You'd Prefer an Astronaut

Happy Independence Day!

astroshow@gmail.com — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:39:37 PDT

American Independence Day, that is. Enjoy!

Congratulations...

astroshow@gmail.com — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:19:51 PDT

... to the winners in NASA's Second Annual Lunar Art Contest. Go here to see the winning entries, and stay tuned for information for next year's contests.

A July 4th present from the International Space Station

astroshow@gmail.com — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:22:39 PDT

This July 4th, coincidentally, the International Space Station will be passing overhead much of the US at night. For more information, read this article and to find out when it will be appearing over your town, go here. It's a pretty impressive sight, so hope you get a chance to see it!

New Topographic Map of the Earth

astroshow@gmail.com — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:46:44 PDT

NASA and the Japan Space Agency have teamed up to produce the most complete, detailed topographic map of the Earth to date use the Japanese instrumrent Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, or ASTER, aboard the NASA spacecraft Terra. Go here to see the gorgeous pictures and here to download the data. Enjoy!

40th Anniversary of the Moon Landing Events

astroshow@gmail.com — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:25:01 PDT

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of its greatest success, NASA has scheduled a whole slew of events in honor of the first moon landing. For a listing events, go here. Enjoy!

Are you an amateur radio astronomer?

astroshow@gmail.com — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:22:28 PDT

Yesterday, a group of HAM radio operators communicated with each other by bouncing radio signals off the moon (go here for more information). I'd be very interested in either posting more information about this here or devoting a whole show to amateur radio operators / astronomy - so if you were involved in this please let me know. Thank you.

von Braun and NASA

astroshow@gmail.com — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:41:42 PDT

As controversial as this relationship might be, von Braun did a lot of (important) work for NASA, and NASA is currently wondering how best to present all of the paperwork he generated. Go here to present your opinion.

The oldest blobs in the universe

astroshow@gmail.com — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:14:48 PDT

Yes, "blobs" is the scientific term they use. Given that this article is about diffuse clouds of gas in the early universe, it is a pretty appropriate term.

Congratulations NASA Scholarship winners

astroshow@gmail.com — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:37:50 PDT

As part of its "Motivating Undergraduates in Science and Technology" program, NASA has selected 100 full-time undergraduate students to receive a one-year college scholarship. For more information on this program, and how you can hope to receive one of these scholarships next year, go here. Good luck!

Steven Colbert in space?

astroshow@gmail.com — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:32:28 PDT

Well, it's not the node of the International Space Station he wanted, but it is something. Go here for more info. I personally really like the logo.

What's next for Hubble?

astroshow@gmail.com — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:23:35 PDT

Now that Servicing Mission 4 is over and, for the most part, successful - what is the Hubble Space Telescope doing now? Go here for the details, but the short answer is testing all of the wonderful new hardware (gyroscopes, detectors, etc.) installed during the astronaut's visit.

NY Times Article on Transiting Planets

astroshow@gmail.com — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:00:01 PDT

Here is a pretty good article on the search to find another Earth-like planet around a Sun-like star (you know, in addition to the one we live on.). Enjoy!

March 18th radio show: String Theory

astroshow@gmail.com — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:00:03 PDT

Broadcast almost two months ago but finally available here is the March 18th episode of this radio show where, in addition the usual Astronomy calendar, Prof. Matt Kleban of NYU talks about string theory and how it can actually impact in cosmology. As always, please email or post below and questions, comments, or concerns you might have. Thanks for listening, and sorry for posting this so late.

Interview with Dr. Katie Mack (Princeton University)

astroshow@gmail.com — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:00:02 PDT

Broadcast way too long ago, and recorded well before that, finally available here is my interview with Dr. Katie Mack of Princeton University on her research into microscopic black holes and other bizarre particles which might have been created during the Big Bang. For more information, check out her webpage here and a comic strip that features her work here. Hope you enjoy, and as always, please email or leave below and comments, questions, or concerns you might have. Thanks for listening!

New Apollo Mission book

astroshow@gmail.com — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:39:55 PDT

NASA and Abrams Books have partnered to put out a new book on the Apollo Mission featuring photographs selected by each of the surviving astronauts who take part in this program. For more information, go here

NASA High School Program

astroshow@gmail.com — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:35:10 PDT

NASA's INSPIRE program is currently accepting applications from high school student through June 30th for a summer program. Go here for more information, and good luck!

Congratulations NASA Contest Winners

astroshow@gmail.com — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:27:25 PDT

NASA holds several contests for high school, college, and graduate students, and it recently announced the winners of its 2009 Aeronautics Scholarships contest (list here) and its supersonic research essay contest (list here. Congratulations! These contest are held yearly, and will post info on next year's when it becomes available.

Upcoming Solar Cycle

astroshow@gmail.com — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 12:08:11 PDT

As some of you might remember, about 6 months ago there was a lot of discussion over the utter lack of sunspots being observed at the beginning of this solar cycle. Well, some have been detected, and now NASA has revised its prediction for the upcoming solar cycle. To read more, go here. Enjoy!

Congrats to NASA's new interns!

astroshow@gmail.com — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 12:42:13 PDT

Go here to learn more about this program.

Congrats to NASA's new interns!

astroshow@gmail.com — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 12:01:11 PDT

Go here to learn more about this program.

NSF's Science Nation

astroshow@gmail.com — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 11:35:35 PDT

The National Science Foundation (NSF) now has a weekly Science magazine / webshow titled Science Nation, available here. No astronomy content yet, but I'm sure that will change soon. Enjoy!

World Science Festival 2009

astroshow@gmail.com — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 10:53:38 PDT

The second annual World Science Festival is starting this Wednesday in NYC, and tickets for all their events are now on-sale. Go here to see what events they are and how much the cost. Several look really interesting, and hope you enjoy!

NASA Review of American Human Space Flight

astroshow@gmail.com — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 10:51:10 PDT

NASA is beginning (a probably long overdue) review of its human spaceflight program: what should its goal be? what is the best way of doing it? - that sort of thing. They've created a website where you offer your opinion here, which is important since you are basically funding the whole thing (NASA, the review, the federal government).

Arietid Meteor Shower this Weekend

astroshow@gmail.com — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 10:24:21 PDT

Courtesy of spaceweather.com:

The annual Arietid meteor shower peaks on Sunday, June 7th. The Arietids are unusual because they
are daytime meteors; they stream out of a point in the sky not far from the sun. The best time to look is just before dawn on Sunday morning when it may be possible to spot a small number of Arietids skimming the top of Earth's atmosphere. Such "Earthgrazing" meteors tend to be long, colorful, and very pretty. After daybreak, when the meteors are no longer visible to the human eye, you can listen to radar echoes from the Arietids by tuning in to our online meteor radar: http://spaceweatherradio.com .

Times, they are a' changing...

astroshow@gmail.com — Sun, 31 May 2009 10:42:18 PDT

I probably should have posted this last week, but during the summer (starting tomorrow!) my radio show will be airing live Monday mornings from 10 - 11 AM USET, instead of Wednesday mornings from 7 - 8 AM. Hope this doesn't inconvenience any of you, and thanks a lot for listening. This week's show is going to cover the end of the Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission and recent Hubble results which explains why this servicing mission was so important.