Wind & Sky

2012 GLOBE at Night Campaign

2012-01-15T21:58:00.001-06:00

It's that time again... time to get outside, check out the sky for a few minutes and make a contribution to preserving dark skies. Time for GLOBE at Night. If you didn't see my posts in 2009 or 2010, read on.

GLOBE at Night is a citizen-science campaign open to people all over the world to raise awareness of the impact of light pollution by inviting citizen-scientists to measure their night sky brightness and report their observations to a website from a computer or smart phone. Light pollution threatens not only our “right to starlight”, but can affect energy consumption, wildlife and health. Through 2011, people in 115 countries contributed 66,000 measurements, making GLOBE at Night one of the most successful light pollution awareness campaigns to date. This year, the campaign takes place over 4 weeks:

January 14 through 23
February 12 through 21
March 13 through 22
April 11 through 20

To learn how to help, check out the campaign at www.globeatnight.org.

The Absent Blogger

2011-07-24T11:49:00.001-05:00

Been much too long since I've posted anything here. Not for want of topics...

I have some thoughts to share on the travesty of Texas education funding in the current budget crisis and its impact on science education (three local school districts closing down their planetariums).
There is a lesson others may benefit from in the story of our experience in buying a new telescope from Orion earlier this year.
Recently replaced my Nikon D40 with a D7000 and I'm excited by the early results in terms of quality of astrophotography images.

The problem though has been lack of time to write. Between all the family activity over the past year (lots of exciting events) and much heavier workload at work (which is better than the alternative), I've not had as much time for writing (or, for that matter, for reading).

So, this is a shot across my own bow, a brief tease of more to come and at the same time a prod to start making time for posts longer than 140 bytes.

To be continued...

Light Pollution Map using Google Earth Plug-in

2010-09-08T09:05:00.007-05:00

For anyone who's downloaded (or interested in downloading) the Google Earth plug-in for Google Maps, here's a glimpse of its power and a handy place to refer back to when checking how much light pollution there is in a given area. This gadget doesn't include a search capability, but it is pretty easy to interactively search for a spot on the map. Also, the map below is just for North America but you can Google "google earth light pollution overlay" to find similar maps for other areas of the Earth.

Note: If you don't already have the Google Earth plug-in installed, depending on your browser the gadget below may prompt you to install the plug-in or may just show a Google map of the United States. If the latter is the case, click on the ZOOM link below which will display the map in a full browser window; you will then be prompted to install the plug-in.

ZOOM TO FULL WINDOW

Can You Do The Moon Walk?

2010-07-20T07:34:00.001-05:00

July 20th is a special day for me. As one area of focus for this blog is astronomy, you would rightly assume that one reason is that 41 years ago today, man walked on the moon for the first time. If you didn't catch the special 40th anniversary special celebrations last year, you can check one out here.

However, family and friends all know the other reason... today is my brother Dana's birthday. This isn't just any birthday, either. It's his 50th birthday.

Happy Birthday, Dana!

By the way, bro, we're still waiting to see video of you doing your best Michael Jackson impression on YouTube...

Happy Belated Birthday, Hubble!

2010-04-26T23:13:00.001-05:00

This birthday wish isn't for Edwin Hubble, the astronomer famous for determining that what people then called faint nebulae were really other galaxies like our own Milky Way and the fact that the universe is expanding, but his namesake, the Hubble Space Telescope. Twenty years ago yesterday, on April 24th, 1990, NASA launched Hubble into space. Although there were issues with it as initially launched, thanks to numerous repair and servicing missions over the years it has gone on to truly become our eyes into the depths of the universe. It has been the foundation for a lot of great science as well as inspiration and awe.

Check out celebrations around the web:

NASA Flash Hubble Gallery
NASA Hubble Mission Site
Hubble Site
Amazing Space - Hubble for Students and Teachers

Also, a very cool citizen science site called Galaxy Zoo, where people like you and me get to help astronomers in their research on galaxies, is also celebrating Hubble's birthday.

STS-131 Launch in Person

2010-04-09T13:43:00.002-05:00

STS-131 Contrails
Originally uploaded by neatonjr

If you've never seen a shuttle launch in person but have always wanted to, you only have three more chances before the fleet is permanently retired after 30 years of service.

That was the incentive for me to get up at 2am last Monday morning and drive all the way across Florida to see the pre-dawn launch of Discovery in person. We were in New Port Richey visiting our oldest son Josh and his family, so when I heard about the launch I couldn't resist.

I won't bore you with the details of the trip other than to say it was worth everything... the lack of sleep, the hour standing on the edge of a retaining wall waiting, the hours of driving there and back, even the 2 hours in traffic between Titusville and Orlando on the way home. If you have any opportunity to go, I highly recommend it.

Check out my Flickr set for more pictures. You can also see more pictures here and news about the launch here.

Oh, and thanks to Josh for joining me... that was a great birthday present!

Nine Days Left: Help Me Get an iPad for My Birthday

2010-04-01T13:23:00.006-05:00

I've seen the light! Just saw a detailed video review of the iPad and would LOVE to have one for my birthday. What an AMAZING piece of technology! And to think, if I get one for my birthday I can blow out candles on a virtual birthday cake, just like on Modern Family! How COOL! I figure if enough of my family and friends pitch in just a few dollars each, I'm all set! Details on how to help down below the video.

Oh, and by the way... you do recall that my birthday is just 9 days after APRIL FOOLS!!!

In reality, I'm quite happy with my Windows 7 media server and laptop, and my Palm Pre phone. And for all you Apple addicts out there (you know who you are), just wait till Palm comes out with an iPad form-factor computer running WebOS!

For more April Fools hilarity, check out the Google home page and their blog. Be sure to check out all the links there, like this one.

2010 RCYC Frostbite Regatta

2010-03-11T15:35:00.003-06:00

Downwind Run
Photo hosted on Flickr by neatonjr

Held on March 6th this year, had a great turn out and a decent breeze.

Photos

Results

It's That Time Again... GLOBE At Night

2010-03-04T22:20:00.004-06:00

When is the last time you looked up and saw the Milky Way at night? Or saw a meteor shower? If you live in an urban or suburban area, it may have been a long, long time. It has been many years for me but I can recall enjoying the splendor of these sights from my backyard when I was younger. Having spent a lot of time looking up at the night sky over the years since then, I've watched it change. Not noticeably from night to night or even year to year, but every few years it's obvious there's less to see.

At work, a common phrase is "what get's measured get's tended to". I think that with light pollution it's the same. It is one thing for someone to look up and realize they can't see what they could when they were a kid but anecdotal evidence isn't science. To make a case for change, to turn the tide and restore the beauty - and benefits - of clear, dark night skies, we need to measure the rate and circumstances of change. Only then can we forecast how much worse it may get in the future and justify steps to restore what we've lost. Or at least avoid losing more.

That's the point of a project called GLOBE At Night. I wrote about it last year so I won't repeat the details (you can find them here), just the invitation... please join me in making a small contribution to improving the world to which our future generations will be born. And do a little science. And learn a little. And have fun doing it.

Here's to darker skies,
Nate

PS. For more information on light pollution and ways to fight it, check out the International Dark-Sky Association.

Daydreaming: Astrophotography

2010-03-03T08:29:00.002-06:00

I haven't had (made) any time in awhile to focus on astrophotography, so I enjoyed the opportunity last week to hear members of the Astrophotography SIG speak at the recent meeting of the Texas Astronomical Society. For more infomation about the SIG including highlights of their work and links to member sites, check out their blog at apsig.blogspot.com.

Coincidentally, I received an email yesterday highlighting the latest project of an astrophotographer whose work I enjoy:

Deep Sky Celebration by Ken Crawford

A Special 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast

2010-01-26T22:39:00.003-06:00

Please join me in enjoying this 365 Days of Astronomy podcast for January 26th, 2010, dedicated to my wife Linda and her peers at the DMNS Planetarium.

Share the wonder!

Planetarium for Palm OS

2010-01-08T13:36:00.004-06:00

This is such a great tool, I am hanging on to my Palm Treo even though I've moved to using a Palm Pre simply because there isn't anything like it yet available for WebOS phones. See this review I submitted to Cloudy Nights for more information.

Clear Skies!

Trick or Treats, Sidewalk Astronomy and Candy

2009-10-31T22:33:00.005-05:00

Well, it's been a busy year. Busier than I expected and I've not spent nearly as much time on astronomy. Tonight I did something about that.

Although the next full moon is a few days off, the view through our 60mm Parks refractor with a 26mm lens was still spectacular tonight. I set the scope up on the front yard just off our sidewalk. As kids came up to the porch yelling "trick or treat!", we'd pass out candy and then invite them to check out the moon through the scope. Some passed - usually the high school kids in large groups, too concerned about looking cool to listen to their inner kid and look through the scope - but most took a look, the response usually being "ooh", "ahh" or "that's awesome!". Many times parents came up from the street to take a look, too. Usually with the same response.

We always have a good time passing out candy on Halloween. Tonight was extra special, though. Usually we hear lots of "thanks", but there's nothing like listening to kids go running down the street yelling "Ma! I got to look at the moon!"

Clear skies!

Musings on My Granddaughter's Bright Future

2009-08-23T21:44:00.008-05:00

As anyone who knows me will tell you, I'm a typical doting grandfather when it comes to the first of our kid's kids, Kaili. At almost 2 years old, she's a bright, curious, happy girl. And the fact that I don't have any daughters of my own surely doesn't influence my attitude towards her.

Anyway, while listening to a 365 Days of Astronomy podcast recently it occurred to me how lucky Kaili is to live in a time when women can achieve almost anything. The podcast, Women on the Moon, highlighted a number of women who were pioneers in astronomy from Caroline Herschel to Christa McAuliffe. Even though I'm sure there is still a glass ceiling in astronomy and astrophysics, girls who have an interest in science don't have nearly the barriers to success that they had 200, 100 or even 50 years ago.

Not to say that Kaili will show any interest in astronomy (though it won't be from lack of exposure - she'll get to spend plenty of time under the stars with her grandparents as she grows up), but if she does then it's good to know the barriers are lower than they've ever been.

How is Astronomy Like Sailing?

2009-06-07T23:31:00.009-05:00

There are actually a number of parallels...

Both can be experienced simply and casually: a relaxing day sail where you wander where the breeze takes you and the laziness of laying out under the stars tracing the constellations and watching meteors flash across the sky.
Or, as a highly technical and challenging past time or way of life: for sailing, everything from local circuit racing to the Olympics, America's Cup and round-the-world races and, for astronomy, challenges such as comet and NEO hunting, planetary and deep sky imaging using advanced scopes, mounts and cameras and, of course, professional astronomy. At this end of the scale, sailing and astronomy have something else in common: both can be incredibly expensive.
One thing shared by both astronomy and sailing is the opportunity to get a little closer to nature, to experience a sense of awe at the majesty of the world around us and the universe beyond.

Unfortunately, there's at least one more thing they both have in common: being at the mercy of the weather. Just as you can't sail if there isn't enough (or there is too much) wind, earthbound astronomers can't observe if it's too cloudy. Yes, I know advances in technology have changed that to a degree - I've written here about using Slooh to image/observe on nights when I can't get my own scope out because of the weather - but even remote observing sites are still at the mercy of local weather conditions.

This subject came to mind after our trip last week to Yosemite National Park and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. I had hoped to take advantage of the lack of light pollution to experiment with some star trail photography using my Nikon D40, possibly even getting some starlit shots of some of the icons of Yosemite such as El Capitan or Half Dome.

As it turned out, it just wasn't to be. The first couple of nights we'd had long, long days in valley and because the Park Service had evening programs scheduled for later in the week we turned in early each night. We did try catching a glimpse of the sky from our cabin but looking up through the trees all we could see was Ursa Major, almost straight over head. Unfortunately, over the course of the remainder of the trip there were thunderstorms almost daily. Never a lot of rain - usually about an hour or so a day - but each night it was so cloudy there was nothing to see.

Most amateur astronomers I know are as pragmatic about the weather as most of the sailors I know... being so dependent on the weather, you get used to enjoying clear weather when you have it and finding something else to do when you don't. So, although we didn't come home with any star trail shots, we did come up with a few shots like this one of a beautiful sun pillar (read more about them here). I won't say I wasn't disappointed that we didn't get to spend time under the sky during this trip but it passed quickly. After all, now I have another reason to return...

Earth Hour: Dallas

2009-05-09T13:53:00.014-05:00

A bit late posting this (been a bit of an absentee amateur astronomer lately thanks to a busy schedule at work), but thought I would share what it looked like to see the lights of downtown Dallas go out in celebration of Earth Hour, an event organized by the World Wildlife Fund to bring attention to the need for solutions for global climate change.

On March 28th, 2009, the Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas hosted an Earth Hour star party on the roof of West Village in uptown Dallas. TAS members brought out with their telescopes and the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science Planetarium staff presented shows in their portable planetarium. The real excitement started at 8:30 pm as downtown lights went out. What a spectacular site!

Also, check out this article for great shots of other major cities around the world celebrating Earth Hour.

Celebrating Sun Day

2009-04-05T11:33:00.008-05:00

In this case, although it is the first (or seventh, depending on your perspective) day of the week, I'm not talking about Sunday but Sun Day, the final outreach event of 100 Hours of Astronomy, a cornerstone project of the International Year of Astronomy 2009. All over the world, people are checking out a somewhat average, yellow star - our Sun. We're not seeing much of it here in Florida today thanks to the clouds but even if it's cloudy where you are you can still read about the Sun, find out what others are doing today to celebrate and even watch the Sun. In fact, unless you live near one of the solar viewing parties happening today or have your own solar telescope, the best place to see the Sun is over the Internet. Check out some of these sites for spectacular views of the Sun, both in picture and video (some are even live!):

Astronomy Picture Of the Day
Live View (4/5) from Solar Telescope in Italy (check out the solar prominence!)
Space Weather

If you decide to get out and check out the Sun today yourself, be sure and observe safely. You can find instructions on how here.

Happy Sun Day!

Around the World in 80 Telescopes

2009-04-03T22:47:00.002-05:00

Want to a chance to experience the worlds premier observatories? Head to the 100 Hours of Astronomy webcast site now! A cornerstone project of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, the 100 hours of Astronomy is a huge outreach program that aims to get as many people as possible in front of a telescope between April 2nd and 5th. And for 24 hours, from 9:00 Universal Time on April 3rd through 9:00 UT on April 4th, you can view a round-the-clock webcast from 80 of the largest telescopes around the world.

It's already well under way but don't worry, the web site has all the videos already shown. Each webcast opens with background video on that telescope followed by live interviews with professional astronomers on-site as they describe their current observing project. It's a great way to learn more about some of the most advanced, innovating technological achievements of man. Check it out... I'm watching the Keck webcast now!

Lights Out for Earth

2009-03-24T22:05:00.002-05:00

This Saturday, March 28th, at 8:30pm local time all across the United States and the rest of the world, people and businesses will heed the World Wildlife Fund call to turn off their lights for an hour to express their concern for global climate change and commitment to finding a solution. Called Earth Hour, it is a great way to cast your vote for Planet Earth.

The list of supporters who've pledged to participate is growing and includes some historic sites including the Pyramids in Egypt, the Acropolis in Athens, the Broadway Theater District, the Space Needle in Seattle and the Chrysler Building in New York. You can hear actor and Earth Hour USA Ambassador Edward Norton discuss Earth Hour with Larry King on Wednesday, March 25th at 9 pm ET on CNN.

We're also celebrating here in Dallas. In anticipation of much of downtown Dallas going dark, the Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas is conducting a star party. Everyone is invited to join attend at West Village in uptown Dallas this Saturday night starting at 7:00 pm. TAS members will be out with their telescopes and the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science Planetarium staff will have their portable planetarium set up. The real excitement should start at 8:30 pm as downtown lights go out. Come on out and join us! For more information including directions, go to the TAS homepage.

Earth Hour USA site

Earth Hour global site

GLOBE At Night Update

2009-03-21T00:52:00.010-05:00

As mentioned in my previous post, from March 16th through 28th this year people all over the world are helping catalog current light pollution conditions as part of a project called GLOBE At Night. Based on the map reflecting up-to-date observations since the 16th, it looks like there has been broad participation across the United States so far.

Although I'm planning to submit several observations over the course of the project, checking various sites besides my own backyard, that's the only observation I've submitted so far but I've at least gotten that much done. Have you taken your turn yet? Come on... step outside tonight, enjoy the evening sky and help advance our understanding of the impact of light pollution on the world!

Help Measure Light Pollution Around the Globe

2009-03-16T16:20:00.004-05:00

The GLOBE at Night project is an opportunity for students, parents, teachers, amateur astronomers or anyone else interested to participate in real science. Held this year between March 16th and 28th, the project will use observations made by people around the globe to capture information on current light pollution levels. In addition to telling us what things are like now, the observations will also be compared to information collected in previous years so this is a great way to do your part to help identify how much light pollution has changed in areas all over the world.

Participating is as simple as:

Find your location in longitude and latitude

Locate the constellation Orion in the evening sky about an hour after sunset

Match what you see to examples provided on the GLOBE at Night web site

Report your observation

It's that easy. The project web site provides everything you need including tools to find your longitude/latitude, magnitude charts and even links to see what others around the world have reported. Keep in mind that the more observations reported, the more accurate and complete the project results will be so you can help by checking the sky over multiple nights and even from other places near where you live.

This is another great way to help celebrate the International Year of Astronomy. Get outside tonight and do your part... I'll be out there, too!

Update: Having gone out and done my observation for tonight (plan on doing other locations over other nights of the project), I have a suggestion: skip the step to look up your longitude and latitude. When you go to the link to report your observation, there is an option there to select long/lat by specifying an address. It is just as simple to wait till you report your observation as to look it up in advance and remember it to enter later on.

Venus and Crescent Moon Conjunction

2009-02-27T15:05:00.004-06:00

Venus and Crescent Moon Conjunction
Originally uploaded by Nick Bramhall

In my post on seeing Venus during daylight, I mentioned that today would be a great day to try since Venus would be very near the moon. Sadly, here in Mesquite it is completely overcast today so I'll miss the event. If you live west of the North Texas area and it isn't cloudy where you are, step outside now to see whether you can spot it. Venus will be about a half-dozen moon-widths from the moon opposite its sunlit crescent side.

Even if you miss spotting Venus during daylight today, be sure to step outside in the evening to check out the beautiful pairing as it gets dark. It's already dark in the U.K. and folks like Nick Bramhall have already starting capturing this stunning sight. Read more about it at NASA Science site.

Comet Lulin at Closest Approach

2009-02-23T22:47:00.006-06:00

Step outside this evening and look up high in the southeastern sky for a bright yellow star. That's Saturn. Just to the right and above it, you'll see a small, fuzzy patch of green. That's Comet Lulin (C/2007 N3). It is now at its closest approach to Earth, speeding by on its way out of the Solar System. Although it's at its peak brightness and appears closest to Saturn tonight, it will still be visible for a while so if you miss the show tonight so you still have time to catch it.

If you live in an urban area, you might have a tough time spotting Lulin. To get a really good view of it, especially under light polluted skies, you need binoculars or a telescope. If you don't have a that kind of equipment or it's cloudy where you live you can still see live images over the web.

To start with, check out the Comet Lulin webcast at the Coca-Cola Space Science Center at Columbus State University. They have live webcam images that updated every 15 seconds throughout tonight.

If you want to see Lulin (whether tonight or in the coming weeks) and you think you might enjoy remote access to professional telescopes at an affordable price, go check out Slooh. They have a site in the Canary Islands, one in Chile and another one under construction in Australia. You can purchase 100 minutes of viewing for $14.95 or just check things out (including the ability to control the telescopes) with their 7 day free trial. And tonight they are highlighting Comet Lulin; see the mission schedule here.

Since we've got poor seeing tonight, my plans to get out with my camera and telescope fell through so I've spent the evening following the comet at Slooh. Here's a shot I saved a while ago.

Hopefully, we'll have clear skies in the next couple of days so I can get some shots with my own equipment but, in the mean time, it's great to have access to someone else's gear.

For more information on Comet Lulin, check out these sites:

Spotting Venus in Daylight

2009-02-20T15:20:00.019-06:00

I've been planning a post on how bright Venus has been in the evening sky lately but it's turned into more of a research effort than I expected. I still plan on posting about that (soon) but in the mean time, let's talk about one of the side effects of how bright Venus is.

At its brightest, Venus is normally¹ the third brightest object in the sky behind the Moon and the Sun. We don't typically see celestial objects during the day other than the Sun and, depending on its phase, the Moon. The reason has to do with contrast - the difference in brightness between two objects. To see an object in the sky, it has to be brighter than the background. That's why you can see stars at night but they aren't visible during the day... the scattering of sunlight in the atmosphere makes the sky too bright compared to how bright the stars are. This is also why you can't see the Milky Way in urban areas. There isn't enough difference between the brightness of the Milky Way and the background sky (because of light pollution) for the Milky Way to be visible to the unaided eye.

So, if you can't see stars during the day then is it possible to see Venus? As bright as it gets (apparent magnitude -4.7), it is still not nearly as bright as the Moon (-12.6). As it turns out, though, it is bright enough to see in broad daylight. You just have to know where to look.

As bright as Venus is right now and given how far it is above the Sun (its elongation), now is a great time to try spotting it during the day. To find it, it helps to have something else nearby to start your search from. A good candidate is the Moon. I checked using one of my favorite pieces of software (Planetarium) and found that over North Texas the Moon and Venus will be just a few degrees apart about 2:30 pm on February 27th. Although the Moon will be a thin crescent n that date it should still be a good starting point for finding Venus. I plan to try this approach on the 27th but in the mean time there is another alternative that you can try tomorrow.

All you need is a building with an exterior wall that runs generally north and south. The next step is to know what time during the day Venus will be directly over head (it's transit time). To find that for your location, use this tool hosted by the U.S. Naval Observatory. Scroll down to Form A, enter the date, Venus as the object, your state and city and optionally your height above sea level, the click on the Compute button. The resulting data includes the time Venus rises and sets but, more importantly, both the time it transits and how high in degrees above the southern horizon it will be at that time (its altitude).

With this information in hand, at about the specified time grab a pair of binoculars and stand next to your north/south wall. It needs to be a wall facing east so that as you stand next to it you're in shade. This will avoid glare from the Sun as you search for Venus and also guard against accidentally looking at the Sun through the binoculars. Standing next to the building, search the sky just along the edge of the roof of the building, scanning back and forth at approximately the angle Venus is supposed to be above the southern horizon. It may help to search about 15 minutes before transit time to ensure Venus is clearly visible on the east side of the building.

I tried this yesterday and it worked great. Venus was supposed to be straight overhead at 2:57 pm and at an altitude of 67 degrees. Our house faces due south so all I had to do was step outside on my patio and stand next to the east-facing wall. By scanning the sky along the edge of the roof overhead I was able to easily spot Venus through my Canon 8x25 binoculars (you don't have to have big, powerful binoculars - almost any decent pair will do). I got a great view of a crescent Venus.

For something a little harder, once you've spotted Venus through binoculars try searching that same spot without them. It takes a bit more effort but once you know where to look and what you are looking for it is possible to spot it with the unaided eye.

I'll post an update the next time I've spotted Venus during the day and include a photograph. In the mean time, once you've succeeded in spotting Venus in the daytime yourself, share the wealth... show it to your friends, family or neighbors. I bet they'll be amazed!

¹ According to this Wikipedia article, objects (past and present) brighter than Venus include the Crab supernova of 1054 and Iridium satellite flares.

Geek's Night Out

2009-02-18T19:38:00.036-06:00

Man, it was hard to get up this morning. Didn't even budge when the dog jumped on the bed around sunrise. Understandable after not getting to sleep until about 1:30. No, I wasn't up late out under the stars with the telescope. Last night was more like the last time I went to a rock concert...

I quit work early
Linda and I had an early dinner and drove all the way across town
Showed up an hour and a half before the doors opened to be sure we got good seats
Sat in rapt attention throughout a show that was supposed to last about 2 hours but went on for over 3 hours
Stood in line afterwards for 45 minutes to get an autograph
Didn't get home until well after midnight

...but this wasn't a rock concert. It was all to see an astrophysicist!

As mentioned in my last post, we'd heard last week that Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson was scheduled to speak at University of Texas at Arlington last night. Thankfully, we also got a reminder email that mentioned they expected a large turnout. It was good we got there early as, by the time Dr. Tyson took the stage, Texas Hall was completely packed, all 2700 some odd seats. Although the long wait could have been boring, we ran into RCYC friends - Burt and Mary Scott - and had a great time visiting. Burt teaches Astronomy at Eastfield College and is also an avid amateur astronomer - I enjoyed hearing about the new telescope he is building while we waited for the show to start.

If you've ever seen Dr. Tyson on PBS, the Tonight Show, the Daily Show or any of his other appearances on TV, you understand what a dynamic speaker he is. And while many people know him as one of the most vocal advocates for the idea that Pluto is not the 9th planet but instead the first Kuiper Belt object discovered, that wasn't what he was in town to talk about. Instead, he was here to talk about science illiteracy in America and to explain his ideas on what to do about it.

Before getting down to business, Dr. Tyson first got comfortable, unloading his pockets of wallet and cell phone and even shedding his cowboy boots. Although he was born and raised in New York, he spent 6 years working on a Masters Degree at University of Texas in Austin and obviously picked up on our local fashion sense and attitudes towards casual attire.

Dr. Tyson then illustrated and described the history of commitment to science by various countries and cultures, starting with a series of diagrams based on the Periodic Table of Elements. This wasn't anything like the PTE you dreaded in high school - it was more of a map and timeline, showing things like which countries discovered (and named) each element, when they were discovered, etc. In the end, the picture he painted was that until recently the U.S. has been a dominent force in scientific discovery but that the new trend is diminishing emphasis on (and investment in) science. He then went on to cover numerous examples of our cultural scientific ignorance including our fear of the number 13 (most buildings still don't have a 13th floor) and celebration of Groundhog Day (when you didn't have advanced computer models to tell you what to expect of the weather, you might as well let a ground hog decide but why do we still bother?).

There were two other key points from Dr. Tyson's presentation. First, that significant investment in science most frequently stems from war or, in the past, colonial expansion. Examples include the influence the Cold War had on the Space Race between the U.S. and Russia and the failure to fund completion of the Super Conducting Super Collider as the Cold War ended. Second, that there is no better way to ensure economic growth and prosperity than through scientific innovation. The bottom line? It's that our future depends on changing the trend, finding ways to increase interest in science education, bring about cultural change such that we celebrate and embrace science and scientific advancement rather than shun it, and to stimulate investment in scientific research. Preferably without another war.

Many of the ideas he proposed centered on NASA. In speaking on NASA's role in American science, he suggested that instead of continuing to invest resources in "going where hundreds have gone before" - sending men into low earth orbit - NASA should leave that to commercial companies and go back to pushing the boundaries of space exploration, pursuing lofty goals such as sending men to Mars or mining asteroids for natural resources. Besides facilitating accomplishments for which there is not yet a viable business model, NASA would be continuing its historical role of achieving the seemingly impossible and, in doing so, inspire new generations of scientists. Of course, that sort of thing isn't cheap but Dr. Tyson stressed how little it would take citing that NASA's entire budget is currently only 6 tenths of a cent out of every tax dollar. Imagine what they could do if we spent just another 6 tenths of a cent per tax dollar to double NASA's budget...

Dr. Tyson ended his talk with a mathmatical progression, starting with 1 and ending with one quadrillion, using each step to relate the number to something concrete such as the number of grains of sand on a beach (having fun with dimmed lights and the number Sextillion along the way). While some people look at images such as the densely packed starfield projected behind Dr. Tyson to illustrate septillion (the number of stars in the observable universe) and feel small, he said that he prefers to look at it in a different way. Knowing that we are made of the same elements as the cosmos and that, in spite of how little we understand about the universe, the human mind was capable of building the Hubble Space Telescope and discovering just how vast the universe is gives him a feeling of connection to the cosmos and an appreciation of its majesty.

After his presentation Dr. Tyson conducted an extended Q&A session, finally wrapping up over 3 hours after he started. It's late now (need to catch up on the sleep I didn't get last night) so I won't get into details on his responses other than to highlight one of the last and most amusing. A 10 year old boy stepped up to the microphone to ask what Dr. Tyson would do with a black hole if he could control one. After asking why the boy was up so late (answer: he's home schooled and was there on a field trip with his parents), he explained how hard it would be to control a black hole but that, if you could, what a great trash dump it would make!

By the way, if there is any question of who the Geek is in the title of this post, who do you think surprised Dr. Tyson by bringing an article on the Pluto debate from the December issue of Sky and Telescope for him to sign? I guess that makes me almost as big a geek as the guy who brought in a telescope eyepiece for him to sign.

Another great way to celebrate IYA2009!

Related links
UTA article on Dr. Tyson's apperance
News video on WB 33 TV
Interview on KERA program Think
The Pluto Files