The Bad Astronomy Newsletter

Bad Astronomy Newsletter #34

Contents:

1. Mt. Stromlo observatory destroyed in fire
2. July 20: Apollo Day?
3. Article: Planet found orbiting a giant star
4. The American Astronomical Society Press Services
5. Subscribe/Unsubscribe info

1) Mt. Stromlo observatory destroyed in fire

I'll start with some bad news: the astronomical observatory at Mt. Stromlo in Australia was almost totally destroyed in the fires ravaging Canberra. The fire has taken a terrible toll, killing many people and devastating the landscape. On top of this, it has taken one of the premier observatories in the southern hemisphere, and indeed the entire world.

The good news is that help is pouring in. The staff of the observatory is heartened to hear that many people have offered their help in getting the observatory back on its feet. They will continue to do as much astronomical work as they can, which includes making sure students will be able to continue their work. You can read the news as it comes in on the Australian National University website. There is also information there on how you can help.

2) July 20: Apollo Day?

A group of people dedicated to exploring space has come up with an interesting idea: a day set aside to commemorate humanity's achievements in space. They have contacted the U.S. Congress, and amazingly (to me at least), some members are receptive to the idea. The day they have chosen is an excellent one: July 20th, the anniversary of the day mankind first stepped foot on another world.

The Apollo program represents the best that we as people can do when put to the task. It can be argued that the reasons for going to the Moon were not terribly noble, but once there, something changed. The Earth became a world, and the world could be seen as one place. Our perspective has changed irrevocably since we went to the Moon. The least we can do-- the very least-- is set aside that special day to celebrate the start of our journey into the Universe.

To learn more, go to the July 20th website. There is information there on how to help this cause.

3) Article: Planet found orbiting a giant star

A team of astronomers were using an advanced instrument to look at giant stars, to determine some of the physical characteristics of the stars' atmosphere. What they found when they observed the star HD 47536 was a surprise: an extrasolar planet, orbiting every 712 days. This is by far the largest star known to have a planet, and the implications are interesting. I wrote a short news article about this for Astronomy magazine's website.

The original press release from the European Southern Observatory is here. In my article, I went a slightly different direction than the original release. For my Masters degree, I studied planetary nebulae: stars like the Sun that shed layers of gas as they die. As soon as I read the original release I knew there was more to the story. Hopefully, I'll be writing a more detailed article about this topic in the future. Stay Tuned.

4) The American Astronomical Society Press Services

In the last newsletter I mentioned I attended the last American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting as a member of the press. A few days ago I stumbled onto the National Institute of Standards and Technology website, looking into a conference about communicating science to the public (now, why would that interest me?).

I figured that this was a good conference for my group at Sonoma State University to attend, as educating the public about astronomy is what we do. I sent my boss an email, and she promptly replied back "I already know about the conference!" and included this link. During the conference last year, the AAS press people presented a poster on their services!

The authors are all friends of mine, including, you guessed it, my boss. If you want to know what the AAS press does, then take a look at the paper. It's pretty interesting. Also, the picture of the reporters on the bus cracks me up. I know most of those folks, as we always wind up spending a lot of time together at the AAS meetings. Sometimes we go out en masse to a restaurant and start swapping stories... but that will have to wait for another newsletter. Or maybe never. Some stories aren't ready for the news.

5) Subscribe/Unsubscribe Information

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Phil Plait
The Bad Astronomer
badastro@badastronomy.com
http://www.badastronomy.com