Real Data, Real Science - Driving the Dish
We are half-way through our observing session, the high schools students are relaxing and getting more familiar with operating the iconic 64m Parkes radio telescope. They have just selected another pulsar to observe. They check that the calibrator signal is OK before slewing to the pulsar itself. As the data streams down a pulse profile appears on the screen. The pulsar is on! As they keep observing however it suddenly seems to disappear - the pulsar has turned off. One of the students turns to the professional astronomer overseeing the session: "Why does it do that?" she asks. "Why don't...
Life Lessons from Astronomy
However way you twist it, the blunt truth is that our study of the heavens does not directly impact everyday life on Earth (astrology notwithstanding). Our discoveries do not feed hungry people, cure sick people, or better the lives of poor people. Yet, our ever-expanding understanding of the heavens has profoundly shaped and will continue to profoundly shape how the human race thinks of itself and its place in the cosmos. I believe that this works at an individual level as well. My own study of astronomy has deeply influenced my worldview and perspective in life. With latitude,...
The IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach
I thought many of the readers of this GAM blog might know that the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) took place at 2009 was a huge success, it is believed that IYA2009 was one of the most successful international year proclaimed by the United Nations ever. The great success of IYA2009 was heavily relied on the work of the IYA2009 Secretariat and the network of national coordinators (the SPoCs) at that time. This is a role model for many forthcoming international years, including the International Year of Light 2015 that I am going to talk about. Four years has past...
Science Outreach through Astrobiology
“Sometimes I think we are alone in the Universe, and sometimes I think we are not. In either case, the idea is quite staggering” – Arthur C Clarke. When William Herschel, discoverer of Uranus, saw craters on the Moon through his telescope, he was sure that the circular features on the surface were made by Lunarians. In 1938, Orson Welles dramatized an alien invasion on radio as an adaptation of the novel “War of the Worlds” by H. G. Wells. This caused wide spread panic in New York as people thought Earth was under attack by Martians. Whenever I teach...
Dark Matters
Fritz Zwicky and Vera Rubin Had no idea at the time that the ‘missing mass’ they had discovered would eventually lead to one of the greatest mysteries facing astronomers in the 21 st Century. Zwicky had discovered that galaxies were moving faster within clusters that could be supported by the idea that clusters of galaxies were stable over the span of billions of years. Later Rubin in the 1970s, found that stars in the distant suburbs of spiral galaxies were also moving faster than their expected Keplerian speeds, again suggesting lots of missing mass in many normal-looking galaxies. The search...
