Astronomy
Journey Into The Sun
Scientists at Stanford University and Lockheed Martin are playing pivotal roles in a nearly billion-dollar NASA mission to explore the sun. A spacecraft launched in early 2010 is obtaining IMAX-like images of the sun every second of the day, generating more data than any NASA mission in history.
Video on May 18, 2010 by Sheraz Sadiq from QUEST Northern California
Web Extra: Music of the Sun
In this QUEST web extra, Stanford University astrophysicist Todd Hoeksema explains how solar sound waves are a vital ingredient to the science of helioseismology, in which the interior properties of the sun are probed by analyzing and tracking the surface sound waves that bounce into and out of the Sun.
Video on May 18, 2010 by KQED QUEST staff from QUEST Northern California
Producer's Notes: Journey Into The Sun
Astrophysicists who track space weather today are at a stage Earth weather forecasters were roughly three decades ago. This is about to change.
Post on May 18, 2010 by Sheraz Sadiq
The Sun—Live In Your Own Backyard!
Chabot volunteers are running a live solar observatory for the public.
Post on May 07, 2010 by Ben Burress
Pluto On the Horizon!
Since childhood I've been fascinated by Pluto—probably more for our lack of knowing it than for anything we actually know.
Post on Apr 23, 2010 by Ben Burress
Science Event Pick – Mixing Art & Science
See science blend with art this week. Visualizing Science is a panel discussion of artists and scientists at Swissnex San Francisco on April 7th. Yuri's Night Bay Area, celebrating the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first orbit of Earth, is a concert, art installation, and science celebration all mixed into one giant festival.
Post on Apr 05, 2010 by Kishore Hari
Sun-Earth Day: Magnetic Magic
Saturday, March 20th, was not only Vernal Equinox, but the annual Sun-Earth Day: a NASA-promoted effort around the country to focus attention on the special connections between the Sun and the Earth. This year's theme: magnetism!
Post on Mar 26, 2010 by Ben Burress
Shifting Sands of Far-Off Lands
What started out to be a workaday chore—replacing a broken motor in an exhibit—panned out to be a voyage of discovery to the shifting sands of another world.
Post on Mar 12, 2010 by Ben Burress
Celestial Navigation: Finding Your Way in the Dark
Celestial Navigation – it’s a special topic for me as it blends my interest in astronomy with my long time fascination for things nautical: ships, exploration, adventure, and global geometry.
Post on Feb 26, 2010 by Ben Burress
Post on Feb 12, 2010 by Ben Burress
Personal Comet
Nothing seems to capture the pure grandeur and extra-Earthly splendor of outer space like a comet…but at Chabot we like to bring things down to Earth a bit—not to diminish their wonder and awe-inspiring beauty, but rather to give us a chance to connect with pieces of the Universe in a personal way that—we hope—will only enhance their wonder.
Post on Jan 29, 2010 by Ben Burress
Martian Robot Roundup
Out of about 17 successul Mars missions, three orbiters, two rovers, and maybe—MAYbe—one lander are still active.
Post on Jan 15, 2010 by Ben Burress
Flash! Lakes Confirmed in Titan's Northern Hemisphere!
In a literal flash of insight, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has confirmed the existence of lakes of liquid in the Northern Hemisphere of Saturn's moon, Titan.
Post on Jan 01, 2010 by Ben Burress
Dark Matter Tests Positive (Sort of)
Dark matter – think of matter as a fancy word for stuff – is one of the most exciting but also potentially frustrating phenomena in cosmology today.
Post on Dec 28, 2009 by Christopher Smallwood
Spirit Digs a Little Deeper into Martian Geology
NASA's Mars rover Spirit has recently made an major accidental discovery in the course of trying to free itself from a sand trap….
Post on Dec 18, 2009 by Ben Burress
New Evidence of Martian Life Found in Antarctica?
On Monday, November 30th, 2009, NASA/Johnson Space Center announced that a recent study strengthens the argument that chemical and structural features in a Martian meteorite—ALH84001—may be evidence of fossilized microbial life on Mars from the distant past.
Post on Dec 04, 2009 by Ben Burress
Lunar Ice Smack-down a Success!
NASA's LCROSS mission found water on the Moon, no bones about it. Though NASA is still analyzing all the data they reaped from the LCROSS impact event on October 9th, and will be for a long time to come, they seem confident enough about the preliminary findings to make this a definite declaration of discovery!
Post on Nov 20, 2009 by Ben Burress
Oakland Teachers Scope Out What Galileo Saw
Oakland teachers receive Galileoscopes, enabling them to share with their students the Universe as Galileo first saw it.
Post on Nov 06, 2009 by Ben Burress
Web of Stars
What do Chabot's 36-inch telescope, Nellie, and a classroom full of 14-year-old girls in Cork, Ireland have in common?
Post on Oct 23, 2009 by Ben Burress
Science Event Pick: BOSS of the Night Sky
KTVU Channel 2 health and science editor John Fowler will moderate a panel of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists who use phenomena such as exploding stars and gravitational lenses to explore the dark cosmos.
Post on Oct 22, 2009 by Kishore Hari
