To read the rest of my launch pad posts, click here. We spent the morning playing with images in an astronomy program that you can download for free if you, also, would like to spend your morning playing with images — SAOImage DS9. Books: Is Anyone Out There? by Frank Drake and Dava Sobel The […]
To see the rest of my Launch Pad entries, click here. When we talked about planetary formation, we said Jovial planets were far out. But when we started looking around the universe, the first planets we found were Jovial planets near stars. They’re called hot Jupiters. They’re puzzling. We don’t exactly know why they happen. […]
This is one of the fastest changing fields, so you can’t stay up to date from text books. Mike’s online resources on exoplanets, including videos and video lectures To see the rest of my Launch Pad posts, click here. There’s also a website with a list of all the different kinds of planets we’ve found, […]
To see the rest of my Launch Pad posts, click here. The Fermi paradox starts with discussions at the manhattan project. One day when extra-terrestrials came up, Fermi asked, “Where are they?”
To see the rest of my Launch Pad posts, click here. OK, let’s get back to the destruction of the Earth.
To see the rest of my Launch Pad posts, click here. Man, I didn’t realize how long these were. I pasted the last one into word to check something and it was and a half pages long. The back of the envelope calculation–scribbling down approximations in an equation and working it out to see if […]
To see the rest of my Launch Pad posts, click here. Stephanie came up to me after the last lecture, and we discussed cultural construction of p-prim a little more. I feel more comfortable with her conclusions now; she says she is looking at how often the research pops up in different settings, and is […]
To read the rest of my Launch Pad posts, click here. Galileo was a typical astronomer/physicist who believed that if you just give people the facts, they’ll believe you. He had great facts and a beautiful story. What Galileo did as we know is that he made some observations using the telescope, and was the […]
To see the rest of my posts about Launch Pad, click here. Yesterday, I went home to sleep for a bit during the last lecture of the day. The perpetually chic and brilliant author Genevienve Valentine was kind enough to take notes in my stead. (She’s available in blog form, and twitter form, and is […]
I have a bad cold and checked out of the day’s final lecture from Jim Verley on science education, STEM fields, and science fiction. Genevieve Valentine kindly wrote up some notes which I’ll put online as time permits. I wanted to make sure to rest up because tonight the class is heading up to see […]