Lots of people like to say they want to probe Uranus. Earthlings’ desires about that planet, and headline writers’ desires to write “probe Uranus” headlines, are again in the news. National Geographic‘s Breaking Orbit blog reports that “Europe Wants to Probe Uranus“: The Christian Science Monitor reports that “Scientists plan mission to probe Uranus“: (Thanks […]
Tag: astronomy
A meteor over his shoulder
Alan Boyle writes, in the Cosmic Log: Pity poor astronomer Mark Thompson. Here he is, part of the BBC’s “Stargazing Live” program, telling millions of people that there’s nothing much to be seen in the skies above Macclesfield … but there’s a meteor flashing through the sky, right over his shoulder! You can see it […]
Auto exhaust along the Milky Way
Investigator Scott Sandford alerts us to this pathblazing study: “Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and the unidentified infrared emission bands: Auto exhaust along the Milky Way,” L.J. Allamandola, A.G.G.M. Tielens and J.R. Barker, Astrophysical Journal, vol. 290, 1985, pp. L25-L28.
Uranus-gazing
Uranus is the most giggle-producing planet for English speakers, because of its name. Uranus was almost named George. In this video, a gaggle of scientists at the University of Nottingham discuss that and many other facts about the science and naming of the planet. (Thanks to Christine Ashe for bringing it to our attention.) NOTE: […]
Hubble and the promiscuous dropout
Charles Pierce, in Esquire magazine, profiled astronomer Edwin Hubble: “… And Hubble wasn’t finished. Five years later, he published the first in a series of papers in which he not only confirmed that the universe was expanding but also established the formula — dependent upon a unit of velocity now known as the Hubble Constant […]
Earth: A small chance to win a big trip
Adding to our knowledge that the residents of planet earth are unstable, Jacques Laskar (pictured here) and Mickael Gastineau of the Observatoire de Paris calculate that so, too, is our planet’s residency in the solar system. Thanks to an instability in the entire system, we could all win a big trip to far-off places. Details […]