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Category Archives: Astronomy

A new director for the all-sky astronomers

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From today, the nation-wide ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics has a new director, Professor Elaine Sadler, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Sydney.

She succeeds Professor Bryan Gaensler, also at the School of Physics at the University, who has led CAASTRO since its inception in 2011.

Professor Sadler has a distinguished record in optical and radio astronomy, with more than 150 refereed publications to her name.

"My interest in astronomy began when I was about eight and was given a book with pictures of telescopes and the Universe which got me thinking about big questions. By eleven I wasthe youngest member of the local amateur astronomical society in Guildford, (England) whose members were bemused but welcoming. My path was set."

After obtaining her PhD from the Australian National University in 1983, Professor Sadler held positions at the European Southern Observatory and at Kitt Peak National Observatory in the USA, before returning to Australia to join what is now the Australian Astronomical Observatory.

She moved to the University of Sydney in 1993.

"I held three ARC Fellowships back to back so I had time to carry out research projects with a broad scope. Over eight years, with my colleagues here in Sydney, I used the University's Molonglo radio telescopes to make a radio atlas of the entire southern sky which is used by astronomers all over the world. "

That work started Professor's Sadler's continuing involvement with wide-field astronomy and the interpretation of big data sets, both of which CAASTRO excels in. A focus of her research has been the changing nature of galaxies over cosmic time and the symbiotic relationship between black holes and galaxies.

In 2011 she became Professor of Astrophysics and a Chief Investigator in CAASTRO.

"I was involved in the foundation and funding of CAASTRO so I'm very happy to be in a position now to advance the organisation, especially through wider national and international networks."

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A new director for the all-sky astronomers

Institute of Space Sciences and Astronomy to be opened with 'a big bang'

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ISSA to organise a 3-day workshop Cosmology in the Med in the run up to Science in the City

Professor George Smoot will be giving a public lecture on The Big Bang Theory on Wednesday 24 September at Valletta Campus.

Prof. Smoots public lecture scheduled for Wednesday 24 September from 7.00pm 9.00pm at Valletta Campus will be a befitting postlude to the inauguration of Institute of Space Sciences and Astronomy (ISSA) during an event which will also feature opening speeches by the Minister of Education Evarist Bartolo, the University of Malta Pro-Rector for Research and Innovation Professor Richard Muscat and the Director of ISSA Dr Kristian Zarb Adami.

Being held on the sidelines of the upcoming Science in the City to lend a particle of excitement to the ever-expanding Festival, Prof. Smoots appearance at ISSAs inauguration will be followed by the Institutes first public workshop Cosmos in the Med, from 24 to 26 September at Valletta Campus, where science educators and university students reading for B.Ed will be provided with the skills and knowledge required to teach astronomy from eminent scientists.

Dr Zarb Adami said: ISSA was set up with members from the University of Malta Faculties of Science, Engineering and ICT to explore and develop observational and theoretical facets of new physics. ISSA will give fresh impetus to this area of science in Malta as it reaches out and captures the imagination of the Maltese on the intricacies of the universe.

The workshop Cosmos in the Med is the latest in a series of Teaching the Universe workshops given by Prof Smoot, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006 for the discovery of fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background.

This work helped further theBig Bangtheory of the universe using theCosmic Background Explorer(COBE) satellite.According to the Nobel Prize committee, "the COBE project can also be regarded as the starting point forcosmologyas a precision science."

Joining Prof. Smoot are world renowned scientists Prof. Jim Rich, Dr Chiara Ferrari and Dr Edward Porter. The workshop is being held in conjunction with the Malta Tourism Authority, the Ministry of Education, ISSA at the University of Malta and the U.S. Embassy.

Attendance to ISSA inauguration can be confirmed via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1518857425015237/; by sending an email to issa@um.edu.mt or by calling 2340 2524.

More information about the three-day workshop is available on http://www.cosmointhemed.com or http://www.um.edu.met/issa

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Institute of Space Sciences and Astronomy to be opened with 'a big bang'

Will the God particle destroy the world?

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Editors note: Meg Urry is the Israel Munson professor of physics and astronomy at Yale University and director of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. World-famous physicist Stephen Hawking recently said the world as we know it could be obliterated instantaneously.

Basically, we would be here one minute and gone the next.

Dont you love physics? When we speculate about catastrophes, we dont mess around.

The physics underlying this speculation is related to the Higgs particle, whose discovery was announced July 4, 2012, at the Large Hadron Collider, the worlds largest particle accelerator, in Geneva, Switzerland.

A leading physicist dubbed it the God particle a name I wish would disappear, as the particle and the laws of physics tell us nothing whatsoever about God, and God, if she exists, has not opined about the Higgs particle.

So, the simplified argument goes like something like this the Higgs particle pervades space roughly uniformly, with a relatively high mass about 126 times that of the proton (a basic building block of atoms). Theoretical physicists noted even before the Higgs discovery that its relatively high mass would mean lower energy states exist. Just as gravity makes a ball roll downhill, to the lowest point, so the universe (or any system) tends toward its lowest energy state. If the present universe could one day transition to that lower energy state, then it is unstable now and the transition to a new state would destroy all the particles that exist today.

This would happen spontaneously at one point in space and time and then expand throughout the universe at the speed of light. There would be no warning, because the fastest a warning signal could travel is also at the speed of light, so the disaster and the warning would arrive at the same time.

We know spontaneous events do happen. The universe began in a rapid expansion called inflation that lasted only a tiny fraction of a second. We owe our existence to that sudden event.

Spontaneous change is something you might have seen in chemistry class. Super-cooled water will rapidly crystallize to ice if you drop a snowflake into it, just as a salt crystal will grow when added to a supersaturated salt solution.

Back to the universe. Whether the existence of Higgs boson means were doomed depends on the mass of another fundamental particle, the top quark. Its the combination of the Higgs and top quark masses that determine whether our universe is stable.

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Will the God particle destroy the world?

Hackable User Interfaces and The Future of Data Analysis in Astronomy – Video

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Hackable User Interfaces and The Future of Data Analysis in Astronomy
Abstract: The tools we use to investigate data affect the way that we do science -- we are constantly (if subtly) drawn towards questions that are easily answered by our analytical and software...

By: CfA Seamless Astronomy

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Hackable User Interfaces and The Future of Data Analysis in Astronomy - Video

Astronomy – Ch. 2: Understanding the Night Sky (22 of 23) What Are The Milankovitch Cycles? – Video

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Astronomy - Ch. 2: Understanding the Night Sky (22 of 23) What Are The Milankovitch Cycles?
Visit http://ilectureonline.com for more math and science lectures! In this video I will explain how and why the Earth #39;s temperature changes along with the c...

By: Michel van Biezen

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Astronomy - Ch. 2: Understanding the Night Sky (22 of 23) What Are The Milankovitch Cycles? - Video

Astronomy – Ch. 2: Understanding the Night Sky (23 of 23) How Milankovitch Cycles Affect Weather – Video

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Astronomy - Ch. 2: Understanding the Night Sky (23 of 23) How Milankovitch Cycles Affect Weather
Visit http://ilectureonline.com for more math and science lectures! In this video I will explain the effect of the Milankovitch Cycle on the Earth #39;s climate.

By: Michel van Biezen

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Astronomy - Ch. 2: Understanding the Night Sky (23 of 23) How Milankovitch Cycles Affect Weather - Video

Experts say northern Lights may be visible tonight

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Astronomy Ireland has said thatthere is a strong chance people in Ireland will catch a rare glimpse of the Northern Lights tonight.

The spectacular display of multi-coloured solar waves were expected to light up the dark sky yesterday but dense cloud led to poor visibility.

Astronomy Ireland's David Mooresays there's a 90% chance people will tonight see the aurora.

He said: "If we get a great display of the aurora, the whole entire country will see it."

Mr Moore said: " If it's a weak display out over the North Atlantic then northern counties are favoured. But those weak displays wouldn't be that spectacular."

He said that: "the next few years are great for aurora because we're just after sun-spot maximum and that's when the aurora peaks for several years after that."

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Experts say northern Lights may be visible tonight

Astronomy – Ch. 2: Understanding the Night Sky (15 of 23) Why Does the North Star Change? – Video

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Astronomy - Ch. 2: Understanding the Night Sky (15 of 23) Why Does the North Star Change?
Visit http://ilectureonline.com for more math and science lectures! In this video I will explains processional motion and why the North Star changes.

By: Michel van Biezen

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Astronomy - Ch. 2: Understanding the Night Sky (15 of 23) Why Does the North Star Change? - Video

Astronomy – Ch. 2: Understanding the Night Sky (16 of 23) High Noon at the North Pole – Video

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Astronomy - Ch. 2: Understanding the Night Sky (16 of 23) High Noon at the North Pole
Visit http://ilectureonline.com for more math and science lectures! In this video I will describe what high noon looks like at the North Pole through out the...

By: Michel van Biezen

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Astronomy - Ch. 2: Understanding the Night Sky (16 of 23) High Noon at the North Pole - Video

Experiment with these back-to-school science apps

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Experiment with these back-to-school science apps

September 12, 2014 by Stephen Danos

Many developers work tirelessly to provide stunning scientific mobile applications that offer massive sets of information. With these five apps, students of all ages can better grasp astronomy, physics, computer science, chemistry, and human anatomy.

Off the heels of releasing the universally praised Star Walk 2, the developers behind Vito Technology decided not to rest on their laurels. Star Walk Kids, a bright and engaging augmented astronomy app, was designed with preschoolers and kindergartners in mind. Actors narrate facts about space topics, including constellations and planets. Cartoon versions of the former with key informationnumber of stars, Latin names, and brightest starappear on your iPhone or iPad screen. Even cooler, kids can see the location of the International Space Station at all times and the app serves as a fantastic introduction to the Solar System. Star Walk Kids is very easy-to-navigate and sure to improve device literacy among children.

By now, most teachers and parents have heard of or even implemented the STEM educational fields (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). In addition, the annual Hour of Code during Computer Science Week (December 8-14) is a call-to-action that has introduced over 41 million students to computer coding. Apps like Pocket Code, which uses Catrobats visual LEGO-style programming language along with software tools, emphasizes building programs and creative problem solving. Students as young as eight can use the app to create Android apps and games directly on their smartphone or tablet device.

Building bridges in physics class can be equal parts fun and frustrating. The free BridgeBasher app, constructed by Jundroo, allows students to create and test virtual versions of their structures. They can check for weight tolerance, including a progression of trains made of words that increase in heaviness and applying pressure to a bridges joints. These exercises let students see how much strain it takes to collapse their bridges and find out which areas require recalibration.

The Elements in Action app was developed by Touch Press, creators of The Elements: A Visual Exploration and Barefoot World Atlas. The iOS app uses videos to show how 79 out of the 115 elements react in different situations. These little experiments are entertaining and informative, and provide a safe space for observing wild chemical reactions! For example, students can watch a time-lapse of Strontium (Sr) oxidizing to see how its properties change.

The free version of Human Anatomy Atlas offers a lot of great content, including 400 3D bone models and a dozen animations. This mobile app was designed for medical students and doctors, but is very helpful for middle and high schoolers to take in-depth looks at the human bodys systems. This free apps level of detail is unmatched and the 3D display exudes realistic depictions of the human skeleton. If parents are willing to shell out $24.99 they can unlock all 4,000 3D structures, including the brain and muscles, offered by the premium version.

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Experiment with these back-to-school science apps

Did a Meteor strike Nicaragua? Pro Astronomy doesn’t understand Poverty. – Video

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Did a Meteor strike Nicaragua? Pro Astronomy doesn #39;t understand Poverty.
https://www.youtube.com/thornews Pro NASA Astronomers were quick to "debunk" the Nicaragua meteor strike and the American Media was quick to back them up 100%. All parties involved also used...

By: thornews

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Did a Meteor strike Nicaragua? Pro Astronomy doesn't understand Poverty. - Video


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