One Astronomer's Noise

Entries categorized as ‘science’

Entertain Your Brain

January 27, 2012 · Leave a Comment

Ever wanted to drop in on a bunch of space nerds discussing the top stories of the week? Of course you do. You are reading this blog.

All of the episodes are now also archived on CosmoQuest, where you can watch the show live, every Thursday at 18 UTC. Find your timezone for next week here!

Also, I’ve been dumping some personal videos that I’ve dug up onto YouTube. Here is a panorama of the PAPER-South Africa site from June 2011:

There’s also my skydiving video that was on VHS (thank you, Tim, for converting it!) and some “Occupy” and related protest footage from recent travels. I figured, why not share the bits.

Categories: astronomy · science
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Where I Live (on the Internet)

January 23, 2012 · 2 Comments

So… just as I was saying how I need to spew forth words into a thesis by April… I’ve also joined SkepChick as a new blogger! I figure, if I just keep writing and writing and writing in different places, something good will come out. Right?

In any case, I’m honored to join such a creative, fun, smart, and nerdy group. My first two posts focus on exoplanets and aliens, as I get right into my favorite topics.

Also, I finally posted a blog again on Discovery, this time about the very cool APOGEE project that has had its first observations.

And in one more announcement… the Weekly Space Hangout now has a home on CosmoQuest! Thanks to Pamela Gay’s impressive coding-fu, you can now go to one place for the hangout, live Astronomy Cast recordings, Questions with the Bad Astronomer, live virtual star parties, and whatever other astronomical goodness we can stream into your eyeholes.

Categories: astronomy · science

Come, Explore the Universe With Us!

January 22, 2012 · Leave a Comment

Citizen science online is catching on these days. Not just for your screensaver anymore, these projects let you get your hands dirty, metaphorically speaking. You can classify galaxies or fold proteins.

I am really happy to share this project which is now in beta and building a community for astronomical research: CosmoQuest.

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Categories: astronomy · education · outreach · science
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Overloaded with Astronomy

January 14, 2012 · Leave a Comment

Aaaannnnddd… back. In Charlottesville. The last week and a half saw me in two of the most fun cities I know and at two different conferences presenting my thesis work and all kinds of other professional stuff. Crazy.

You can get a nice sense of the week’s astronomy and space stories by watching the weekly astronomy video chat:

Thanks to Google+ master of the universe, Fraser Cain, we’re doing a live chat about astronomy every Thursday at 10amPT/1pm ET (that’s 18 UTC; check here for your local time.) You can ask questions in the chat during the event or watch the recorded video after it’s done. Last week, I called in from the American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin, and was graced with the presence of such stellar people as Pamela Gay, Phil Plait, Jon Voisey, Nancy Atkinson, Alan Boyle, Emily Lakdawalla, and Ian O’Neill.

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Categories: astronomy · science
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Carnival of Space #225

November 28, 2011 · 2 Comments

Greetings, fellow space nerds and geeks! For the US folks, I hope you have recovered from your turkey coma and are getting back to your regularly scheduled week. We’re getting ready to celebrate the longest night of the year here in the Northern Hemisphere, while you Southern Hemispherers approach summer. However you celebrate the impending holiday, I hope its a peaceful and cheery time! Now, on to the astronomical goodness…

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Categories: astronomy · science
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No links, but Cool Eye Candy!

October 3, 2011 · 1 Comment

I was away this weekend at a really fun wedding and with no wifi, but I did manage to write about the stupendous amazing lovely first images from ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array.

And now, the astropr0n…

ALMA shows us what’s going on in the Antennae. Click the picture for a bigger view and my Discovery blog to find out more! Do me a favor and check it out, comment, share it with your friends, etc.

Categories: astronomy · science
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Monday (not)-morning Links!

September 26, 2011 · 2 Comments

Waking up is hard to do…

My sleep schedule is bizarre. However! I still have my favorite links and stories from the week to share…
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Categories: general · science · skeptic
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Travelogues, part 4: Expanding PAPER

September 9, 2011 · 1 Comment

Welcome to my series of posts about my research trip to South Africa in June/July! See also parts one and two and three…

(As usual, all writing on this blog is solely my opinion and does not reflect the attitudes of any of my projects, institutions, colleagues, etc…)

June 24: Field Work Begins

I was excited for this trip for many reasons. One was the physical aspect. I get to do field work and not just sit in front of a desk all day! But by the end of day 1, my muscles were sorry I said that.

Okay, back up. Before the ouchiness, there was the beauty of the site. On the first ride out from the visitor dorm, we crest over a hill to see the Karoo Array Telescope, or KAT-7. And I just LOVE interferometers and think they are so pretty! The road then continued on to our array. I use the word “road” very generously at this point to signify a washboard-like dirt path. We pondered over the bouncy, bumpy path, wondering if such a pattern could occur naturally with use. Or was it the wind? Something else? This question would be answered several days later…

KAT-7 on a rare cloudy day


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Categories: astronomy · science
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See you in Atlanta!

August 31, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Hello, dear astronomy enthusiasts and friends and followers and encirclers…

This month has been heavy on GET STUFF DONE, but I’m taking a much needed break this weekend for Dragon*Con in Atlanta. This is the East Coast’s biggest sci-fi, fantasy, geek, nerd, etc. convention. I hope you are coming as well!

My only official event this year is the pre-Dragon*Con Star Party, put on by the Atlanta Skeptics in honor of Jeff Medkeff, a brilliant and active astronomer who succumbed to cancer a few years ago. So, we’ll be celebrating the night sky, the universe, and raising money to kick cancer’s butt. (Metaphorically speaking.) If you have a ticket, then I look forward to seeing you there! Unless you cannot come, in which case, get in touch with the organizers so that someone on the very long wait list can make it. There will be telescopes, green lasers, a singing Geo, astronomers, and some special activities that I have planned. You’ll just have to wait and see!

For the rest of the Con, I get to play geeky nerd fangirl. I’ll probably be spending time around the Skeptic, Science, Space, and Podcasting tracks, as well as exploring some of my favorite sci-fi goodness with Tim. I can say that we’ll be at the live showing of Doctor Who on Saturday night dressed as different incarnations of the Doctor. I’m also hoping to finish an astronomy-pun-themed Tron costume, so look out for that as well.

I’ll be updating Twitter and Google+ as I go along, in case you want to find me there or live vicariously through my tweets if you cannot make it. (I feel your pain. I had to sit out last year!)

Categories: outreach · science · skeptic
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Travelogues, Part 3: To the Karoo

August 7, 2011 · 2 Comments

Welcome to my series of posts about my research trip to South Africa in June/July! See also parts one and two…

(As usual, all writing on this blog is solely my opinion and does not reflect the attitudes of any of my projects, institutions, colleagues, etc…)

June 23: Wait… wait… wait… GO!

Today, we wake, knowing this is the day we set forth. Well, hoping that this is the day we set forth since we’ve already been delayed by a customs snafu. Supposedly, our telescope parts were en route from Johannesburg to Cape Town the night before, though FedEx’s online page still says they are in Germany. After many calls back and forth, we find that, indeed two big wooden crates have arrived in Cape Town, but only four boxes, when we were expecting five. Okaaaay…

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Categories: astronomy · science
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