Podcast interview with Brant Robertson

We have a new show! Doug and I had a great chat with Brant Robertson, who is a Spitzer Fellow doing research at The Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics. Brant is a theoretical astrophysicist involved with computer simulations of the evolution of galaxies.

Check this sh!t out:

Credit: Brant Robertson, Spitzer Fellow, KICP/UChicago

This interview is quite long so we’ve uploaded low and high rez versions. The low rez version is the one in the RSS feeds.

If you subscribe to the feed, the audio is probably already on your box. Or you can check out the show notes or download the MP3 file directly:

Slacker Astronomy podcast interview with Brant Robertson (low rez) (MP3, 24.7MB, 1:11:20)

Slacker Astronomy podcast interview with Brant Robertson (high rez) (MP3, 65.6MB, 1:11:20)

Enceladus has gas

Phil “The Bad Astronomer” Plait has a nice article on new results from Cassini.

Coupled together, these two items indicate that if there is an ocean beneath the frozen crust of the moon, then it’s reasonably warm, and rich in organic compounds. We don’t know how life started on Earth, but it’s a good guess that an ocean thick with organic compounds was involved at some point.

We don’t know how common life is and the possibility that life exists on Enceladus is quite small. Still, research in the solar system and in the deep oceans of Earth are suggesting some exciting new possibilities for environments suitable for life.

Naked-eye gamma-ray burst

The folks at the Pi in the Sky project imaged a recent gamma-ray burst and it looks like it got bright enough to be seen by the unaided eye. It looks like it would have been visible for only 10-20 seconds and it would have been about as bright as the faintest starts you can see. So it’s unlikely that anyone saw it. Still, it’s pretty cool.

There’s more info from NASA and the AAVSO High Energy Network.

High-rez Enceladus

This is really cool: The North Polar Region of Enceladus

Avoid the Light - do Globe at Night

Every year, the Globe at Night project asks people around the world to get outside and observe the constellation Orion. Report your location and which of the charts best matches what you saw.

This is a great slacker project. It doesn’t take much time or any tools. You can do it with kids, friends, or whoever. If you forget to do it tonight, you can do it tomorrow or the next time you have clear or mostly clear skies. You have until March 8, 2008 - next Saturday. This is a worldwide project.

To participate, go to the web site and check out the limiting magnitude charts to know roughly what the differences are in what you can see. Then go outside and block the most glaring lights. Let your eyes adjust to the dark for a few minutes as you locate Orion. Carefully consider what details you see in the constellation. Only Betelgeuse - the red shoulder star? All three belt stars? Stars close below the belt? The feet and shoulders? The head cluster? The Orion nebula? Fainter stars below the lower shoulder? Remember the faintest stars you could see.

By the way, Mars is the “extra star” somewhat nearby rivaling Betelgeuse with its bright red color.

Then go inside and report your observation. You’ll need to know where you are, what time you made your observation, and which chart most closely matches what you saw. In 2007, there were 8,491 observations. After a week of observations this year, it looks like there are fewer than 2000 observations.