One Astronomer's Noise

Entries from June 2009

Weird Google searches…

June 24, 2009 · 4 Comments

I am often amused by the search terms that lead people to my humble little blog. Here is a random sampling that really had me laughing:

Domo kun: Okay, I see this one pop up a LOT. I think I used the kitten chasing graphic once? Seriously, there are many more relevant sites that come up under a search for this.

Magnetic reversals 2012: Okay, that just makes me smile. People are finding a scientific answer to their 2012 doomsday questions.  Again, I am by no means one of the top references on this question, but I’m glad to know I can help.

Naked barbies having sex: I don’t want to know why someone would be searching for this… nevertheless… my blog will not disappoint.  (SFW, sort of.)

Noisy astronomer dance costume: Whoever searched for that… you rock. Is this what you were looking for? And you can find actual dancing pictures at our official Bellydance Club at UVa website! Yes, yes, I need to update it… shhhh…….

Mad female scientist: This one came up a while ago. Again, I wonder what makes one search for that, and how they get to me.  I’m not really bent on world domination.  Well… maybe a little.

Dancing crackers: While I would love to see that, alas, I don’t think One Astronomer’s Noise can help you there.  Oh wait… sort of.

The internet is a funny, funny thing.

Other tidbits… I’ll be on the road to New York, then a plane to Valdosta, GA, with my brother this week. Our little boy is going off to grad school! Will be leaving the laptop at home, but bringing the brand new iPhone.  Carnival of Space 108 is up at Starts with a Bang!  Oh, and look to the right to see that I’ve got a new author on this blog, someone you may know as my hilarious and geeky boyfriend. He’s always to first to catch my typos, so I’ve made him an official editor.  He may even start writing his own posts, so stay tuned…

Categories: general
Tagged: , , , ,

Dr. SETI and "Cosmic Carl"

June 23, 2009 · 2 Comments

Fans of Skepticality (and let’s face it, who doesn’t love Derek and Swoopy?) know that the latest podcast includes an interview with Daniel Loxton, editor of Junior Skeptic and the man behind “Where Do We Go From Here?” and “What Do I Do Next?“  He unveils his latest project, Skeptics Mix Tape, which is a collection of fun, science-y, skeptical songs that make you want to dance and sing along.  Of course, the unparalleled George Hrab was involved with this, and his own song “Skeptic” is in the mix.  But I was super happy to see an artist that I actually know since “Cosmic Carl” by Dr. SETI is the second song on the list!

Dr. SETI is the nickname used by Dr. Paul Shuch, an engineer with years of experience in commercial, academic, and military pursuits.  An avid radio amateur, he served as the Executive Director of the SETI League, a non-profit organization that brings together amateur radio astronomers in the search for signals from extraterrestrial intelligence.  And let me tell you, if you thought amateur astronomers were awesomely smart and resourceful people, and they are, amateur radio astronomers are doubly so, with their understanding of radio engineering and creativity in designing their own projects.  I first met Dr. Shuch when he gave a performance at Lycoming College in my sophomore year, and I happily sang along to “Cosmic Carl” from the audience!  So, listening to Skeptics Mix Tape, I was transported back to that memory.

Dr. Shuch lived just outside of Willamsport, home to Lyco, so he stayed in touch with our department over the years.  In my senior year, we visited the “Very Small Array,” part of the SETI League’s efforts, at his home.  I loved the way that he could explain the instrumentation of the array, although this was four years ago now and I didn’t take good notes.  But I do have pictures!

Dr. Shuch, showing off the green and brown antennas. Why that color? Well the neighbors complained he was “spoiling the natural landscape.”

For the record, I think dishes are pretty.

Right after I graduated, Dr. Shuch joined the faculty at Lyco for a year to help out the understaffed physics and astronomy department. Although I’m sad that I missed his teaching there, I’m sure that his work with our Small Radio Telescope was fun and educational!

So, the song itself makes me *squee* because of my geeky love of Carl Sagan.  First of all, I saw “Contact” in theatres when I was 13, which is about the time I decided I wanted to be an astronomer.  I was fascinated with the character of Ellie and her drive to pursue her life’s work.  Later, I started working in radio astronomy in Socorro, New Mexico, near the Very Large Array (which is not actually an awful waste of space). I got to geek out by reenacting various scenes in the movie with my REU* compatriots, as my standard avatar shows.  And yes, we even came up with a “Contact” drinking game. I now own the book version of Contact, which is also fantastic, and “Cosmos” on DVD, which is totally inspiring.  But Carl Sagan also had a big impact on my life when I read Demon-Haunted World just a few years ago. That book was really my introduction to skepticism as a world-view, not just something used in science and while watching infomercials.  So I owe much of my love of and interest in astronomy and skepticism to Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan through their creative works.

So to Carl… “billions and billions of cheers!”

* REU = Research Experience for Undergraduates.  If you are a science major, this is a GREAT way to spend a summer doing research, especially if you attend a small institution with limited resources.

Categories: astronomy · general · outreach · science · skeptic
Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Happy (belated) Solstice!

June 22, 2009 · 2 Comments

I had a lovely weekend away from the computer (and new iPhone even!) celebrating the beginning of summer.  The solstice occurred at 1:45 am EDT (summer for us in the North, winter in the South!) and is the time in which the sun is the highest in the sky from the Northern hemisphere, thus giving us the longest day and shortest night of the year.  In astronomer-speak, the sun is at a declination of approximately +23.5 degrees, or on the spot on the ecliptic path that is 23.5 degrees above the celestial equator.  See my post on the vernal equinox for more images to help illustrate this. It also means, it’s hot out.

My celebration included cherry picking!  A late frost nipped some of the cherry blossoms before they could bear fruit, and the recent rains made many of the rest moldy.  In addition, many of the trees in the open section of Spring Valley Orchard had been well picked over, but the boys decided that getting into the trees was the way to get those hard to reach fruits!  There were some ladders scattered about, but what boy doesn’t like climbing into a tree?

Tim, hunting the wild cherry…

Quality control on the ground

Later that night, my boyfriend said something wonderful to me. He said, “Dear, could we watch ‘Contact’? I know you love that movie and I’ve never seen it before.”  Boys, to make a geekgirl swoon, the little things will do it.  I’ll nerd-out over Carl Sagan in an upcoming post, so stay tuned!

Categories: astronomy · general
Tagged: , , ,

The Future of Planet Earth

June 18, 2009 · 2 Comments

I have finally reached the last disk of “Planet Earth” which contains a three-part documentary entitled “The Future.”  This was produced in 2006, so yes this is probably old news to most, but bear with me.  I’m always behind on TV related things, mostly because I don’t subscribe to cable, and I rarely had reign of the TV when I had roommates.

My fear was that this documentary would be full of the same sort of environmental calls to actions that seem to be preaching to the choir, but not converting any of those more apathetic.  Too many environmentally-friendly sounding buzzwords and phrases are bandied about, political battles are being fought, trends are being blindly followed, and many well-meaning folks aren’t sure what they are supposed to be doing.  I was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case for this series.

Some wilderness is still out there… Gila Wilderness, New Mexico.

The series presented a number of issues about wildlife conservation, environmental management, sustainable development, economic policies, and so on.  The purpose of the narration was mainly to define these various terms and pose thoughtful questions.  The answers to these questions were provided by a host of commentators from science, conservation, film-making, education, economics, and religion.  Very few of these answers were definite, and often, opposing viewpoints were jutted up against one another.  Instead of preaching a single viewpoint, many angles were explored.

My favorite example is from the discussion on sustainable development.  “Sustainability” is one of those overused buzzwords, in my opinion, that has little real meaning to many who use it.  However, the debate about sustainable development clearly rages on, and it’s an important discussion to have.  Basically, this is the idea that human societies can develop in a way that do not seriously and permanently harm the environment.  Some commentators said that this is an absolutely crucial step for developing nations, so that people can be lifted out of poverty, without making the same ecological mistakes that have been made in the west. Others said that no development was sustainable, that we need to decrease our development. Even further, the argument of sustainability is feared to be a cover for allowing no development at all.  I was particularly struck by Professor Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya and promoter of sustainable development.  She advocated for empowering the local people to raise their standard of living while becoming better stewards of the wilderness surrounding them.

The entire program is well worth watching and can be found on the fifth disk of the BBC’s Planet Earth series.  The take-away message to me was that humans are ultimately having a unique impact on the environment, that the issues are complex and will require multi-faceted solutions, and that the quality of life of humans is an important goal of today’s environmental movements.  It’s not just as simple as “Save the whales!” anymore. That argument, although emotionally compelling for some, cannot convince everyone, and it is certainly not enough to solve the actual problems facing our civilization and environment.

I had one major peeve, however, that led me to repeatedly shake my fist at the screen.  In the brief discussion of global warming, the problem of “global warming skeptics” came up.  I do not think it is a problem at all to be skeptical of global warming, just as one should be skeptical about every claim.  After doing a little bit of research, however, a skeptic can see that the climate is changing for the warmer, that this has certain adverse effects on ecosystems and human populations, and that humanity has some of the blame to share in this warming trend.  Global warming deniers, on the other hand, are the problem that the show’s commentators were referring to, since there are those that ignore the evidence because they fear its economic or political consequences. Although there is a fine line between skeptic and denier, and the uncertain ground in a changing science is easy to get lost in, I wish that the distinction would be clearer. The information is out there, being pieced together by many scientists in the field and in the lab, and we should pay close attention to the evidence.

Saving the rain forest, a fascination of mine in childhood, is just part of a larger picture. Photo by beedieu

Check it out.  It’s an important discussion that we need to be having, and I for one, have my consciousness raised a bit more about the problems facing us as a species.

Categories: science
Tagged: , , , , ,

Star-partying, and for a good cause!

June 17, 2009 · 6 Comments

Those cool Atlanta Skeptics are hosting a benefit right around Dragon*Con time called “A Full Moon for Cancer.”  This will be held in honor of Jeff Medkeff, aka the “Blue Collar Scientist,” astronomer, skeptic, and blogger who succumbed to cancer last year.  All of the proceeds from the event will go to the American Cancer Society. The even will feature astronomy-outreach luminaries (see what I did there?) Phil Plait and Pamela Gay, and include star-gazing if the weather cooperates.  If you are going to be at Dragon*Con, won’t you consider coming to this cool event?

So I’ve been tentatively planning to go to Dragon*Con this year with Tim, although it’s riding very close to a travel schedule for work that is still kind of fuzzy.  I think we’re going to go ahead and make hotel reservations before the whole damn city is booked anyway, and hope that as the time gets closer, my plans will be more firm.  Atlanta is only an 8+ hour drive from CVille anyway, and I’ll have good company.  You can bet that I’ll be at this event (volunteering my astronomical as well as waitressing skills, as needed) as well as hanging around the Skeptrack, so say hi!

Categories: astronomy · skeptic
Tagged: ,

Astronomy… lucrative? Really??

June 16, 2009 · 2 Comments

My friend Danny sent me a link highlighting “Jobs that surprise” in that they can pay over $100,000 a year, and are jobs that you wouldn’t expect to be so lucrative.  I had to laugh out loud at one in particular. Astronomy… lucrative?  C’mon!  The criteria used is that 10% of people with these jobs need to make 6 figures to make their list.  So, that’s not all of us.  However, they claim, “Astronomers fall just $270 a year short of averaging six figures, and the top earners in their modestly sized group of 1,280 rake in $156,720 or more.”  What I’d really like to see is the distribution of salaries.  You can get an idea of this by looking at a sampling of departments at public universities, since they are required to share their figures.  The Cav Daily jumps on that at UVa every year.

Truth be told, even a less-than-six figure salary is a lot to be paid to study the universe.  It sounds perfect! What most people don’t see, however, are the long, grueling hours of work it takes to get to that coveted tenure spot.  You have all of grad school to be making piddly, and don’t expect tenure until well into your 30s or later.  And that is if you decide to take that competitive path at all.  I’m curious what subset of astronomers they were sampling, since a typical winter AAS meeting far exceeds 1,280.  Are the rest of the attendees really pittance-earning students like me?  The data comes from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is quite fascinating to browse.

So, astronomy may not pay as much as some jobs that also take long, grueling hours of work, but you won’t be giving away your hard work for nothing.  Besides, universities probably need to stay somewhat competitive with the private industry which would be happy and willing to take in brainy talent.

Categories: astronomy
Tagged:

Oh yes, it's summer…

June 16, 2009 · 3 Comments


Weekend…

Categories: general
Tagged:

Crap.

June 8, 2009 · 12 Comments

The old iPhone 3G is now $99. That’s probably less than I can get for my 2nd gen iPod Touch.  Turns out, with the UVa discount, the data plan is only $25 extra per month for me (I’m already happily with AT&T).  And I was thinking about getting rid of Netflix anyway, which covers part of that.

Crap. I’m going to break down soon and get it. I can feel it…

Categories: general
Tagged: ,

Martian Bust

June 7, 2009 · 2 Comments

The Bad Astronomer once again says, “Mars. Moon. No.“  Once again, the junk chain email traffic going ’round the internets includes the claim that Mars will be as big as the full moon in August.  Although the BA and numerous others have debunked this claim time and time again, I decided to go ahead and work through the debunking myself when asked about it, rather than just forward on a link.  The email in question made its way to a relative of Tim. She then sent it to him and asked him to forward it to me for an explanation, since he’s now dating a skeptical astronomer and all.

The email comes in the form of a powerpoint presentation which I’ll try and recreate here.

Slide 1:

Check it out, guess no one will get much sleep in August.
Mars

  • The Red Planet is about to be spectacular!

Slide 2:

  • This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an  encounter that will culminate in the closest  approach between the two planets in recorded  history.
  • The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.
  • Due to the way Jupiter’s gravity tugs on
    Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be
    certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth
    in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as
    60,000 years before it happens again.

    The encounter will culminate on August 27th when
    Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and
    will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in
    the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9
    and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide.
  • At a modest 75-power magnification

Slide 3:

Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.

Slide 4:

Mars will be easy to spot. At the
beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m.
and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.

By the end of August when the two planets are
 closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its
highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m. That’s pretty
convenient to see something that no human being has
seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at
 the beginning of August to see Mars grow
progressively brighter and brighter throughout the
month.

Slide 5:

Share this with your children and grandchildren.

NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN

Phew ok, sorry for the colors… moving on to my response!

“No, Mars will never be as big or bright as the full moon, sadly, to the naked eye.  Unless someone moved it!  I’ve seen this before, and there is some truth there to go through…

Mars went through a very close approach to Earth in August of 2003, and I believe this email started that year.  I was at Lyco* at the time and it was a WONDERFUL time to take out the telescopes and see Mars.  It looked just like a bright red star in the sky, but through a modest telescope, you could start to see surface features, like the ice caps.  I remember one night, we had 300 people outside the academic center looking through our telescopes!  (That may have been my first outreach activity.)  This closest approach in 50,000 years was quite a bit closer than most close approaches, which are all pretty spectacular.  But we use the news hype to get people out under the stars if we have to!  You can read more about that event here: http://space.about.com/cs/mars/a/marsclose.htm

So as you can see, the first parts of this slideshow are true!  Well, for August 2003, anyway. At least up to the point where Mars is 25 arcseconds wide in the sky.  (You can calculate that knowing the size of and distance to Mars.)  An arcsecond is a measure of angle.  Since we can’t take a ruler to the sky to measure the distance between objects, we use angles.  If you hold up your index finger at arms length, the width of your finger is about one degree.  One arcsecond is 1/3600th of that! So 25 arcseconds is really small, certainly not resolvable by the naked eye.**  However, a small telescope and a still atmosphere can get a few arcseconds of resolution, meaning you can start to see features on the disk!  So, Mars cannot be as big as the full Moon in the sky, which is half a degree in width (half your finger width at arms length.  No really, try it!)

Here is where the email runs into a problem.  It implies on the 3rd slide that Mars will be as big as the Moon! We just calculated it and see that’s not the case.  The pictures that are side by side are misleading.  But, I almost overlooked the last line of the second slide… “At 75 power magnification.”  So with a telescope of those specs, that 25 arcsecond disk gets blown up to… half a degree, the size of the full Moon. So what they really want to say is that the size of Mars through a telescope is as big as the full Moon is to the naked eye.  However, the atmosphere is turbulent, and you won’t see a picture that is clear like that nice Hubble shot in the slideshow. What I saw, through our department telescopes, was something like what you see on the right in this image.***

The next slide which talks about the times is fairly correct, based on my memory of the event.  And it is true that it was a spectacular sight!  But the night sky always has something cool.  When I took you up to McCormick****, you got to see the rings of Saturn almost edge on, and later this year they will seem to disappear as they go completely edge on.  Mars oppositions occur every 26 months, and the next one is Jan 2010, but we have to wait until 2050 to see a really close approach like the last one.  That email has yet to die because it makes quite an wonderful claim, although it is misleading, and doesn’t have the year of the the event, so it shows up in force every spring.  But a good observatory, star party, or astronomy outreach program will always have something good to show you.”

As far as I can tell, the originator of this email was trying to do the right thing and spread information about a wonderful event.  And although I show that it is technically making a correct claim, it is extremely, terribly, misleading.  So always check with your friendly local astronomer if you see something like this.  I got the best compliment in her response, “We don’t need Snopes or About.com, we have gugnico.”  *Flattered*

Aaaaaaand… Carnival of Space #106 is up at Next Big Future!

* Lyco = Lycoming College, where Tim and I went to school.
** Actually, it’s not that far off. The angular resolution of the human eye is ~1-2 arcminutes.
*** Not the same “astronoise” as me!
**** McCormick Observatory at the University of Virginia. I had taken Tim up there for a tour with Richard Drumm just prior to this exchange.

Categories: astronomy · science
Tagged: , , , ,

Have a question? Asktronomy!

June 2, 2009 · 1 Comment

Mooeypoo of Smarter Than That and SmartAxe has started an astronomy answering service on Twitter! Just tweet your question with the tag #asktronomy and one of our “astronomy experts” will answer.  In other news, someone actually thinks I’m an expert at something… boy will they be surprised. ;-)

I know what you are thinking, 140 characters is not enough to explain a scientific concept. In addition to following the twitter conversations with the hashtag, you can view longer answers at Asktronomy‘s official home on the web.  If you have some astro knowledge and want to help out, please do!

I’ll take this opportunity to also plug the UVa Astronomy question and answer service called AQuA.  This service rotates to a different volunteer grad student every day, giving you their email so you can ask your question! Help us out by adding “AQuA” somewhere in the subject heading. We also have a long archive of previously answered questions going back… well… does anyone know how far back this goes? (Do me a favor and don’t all use it at once, or whoever is assigned today will kick my butt!)

Finally, this is old news, but David Tennant narrates a really cool looking planetarium show that has been released in the UK.  It’s called “We Are Astronomers” and has really adorable animation and… hello… David freaking Tennant.  In his lovely accent. Talking about the thing that I do everyday.  Whoa.  I think it will be very inspiring, after the initial nerdgasm.  Check out the trailer if you haven’t already!  Please, please, please come to the States!

If it’s astronomy and David Tennant, you know I first heard of it from the Bad Astronomer.

Categories: astronomy
Tagged: , , ,