About
Benjamin Burress has been a staff astronomer at Chabot Space & Science Center since July 1999. He graduated from Sonoma State University in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in physics (and minor in astronomy), after which he signed on for a two-year stint in the Peace Corps, where he taught physics and mathematics in the African nation of Cameroon. From 1989-96 he served on the crew of NASA’s Kuiper Airborne Observatory at Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA. From 1996-99, he was Head Observer at the Naval Prototype Optical Interferometer program at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ.
Read his previous contributions to QUEST, a project dedicated to exploring the Science of Sustainability.
Website: http://www.chabotspace.org
All Contributions by Ben:
The State of the Universe: Matter and Age Up, Dark Energy Down
The European Space Agency's Planck mission has generated a map of the infant universe that refines our understanding of what it's all made of and has upped its age by 100 million years.
Post on May 03, 2013
Antiques Roadshow of the Solar System
As a space-faring culture, we have now left our marks across the solar system, on planets, moons, asteroids, and in the empty space between them. Some of these “marks” are yet-functioning robotic spacecraft. Some are litter, scattered about the place like so many discarded soda cans, plastic grocery bags, depleted batteries, and defunct electronic devices. Are we trashing our solar system?
Post on Apr 19, 2013
Solar Maximum: Fizzle, or Finale Yet to Come?
Has the sun's predicted Solar Maximum in magnetic activity ended early and after a disappointing performance–or is it getting ready to delivery a spectacular finale and a double-peak Solarmax?
Post on Apr 05, 2013
Gliese 667 Cc: Musing the Possibilities of Another Earth
Since the first extra-solar planet was found in 1992, we've made some decent progress in exploring other worlds out there, and may even be zeroing in on that "other Earth."
Post on Mar 22, 2013
Weighing in With Gravity
Feel like you've gained a couple of pounds over the holidays? Try the geo-gravitation weight loss field trip plan!
Post on Dec 28, 2012
Dark Endeavours
When NASA's Space Shuttle Endeavour lifted off on its 25th and final mission to space on Monday morning, it carried a bus-sized, two billion dollar observatory that will probe some of our Universe's deepest, darkest secrets: dark matter, and the unaccounted antimatter.
Post on May 20, 2011
Earth to ET: I'm Not Listening!
SETI's Allen Telescope Array is placed in hibernation due to funding cuts, putting the search for extraterrestrial intelligence on hold.
Post on May 06, 2011
Serving Up Delicious Scoops of Sun Daily
The Solar Dynamics Observatory was launched last year, and since then has been capturing high resolution, multi-wavelength visible and extreme-ultraviolet imagery at very frequent intervals.
Post on Apr 22, 2011
SuperMoon—or Paul Bunyan Moon?
On March 19, the Full Moon coincided with the Moon's closest approach to Earth. Was this "Super Moon" really super, or did it grow largest in the telling?
Post on Mar 25, 2011
Mastodons, Mummies, and Meteorites: Evidence of Life Out There?
A recent publishing of the investigation of a rare class of meteorite (the CI1 Carbonaceous Chondrite) by Dr. Richard Hoover of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center has caused another stir among scientists and the news media regarding possible origins of life on Earth and life in the Universe in general.
Post on Mar 11, 2011
NASA's Cosmic Two-For-One Deal: A Return to Comet Tempel 1
On February 14, 2011, NASA encountered the comet Tempel 1 using the recycled Stardust spacecraft. For the first time in history, they visited the same comet twice – affording them the opportunity to observe changes in the icy body.
Post on Feb 25, 2011
