Thursday, December 20, 2012

Bad Astronomy:The Best Astronomy Images of 2012.


Phil Plait selected the best astronomy photos of 2012 and posted them on the "bad astronomy blog". The blog entry begins...

I couldn’t pick just 10—you have to see all 21 of these mind-bending shots. 
The Universe is beautiful. 
Which is interesting. It doesn’t have to be; it could be all colorless and weird and lumpy. Instead, it’s bursting with color, sculpted by vast forces, molded into fantastic shapes that please our eyes and delight our brains—especially once we understand what we’re seeing.
To see the entry, go here...

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/bad_astronomy/2012/12/best_astronomy_images_2012_see_the_most_beautiful_images_of_the_universe.single.html

Monday, December 17, 2012

Watch livestream as NASA crashes twin GRAIL spacecraft into moon

From earthsky.org:
NASA’s twin GRAIL moon gravity probes – named Ebb and Flow – have nearly run out of fuel. NASA intends to crash the probes into the side of a mountain near the moon’s north pole today (Monday, December 17, 2012) and you can watch it happen live on NASA Television or via livestream from NASA’s website. The show starts with live commentary from NASA scientists at around 4 p.m. CST (2200 UTC). The crash landing will take place around 4:28 CST (2228 UTC) on December 17.
NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
The coverage will also be streamed live on Ustream:
http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2
The rest of the article can be found at...

Friday, December 7, 2012

AA OSA Meeting Next Tuesday, 11 December 2012

All,

It is rare that we have such an exciting talk and great speaker, but Dr. Stephen Rand has agreed to cover practical applications of his research in "New Frontiers in Non-Linear Optics".  I really recommend that people try to make this last AA OSA meeting of 2012.  As always, everyone is invited to join us for dinner at Paesano's prior to the meeting.  (We have also shifted the date for our January meeting due to the holidays to Tuesday, the 15th of January, as the 2nd Tuesday seemed too tight for people coming back from the holiday break.)  I hope to see all of you at this talk!

Meeting Flyer