Show 31: Pop Goes the Neutrons (neutron stars that is)

Show Notes:

• Transcripts
• HETE-2 Press Release
• ESO Press Release
• NASA Press Release
• University of Hawaii Press Releasse
• GRBs and Nuclear Bombs
• Vela Satellites
• Real-time map of recently detected GRBs
• Related New Scientist Article
• Related Space.com Story

SA Extra: Getting Astronomy News Online

Aaron gave a talk about getting astronomy news online at a local club. In the talk he interviewed Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer. The talk begins with a description of various tools to get astro info online, then it goes into how to read them critically including examples of of the wilder side of the astro web.
Rating: [FF] Family friendly

• Slides of the talk in PDF form. Follow along as you listen. (2MB)
• Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston
• Bad Astronomy
• Universe Today
• Wikipedia
• MSNBC Cosmic Blog
• Blogcritics.com
• Skepticality
• Spitzer podcast
• Astronomy Ireland radio show podcast
• ArXiv preprint server (astro-ph)
• ADS paper search server

Visiting an Old Friend For the First Time (Show #30)

Title: Visiting an Old Friend For the First Time
Castdate: 051018
Written By: Aaron
Disembodied Voices: Pamela & Travis
Engineered By: Travis
Rating: [JF] Just for Fun

• Transcript
• New Horizons Discussion Forum unmannedspaceflight.com
• New Horizons info Wikipedia
• New Horizons official site jpl

Thanks for being patient with us for taking last week off. We really needed it! More new scripts and SA-Extra bits are coming soon…

SA Extra: Fraknoi on Einstein

This year marks 100 years after Albert Einstein’s revolutionary triumvirate of science changing papers. To mark the occasion, scientists from around the world are joining together to celebrate the Year of Physics, and some are giving great lectures on Einstein’s work. Dr. Andy Fraknoi is one of the great lecturers, and we are grateful that he was willing to spend some time talking to us about Einstein.

If you want to hear Dr. Fraknoi face to face he will be giving a talk with Dr. Alan Friedman at the New York City Library on Oct 22. Click here to find out more about the talk and to learn how to register to attend.

by Werner Horvath, Insignificance (1985)

Show Notes:

• Einstein on Wikipedia
• Einstein Papers Online
• Special Relativity
• General Relativity
• The year of physics!
• Einstein Action Figure
• You might be a crackpot if…
• What is a scientific theory
• E=mc^2 Nova Program
• Friedman Book: Einstein Myth and Muse
• Dr. Atomic, Opera
• Einstein Opera by Philip Glass
• Einstein’s Brain
• Andy recommends sci fi by: Gregory Benford, Larry Niven

Dr. Andy Fraknoi is the Chair of the Astronomy Department at Foothill College in California, where he has worked since 1992. He also serves as an educational consultant for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP). Prior to going to Foothill College, Dr. Fraknoi was Executive Director of the ASP. He has written many books and popular science articles, including The Planets and The Universe, two collections of astronomy and science fiction published by Bantam Books. He is also lead author of the popular college text Voyages through the Universe, and he is a past editor of Mercury magazine.

SA Extra: Star Party Sound Seeing Tour

Castdate: 051006
Title: Star Party Sound Seeing Tour
Voices: Aaron & sounds from the CSP
Engineered: Aaron
Rating: [FF] Family Friendly

Note: This was originally posted as 2 parts, but a friend showed us how to get around the Garageband 30 minute limit so we reposted a single MP3 on 051007.

• Connecticut Star Party wrap up and pics from the organizers
• Visual Slides From Talk in PDF format
• AAVSO
• AAS Working Group on Pro-Am Collaboration

The first 15 minutes of the show are a walkaround of the observing field. It is followed by my talk which ran about 45 minutes. I’m distorted in the beginning but the sound gets better quickly. I recorded a summary and outtro but the dangummit 30 minute limit of GB prevented me from adding it.

Some pics Aaron took:

Da field:

Two nice scopes of different generations:

Confirming that the Sun is still there:

No star party is complete without its minstrels:

Kids learning scale and also how to make impact craters with cocoa:

An inflatable planetarium:

Carrying the 1’s Along Gravitational Highways (Show #29)

Castdate: 051004
Title: Carrying the 1’s Along Gravitational Highways
Written By: Aaron
Disembodied Voices: Pamela & Travis
Produced By: Travis
Rating: OF (Office Friendly)

• Transcript
• Math Unites Celestial & Atomic press release
• Ground Control to Niels Bohr journal article - free registration required
• Gravitational Slingshot Wikipedia
• Evangelists Refute Gravity With Intelligent Falling Theory from the Onion

Just in case you didn’t know (or are currently stoned, drunk or tired from a Desperate Housewives marathon). A reminder: