx). The UK plays a lead role in both particle physics and astronomy and is ranked number one in the world for astronomy*.

Katia said: "As a technology journalist at the BBC, I don't get to write about astronomy very often. That's why I really loved my time in Chile, reporting about the telescopes in ESO's observatories, and learning a lot of new things about space and technology. After I had written my features, I received really good feedback from readers, and a colleague urged me to enter this competition. I was quite surprised but very happy when I found out I won!"

A special prize for excellence also went to Robin McKie from the Observer newspaper for his work on British involvement in the search for gravitational waves. [2]. The judges highly commended Maggie McKee from Boston, Massachusetts, for an article in New Scientist on European involvement in the study of the Transit of Venus. [3].

Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts said: "Media coverage is an important way of conveying the wonder of science to the public and making complex research easier to understand. It's great to see such high quality, engaging journalism being recognized today. I have no doubt it will have played some part in encouraging the next generation to take up astronomy, helping to maintain the UK's leading position in this field."

Katia Moskvitch will be ESO's guest at the inauguration of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in the Chilean Atacama desert next March 2013.

Robin McKie will take up his prize of a visit to the Very Large Telescope later this year and Maggie McKee's prize is a trip to the UK from the US where she is based -- visiting some of the UK's leading science facilities including STFC's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and the University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Discovery Center.

Professor John Womersley, STFC Chief Executive said: "The media are vital partners in spreading the inspirational message of astronomy -- and of other science fields -- and it's in all our interests to work together with the media to encourage more, and higher quality, coverage. The quality of the journalism being acknowledged here today is exceptional -- we need more like this, to help inspire the next generation of much needed future scientists".

Lars Lindberg Christensen, Head of the Education and Public Outreach Department at ESO said: "We would like to congratulate all participants and especially the winners for their outstanding work of promoting European astronomy. We hope such recognition will stimulate more coverage of Europe's leading contributions to the field of astronomy and bring these results closer to the public."

Due to the success of the competition it will run again next year. Details will be announced on the STFC and ESO websites in due course: http://www.stfc.ac.uk/astroprize http://www.eso.org/public/astroprize

Go here to see the original:

Winners of European Astronomy Journalism Prize Announced

I don't know if it's the most amazing view of a solar eruption ever recorded, but it probably is. When our friends at NASA Goddard sent us this image of the latest solar eruption today, we just couldn't believe how astonishing and ominous it looked.

So astonishing and special that NASA titled their image "Magnificent CME Erupts on the Sun with Earth to Scale." And in private one of their engineers told me "AMAZING STUFF!" So yes, they are in awe too.

Fortunately, it didn't travel directly toward Earth. According to NASA, however, it "did connect with Earth's magnetic environment, or magnetosphere, causing aurora to appear on the night of Monday, September 3." No knocked down satellites or communications craziness.

The eruption was recorded on August 31, 2012: "a long filament of solar material that had been hovering in the sun's atmosphere, the corona, erupted out into space at 4:36PM EDT. The coronal mass ejection, or CME, traveled at over 900 miles per second." [NASA Goddard Flickr]

And here's the version with the entire sun disc. Click to expand it.

See more here:

This Is the Most Astonishing Solar Eruption I've Ever Seen [Astronomy]

Govt rolls out astronomy scholarships

LAWRENCE SERETSE Correspondent

"Last year four candidates from Botswana were sponsored by the project to undertake studies in the fields of radio astronomy and engineering at the University of KwaZulu-Natal," Bok said. He said international project donors, mainly Britain, China, Netherlands and the USA, are funding the scholarships. He said the initiative strives to introduce astronomy as a fully-fledged programme at the University of Botswana, so as to have locals trained by fellow Batswana.

"The idea is to have Batswana who are trained in the field so that when the telescope project is complete, they can be the ones working there not foreigners," he said.Bok said MIST has approached the Ministry of Education and Skills Development to source funding for additional qualifying candidates. UB has started offering astronomy as a single semester course thanks to the assistance of visiting professors from the University of South Africa.

"At the moment the SKA scholarship sends candidates to University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban University of Technology, University of Cape Town, and the University of Pretoria being the most prominent one," Bok said.

Botswana is among southern African countries that will host the proposed gigantic radio telescope that will hopefully shed light on the origin of the universe and detect weak signals that could indicate the presence of extraterrestrial life.

When completed in 2024, the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) will be made up of 3,000 dishes stretching over 3,000 km, from the Karoo site in the Northern Cape region of South Africa and in neighbouring African countries - Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Madagasgar, Mauritius, Kenya, and Ghana. The $3.1 billion telescope, which has been described as "the biggest science project in the world", has been conceptualised since 1991, and is expected to begin construction in 2016.

The rest is here:

Govt rolls out astronomy scholarships

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

SPACE.com, the premier destination for space, astronomy, innovation and science entertainment news, is now accepting submissions for its inaugural SPACE.com Space Gadget Awards in 2012.

SPACE.com's team of editors is looking for the most innovative new products in a variety of categories, including: Space Gadgets at Home, Space Toys, Timepieces, Night Sky Software and Space Office Gear. Winners will be selected for Best in Class, Best Value and Editor's Choice.

The winners will be unveiled Oct. 15 on SPACE.com. Submissions are due by Friday, Sept. 28.

To submit an entry for consideration, please e-mail SPACE.com Managing Editor Tariq Malik with the following information:

Only products unveiled in or new for 2012 will be considered. If you have any questions, please contact Tariq directly at 212-703-5859 or tmalik@space.com.

About SPACE.com

SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company, launched in 1999 and is the world's No. 1 source for news of innovation, astronomy, skywatching, space exploration, commercial spaceflight, and related technologies and entertainment. Our team of experienced reporters, editors and video producers explore the latest futuristic ideas, discoveries, missions, and trends -- interviewing expert sources and offering up deep and broad analysis of the findings and issues that are fundamental to our understanding of the universe and our place in it. SPACE.com articles are regularly featured on the websites of our media partners: MSNBC.com, Yahoo!, the Christian Science Monitor and others.

About TechMediaNetwork, Inc.

TechMediaNetwork is a leading technology media company that produces news and reviews reaching more than 30 million monthly visitors. TechMediaNetwork editors review more than 850 categories of products and services at TopTenREVIEWS, and publish news, features and commentary at LAPTOP, SPACE.com, LiveScience, Newsarama, TechNewsDaily, iPadNewsDaily, OurAmazingPlanet, BusinessNewsDaily, MyHealthNewsDaily, NorthOrion, SecurityNewsDaily, InnovationNewsDaily, IT TechNewsDaily, HermanStreet and Life's Little Mysteries. The company distributes content through its owned and operated websites, syndication partners and website partners, and publishes LAPTOP magazine. To learn more about TechMediaNetwork, visit http://www.TechMediaNetwork.com, the TechMediaNetwork Facebook Page or follow the company on Twitter @TMN_TechMedia.

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SPACE.com Call for Entries for Space Gadget Awards 2012

by Nancy Atkinson on September 3, 2012

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Heres a great view of the Milky Way from the Onizuka Astronomy Center on the Big Island of Hawaii by astronomical artist Fahad Sulehria. To reach the summit of Mauna Kea, where some of the biggest telescopes on Earth reside, visitors must stop at the Onizuka Center for acclimating to the high altitude. The summit is about 4,200 meters (13,796 feet), and the Onizuka Center is located about 2,740 meters (9,000 feet) above sea level. The sky is much clearer and less polluted than most places on Earth, making it an ideal place to do stargazing, writes Sulehria. In the background you see a red glow, which comes from the Halemaumau crater of the famous Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii.

Equipment: Canon 550D with 28-200 mm lens. Exposure: 31s @ ISO 1600/F3.5.

See more of Sulehrias work at his website, Nova Celestia

Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means youre giving us permission to post them). Please explain whats in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.

Tagged as: Astrophotos

See more here:

Astrophoto: Milky Way from Onizuka Astronomy Center, Hawaii

The International Astronomical Union's (IAU) Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) programme is announcing a number of exciting new partnerships that will assist with the IAU's decadal strategic plan, aimed at realising the societal benefits of astronomy. These landmark decisions involve establishing two new coordinating centres that use astronomy as a tool for development in the East and South East Asian regions, as well as launching an array of exciting programmes and events with different institutions across the world.

The first of these pioneering agreements, concerning a coordinating centre to be established in the East Asian region (in China), was signed on Tuesday 21 August 2012 by a consortium of institutes: the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics (KIAA, Peking University), Beijing Planetarium and Yunnan Astronomical Observatory.

The consortium is supported in their efforts by various important partners including the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), the East Asian Core Observatories Association (EACOA), and Pyongyang Astronomical Observatory (PAO).

The centre will cover two important functions: a regional node, which will coordinate astronomy for development activities in countries within the general geographical region of East Asia, and a Language Expertise Centre, which will deal with all aspects relating to (mainly) Chinese language and culture.

A second regional node will be established in the South East Asian region (in Thailand) and coordinated by the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT).

These agreements are the first of their kind to be signed anywhere in the world. They follow the IAU's Announcement of Opportunity that went out in January 2012, and which has attracted 31 letters of intent and 15 full proposals (received from every populated continent) to establish coordinating nodes.

In addition to these exciting announcements, the OAD, in partnership with The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) has launched a call for proposals for a number of global activities aimed at using astronomy to stimulate high quality education and research at university level.

One of these activities is the Associate Scientists programme, where scientists and lecturers from developing regions, who are interested in using astronomy to develop university-level education in their home countries, will be provided with the means to travel to the ICTP in Italy and stay for a period of up to six weeks per year. Individual travel grants, funds for meetings and workshops as well as regional schools for young scientists are also included in this programme.

An additional agreement with the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA, based in Pune, India) will provide training for potential leaders in the development of astronomy education at university, school and public levels, as well as facilitate visits from skilled experts.

A separate agreement with the University of Central Lancashire will award 12 scholarships for their distance learning astronomy programme to African students.

Read this article:

OAD Shoots for the Stars

Public release date: 30-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Lars Lindberg Christensen lars@eso.org 49-173-387-2621 International Astronomical Union

The IAU XXVIIIth General Assembly in Beijing China ends today, Friday 31 August 2012, after two busy weeks packed with presentations centred on both astronomical heritage as well as new results. The General Assembly was an enormous success, with almost 3000 attendees from about 80 countries all around the world, including almost 100 members of the press. These numbers made it the largest IAU General Assembly ever organised. The participants enjoyed a vast collection of scientific presentations in eight Symposia, seven Joint Discussions and eighteen Special Sessions focused on development, advancement and collaboration within astronomy.

Three countries joined the organisation at this occasion: Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Ethiopia and Kazakhstan. The General Assembly also approved 1006 new individual IAU members at its Closing Ceremony, bringing the total to almost 11 000 members.

Four Resolutions were approved by vote at the Closing Ceremony. These included new guidelines for the designations and specifications of optical and infrared filter passbands, the redefinition of the astronomical unit of length, the establishment of an International Near-Earth Object (NEO) early warning system and the restructuring of the IAU Divisions in order to bring them in line with current major research areas in astronomy and enable the IAU to be more involved with education and outreach.

As the first large astronomical meeting in China, this was also a historic occasion for science in Asia, and provided a unique opportunity, especially for young astronomers, to get involved in exchanging ideas, presenting their research and settling their paths in terms of career development.

The General Assembly also fostered many important international collaborations and partnerships (see for instance the IAU press release iau1204 - http://www.iau.org/public_press/news/detail/iau1204/). The president of the Chinese Astronomical Society, Xiangqun Cui, says: "This IAU General Assembly provides us with an opportunity to exchange views extensively with international counterparts. Hopefully, it will promote the development of Chinese astronomy, and provide a platform for international cooperation in astronomy." This aspect was also recognised by the outgoing IAU president, Robert Williams: "This General Assembly was a landmark for Chinese astronomy."

The new IAU President is Norio Kaifu, the new IAU General Secretary Thierry Montmerle, the new Assistant General Secretary Piero Benvenuti and the new IAU President-elect Silvia Torres-Peimbert.

One of the absolute highlights of the meeting was the visit of His Excellency Xi Jinping, the Vice-President of the People's Republic of China. Among the many inspiring words in his speech at the General Assembly were: "Science and technology are the most active, most revolutionary factors in eco-social development. Every grand advancement of human civilisation is closely related to the revolutionary breakthrough in science and technology."

###

See the original post here:

Major astronomy meeting draws to a close

This week we delve into some "extreme astronomy," for a number of skywatching superlatives are overhead now.

Excerpt from:

Extreme Stargazing: The Biggest, Brightest and Best Night Sky Sights

Judging is underway to choose the most beautiful photos of the night sky from among thousands of entries in the 2012 Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest.

The competition is being held by England's Royal Observatory Greenwich, which will award cash prizes in various categories, including photos of objects in our solar system, in the wider cosmos, and scenic pics of a dazzling sky over landscapes on Earth.

Photos submitted for the awards range from surreal green streaks through the sky caused by the northern lights over Canada, to an eerily red-looking moon captured during a lunar eclipse, and glowing stars, gas and dust in the star cluster IC 1396.

"Shortlisted entries include a breath-taking view of stars over snow-covered Japanese mountains; the full Moon setting behind a historic abbey on Mount Pirchiriano in Italy; a meteor streaking through the sky above a rock formation in Utah, USA; and a group of friends stargazing at a caravan site in the Gower Peninsular, South Wales," Royal Observatory Greenwich officials wrote in a statement."The diversity of locations is not just limited to Earth. Photographers have also captured sights from across our solar system, galaxy and beyond; from detailed mosaics of our moon's surface, to shimmering dust columns in distant nebulae, and out beyond the Milky Way to the swirling Andromeda Galaxy." [Photos: Royal Observatorys 2012 Space Photographer of the Year Finalists]

Now in its fourth year, the contest has gathered judges from diverse backgrounds, including journalists, scientists, historians and artists, to choose the winners. The final selections will be announced Sept. 19, and the awards ceremony will be tweeted live on Twitter using the hashtag #astrophoto12.

The overall winner of the title Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2012 will be awarded 1,500 ($2,374), with 500 ($792) given to the winners of subcategories: Earth and Space, Our Solar System, Deep Space: and Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year. Special prizes will also be given in these categories: People and Space, Best Newcomer, and Robotic Scope Image of the Year.

The Royal Observatory Greenwich is the spot where the Prime Meridian line is drawn, separating the eastern and western hemispheres of Earth. The observatory, which was founded in 1675, is also where Greenwich Mean Time is kept.

Though the submission period for this year's contest has already closed, if you've taken a great photo of space and would like to share it with SPACE.com for a possible gallery or article, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com.

Follow SPACE.com on Twitter@Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook&Google+.

Visit link:

Jaw-Dropping Space Pics: UK Contest to Pick Astronomy Photographer of the Year

[BAFacts are short, tweetable astronomy/space facts that I post every day. On some occasions, they wind up needing a bit of a mathematical explanation. The math is pretty easy, and it adds a lot of coolness, which I'm passing on to you! You're welcome.]

Todays BAFact: The Sun is 12 trillion times brighter than the faintest star you can see with your naked eye.

In yesterdays BAFact, I showed how the Sun is about 400,000 times brighter than the full Moon and I showed my math. Thats an amazing brightness difference, but while I was writing it I had to wonder: how much brighter is the Sun than the faintest star you can see?

The faintest stars visible to the naked eye have a magnitude of about 6. This depends on lots of stuff, like how dark the sky is, how good your eyesight is, and so on. Some people with excellent vision can see stars down to magnitude 7, and there are reports of a few extraordinary people who can see even fainter. But on a dark night, the average person can just barely see 6th magnitude stars.

Lets use that number then. All we have to do is plug that into the equation I gave yesterday (and remembering that the Sun has a magnitude of -26.7):

Brightness ratio = 2.512(6 (-26.7)) = 2.51232.7 = 12 trillion

Yegads! Thats 12,000,000,000,000 times brighter!

Now, to be fair, thats not really the brightness range your eyes can detect. You cant look right at the Sun easily or comfortably; its simply too bright. So the range of brightness your eye can see is probably smaller.

We can put a lower limit on it easily enough using the Moon. The Moon is the second brightest object in the sky, and we know we can look at that easily enough, so lets do that math (the Moons magnitude is -12.7 when its full):

Brightness ratio = 2.512(6 (-12.7)) = 2.51218.7 = 30 million

See the original post:

BAFact Math: The Sun is 12 *trillion* times brighter than the faintest star you can see | Bad Astronomy

The International Astronomical Union's (IAU) Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) programme is announcing a number of exciting new partnerships that will assist with the IAU's decadal strategic plan, aimed at realising the societal benefits of astronomy. These landmark decisions involve establishing two new coordinating centres that use astronomy as a tool for development in the East and South East Asian regions, as well as launching an array of exciting programmes and events with different institutions across the world.

The first of these pioneering agreements, concerning a coordinating centre to be established in the East Asian region (in China), was signed on Tuesday 21 August 2012 by a consortium of institutes: the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics (KIAA, Peking University), Beijing Planetarium and Yunnan Astronomical Observatory. The consortium is supported in their efforts by various important partners including the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), the East Asian Core Observatories Association (EACOA), and Pyongyang Astronomical Observatory (PAO).

The centre will cover two important functions: a regional node, which will coordinate astronomy for development activities in countries within the general geographical region of East Asia, and a Language Expertise Centre, which will deal with all aspects relating to (mainly) Chinese language and culture.

A second regional node will be established in the South East Asian region (in Thailand) and coordinated by the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT).

These agreements are the first of their kind to be signed anywhere in the world. They follow the IAU's Announcement of Opportunity that went out in January 2012, and which has attracted 31 letters of intent and 15 full proposals (received from every populated continent) to establish coordinating nodes.

In addition to these exciting announcements, the OAD, in partnership with The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) has launched a call for proposals for a number of global activities aimed at using astronomy to stimulate high quality education and research at university level. One of these activities is the Associate Scientists programme, where scientists and lecturers from developing regions, who are interested in using astronomy to develop university-level education in their home countries, will be provided with the means to travel to the ICTP in Italy and stay for a period of up to six weeks per year. Individual travel grants, funds for meetings and workshops as well as regional schools for young scientists are also included in this programme.

An additional agreement with the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA, based in Pune, India) will provide training for potential leaders in the development of astronomy education at university, school and public levels, as well as facilitate visits from skilled experts. A separate agreement with the University of Central Lancashire will award 12 scholarships for their distance learning astronomy programme to African students. These scholarships will target individuals who have demonstrated a potential to lead astronomy activities in their home countries and are in need of a professional qualification in the field.

These announcements are an important step towards cultivating the field of astronomy in developing regions and allowing them to benefit from it as a tool for development.

Anyone interested in submitting a proposal for any of the OAD programmes, including earlier initiatives (not mentioned in this release) relating to universities and research, children and schools and the public are invited to visit http://www.astro4dev.org.

Contacts

Go here to read the rest:

International Astronomical Union's Office of Astronomy for Development Makes Landmark AGreements

[BAFacts are short, tweetable astronomy/space facts that I post every day. On some occasions, they wind up needing a bit of a mathematical explanation. The math is pretty easy, and it adds a lot of coolness, which I'm passing on to you! You're welcome.]

Todays BAFact: The Sun is 400,000 times brighter than the full Moon in the sky.

If youve ever looked at the full Moon through a telescope you know how painfully bright it can be. But you can do it if you squint, or use a mild filter to block some of the light.

On the other hand, if you try the same thing with the Sun (hint: dont) youll end up with a fried retina and an eyeball filled with boiling vitreous humor.

So duh, the Sun is much brighter than the Moon. But how much brighter?

Astronomers use a brightness system called magnitudes. Its actually been around for thousands of years, first contrived by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus. Its a little weird: first, its not linear. That is, an object twice as bright as another doesnt have twice the magnitude value. Instead, the system is logarithmic, with a base of 2.512. Blame Hipparchus for that: he figured the brightest stars were 100 times brighter than the dimmest stars, and used a five step system [Update: My mistake, apparently he didn't know about the factor of 100, that came later.]. The fifth root of 100 = 2.512 (or, if you prefer, 2.5125 = 2.512 x 2.512 x 2.512 x 2.512 x 2.512 = 100), so there you go. Ill give examples in a sec

Secondly, the other weird thing about the magnitude system is that its backwards. A brighter star will have a lower number. Its like an award; getting first place is better than third. So a bright star might be first magnitude, and a dimmer one third magnitude.

To figure out how much brighter one star actually is than another, subtract the brighter stars magnitude from the dimmer ones, and then take 2.512 to that power. As an example, the star Achernar has a magnitude of roughly 0.5. Hamal, the brightest star in the constellation of Aries, has a magnitude of 2.0. Therefore, Achernar is 2.512(2.0 0.5) = 2.5121.5 = 4 times brighter than Hamal. So you can say its four times brighter, or 1.5 magnitudes brighter. Same thing.

Its weird, but actually pretty handy for astronomers. And it doesnt stop at 0. A really bright object can have a negative magnitude, and the math still works. For example, Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, has a magnitude of about -1.5 (making it 6 times as bright as Achernar check my math if you want). Which brings us to the topic at hand

The Moon is pretty bright, and when its full has a magnitude of about -12.7. Thats bright enough to read by! But the Sun is way, way brighter. Its magnitude is a whopping -26.7. How much brighter is that?

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BAFact Math: The Sun is 400,000 times brighter than the full Moon | Bad Astronomy

Sunday, August 26, 2012 9:14 PM EDT

By ROBERT STORACE STAFF WRITER

They said the show was awful, said Grice, 49. It caught me off guard. I didnt realize astronomy was not accessible until that group pointed it out to me.

From that moment in Boston, Grice has been on a mission to make astronomy accessible to everyone including the hearing and visually impaired, those with mobile impairments and neurological disorders. She went on to write five tactile books all touchable about astronomy for the visually impaired. Her book Touch the Universe was the first book in braille ever on Amazon.com.

Last month, Grice, who was raised in Walden, Mass., published her sixth book: Everyones Universe: Second Edition as a guide for educators to better teach those with impairments and disabilities about astronomy. The book is $27.95 and as available at Barnes & Noble in Farmington and at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

The first half of her 336-page book deals with how educators can better communicate with their students. For example, there is a section on working with the visually impaired. Grice notes there are several things educators can do to help that part of the population learn about the world of astronomy, which is the study of places beyond the earth, such as stars, planets and moons.

I write about how to pictorially describe images available through the telescope and ways to provide a tactile tour of the telescope, she said. I also explain how to enlarge images from the telescope to the monitor, which will make it more accessible for someone with low vision.

She also worked with the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford in offering educators ideas on how to better teach the hearing impaired about astronomy.

The second half of the book is a guide to accessible astronomy destinations. There are none in central Connecticut and the closest one is at the Western Connecticut State University Observatory Planetarium in Danbury, she said.

They have tactile images available to accompany planetarium shows, she noted.

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Author makes astronomy accessible to the visually and hearing impaired