Black Hole Roundup (Show #28 - FF)

Castdate: 050926
Written By: Pamela
Disembodied Voices: Pamela & Travis
Engineered: Travis
Rating: [FF] Family Friendly

• Transcript (pdf)
• Blue stars point to supermassive black hole hiding in Andromeda: Hubble Europe Press Release, Hubble U.S., McDonald Obs. Press Release
• Quasar sits naked near scene of accident: Hubble Europe Press Release, ESO Press Release
• MISSING STORY - Swfit catches most distanct Explosions ever: NASA Press Release, ESO Press Release

This ESO image shows two Hubble images of quasars from a sample of 20 relatively nearby quasars examined by a team of European astronomers two of the most powerful astronomical facilities available, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Cerro Paranal.[quoted from press release]

Deep Impact Is Not A P0rn Flick (Show #27)

Castdate: 050920
Title: Deep Impact Is Not A P0rn Flick
Written By: Aaron
Disembodied Voices: Pamela & Travis
Engineered: Travis
Rating: OF: Office Friendly

• Transcript (pdf)
• What the Ground Telescopes Saw During Deep Impact from UniverseToday.com
• Deep Impact probe shows a fragile, empty comet Reuters
• NASA’s Deep Impact Team Releases First Snapshot Of Comet Tempel 1 Science Daily
• Deep Impact probe shows comets are fragile snowballs Pravda
• Deep Impact Web Page JPL
• Videos and Animations JPL
• Bart Discovers a Comet in The Simpsons

We begin our new ratings system with this show. It is explained at the end of the show (and in the script). In short:
FF means Family Friendly (no curse words or adult humor or innuendo).
OF means Office Friendly (maybe some curse words but not many and no adult humor).
JF means Just For Fun (anything goes).

Ratings will show up in the MP3 ID3 tags, the XML title and in our Show Notes. These are just guidelines to help, it is up to you to determine what shows are appropriate for you to play for other audiences.

Now on the Deep Impact, some great news and results from NASA…

Trimming the Fat (Show #26)

• Transcript
• NOAO Press Release
• Josh Barnes Really Cool Galaxy Collisions page

Hubble Space Telescope image of Antennae Galaxy

And the winner is…

The Propeller Population of the Universe (Show #25)

Show: 25
Castdate: 050905
Title: The Propeller Population of the Universe
Written By: Aaron
Disembodied Voices: Travis & Pamela
Engineered: Travis

• Transcript coming soon
• AAVSO Press Release About AE Aqr
• AAVSO Web page About AE Aqr
• Observing Chart

Pontchartrain Astronomy Society Grassroots Fund Drive

Hey, all. Aaron here…I was doing some research on a new SA script and I happened upon the web site for the Pontchartrain Astronomy Society. This is the amateur group for the greater southeast Louisiana area. The web site URL is:

http://www.pasnola.org/

They have a message forum they have been updating about damage to
their observatory, planetarium and homes of their members.

I notice on their web site that annual dues are $25. I have decided
to send them a personal check for $25 as a donation to their club. This may be
a good way for the greater amateur community to get involved. It turns
out New Orleans has a rich astronomical heritage, including one of the
first observatories built in the United States (Pierre Baron
Observatory setup in the 1700’s) and home of the “other” famous
sidewalk astronomer (www.sidewalkastronomer.com). Their club looks to
be active, well organized and has a monthly night dedicated to novices
(and idea I love and hope others adopt!). Let’s help them get back on
their feet and also let them know the rest of the community is
thinking of them.

If you are so interested, consider donating $25 to their club at
the URL above. And consider reposting this plea to your local club
mailing lists, web sites, blogs and anywhere you can think of. Let’s get a
grassroots effort moving for them!

Vicious Little Dots (Show #24)

Show #24
Castdate: 050831
Title: Vicious Little Specks
Written By: Aaron
Disembodied Voices: Pamela & Travis

• Transcript
• Summary of the recent microblazar papers ScienceWeek
• Are Ultra Luminous X-Ray Sources Microblazars? A paper
• Very Energetic Gamma Rays From Microblazars from journal Science
• The original (regular) blazar, BL Lac
• Star Blazers

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