September 10: Beam Day at the LHC September 4, 2008
Posted by astroed in Physics.Tags: LHC
add a comment
Tuesday 10 Sep is a long-awaited day by physicists around the globe. It is the day that the beam will be turned on in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN.
There are lots of things going on to celebrate this event. At the bottom of this post I have some details of a free public talk at the University of Sydney. First though, have a look at this great video – The Large Hadron Rap. I thnk they had lots of fun making this.
FREE PUBLIC TALK
Build your own Big BangAt 5.30 pm AEST next Wednesday 10th September, scientists will hit the big green button on the world’s largest experiment, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The huge energies given to tiny particles in this experiment will take us closer to the Big Bang than we have ever been before and propel us towards answering questions of Life, The Universe and Everything.
One of the thousands of scientists holding his breath is Dr Kevin Varvell from the School of Physics University of Sydney. “At last we can test some of our ideas about what we are made of!” he says. Some ideas are very solid, some such as mini-black holes less so.
At a public talk next Wednesday evening Dr Kevin and Dr Karl Kruszelnicki will be giving the low down on the Large Hadron Collider, colder than deep space, and buried 100 m in the ground in a tunnel 27 km long under the French-Swiss border – as well as streaming live video from CERN.
Date: Wednesday 10th September at 7pm
Venue: Slade Lecture Theatre, School of Physics
Presenters: Dr Karl Kruszelnicki and Dr Kevin Varvell
RSVP: 9351 3472
Elegant Observatory August 18, 2008
Posted by astroed in Astronomy, Physics.Tags: observatory, Parkes, telescope
add a comment
Today’s Guardian has an article about a wonderful new observatory in England of all places. The article isn’t in the science section but rather in the architecture section. The observatory in question is the Keildor Observatory in Northumberland. This is a wonderful new building; 20 inch and 14 inch telescopes, a viewing platform and a warm room for those chilly winter nights are powered by a combination of wind and solar sources linked to batteries. A compost toilet provides the other essential.
The observatory appears different from the traditional dome or slide-off roof of smaller observatories. It looks positively Scandinavian with it rectangular, wooden structure. I’d love to visit it in the future.
The Guardian article also mentions five other stunning observatories – fortunately our own Parkes radio telescope is among them.
Astronomy Ambassador Summer School at ARCC, UTB June 10, 2008
Posted by astroed in Astronomy, Education, ICT, Physics.3 comments
I’m here in the Sci-fi looking Arecibo Remote Command Center (ARCC) within the Center for Gravitational Wave Astrophysics (CGWA) at University of Texas Brownsville. I’m surrounded by a keen if slightly nervous group of high school students from Texas and Puerto Rico who are about to embark on a three-week long Astronomy Ambassadors summer school. This is one of three summer schools, the others in computer science and mathematics, that the university is running over the next few weeks.
Students meet at 10 am each day for a subject-specific session that is then followed by a scientist from the university or elsewhere giving a lecture to the combined groups. Today’s talk will be about gamma-ray bursts. The afternoon session is a two-hour lab with a range of activities. I’m only here for the first four days as I fly home to Australia on Friday. Nonetheless I’m looking forward to working with the students on some introductory activities and giving Wednesday’s talk to the whole group about telescopes of the world.
Unfortunately I miss out on the camping trip next week to western Texas. There the students will construct their own Dobsonian telescope that they get to keep then use it under the dark skies of the region to observe the stars. They will also visit McDonald Observatory, home of the 9.2 m Hobby-Eberley Telescope and other telescopes.
When I arrived at ARCC late Friday afternoon they were busy mounting large, flat-screen LCD displays from the ceiling and walls. On Saturday afternoon there was a welcome and briefing for the five new undergraduates who have just been accepted as ARCC Scholars. They have a four-year program at UTB studying Physics and related subjects whilst working closely with scientists at the CGWA and using the ARCC to observe pulsars using the famous 300 m Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico.
On Sunday we welcomed the students and parents involved in the Astronomy Ambassadro program. They were able t observe an actual observing session at Arecibo conducted by UTB students using the ARCC as you can see below.
Sydney Observatory celebrates 150 years. May 29, 2008
Posted by astroed in Astronomy, ICT, Physics.1 comment so far
Sydney Observatory’s time ball was first dropped at 12 noon on 5 June 1858. To celebrate this the Observatory has a series of events over the next few weeks. A new flagstaff will be officially opened on the 7th. The Observatory plays a key role in communicating astronomy and science to the public and has a stunning location at atop The Rocks, overlooking the harbour and the bridge.
- Monday 2 June at 6:30 pm – A talk on the history of Sydney Observatory by Nick Lomb – “Rise, fall and rise again: the tale of Sydney Observatory”
- Thursday 5 June – media preview of the new Observing the weather exhibition, the reinstalled giant flagmast and the renovated Fort Phillip Signal Station
- Saturday 7 June, Sunday 8 June & Monday 9 June Open weekend with the anniversary speeches, the anniversary dropping of the time ball and the ceremonial raising of the flags on the Saturday morning
- Friday 13 June 6:30 pm – A talk by Fred Watson – “Why is Uranus upside down?” – followed by telescope viewing
- Saturday 14 June – seminar on the history of Australian meteorology – Target Theatre, Powerhouse Museum
- Sunday 15 June – seminar on the history of Australian astronomy – Target Theatre, Powerhouse Museum
- Friday 4 July and Saturday 5 July from 6 pm – the annual “Festival of the stars
The seminars on the 14th and 15th of June include a great range of speakers and cover a diverse range of topics including Aboriginal astronomy by Ray Norris from the ATNF and the history of The Dish at Parkes.
Thanks to Nick Lomb from Sydney Observatory for these details.
Talk Like a Physicist Day: March 14 2008 March 11, 2008
Posted by astroed in Astronomy, Education, General, Physics.add a comment
Friday 14 March happens to be Einstein’s birthday. In the US they write this as 3.14(2008) so 3.14 is the first three digits for pi. Combine the two, mix with the inspiration of Talk Like a Pirate Day and you have Talk Like a Physicist Day! This is the chance for you to celebrate your inner Nerd, baffle your dinner party guests or just earn a strange look from the non-Physics members of the community. This is a great chance to raise a conversation with students and answer the key questions in life:
- How can you tell who is a physicist?
- What is a giveaway phrase?
- Who can understand what you say?
- Is there a difference between physicist and other species of scientist?
What are some ways to celebrate? We had a lively discussion about this at work today, heavy physics speak ensued (strictly speaking the subspecies of astrobabble). One colleague casually mentioned how the sea in the harbour looked reddish the other day when he was out sailing. No, he wasn’t referring to the colour of the water, he was talking like a physicist. This type of talk does not seem unusual where I work. One suggestion was that we go out and have pies for lunch. What else can we do? What are you going to do?
Let me know your classic Talk Like a Physicist phrase for π day. I’d also recommend you visit the website, read up on some FAQs and immerse yourself in a like-minded community. Remember, this is a non-trivial request.
