Search results for 'astronomy'

Normally, I’m not one to simply repost the Astronomy Picture of the Day, but I couldn’t resist. The Museum of Natural History made a really cool movie (including planetary data, the SDSS galaxy and quasar sample, the Bright galaxy survey, and others) to show our place in the universe: Super cool. -Dave

I hope everyone is having a great holiday.  I know I am.  I just got an email from one of the producers of Studio 360.  Apparently, my time travel episode (featuring Janelle Monae and Connie Willis!) will air this weekend, and it will be posted to their website and Audible.com over the next few days.  [...]

Hey folks! The blurbs for the back cover of the book are in. Curious what smart people are saying? Well, here’s what: What a delightful book! It pulls no punches-or punch lines-in explaining all the fun topics in physics and cosmology. From quarks to quasars, from electrons to extraterrestrials-it’s all here. Whether you are interested [...]

From time to time, we at the User’s Guide make our way into the popular press.  If you’re as obsessive about finding out about us as we are, here’s your one-stop place to check us out. Articles by us 8/13/09 – slate.com: Time-Traveling for Dummies: A physicist looks at The Time Traveler’s Wife. By Dave [...]

As I’ve mentioned a few times, this is the International Year of Astronomy, and in Philadelphia, various schools and museums are participating this month and last by holding “No Night without a Telescope.” Wednesday is Drexel’s day, and I’ll be hosting tonight. Alas, it looks pretty bad out. But don’t despair! I’ll talk about the [...]

I would like to congratulate Jim Gunn, who received the National Medal of Science from President Obama yesterday. Jim was a professor of mine at Princeton (still is, in fact), and was one of the leaders of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. To my mind, he is, perhaps, the greatest living astronomer, and as we [...]

If you happen to live in the Philadelphia area, over five weeks (starting October 19th) various schools and institutions in the area will be hosting “No night without a telescope,” timed for the International Year of Astronomy. Each day of the week, a different institution hosts: Mondays – Widener Tuesdays – Swarthmore Wednesdays – Drexel [...]

Yesterday, I started a facebook thread entitled “Ask Dr. Science.” My friends responded with the nagging questions about the nature of the universe that had been bothering them for a while. Some of my favorites: Q: Is it true that the Earth will eventually get swallowed into the black hole at the center of the [...]

I know I am going to come across like your aunt on the day she got her first AOL account and started forwarding you ascii pictures of cats, but I have fallen madly in love with Google Reader.  Yes, I am aware that this has been around for years.  Never mind, you! I am also [...]

2009 is the International Year of Astronomy, so designated because it marks the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s telescopes, and the 40th anniversary of humanity’s first foray onto an alien world: In 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. In 5 subsequent Apollo missions, another 10 astronauts would follow, until the Challenger Lunar [...]