Fed by Birds

The Awl has the cheering story of Hanny van Arkel, a 24-year-old primary school teacher in the Netherlands, who one day idly clicked through from Brian May's website to Galaxy Zoo, a site which posted a million galaxy photos and asked readers to help classify them.

When she spotted an unidentified blue smudge on one of the pictures, Hanny became the discoverer of what astronomers named Hanny's Voorwerp, a cloud of gas being hit by an x-ray jet from an active black hole.

To have a go at finding your own astronomical phenomenon, go here.

Posted by at 11:04 AM | Permalink

With all the fuss about Phoenix Mars, the Cassini-Huygens mission, still twirling around Saturn four years on, seems to get forgotten - but I still find the pictures of Saturn's rings it's sending back mind-blowing. It's like they got to the moon and found there really was a big smiley face on it.

Saturn's seasons last seven years, and now it's going into spring, so the colours of the north and the south are gradually changing.

Continue reading "Spring on Saturn" »

Posted by at 12:37 PM | Permalink

A map created by Nasa of the first moonwalks of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969 - superimposed on a football pitch to show how far they went. Via Strange Maps.

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I picked up this textbook from 1876 by J. Norman Lockyer, designed for schoolchildren and 'children of a larger growth', mainly for its beautiful little illustrations and diagrams.

Continue reading "Elementary Lessons in Astronomy" »

Posted by at 5:13 PM | Permalink

The Nasa Astrobiology Unit offers this useful service - submit your own, or browse other people's astrobiological queries. An understandable note of exasperation seems to creep into the answers, as the astrobiologist in question is exposed to the full force of the public's stupidity about his subject. In particular the endless drivelling questions about evolution ('Are we from adam or are we from monkey? if we are somehow like a monkey why the other ones couldn't be humans?') and UFO conspiracies push the poor man to his limit:
'Greetings, I cannot help but be skeptical of the govt's ufo claim that they simply do not exist.'
Answer: 'If you choose to disbelieve the opinions millions of experts, that is your choice. But then why do you take the trouble to write to "Ask an astrobiologist"?'
'Sir the life on other plasnet also exista this has came became clear now by the video of aliens on the moon /why u hide these thinmgs from us'
Answer: 'You are badly misinformed...'

Posted by at 3:54 PM | Permalink

These extraordinary sounds from Saturn were sent back by the Cassini-Huygens mission (found via Mrs Deane). Thus proving that Delia Derbyshire and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop were completely right about what other planets would sound like.

Posted by at 2:48 PM | Permalink

From here. Also Martian rust:

Posted by at 3:07 PM | Permalink

A top Astronomy Picture of the Day. Click to enlarge.

Posted by at 3:06 PM | Permalink

If you didn't go out and look at the total lunar eclipse last night you must be crazy. Or maybe living somewhere where it wasn't visible. The moon turned blood red. The Dictionary of Superstitions tells me that it's a bad idea to undertake any business of importance during a lunar eclipse, and 'as to Nativities this is very remarkable' - although it doesn't specify in what way the nativities are remarkable. Hopefully in a good way. Also, it's unlucky to point at the moon, whatever it's doing. Penalties vary from being struck blind to being denied access to heaven, but all of them are severe.

Posted by at 12:00 PM | Permalink