Someone has finally figured out something useful for all the dust on the moon’s surface: mix it with some epoxy and a pinch of carbon to create giant telescope mirrors. “We could make huge telescopes on the moon relatively easily, and avoid the large expense of transporting a large mirror from Earth,” said [...]

Astronomers and cosmologists endeavor to solve some of the great mysteries of the universe. One mystery scientists here at the AAS meeting in St. Louis are seriously trying to address is how to make science more interesting and accessible to the general public. While this issue has little cosmic implications, having a “science [...]

We wanted to bring you a symposium on the International Year of Astronomy via UStream. Unfortunately, there is no internet connection available in the room the symposium is being held. We apologize, and thank you for your interest!

We’ll be UStreaming a Symposium on “Preparing for the International Year of Astronomy,” which will deal with the practical aspects of making the International Year of Astronomy a success. The symposium starts at 2:00 pm Central time. If you want to participate in the chat room, go HERE.
The feed will also be embedded [...]

The new 55-meter image that was unveiled today is impressive, but does it hold any scientific value? A resounding yes to that question came from astronomers who helped work on this project, and given the standing room only for the oral presentation of the scientific research going into this image, plenty of other astronomers [...]

Just a reminder, the blogger meetup is tonight at 7:00 pm at KitchenK bar & restaurant. It’s open to anyone, so if you’re in the area, please drop by and meet Pamela Gay from Astronomy Cast and Star Stryder, Phil Plait from Bad Astronomy, Chris Lintott from Chris Lintott’s Universe and Galaxy Zoo,, Nancy [...]

The Milky Way is a large place, and getting all the stars together, even from just the inner galaxy, for a family photo requires a big canvas. The imaging team from the Spitzer Space Telescope today unveiled the largest, highest resolution infrared picture ever taken of the Milky Way. The photo spans 55 meters [...]

Here’s the new link for the Noon press conference

Join us live today from the AAS meeting in St. Louis. We’ll be live-streaming video of the press conferences here at the AAS live on the Astronomy Cast UStream Channel.
Today’s Press Conference schedule (all times CDT):
9:40 am: Weird Binary Stars
12:00pm: The Milky Way
Also, Pamela’s session at 10:00 am will be available live: [...]

How do you get the most out of one spacecraft? Re-use, recycle and share. The spacecraft bus that brought the Deep Impact “impactor” to comet Tempel 1 in July of 2005 is still out in its heliocentric orbit and has been put to work double time where two new missions are sharing the same spacecraft. [...]