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Bruce Betts' Free Online Intro To Astronomy Course
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2012/01/31 08:35 CST
Bruce Betts will be returning to the virtual classroom at California State University, Dominguez Hills for an Intro To Astronomy course. The first lecture will be Wednesday, February 8, from 3:00 to 4:30pm Pacific Time.
Official Phobos-Grunt Failure Report Released
Posted by Louis D. Friedman on 2012/01/31 05:32 CST
Official Phobos-Grunt Failure Report Released
What's up in the solar system in February 2012
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/01/31 01:12 CST | 1 comments
What's up in the solar system in February 2012
Akatsuki to try for Venus orbit in June 2016
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/01/31 10:37 CST
Akatsuki to try for Venus orbit in June 2016
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Celebrates 8, Keeps on Rockin' into Year 9
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2012/01/31 10:24 CST
As Opportunity worked away on its winter science campaign, the Mars Exploration Rover mission quietly completed its eighth Earth year of exploring the surface of the Red Planet last week, and is now roving on into Year 9 of its 90-day mission.
Dawn Journal: How does Dawn know where "down" is?
Posted by Marc Rayman on 2012/01/30 01:23 CST
Dawn Journal: How does Dawn know where "down" is?
A shooting star is not a star at all
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/01/29 07:08 CST
They Might Be Giants present "What Is a Shooting Star?"
One Man's Quest for SETI's Most Promising Signal
Posted by Amir Alexander on 2012/01/27 03:29 CST | 2 comments
A review of Robert H. Gray's "The Elusive Wow: Searching for Extraterrestrial intelligence."
Today's 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast Offers a Free, Online Astronomy Class!
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2012/01/26 09:06 CST
The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast begins this year's effort with an interview with Bruce Betts, who will be starting an online astronomy course. A transcription of the interview is included in this post, as well as a link to the podcast.
Posted by Jason Davis on 2012/01/26 05:26 CST
Before automated space observatories like SDO could send pictures and videos of solar phenomenon in real-time, humans had to do it manually, as in the case of the groundbreaking Skylab space station missions, which featured the Apollo Telescope Mount.
Parallel planetary processes create semantic headaches
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/01/26 03:55 CST
I ran into a semantic problem today: what to call the science of studying liquids on Titan?
Geek craft: GRAIL twins Ebb and Flow in plastic canvas
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/01/25 12:10 CST
Geek craft: GRAIL twins Ebb and Flow in plastic canvas
At last: Rosetta's Mars flyby photos have been released!
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/01/24 03:51 CST | 1 comments
At last: Rosetta's Mars flyby photos have been released!
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/01/23 05:32 CST
Today Opportunity sent back to Earth the last few frames of the "deck pan" self-portrait she took during the waning days of 2011. Her solar panels are very dusty, which isn't helpful. It's near winter solstice in her southern location on Mars, so the angled Sun is not providing as much power as it would in a different season.
Is there life on Venus? Not in reprocessed Venera-13 images.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/01/23 12:56 CST
At the end of last week, a rather sensational article appeared in both the Russian- and English-language sites of the Russian news agency, RIA Novosti. "Life Spotted on Venus - Russian Scientist," ran the English headline; a Google translation of the Russian one goes: "The Soviet probes may have photographed creatures on Venus."
Posted by Charlene Anderson on 2012/01/20 06:32 CST
Stephen Hawking's Curios
Blast from the past: The Galileo Messenger
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/01/20 10:42 CST
From 1981 to 1997, the Galileo mission published an approximately quarterly newsletter called the Galileo Messenger. It eventually ran to 45 issues, until the end of the Prime Mission. The first 20 were published before Galileo ever got off the ground. That period is the subject of this post.
Watch this week's Google+ Space Hangout
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/01/19 03:12 CST
This week's lineup included me as well as Nancy Atkinson, Pamela Gay, Nicole Gugliucci, Phil Plait, Alan Boyle, and Jon Voisey. It's a largely astronomical crowd so most of the conversation concerned dark matter and boiling exoplanets and imaging the black hole at the center of our galaxy.
Weekly Google+ Hangout Starting Shortly
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/01/19 10:50 CST
Weekly Google+ Hangout Starting Shortly
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