Astronomy
H-R: Not just for “Human Resources” Anymore
H-R diagram of 47 Tucanae I started off my last post talking about the well-known properties of globular clusters, but I chose not to dive into the details of the stars inside the clusters. The stars really deserve an article all to themselves. Now is the time for that article. Basically all of the stars [...]
Post on Mar 10, 2008 by Kyle S. Dawson
Quest Picks: Bay Area connections to the South Pole
Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station As the sun shines and the air warms in the Bay Area, take a moment to consider a place where it's always cold–the South Pole. Thanks to some local folk, we can get a taste of the science at the bottom of the earth without leaving balmy San Francisco. Berkeley graduate [...]
Post on Mar 03, 2008 by Amber Dance
Oakland's Observatory
The original Oakland Observatory in the 1880’s, at Lafayette Square in Oakland. Credit: Chabot Space & Science Center archives.This year marks an anniversary for the astronomical heritage of Oakland and the San Francisco Bay Area: Chabot Observatory turns 125! Originally established as the Oakland Observatory in 1883, the facility was a unique creature from the [...]
Post on Feb 29, 2008 by Ben Burress
Star Clusters in the Milky Way
47 Tucunae My research group has temporarily stepped away from the distant universe to focus on the stars that are actually inside our galaxy. We’re looking at these stars because they are so bright and so well understood that we can use them to test the calibration of the telescopes we use to study the [...]
Post on Feb 25, 2008 by Kyle S. Dawson
Nap time for the Sun: solar cycles
Extreme close-up of the Sun's visible surface, showing 'bubbling' cells of convecting gas–each the size of Northern California. credit: Hinode JAXA/NASA/PPARCBy all accounts, a new cycle-Cycle 24-in solar activity has begun… something you probably didn't notice since the beginning of a solar cycle is quite subtle…. First things first: what is a solar cycle, and [...]
Post on Feb 15, 2008 by Ben Burress
Gleaning scientific observations from ancient myths
I had the privilege this week of interviewing Isabel Hawkins, an astronomer and director of the Center for Science Education at Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory. We talked about how people use evidence in science, how it is that we know what we know. Hawkins isn't your ordinary astronomer. She began her career in an ordinary [...]
Post on Feb 15, 2008 by Robin Marks
Your Photos on QUEST TV – Call for Submissions
View our original YPOQ pilot featuring photographer Russ MorrisDo you love photographing Science, Environment and Nature in Northern California? Would you like to collaborate on a 2-minute QUEST TV short about your photography for an audience of over 100,000 viewers? We're launching a call for submissions for our new series of TV shorts, "YPOQ: Your [...]
Post on Feb 13, 2008 by Craig Rosa
Where in the web?
Saturn's moon Epimetheus from the Cassini spacecraft. Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA and APOD. On the bus in Denali National Park a few years ago, I found myself sitting next a couple from the East Bay. If you’ve ever been on the Denali bus, you know that it’s a long ride and [...]
Post on Feb 11, 2008 by Kyle S. Dawson
Astronomy on the Wing
More than meets the eye: The constellation Orion in visible light (left) and infrared (right) Visible light image: Akira Fujii; Infrared image: Infrared Astronomical SatelliteSome months ago my blog, "SOFIA: Fly By Night," talked about the up-and-coming astronomy ace of the night skies, SOFIA: the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy–a 2.5 meter infrared telescope built [...]
Post on Feb 01, 2008 by Ben Burress
Converting the Comets Back into Stars
Star or Comet?Yesterday was a very long day at work. I was stuck in meetings with our collaborators for over 6 hours! To make it worse, we spent the entire time discussing a single topic. I even wrote my last paper on it. What could possibly be so captivating, you ask? Remember the solar wind [...]
Post on Jan 29, 2008 by Kyle S. Dawson
An Asteroid's Close Call
This has been a month of dashed hopes for astronomers around the world. Last month it seemed possible that an asteroid the size of a Boeing 737 jet was due to collide with Mars on January 30. Today that seems far less likely, but, as Amy Standen reports, astronomers consider it a wake up call. [...]
Post on Jan 17, 2008 by Amy Standen
An Asteroid's Close Call
This has been a month of dashed hopes for astronomers around the world. Last month it seemed possible that an asteroid the size of a Boeing 737 jet was due to collide with Mars on January 30. Today that seems far less likely, but, as Amy Standen reports, astronomers consider it a wake up call.
Audio Report on Jan 17, 2008 by KQED QUEST staff from QUEST Northern California
Near Mars Object
Victoria Crater on Mars, similar in size to the crater the near-Mars asteroid 2007 WD 5 would have produced. Credit: NASA/Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter The possibility that a sizable asteroid would strike the planet Mars on January 30th temporarily raised the excitement level in the astronomical community to a pretty high level in the last couple [...]
Post on Jan 16, 2008 by Ben Burress
Centers of the universe
Cosmic microwave background and the infant universe. From the WMAP science team.It was on the UC Berkeley astronomy website this morning that I was reminded of something I had wanted to post for QUEST. About a month ago, Cal publicly announced the Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics. This was quite a big deal for the [...]
Post on Jan 14, 2008 by Kyle S. Dawson
Catching rainbows from distant galaxies
A single email on Sunday afternoon brought my weekend to a screeching halt. Some collaborators made a very exciting discovery and needed to confirm if it was real. This would be the last time we'd have for almost another year on the 10 meter Keck Telescope so I jumped at the chance and scheduled it [...]
Post on Jan 09, 2008 by Kyle S. Dawson
Death Valley Nights
There's nothing like a trip away from the city lights to remind you just how bad light pollution can be here in the Bay Area. The Milky Way in the skies of Death Valley's Devil's Racetrack. Credit: Dan Duriscoe, U.S. National Park ServiceI just got back from my semi-yearly pilgrimage to my favorite spot on [...]
Post on Jan 04, 2008 by Ben Burress
Moons Visited and Revisited
A volcanic eruption on the surface of Io taken by the Voyager spacecraft. Credit: NASA/VoyagerPlanets hog a lot of press, inside and outside the Solar System, but there's a lot to be said for those "second class" worlds that are the satellites of the planets–some of which would be true planets (fascinating ones, too) if [...]
Post on Dec 21, 2007 by Ben Burress
Winds of change: the climate of the solar system
Several billion years ago, our solar system was nothing more than a nondescript cloud of gas. There was no sun, no planets– just a lot of hydrogen, a bit of helium, and trace amounts of the carbon, oxygen and the other elements that we take for granted here on Earth. How is it that the [...]
Post on Dec 18, 2007 by Kyle S. Dawson
Postcards from Mars
Picture of the edge of Victoria Crater superimposed with image of the rover Opportunity. Credit: NASA/JPLMars is not only on the horizon, it's become a sky-high creature of the night…and so, it's time to blog about the Red Planet once again, and to showcase a few favorite pictures from the veteran robots presently exploring that [...]
Post on Dec 07, 2007 by Ben Burress
Global Warming on Venus?
Credit: T. Credner & S. Kohle, AlltheSky.comYou may be surprised to hear that Venus is the warmest planet in the solar system. Venus has an average temperature of 850 degrees Fahrenheit. This is much warmer than the Earth, at 60 degrees, and even warmer than Mercury, which sits much closer to the sun, at 350 [...]
Post on Dec 05, 2007 by Kyle S. Dawson
