3 August 2008
Guest Blog: On Biases
Hello, my name is Rebecca Harbison, and I’m a grad student in astronomy at Cornell University, and guest-blogger. Some information about me. I work on Saturn’s rings using VIMS, the Visible-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer. Right now, I’m trying to measure how small the smallest particles are in Saturn’s Main Rings, by looking at how they diffract sunlight. (Think of me as sitting in a theater, staring at the light from the …
28 July 2008
Adding a little Cassini flavor
As Ryan will be out doing field work in Hawaii for the next few weeks, and I’ll be in the Windy City at a little concert called Lollapalooza (woohoo!), we’ve invited a guest author onto the blog. So look for posts from Rebecca Harbison, a fellow Cornell grad student who studies the rings of Saturn with data from Cassini. Welcome to the Martian Chronicles, Rebecca!
26 July 2008
Pretty Phoenix Pictures
Stuart Atkinson from Cumbrian Sky has just created a second blog to serve as a gallery of cool images from Phoenix that he has put together. Go check it out, he has some really great pictures!
25 July 2008
Hawaii Field Work
I have a pretty cool job. I look at data coming down from spacecraft orbiting around and driving on another planet, and try to figure out what it used to be like there. To be able to interpret images of Mars, it helps to first be able to interpret images of our own planet. And that’s why I’m going to Hawaii in a couple of days! On Saturday, I head …
Carnival of Space #64
Can you believe it? Another week is over, and that means it’s time for another Carnival of Space! This week’s is hosted by Music of the Spheres. Go check it out!
23 July 2008
Cadavers, Rockets and GPS
Here’s a riddle: What do dead bodies, awesome rockets, and GPS have in common? They are all being used in NASA’s return to the moon. Universe today has three interesting posts with all the details. First, I’ll get to the question that I know you’re asking: What the heck does NASA want with dead bodies? Well, they are in the process of testing the Crew Exploration Vehicle, and deciding how …
21 July 2008
Well-Traveled Granite
Phil Plait over at Bad Astronomy has a nice post about the recent discovery of a piece of granite in Antarctica. You may be thinking: “Oh boy, a rock in Antarctica. What’s the big deal?” The big deal is that this specific piece of granite matches up with granite found in North America, and it means that the two continents were once attached, billions of years ago! Hooray for plate …
One small step
39 years ago today, the first human set foot on another world. Here’s hoping that we follow in those footsteps sooner rather than later. I don’t have time to say more, but Phil Plait has already said it better than I could, so go see what the Bad Astronomer has to say.
19 July 2008
New Results from the Hubble Kaleidoscope
According to the new data, the so-called asteroid “belt” is actually an asteroid squiggle; and Mars is only red “some of the time,” vacillating between purplish-blue, orange, and turquoise with specks of green as it moves along its six separate orbits around the sun. Click here for the full story, courtesy of the Onion.
18 July 2008
Carnival of Space #63
Hi folks, I’m a little slow on the uptake this week, but better late than never! The 63rd Carnival of Space is over at Angry Astronomer, and is full of your weekly dose of spacey goodness!
