Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
milky way reflection
i found more really great astronomy photographers: tony and daphne hallas at astrophoto.com
the image below shows the galaxy, M63, as featured on APOD today. this galaxy is about the same size as our Milky Way at 100,000 light years across. It floats about 25 million light-years away from us and is known as the sunflower galaxy. you can easily see the blue spiral arm structure, but the most amazing parts of the image, i think, are the faint wisps of structure around the outskirts of the galaxy! it's difficult to se these very dim features in most images! they show what are probably streams of dust and gas left over when smaller galaxies came within close range of the sunflower. gravitational interactions can cause such distortions in galaxies when they pass by each other and eventually merge together into one.
the image below shows the galaxy, M63, as featured on APOD today. this galaxy is about the same size as our Milky Way at 100,000 light years across. It floats about 25 million light-years away from us and is known as the sunflower galaxy. you can easily see the blue spiral arm structure, but the most amazing parts of the image, i think, are the faint wisps of structure around the outskirts of the galaxy! it's difficult to se these very dim features in most images! they show what are probably streams of dust and gas left over when smaller galaxies came within close range of the sunflower. gravitational interactions can cause such distortions in galaxies when they pass by each other and eventually merge together into one.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
hubble image wall mural
for the do-it-yourself-ers out there... hubblesite.org offers free wall murals that could look pretty cool!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
it from bit
the creative and accomplished physicist, john archibald wheeler, passed away a couple days ago at the commanding age of 96. he popularized the term "black hole" in the late 1960's after thinking for a long time about the seemingly unfathomable "completely collapsed gravitational object". two of his more famous graduate students authored some of my favorite popular physics books: kip s. thorne and richard feynman. his resume goes on an on... i've enjoyed reading the reflections of others encounters with wheeler that have been published recently. a former student of his, daniel holz, wrote a nice piece at cosmic variance titled simply, goodbye.
there was also a nice article in scientific american from 1991. the author describes a quote wheeler found in the men's room of the old pecan street cafe here in austin, texas, which states: "Time is nature's way to keep everything from happening all at once." i like that.
wheeler spent a good bit of time thinking about quantum mechanics... the existence of the universe as small bits that exist because we are here to ask about them and observe them. more:
What is reality, then? Wheeler answers his own question with the koanlike phrase "it from bit." Wheeler explains the phrase as follows: "Every 'it'—every particle, every field of force, even the spacetime continuum itself—derives its function, its meaning, its very existence entirely—even if in some contexts indirectly—from the apparatus-elicited answers to yes-or-no questions, binary choices, bits."
thank you for the inspiration and information, mr wheeler.
paolo conte
i've just discovered the charming italian pianist, singer, composer, poet, lawyer, painter, etc... paolo conte.
sparring partner
his song, azzurro, which was later popularized by Adriano Celentano, was unofficially adopted as the official theme song of the fans of the world cup 2006 winning italian team.
paolo's playful version:
the italian footballers version:
i pretty much wanted anyone BUT italy to win the last world cup... but i wasnt too sad about having to *watch* those boys play so many games ;)
sparring partner
his song, azzurro, which was later popularized by Adriano Celentano, was unofficially adopted as the official theme song of the fans of the world cup 2006 winning italian team.
paolo's playful version:
the italian footballers version:
i pretty much wanted anyone BUT italy to win the last world cup... but i wasnt too sad about having to *watch* those boys play so many games ;)
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
when my mind thinks in Latex
you know youre working too hard when you start using LaTeX nomenclature while writing the old fashioned way: with paper and pen.
i was working on an outline today while sitting in a talk, and wrote $z=2$ (instead of simply, z=2) when describing galaxy populations at a redshift of two.
the worst part is that i didnt realize it until i was back in my office re-reading my notes!!!! ugh.
i was working on an outline today while sitting in a talk, and wrote $z=2$ (instead of simply, z=2) when describing galaxy populations at a redshift of two.
the worst part is that i didnt realize it until i was back in my office re-reading my notes!!!! ugh.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
color wars 2008
if you have some time on your hands and are looking to be entertained... check out color wars 2008 dot com, where i found the above brilliance. that thing just cracks me up! anyway, the color wars are the new toy of ze frank, who's produced successfully awesome online, interactive, inspiringly fun stuff in the past!
if i had time, i'd be playing. they even have a theme song:
tweet
full moon storage
as if this cabinet wasnt awesome enough, it's created from special (safe) paint that has glow-in-the-dark-ish properties!
potential puns that make you say... ugh...
this cabinet sure is out of this world!
my furniture just mooned me!
houston, we have storage!
these gems are not mine... all are from the description at yanko design.
potential puns that make you say... ugh...
this cabinet sure is out of this world!
my furniture just mooned me!
houston, we have storage!
these gems are not mine... all are from the description at yanko design.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Sunday, April 6, 2008
cities at night from the space station
this video is just so awesome in so many ways!! folks on the international space station (ISS) managed to rig up a little camera system to track the earth against their orbital motion, in order to get focused nighttime images with resolution of 60 meters! i find that taking digital photos at night is extremely difficult anyway, because i want to expose for a little longer in order to not use the flash that always ruins the mood.... imagine wanting to take an image to share with everyone of the amazing night lights of a city on the surface of the earth from your vantage point... 400 km (250 miles) above the surface, moving at 27,700 km/hour!! a tough task!
aside from the impressive technological innovation of the picture takers on the ISS... the commentary by Don Pettit is quite interesting! this presents a surprisingly cool study of the various types of geographic geometry that cities on different continents maintain. the perspective from above is not one easily gathered or perceived by foot on the earth. how fun would it be to be able to identify exactly where you were above the surface of the earth, from seeing the pattern of lights of the city below you. just wow!
aside from the worrying perspective this video provides regarding light pollution... i think its super cool! thanks skepchicks!
aside from the impressive technological innovation of the picture takers on the ISS... the commentary by Don Pettit is quite interesting! this presents a surprisingly cool study of the various types of geographic geometry that cities on different continents maintain. the perspective from above is not one easily gathered or perceived by foot on the earth. how fun would it be to be able to identify exactly where you were above the surface of the earth, from seeing the pattern of lights of the city below you. just wow!
aside from the worrying perspective this video provides regarding light pollution... i think its super cool! thanks skepchicks!
Friday, April 4, 2008
black hole in omega centauri!
a former fellow grad student, eva noyola, has discovered an intermediate-mass black hole at the center of the globular cluster, omega centauri! a globular cluster is a group of stars all born from the same cloud of gas and gravitationally bound to each other. they are less massive and smaller than what we call a galaxy, but they still have a very large amount of stars!!
to discover the black hole, they used images from the hubble space telescope to identify stars very close to the center of the globular cluster. then used the gemini-south telescope to get spectra of those stars to determine how fast they were wizzing around the center of the globular cluster. they found that the stars move way faster than expected for the gravity created by the stars they see! this implies that there is some other source of large mass in the center that doesnt produce any light, but causes the stars near it to move really really fast!
this is super exciting for many reasons! omega centauri has been known to harbour some odd characteristics that the presence of a black hole helps explain, but this is also a long-looked-for intermediate-mass black hole! we've discovered many super massive black holes (ten million times the mass of our sun) at the centers of galaxies, and we know of many stellar mass black holes that result from the deaths of a big stars (about 10 times the mass of our sun), but this is only the second black hole ever found with a mass somewhere in between! how exciting!
you can listen to eva speak of her discovery herself on this nice hubble cast video!
as i did when another former fellow grad student, robert quimby, discovered something super cool in our universe, i'll share a few memories of eva!
she's known for her rockin' parties, impeccable taste in both film and music, and always having great halloween costumes!
when she first moved to germany in the fall of 2006, i was there for 4 months as well, so we enjoyed exploring munich together.... including oktoberfest!
we drove to vienna that fall for a beautiful wedding of two other astronomers...
and i was lucky enough to be invited to and able to attend her wonderful wedding in mexico!
ok, i guess i'll stop with all the gushing now... oh but wait, one more thing. since i mentioned oktoberfest... watch closely ;)
congratulations eva!!
to discover the black hole, they used images from the hubble space telescope to identify stars very close to the center of the globular cluster. then used the gemini-south telescope to get spectra of those stars to determine how fast they were wizzing around the center of the globular cluster. they found that the stars move way faster than expected for the gravity created by the stars they see! this implies that there is some other source of large mass in the center that doesnt produce any light, but causes the stars near it to move really really fast!
this is super exciting for many reasons! omega centauri has been known to harbour some odd characteristics that the presence of a black hole helps explain, but this is also a long-looked-for intermediate-mass black hole! we've discovered many super massive black holes (ten million times the mass of our sun) at the centers of galaxies, and we know of many stellar mass black holes that result from the deaths of a big stars (about 10 times the mass of our sun), but this is only the second black hole ever found with a mass somewhere in between! how exciting!
you can listen to eva speak of her discovery herself on this nice hubble cast video!
as i did when another former fellow grad student, robert quimby, discovered something super cool in our universe, i'll share a few memories of eva!
she's known for her rockin' parties, impeccable taste in both film and music, and always having great halloween costumes!
when she first moved to germany in the fall of 2006, i was there for 4 months as well, so we enjoyed exploring munich together.... including oktoberfest!
we drove to vienna that fall for a beautiful wedding of two other astronomers...
and i was lucky enough to be invited to and able to attend her wonderful wedding in mexico!
ok, i guess i'll stop with all the gushing now... oh but wait, one more thing. since i mentioned oktoberfest... watch closely ;)
congratulations eva!!
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
make it work!
"make it work!" has been my mantra recently and will continue to be until i finish this crazy phd defense business... at least! i caught it from watching season 4 of project runway and hearing the incredibly poised tim gunn repeat his catchphrase over and over while guiding the blossoming designers to greatness! i havent been too big of a tv show watcher for many years now, but i definitely have my favorites. project runway unexpectedly caught my attention while i was hanging out in the sleepy town of hilo, hawaii last fall, trying to occupy myself after the entire town shut down at 9pm! i've been a complete fan ever since!
anyway, i had a realization this week as i motivationally said to myself "just make it work!" over and over in my head....
tim gunn totally has a C-3PO stance!!!!
his mannerisms fit, it totally works, and i think it's completely adorable!! i like tim even more now!! thanks tim for helping me thru a crazy period in my life even though you have no idea of your influence!
anyway, i had a realization this week as i motivationally said to myself "just make it work!" over and over in my head....
tim gunn totally has a C-3PO stance!!!!
his mannerisms fit, it totally works, and i think it's completely adorable!! i like tim even more now!! thanks tim for helping me thru a crazy period in my life even though you have no idea of your influence!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
carnival of space #47
this week's installment of space-related articles is up, for your reading pleasure, at the martian chronicles blog.
enjoy!
enjoy!
Friday, March 28, 2008
i'm your density
i've spent most of today writing!!! yippee! dissertation writing is not one of the most enjoyable experiences i've ever had, but a productive day always feels great!
i've managed to amuse myself quite a bit today while writing about the history of how many stars form in different types of galaxies during different epochs. (although i regret not having time right now to get into the details, i will have time at some point in the future and choose now to just skip to the punch line.) there are two main relations you investigate to study this process: the star formation rate density and the stellar mass density and how they change over time.
almost every single time i write the word "density" i accidentally type "destiny"!! the first several times it made me chuckle because of the obvious reference to the classic destiny/density mix up from one of the best science-fiction comedies ever created: back to the future - but backwards! i have to admit that at this point, it's just plain annoying because i think i've tried to write that word at least two dozen times today!! oh well. here you go....
there are sooo many good quotes from that movie!!
i've managed to amuse myself quite a bit today while writing about the history of how many stars form in different types of galaxies during different epochs. (although i regret not having time right now to get into the details, i will have time at some point in the future and choose now to just skip to the punch line.) there are two main relations you investigate to study this process: the star formation rate density and the stellar mass density and how they change over time.
almost every single time i write the word "density" i accidentally type "destiny"!! the first several times it made me chuckle because of the obvious reference to the classic destiny/density mix up from one of the best science-fiction comedies ever created: back to the future - but backwards! i have to admit that at this point, it's just plain annoying because i think i've tried to write that word at least two dozen times today!! oh well. here you go....
there are sooo many good quotes from that movie!!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
the international space station meets jules verne
i hope some of you got to the see spectacular and rare triple flyby tonight! the european space craft, jules verne, came into view first, rising in the southwest and brightly passing almost overhead. (jules verne was a popular author of the 19th century, who pioneered the science-fiction genre with popular novels like journey to the center of the earth and twenty thousand leagues under the sea).
it was difficult to spot jules verne at first because there were scattered clouds overhead which confused us into thinking all the stars were moving! jules verne was bright at about 1st magnitude, but it was nothing compared to the international space station (ISS), which followed about 5 minutes later. the ISS was negative two magnitudes.... which means super-bright! way brighter than anything else in the night sky other than the moon! the shuttle, endeavor, caught our eyes, as it followed the same path across the sky as the ISS, just 40 degrees or so behind it, not as bright, but still bright indeed! it was so cool to see both of them trailing across the sky in tandem!
i excitedly looked thru binoculars to try to find more details of the bright ISS. I could see the brightest central region reflecting the sun's light, then some extended metallic stuff sticking out to the sides... solar panels!
the ISS has been in orbit around earth since 1998. it constantly moves around the earth at 350-460 km (217-286 miles) above the surface, and moves at 27,700 km/hour! that means it makes nearly 16 orbits everyday!! so why is it so rare that we see the super-bright ISS pass overhead? since the ISS doesnt produce light of its own, we rely on reflected sunlight to see it. the ISS is only illuminated when it passes is in sunlight... which means most of the time that it passes overhead, its daytime which prevents us from seeing it, or it's nighttime, which prevents it from being illuminated. we can see the ISS over our heads when it passes near sunrise or sunset. at sunset, we are just barely in the darkness of earth's shadow, but the ISS, still floating above the surface, still receives and reflects the sun's light! the ISS is soooooo bright because its football-field size reflects a lot of light!
what a fun sight tonight!! thanks to my students who came to the roof with me after our lab class to watch the event :)
it was difficult to spot jules verne at first because there were scattered clouds overhead which confused us into thinking all the stars were moving! jules verne was bright at about 1st magnitude, but it was nothing compared to the international space station (ISS), which followed about 5 minutes later. the ISS was negative two magnitudes.... which means super-bright! way brighter than anything else in the night sky other than the moon! the shuttle, endeavor, caught our eyes, as it followed the same path across the sky as the ISS, just 40 degrees or so behind it, not as bright, but still bright indeed! it was so cool to see both of them trailing across the sky in tandem!
i excitedly looked thru binoculars to try to find more details of the bright ISS. I could see the brightest central region reflecting the sun's light, then some extended metallic stuff sticking out to the sides... solar panels!
the ISS has been in orbit around earth since 1998. it constantly moves around the earth at 350-460 km (217-286 miles) above the surface, and moves at 27,700 km/hour! that means it makes nearly 16 orbits everyday!! so why is it so rare that we see the super-bright ISS pass overhead? since the ISS doesnt produce light of its own, we rely on reflected sunlight to see it. the ISS is only illuminated when it passes is in sunlight... which means most of the time that it passes overhead, its daytime which prevents us from seeing it, or it's nighttime, which prevents it from being illuminated. we can see the ISS over our heads when it passes near sunrise or sunset. at sunset, we are just barely in the darkness of earth's shadow, but the ISS, still floating above the surface, still receives and reflects the sun's light! the ISS is soooooo bright because its football-field size reflects a lot of light!
what a fun sight tonight!! thanks to my students who came to the roof with me after our lab class to watch the event :)
triple flyby alert - TONIGHT!!
NASA's space shuttle, endeavor, just undocked with the international space station (ISS) and both are orbiting the earth very close to each other. in addition, the european space agency's cargo carrier, jules verne, is flying just 2000 km ahead of the first two space ships, creating a triple flyby tonight!! you'll see a bright (1st magnitude) jules verne, followed 4 minutes later by an even brighter ISS and space shuttle close together!
this event will be visible from austin, texas at 8:30pm tonight... look to the west! if you live in the US or canada, go to http://spaceweather.com/flybys/ for details. otherwise, you can use heaven's above to find out whether this stunning trio will pas over your head during the next couple days!
this event will be visible from austin, texas at 8:30pm tonight... look to the west! if you live in the US or canada, go to http://spaceweather.com/flybys/ for details. otherwise, you can use heaven's above to find out whether this stunning trio will pas over your head during the next couple days!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
machine tattoo
i dont know if i'd really call this a science tattoo, but it sure is one hell of an awesome (and creepy) tattoo!!
Monday, March 24, 2008
godfather of fitness
here's jack lalanne speaking quite a while ago in an inspirational manner to convince us all to be happy by living a more natural life... eating properly, exercising and doing the things in life that we enjoy!
i'm convinced, especially since he's still kickin it at 93 years old!
i'm convinced, especially since he's still kickin it at 93 years old!
second best chocolate day of the year!
happy first sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox of march 21st!!
it's also the second best chocolate day of the year. the #1 chocolate day of the year is, of course, halloween, which wins in my eyes because everyone gets to dress up in costumes as well! and at halloween, there are fewer animals cast as chocolate bars. as a child i always thought it was a bit creepy to eat so many cute little bunny heads. but ultimately the "chocolate!!" factor won!
it's also the second best chocolate day of the year. the #1 chocolate day of the year is, of course, halloween, which wins in my eyes because everyone gets to dress up in costumes as well! and at halloween, there are fewer animals cast as chocolate bars. as a child i always thought it was a bit creepy to eat so many cute little bunny heads. but ultimately the "chocolate!!" factor won!
Sunday, March 23, 2008
miriam & amadou
miriam & amadou are definitely a duo that i cannot wait to hear live!! the "blind couple from mali" create and intensely positive world music sound together. i was hooked the instant i heard their 2005 album dimanche a bamako. in combination with producer, manu chao, they created an album that feels as the name suggests.... like a lazy, happy, productive sunday afternoon. it's soft, but intricate, relaxed and intense!
here's a song called "senegal fast food"...
here's a song called "senegal fast food"...
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