Blogs
Blog Archive
Government shutdown closes 3 of 4 National Radio Astronomy Observatories
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/10/04 06:38 CDT | 3 comments
The shutdown of the federal government continues to claim casualties. Today, the Green Bank Telescope, Very Large Array, and Very Long Baseline Arrays all shut their doors, blinding us to the radio sky and scuttling long-term research projects.
Book review: Europe to the Stars, by Govert Schilling and Lars Lindberg Christensen
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/08/16 11:05 CDT
The world's great telescopes capture stunning photographs of stars, nebulae, and other sky phenomena. In Europe to the Stars, authors Govert Schilling and Lars Lindberg Christensen share many such photos. But the real stars of this book are the great telescopes of the European Southern Observatory.
How radar really works: The steps involved before getting an image
Posted by Alessondra Springmann on 2013/06/24 02:10 CDT | 3 comments
Arecibo Observatory is known for its 1000-foot diameter telescope and its appearances in Goldeneye and Contact. Aside from battling Bond villains and driving red diesel Jeeps around the telescope (grousing at the site director about the funding status of projects is optional), several hundred hours a year of telescope time at Arecibo go toward radar studies of asteroids.
Say "hi!" to asteroid -- actually, asteroids -- (285263) 1998 QE2
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/05/30 06:51 CDT | 8 comments
A large asteroid is passing reasonably close to Earth in a few hours, and astronomers at the great radio telescopes at Goldstone and Arecibo are zapping it. The latest discovery: QE2, like many asteroids, is a binary.
Astronomy Enters a New Era
Join us for a live webcast about thrilling new tools that will come online in the next decade.
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/05/26 08:45 CDT | 3 comments
A live conversation about just a few of the powerful new instruments that will revolutionize our knowledge of the cosmos once again.
How radar tracking of asteroids helps us know where they are
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/05/23 11:32 CDT | 5 comments
DSS 35: Watch the construction of the next big dish!
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/05/08 11:23 CDT
You can watch via webcam as the next Deep Space Network radio antenna -- DSS 35, in Tidbinbilla, Australia -- gets its dish.
ALMA Adventure--Complete Interviews With Planetary Radio Guests
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/03/26 12:33 CDT | 6 comments
The extended, mostly unedited recordings of my conversations with many of the people I spoke to at the ALMA Observatory in Chile. Also, the full English translation of Chilean President Sebastian Pinera's speech.
Planetary Society Weekly Hangout: the Giant ALMA Observatory, and Asteroid Tracking
Posted by Bruce Betts on 2013/03/20 01:31 CDT
Bruce Betts, Mat Kaplan, and asteroid tracker Robert Holmes on the Planetary Society Weekly Google Hangout. Mat discussed and showed pictures from his trip to the giant ALMA observatory and we'll be joined by asteroid tracker extraordinaire, Robert Holmes.
Atacama Diary for March 10, 2013--Pisco Sours and Liquid Helium
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/03/10 11:10 CDT
Great dinner and great conversation with staff of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, topped by Chile's national drink.
Atacama Diary for March 8, 2013-Noon at LAX
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/03/09 05:32 CST
Another audio blog post, with excerpts from the National Science Foundation briefing on the ALMA Observatory, edited while I was waiting for my planet to Chile at LAX.
Planetary Society Hangout: March 7th, 2013 - What's Going On With Curiosity and a NASA Budget Update
Thursday at noon PST/3pm EST/20:00 UT
Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/03/07 12:35 CST | 3 comments
Thursday at noon PST/3pm EST/20:00 UT we check in with Emily Lakdawalla to bring us up to speed with Curiosity's computer problems and we check in on NASA's budget status.
Atacama Diary for March 2, 2013--ALMA Explained
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/03/02 07:00 CST
The second in a series of audio blogs chronicling my trip to the driest spot on Earth, Chile's Atacama desert, to see the inauguration of the ALMA Observatory. Al Wootten and Alison Peck tell the story of ALMA.
Atacama Diary
February 25, 2013--The Longest Journey Begins With a Single Dose
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/02/25 11:47 CST | 4 comments
The first in a series of audio blogs chronicling my trip to the driest spot on Earth, Chile's Atacama desert, to see the inauguration of the ALMA Observatory.
Why don't we have any photos of asteroid 2012 DA14 if it came so close?
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/02/19 03:13 CST | 2 comments
A frequently-asked question last week was: if asteroid 2012 DA14 is coming so close to Earth, why hasn't anyone taken any pictures of it? Now that 2012 DA14 has whizzed past us, we do finally have some radar pictures of it, but they still may not satisfy everyone.
The Astronomy Budget Squeeze
It's not just NASA. All of space science feels the pinch of smaller budgets.
Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/01/09 07:11 CST | 1 comments
It's not just the Planetary Sciences division within NASA that's under harsh budgetary times. The NSF Division of Astronomical Sciences is facing a choice between funding scientists and funding telescopes. A report from the 221st AAS meeting in Long Beach.
Asteroid 4179 Toutatis' upcoming encounters with Earth and Chang'E 2
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/12/06 12:19 CST | 6 comments
Near-Earth asteroid 4179 Toutatis will be passing within 7 million kilometers of Earth on December 12. Both radio telescopes and the Chang'E 2 spacecraft will be acquiring images.
Posted by Bill Nye on 2012/02/03 01:09 CST | 1 comments
I have just returned from my first Planetary Society-sponsored trip to Puerto Rico and this historic, remarkable, big idea of a telescope.
The 70-meter dishes of the Deep Space Network
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/11/28 05:06 CST
I was inspired by my recent trip to Goldstone to put together this poster showing all three of the great 70-meter dishes of the Deep Space Network. There's one at each of the three complexes, at Goldstone, at Robledo (near Madrid, Spain), and at Tidbinbilla (near Canberra, Australia).
2010 JL33: How to see an asteroid from quite a long way away
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/01/13 11:42 CST
A terrific set of Goldstone radar images of a good-sized near-Earth asteroids named 2010 JL33 was posted to the JPL website yesterday. They also posted a movie version but something about these pixelated radar image series absolutely begs for them to be displayed as an old-school animated GIF, so I made one.
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