Archives for the 'astronomers' Category
The Journey to Palomar
Published on 23 Dec 2008 at 12:20 am.
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Filed under astronomers.
Byrd and I were watching television, and a program come on PBS that I’ve been waiting to see for nearly two years. It is called “The Journey to Palomar.” The program obviously talks about the Palomar Observatory, which I have blogged about before, and selected as one of my wonders of […]
Copernicus Found
Published on 21 Nov 2008 at 2:17 pm.
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Filed under astronomers.
Nicolaus Copernicus is famous in astronomy. His work is mentioned in nearly every introductory astronomy class that is taught. Incorrectly, he is sometimes attributed with originating the theory that the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun (heliocentric model) rather than the Sun and planets revolving around the Earth (geocentric model). In […]
Bad Astronomer coming to Texas
Published on 14 Apr 2008 at 5:27 pm.
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Filed under astronomers, public science.
For those of you in the area, Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, will be speaking Tuesday, April 15, at Tarrant County College - NE Campus (in Hurst, a suburb of Fort Worth). He’ll be speaking at 12:20 in the Student Center. The event is free, so if you get a chance, be […]
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John Archibald Wheeler
Published on 14 Apr 2008 at 12:40 pm.
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Filed under astronomers.
Recently, in my stellar astronomy class, we discussed black holes. The term “black hole” was coined by John Archibald Wheeler in 1967 while trying to explain the object of an ultimate gravitational collapse. The term, as I understand it, was not meant to be an official name for the phenomenon, but it stuck […]
David Fabricius
Published on 9 Mar 2008 at 2:07 pm.
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Filed under astronomers, history.
There is a crater on the Moon named Fabricius. It is about 2.5 kilometers deep and 78 kilometers in diameter. According to a NASA list of crater names, it is named for the astronomer David Goldschmidt. Who is the Goldschmidt, and why is the crater named for him? I chose to […]
The AAS Meeting Banquet
Published on 10 Jan 2007 at 1:26 pm.
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Filed under astronomers, conference blogging.
Last night was the AAS Meeting banquet. The food was OK, though not worth what we paid for it. After the banquet, though, instead of the normal entertainment, we had a film. The film was a very professionally done and gripping story of George Ellery Hale, who I blogged about in an […]
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Astronomers and the Space Needle
Published on 5 Jan 2007 at 6:17 pm.
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Filed under astronomers, travel.
Built for the 1962 World’s Fair, the 605 foot high Space Needle is a famous Seattle landmark. People who’ve never even been to Seattle know it from pictures. The theme of the fair was the 21st Century, and planners wanted some structure to symbolize the future. The Space Needle is what they […]
