2013-02-19
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Every meteorite fall on earth mapped
It’s amazing how metorites seem attracted to centers of human population and never ever fall in the sea.
Of course, the name of the graphic should be “every recorded meteorite fall on earth, mapped”.
See also: Astronomers lose access to military data, Nature, June 2009:
The change is a blow to the astronomers and planetary scientists who used the information to track space rocks, especially those that burn up over the oceans or in other remote locations. “These systems are extremely useful,” says Peter Brown, an astronomer at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada. “I think the scientific community benefited enormously.”
The USAF later said the data would be made available again, but I don’t know if that happened. If it did, it may well be a better source than the data the Guardian worked from.
2012-06-04
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An 1882 map by Richard A Proctor showing the cones of visibility of the 2012 transit of Venus (which happens tomorrow). It’s remarkable partly as it’s so well designed, and partly as it’s over a hundred years old but matches the modern map.
2012-05-07
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Tasked with the brief of ‘deep space and nebulae’, Howard Wakefield researched through the collection of Nasa imagery at SpaceImages. While tempted with a nebula called Factory, its name was too good to be true, for it didn’t compare with the more expansive deep blue nebula of Hubble NGC 346 SMC. Peter Saville was keen to see how it could be transformed from being purely documentary, so suggested an inverted, monochrome version.
2012-04-14
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Ros Wynne-Jones: Stars – the essential magic vanishing from our lives in the Guardian.
Turn out the lights: the stargazers’ plea for dark skies was also in Friday’s Guardian and is worth a look.
2012-04-12
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Some 53% of those who joined a recent star count failed to see more than 10 stars in the Orion constellation. That had decreased only very slightly from 54% since 2007, the Campaign to Protect Rural England and the Campaign for Dark Skies said.
Fewer than one in 10 said they could see between 21 and 30 stars, and just 2% of people had truly dark skies, seeing 31 or more stars.
The information was gathered as part of the annual Star Count survey, which was held across two weeks in January and February this year. Almost 1,000 people in different locations around the country took part. Participants were instructed to pick a clear night to count the number of stars in the constellation of Orion.
”2012-03-26
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Oscar Hermitte: Urban Stargazing (via):
The Urban Stargazing project focuses on bringing back the stars in the city sky by recreating existing constellations and adding new ones, narrating old and contemporary myths about London. Twelve groups of stars have been installed at different locations in the city, and can only be observed by the naked eye at night time.
Or: if you go to certain open spaces in London, and stand in the right spot, you can see new, special “constellations” that don’t exist anywhere else, designed for the city sky (as pictured above, and it’s worth enlarging the images).
Each constellation is a triangulated struture made out of clear ø 0.6mm nylon line, ø 0.2mm polyethylene braid, ø 0.75mm fibre optic and a solar powered LED. During the day, the battery is being recharged by the solar panel and the circuit switches ON the LED when it is dark enough to observe stars.
In order to have the constellation in the air, the team uses a telescopic catapult to fix the structure on top of trees.
It’s well worth reading the pages on this one, so you get the idea.
2012-03-23
Astronomers vs Billboards
From the Arizona Republic, Bill divides electronic-billboard firms, astronomy industry (via, via):
The forces of dark are squaring off against the forces of light in a battle over billboard legislation.
On the side of light — as in vivid, flashing color — is the electronic-billboard industry. It is pushing a bill that would make 70 existing digital billboards along Arizona’s highways legal in the wake of a state Court of Appeals ruling.
The forces of darkness are led by Arizona’s observatories and astronomy industry. They want a statewide standard to ensure “dark skies” protections for areas within a 75-mile radius of observatories.
Since when was astronomy an industry? I suppose if there are enough people based there making telescopes that might be justified, but it seems like odd language. Mind you, it’s the language used in an opinion piece by Angela Cotera, a research astrophysicist at the SETI Institute in Avondale, arguing against the law. Anyway, returning to the original article:
Billboard companies approached lawmakers for a change to state law after the Appeals Court last fall ruled electronic billboards did not comply with the state’s ban on intermittent light.
Meanwhile, this seems a bit surprising:
The Discovery Channel, which is building a new telescope southeast of Flagstaff near Happy Jack, told lawmakers that the limits would help ensure dark skies. Its imaging camera “will be sensitive to even minute increases in sky glow.”
When did TV stations start building telescopes?
Despite a leader in the Republic and letters against the bill (and for dark skies), another leader posted yesterday notes
The Legislature has unaccountably passed a bill that threatens a unique and precious Arizona asset: our dark skies. Gov. Jan Brewer needs to veto it.
and goes on to say
In this intensely competitive economy, Arizona is fortunate to have a major advantage in astronomy and optics. Our clear, dark nights offer a world-class view of the universe. Arizonans count on Gov. Brewer to protect them. Gov. Brewer should push the off switch on HB 2757.
