Tag Archives: astronomy

The Amateur Astronomer’s Commandments

Funnybone: December 13, 2009
1. Thou shalt have no white light before thee, behind thee, or to the side of thee whilst sharing the night sky with thy fellow stargazers. 2. Thou shalt not love thy telescope more than thy spouse or thy children; as much as, maybe, but not more. 3. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s telescope, [...]
Posted in Funnybone | Also tagged | Leave a comment

VISTA gets down to work

News: Scientific Instruments    December 13, 2009
No, not Vista the operating system. This is the newest and biggest telescope on Earth: VISTA (Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy). Its size (the main mirror is 4.1 meters across), bulk (the camera alone weighs 3 tons) and power (16 special detectors for infrared light with a total of 67 million pixels of [...]
Posted in News: Scientific Instruments | Also tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Astronomers. Light Bulb.

Funnybone: November 10, 2009
How many astronomers does it take to change a light bulb? “Change a light bulb? What for? Dark is good.” “Oh, if you insist. Ah…” “One, to measure the bulb’s black body radiation at room temperature to verify it is totally dead. Then…” “One to argue about the measurement’s calibration.” “One to analyze the pre-failure [...]
Posted in Funnybone | Also tagged , | Leave a comment

Remembering Carl Sagan

Impact: Exogenous Life    November 9, 2009
As you may have noticed around the Internet today, various blogs and news outlets are honoring the birthday of Carl Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996). I’m sure some readers, now in their teens and twenties, have never heard his distinctive voice, or seen his masterwork, the television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, [...]
Posted in Impact: Exogenous Life | Also tagged , , | Leave a comment