The Anthe Arc is pretty cool

Check out the latest from Cassini:

Cassini images reveal the existence of a faint arc of material orbiting with Saturn’s small moon Anthe.

The moon is moving downward and to the right in this perspective. In this image, most of the visible material in the arc lies ahead of Anthe (2 kilometers, 1 mile across) in its orbit. However, over time the moon drifts slowly back and forth with respect to the arc.

The arc extends over about 20 degrees in longitude (about 5.5 percent of Anthe’s orbit) and appears to be associated with a gravitational resonance caused by the moon Mimas. Micrometeoroid impacts on Anthe are the likely source of the arc material.

Video: SOFIA and Hubble

Brief discussions about Sophia and the upcoming Hubble servicing mission from the AAS meeting in Saint Louis. Cameos by Phil Plait (Bad Astronomy) and Mike Simonson (AAVSO).

Also available in MP4 format.

Slacker wins award

Slacker Astronomy founder and Tufts grad student Aaron Price has won a Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award for his poster on BZ UMa.

I stopped by Aaron’s poster at AAS in St. Louis and he explained the work he presented while I grabbed it on video.

Here you go — enjoy!

Aaron Price on BZ UMa [FF] (MP4 video, 30.3MB, 04:10)

Interview: Susana Deustua of the IYA

Here is a short interview with Susana Deustua of the Space Telescope Science Institute about the International Year of Astronomy, with a brief cameo by Mike Simonson of the AAVSO. I caught them at the opening reception of the American Astronomical Society meeting in St. Louis.

Interview: Susana Deustua of the IYA (MP4, 15.8MB, 2:11)

Interview: Rick Fienberg of Sky and Telescope

Here is a short interview with Rick Fienberg of Sky and Telescope magazine. I edited this and added some nice Slacker graphics but the new iMovie sucks and I couldn’t get it to export properly. So this is the raw footage, taken at the American Astronomical Society meeting in St. Louis.

Interview: Rick Fienberg of Sky and Telescope (MP4, 42.8MB, 5:50)

Astro BBQ at Pamela’s

This is a walk through Pamela Gay’s very lovely house during a party she threw for astronomers in town for the AAS meeting. Who can you spot?

The Moon Is A Trip

Fun with the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal… (link, YouTube, Discuss)

Thanks to Lunarover for bringing it to our attention in the Apollo entry for Slackerpedia Galactica.

Hot Astronomers [OF]

In search of hot astronomers at the AAS meeting…(direct link or via YouTube)

Hosts: Michael and Tanya
Camera and editing: Travis

Special shout out to special correspondent Tanya for helping us with this serious and important mission.

This was recorded at the 209th meeting of the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle, WA. Michael, Tanya and Travis wandered the main poster hall looking for hot astronomers asking the question of the day: do looks hurt or hinder a career in a geek field?

Meanwhile, Aaron and Doug were stuck wondering: how did we miss out on this sweet gig?!?

Discuss in the forums here.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

As posted over on our AAS blog, we did a quick interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson at the meeting (click here). He is a very smart and very funny guy and he was very kind to give us a few minutes of his time. I wouldn’t say he was mobbed at the meeting, per se, but I didn’t see him alone the whole time.

Neil deGrasse Tyson interview (MP4, 25.3M, 4:18)

YouTube version. 

Optical SETI @ Oak Ridge Observatory

We have a brief tour of the Optical SETI telescope at Oak Ridge Observatory. Get it on the feed or via this YouTube link.

Discuss via this thread in the forums.