Carnival of Space #115 August 17, 2009
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The Carnival of Space is a great weekly compendium of some of the best astronomy/space blog writing out there. It is hosted by a different blogger each week. Issue #115 is hosted by New Frontier News.
One of these days I mean to write something of interest to post to the Carnival. Meantime, don’t hesitate to go and read the latest issue.
Science Week in Geraldton August 17, 2009
Posted by astroed in Education.Tags: Astronomy, Big Aussie Star Hunt, galileo, Geraldton, national science week, schools, theatre
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I’ve got a busy week ahead of me. I’m flying over to Geraldton in Western Australia for a series of events as part of National Science Week. Tomorrow I’m giving several talks to students at Nagle Catholic College in the afternoon followed by some professional development for teachers in the region and, hopefully, a viewing night.
The following morning I’ll be up bright and early as I have an on-air lesson about telescopes with students from the Meekatharra School of the Air. After that I drive out a few hours to Yalgoo (the first town in the Outback) where I’ll be taking part in a viewing evening for students from three schools, Yalgoo, Pia Wadjarri and Sandstone, who have come together for a few days for their athletics carnival. I’ll be joined by Megan Argos from Curtin (AstroMeg). We plan on getting the students to take part in the Big Aussie Star Hunt, the national project for Science Week.
On Thursday I’m giving a public talk about the life and work of Galileo at 7.30pm in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre prior to Theatre Eight’s production of Brecht’s The Life of Galileo.
It should be a busy but fun and rewarding week. Hopefully I’ll get some photos and more information up about the various events later.
What will Scorpius look like for the Big Aussie Star Hunt? August 14, 2009
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Starting on Saturday 15th August and running through to the 23rd August, Australians are encouraged to take part in the Big Aussie Star Hunt, this year’s National Project for National Science Week. As I’ve already discussed a key component of this program is getting people across the nation to go outside at night and observe the constellation of Scorpius. They can then compare their naked-eye observations with a series of eight diagrams to find which one best matches with what they see then log their results online via a simple form on the website. With enough observations from across the nation we hope to be able to map out light pollution.
On the website you can download some excellent sky maps and finder charts prepared by Kym Thalassoudis of Skymaps.com. There are eight charts showing what Scorpius looks like at different limiting magnitudes.
Now just to make the observations even more interesting it seems that a couple of stars in Scorpius are going through an interesting phase. Mike Simonsen, regular astronomy blogger and variable star observer reports that both Antares (alpha Scorpii) and delta Scorpii are much dimmer than normal at present. Read this story, the Scorpion’s Heart and Eye Grow Faint on his blog to learn more than go out and check for your yourself next week.
Brecht’s The Life of Galileo in Geraldton August 13, 2009
Posted by astroed in Astronomy, General.Tags: galileo, Geraldton, national science week, theatre
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Next week I am in the Mid West region of Western Australia for a series of events supporting National Science Week.
One of these is on Thursday, 20 August at the Queens Park Theatre in Geraldton. The Junior Players of Theatre Eight are presenting Bertolt Brecht’s The Life of Galileo at 8pm. Prior to this at 7.30pm I will be giving a public talk at the theatre about Galileo, discussing his contributions to science, especially physics and astronomy. The play itself runs for the following two nights at 7.30pm with a matinee on at 2pm on the Saturday. Tickets are available for $10 from Queens Park Theatre on 08 9956 6662.
Poster for Theatre Eight's production of The Life of Galileo
PULSE@Parkes from VSSEC August 7, 2009
Posted by astroed in Astronomy, Education.Tags: Parkes, PULSE@Parkes, VSSEC
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We’ve just finished a PULSE@Parkes observing session at the Victorian Space Science Education Centre, VSSEC. Students from Strathmore Secondary College, Footscray City Secondary College and Braemar College controlled the iconic 64m Parkes radio telescope remotely from Melbourne to observe pulsars.
As a first this session was broadcast live via twitter (@PULSEatParkes) to followers around the world.
Here is the media release. I’ll put more details up soon.
The Big Aussie Star Hunt, 15-23 August 2009 August 6, 2009
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Get involved in this year’s National Project for National Science Week, the Big Aussie Star Hunt. This is a great opportunity to engage students and the public in astronomy. The project is designed to get people to go outside and learn more about the night sky. To achieve this there are several components:
- Tours, both a virtual one to try on your computer and an outdoors one.
- The star hunt survey which asks participants to locate Crux and Scorpius and compare their observations of Scorpius with eight diagrams to match the appropriate one. They then enter their results in a simple online form. The results are combined to produce what will hopefully be the largest night sky and light pollution survey conducted in Australia. This survey runs 15 -23 August. Submitting observations automatically enters you for a competition to win a bundle of stuff from the ABC store. There is also a schools competition.
- Tips and Tools; including reviews and links to great free software such as Stellarium, Celestia, Microsoft WorldWide Telescope and Google Sky. You can also learn how to find South using the stars,
- Special features including Aboriginal astronomy, a night sky quiz, ask an expert sections on several topics including light pollution and a photo gallery.
- A section with information for teachers. This includes my tips on how to run a viewing night and more.
- Links to other dark sky projects such as Globe at Night and other useful astronomical sites.
You can download a nine-page PDF with sky charts and background material to help with the viewing. There is also a narrated sky tour by Fred Watson that you can download as an MP3. The ABC Science Online team have done a great job developing this site and it was a pleasure working them from the initial conception onwards.
Go and visit the site then get out and look up in Science Week!
Big Aussie Star Hunt promotional poster
“Astronomy – Science without Limits”: 6th Annual NSW K-6 Science & Technology Conference August 4, 2009
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The Science Teachers’ Association of NSW is holding its annual science and technology conference for K-6 teachers on Friday 11 September 2009, 9.00 am – 4.45 pm at the Powerhouse Museum, Pyrmont in Sydney. This year’s theme is Astronomy – Science without Limits reflecting the International Year of Astronomy.
They have a great range of speakers and workshops arranged. Dr Andrew Hopkins, Head of AAT Science at the Anglo-Australian Observatory is the keynote science speaker. Andrew’s research focuses on galaxy evolution, using multiwavelength data to explore how galaxy morphologies develop and evolve, and the role of star formation and galaxy environment. Associate Professor Keith Stamp from Southern Cross University, Lismore is the education keynote speaker.
There are two workshop sessions on the program with participants able to select from seven different enticing astronomy/space-related presentations by six presenters. Topics include:
- Looking at the stars: An exploration of telescopes and images from space.
- Indigenous Astronomy: Shared Stars
- Blast off! With UniServe Science: Using Rocketry as an Introduction to Astronomy
- Failure is not an option
- Tome and the Sun, Earth and Moon
- Weather in the Solar System – an introduction to meteorology for Stage 3
- NXT Next Generation Robotics.
It should be a fantastic day of professional development and will hopefully be well attended by teachers from across the state. Unfortunately I’m unable to attend as I’ll be heading off that day to San Francisco for the ASP’s Annual Meeting and a weekend series of workshops on the Galileo Teacher Training Program. I’ll write more about these events later.
The conference will also be the official opening of From Earth to the Universe an exhibition which will run from September 2009 to March 2010 at the Powerhouse to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy. From Earth to the Universe is also on the IYA’s international cornerstone projects. The site is well worth visiting and could serve as the nucleus of an astronomy image display within any school or organisation. 100 outstanding astro images may be downloaded in a variety of formats along with full captions.
Parkes Open Weekend, 18-19 July 2009 August 3, 2009
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The recent open weekend at the CSIRO Parkes Observatory was a huge success. We had over 6,500 people visit over the two days including over 3,000 people touring the telescope itself. This is no mean feat when each tour group is a maximum of 15 people led by a staff member. The open weekend was scheduled for the weekend of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. A series of talks covered a range of topics, from my one on an Introduction to Radio Astronomy to Jill Tarter, from the SETI Institute who gave the John Bolton Memorial Lecture. Other presenters during the weekend included:
- David Malin, Astrophotographer, who spoke on ‘Galileo’s astronomical legacy’.
- John Sarkissian, Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) Operations Scientist, who lectured on ‘Parkes and the Apollo Missions’.
- George Hobbs, ATNF Astronomer, who discussed ‘Parkes and pulsars’.
Members of the Central West Astronomical Society with their daylight observing display at the Parkes Open Weekend 2009.
On Saturday the queue for the telescope tours was lengthy but luckily those in it were entertained by a couple of guest from Questacon; Einstein and an astronaut on a Segway. The first family in line early on Saturday morning had driven all the way from Townsville for the event. A couple had also come from the UK primarily for the Open Weekend!
Einstein and an Astronaut at the Dish
Visitors could also do a self-guided tour down to the Parkes Testbed Facility, a 1m antenna currently being used to trial new technologies for the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), a new array of 36 12m antennas being built by CSIRO in outback Western Australia. CSIRO Education had a Starlab portable planetarium set up so visitors could view the night sky during the day. The Central West Astronomical Society had a wide range of optical telescopes set up so that people could do some daytime viewing of the Sun, Moon and Venus. Stunning astro images for the 2009 David Malin Awards were also on display.
Have a look at a video of a fly-by of the iconic telescope. This was taken by a colleague, David Champion from his helicopter flight around the telescope during the open weekend. This provided a nice break for David as he was one of the three astronomers observing throughout the weekend. They had a new tour group past their control room every few minutes on both days so were somewhat like goldfish in a bowl but they cheerfully spoke to each group about the observations they were making.
The weekend was a great success with perfect weather. Now only two years to the Dish’s 50th anniversary!
2009 National Science Week Promo July 31, 2009
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Here is the promotional video for this year’s National Science Week, 15 – 23 August. The National Project is the Big Aussie Star Hunt which I have been involved with. It promises to be a really useful resource. I’ll write more about this soon.
Cosmos and Culture at the Science Museum in London July 28, 2009
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One of my favourite places as a young boy growing up in London, The Science Museum in South Kensington, London has a new exhibition Cosmos & Culture: how astronomy has shaped our world. The website shows some of the varied exhibits on display including the 6 foot mirror from Leviathan, the Earl of Rosse’s great nineteenth century telescope in Ireland and a prototype beam splitter from LIGO. The exhibition also includes a first edition of Copernicus’ de Revolutionibus and one of William Herschel’s telescopes that he may have used to discover Uranus.
(Some of William Herschel’s eyepieces on display in the Science in the 18th Century gallery)
The BBC has a lovely slideshow of seven of the exhibits. The last one is particularly fun; the Moon Machine from Wallace and Grommit’s A Grand Day Out.
Cosmos & Culture is free and runs through to the end of 2010. If visiting the museum I’d also recommend that you go along to the Science in the 18th Century gallery as it has a fine collection of astronomical equipment from the era. Here are some photos I took of some of the displays when visiting last September.
Another must-see gallery is Exploring Space.
