So I totally missed this “International Women’s Day” thing that happened on Sunday. It was a wonderful time to talk about one of the IYA’s cornerstone projects, She is an Astronomer, reminding girls of all the opportunities that they have in science. (Being a geek: not just for dudes anymore!) I’ll be celebrating next weekend by helping at a Girl Scout event at the National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center, the place with the space shuttle Enterprise is on display. SarahAskew celebrates with a nod to some of the space-girls on the blogosphere (thank you!!) and the Bad Astronomer (not a girl, but he’s cool anyway) also recognizes female achievement in astronomy and reflects on where we’ve been, and where we’re going.
Also, if we’re going to talk about women in astronomy, we can’t forget the pioneers, The Harvard Computers.
So, last weekend, last Sunday more specifically, it snowed here in Charlottesville, Virginia. We had quite a few inches by Monday morning, and I was kind of surprised to get into work at the NRAO and find it… closed, along with area schools. (I have a key, that didn’t stop me.) Today, it’s well on it’s way to 80. (Yes, I’m using Fahrenheit, boo.) Yesterday I spent outside all day learning how to change my oil, change a tire, fix my taillights (wish I had a voltmeter with me though), and take apart my door to attempt to fix the automatic windows (we got the driver’s side working!) That was fun, and I love learning hands-on things like that*. And it gave me an excuse to be outside all day and still be productive. And I was told I looked like Kaylee with a big smile on my face, covered in grease. Total win.
Anyway, while I catch up on indoor, computer related things, here’s the 93rd Carnival of Space by Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society blog. Emily keeps us up to date on all things planetary, and she even joined Twitter in the midst of the of the Kepler Launch!
So, unless you’ve been living under a space rock, you may have heard about the launch of Kepler, which will do a three-year search for transiting exoplanets, hopefully finding Earth-like planets and estimating their numbers in the galaxy. Of course, if we are serious about finding life in the galaxy, we need to consider all kinds of possibilities for life, from the familiar to the foreign. But it helps to start with something we know. And besides, if we are to colonize the galaxy, Trantorian Empire-style, we need to know how many planets we might be able to inhabit.
I was watching the third-to-last episode of Battlestar Galactica at a friend’s house while the launch was on, so I kept up with the updates via Twitter on my iPod. I *heart* social media. You can read all about the launch, and the role of Twitter, at Wired’s blog and see the NASA-TV launch footage on YouTube.
The announcer’s comments at the moment of launch made me… um… get something in my eye. Yeah. That was it. Allergies… or something. Actually, as usual, the Bad Astronomer encapsulates the moment well on Twitter with, “We launch spacecraft! To look for planets! AROUND OTHER STARS!! Humans are so cool.”
We have a long way to go. But, we rock.
*Thanks, Howard! And you thought I was going to be all “girly” about it.
I was particularly intrigued by a story on This Week in Science, well, this week, about a mountain range as big as the Alps that has been found under the Antarctic ice sheet. Thanks to radar, we can now map these mountains, which will help scientists understand how the Antarctic ice sheet may have formed. Whereas the Alps were formed 50 to 60 million years ago, these mountains had to have been in place at least 500 million years ago! As the show’s co-hosts, Kirsten Sanford (aka Dr. Kiki, on whom I think I have a girl-crush) and Justin Jackson, talk excitedly about the prospects of exploring this new territory, my mind began to wander. Huge mountains… Antarctica… ancient huge mountains in Antarctica…. Oh no.
The Elder Ones will not approve of this. Thanks again to the lovely Gail, for she lent me her collection of Lovecraft stories so I could scare the snot out of myself before bed every night.
Neil deGrasse Tyson, super cool astronomer, director of the Hayden Planetarium, and science popularizer extraordinaire, is wrapping up his Pluto Files book tour, including a stop in the “city of brotherly love” this past week. The Free Library of Philadelphia posted a recording of the talk, including the question and answer session, and it’s really fun! Go ahead, take a listen. Thanks to Tim for pointing this out (but I’m jealous because he got to GO), and also for explaining that the giggling in the beginning is because Tyson kept emptying his pockets, which seemed infinite in volume, and then finally took off his boots and lectured in his socks. Rawk.
Added to my Amazon wishlist… (Update: Removed, once I learned that Tim got me an autographed copy. *SQUEE!*)
Also, on the way to Green Bank yesterday, the song “As I Lay Me Down” came on the radio. If you don’t remember it, click the link to the Youtube video and remind yourself before reading further. Anyway, my friend starts giggling and recounts the story of when she tried to figure out if the “Ooh ah ka ko” in the background was actually words, and her husband finally declared that it is saying “I like tacos” and “You like tacos.*” And we all burst into fits of laughter everytime the chorus came one because NOW we couldn’t NOT hear a line about tacos in the middle of an otherwise serious and sad song. Go ahead. Try to not hear that now. That is audio pareidolia in action, baby. So next time you think there’s an artificially constructed landform on another planet or a child’s toy with a hidden message, remember, your brain is very good at finding patterns… even when they aren’t there.
I do, in fact, like tacos. From +fatman+ on Flickr.
So, catching up on work, getting a lot done. Will be back to normal… eventually.
* A little googling revealed that this is a common “misheard lyric.”
The Bad Astronomer presents the next installment of his “10 Things You Don’t Know About…” and this one is all about our parent star, the Sun. Okay, so you may know a fair number of them, but a few of them highlight common misconceptions that have made their way into our teaching about the Sun. Sure, I should know better, being Master of the Universe… I mean, having a masters in astronomy… but I forgot that calling the Sun an “average-sized star” may make sense when you look at an H-R diagram, but don’t make sense when you take a census of the stars in the galaxy. Read all about the Sun in his well presented article, and learn more about how the Sun can destroy us (mwah haha ha… oh…) in Death from the Skies!
In other news… Kepler is looking to launch this Friday! No, not Johannes Kepler, the Kepler Mission which aims to determine how many Earth-sized planets are in the galaxy. There’s been so much coverage of it around the space blogosphere, that I won’t even pretend to be able to keep up this week.
As for me, I have an early bedtime, so I can get up early and do some fieldwork tomorrow in Green Bank! Maybe I’ll get a fun, ice and mud filled post for you all after that…
Wow, aren’t you lucky. This week we have a jam-packed carnival and sideshow at The Launch Pad! Go and read all the great articles from around the space-blogosphere, from crashing satellites to space geeks and Europa to space mosquitoes.
And… if you are looking to spice up your science life, click here right now! You won’t be disappointed. (*Giggle*)
A few fun, fantastic, and important things of note from the weekend:
Duck! An asteroid is going to come whizzing by, as the Bad Astronomer points out. Okay, it’s not coming dangerously close, but astronomers are getting better at detecting approaching asteroids. The pun-master also ends this post with a real side-splitter.
James Randi speaks about Carl Sagan… so cool…
Ian O’Neill wrote up a news story for Universe Today about a Russian probe that aims to send microbes to Mars’s moon Phobos to see if they will survive and flourish upon return. This led to a very interesting Twitter discussion about the regulations and international treaties in place that forbids the contamination of other worlds. (Thanks to gfish3000, pgerak, and sumrtime!) As long as the bugs stay in the spacecraft, they should be alright. Just don’t crash…
Carl Zimmer of The Loom continues his exploration of a a recent Washington Post column that did not properly fact-check on a scientific study involving global coverage of ice. Reading through the whole story as it happens is a fascinating insight into the world of science journalism, and there’s a cautionary tale for scientists and journalists alike. (When in doubt, ASK the people who did the research!)
Mike Simonsen posts a really pretty picture of sundogs! Go look go look go look! I’ve never seen that in person, but would like to. I did get some decent pictures of moondogs a while back, which I’ve added to my brand new Flickr account. Go add me as a contact. I love looking a pretty pictures.
Daylight Atheism has some “action items” for those who are interested in keeping church and state separate. They take just a few minutes of your time. In fact, I was talking recently with a friend who was lobbying with Planned Parenthood. She told me that, contrary to my original belief, the staff of politicians actually tally up the “for” and “against” statements from their constituents and include that when voting, even if they can’t get around to actually reading all the comments.
The big, bad PZ Myers shows his soft side for a touching story animated by Nina Paley. It is called “Sita Sings the Blues” and is billed as “the greatest breakup story ever told.” It puts fantastic visuals with Hindu myth, modern love and pain, and 1920s jazz. It is SO worth a watch. It has also been down intermittently, but be patient, it should be available. It is being made available in other formats, under a Creative Commons License. There are some bitorrents out there, too!
I’m a brand new post-doc in astronomy working as part of the CosmoQuest team. My thesis focused on radio astronomy instrumentation. That means, I got to build cool telescopes that will open up new frontiers in the universe. I also love to teach, both in a classroom setting and informally. I'm happy to talk about the universe with anyone who will listen, and I am skeptically curious about all things.
I’m a brand new post-doc in astronomy working as part of the 
