Every once in a while, statistically detected once a day or so, a GIANT star explodes as a hypernova (an over grown supernova) and channels its energy straight at us. This energy is mostly contained in an insanely powerful beam of gamma rays. That said, they also give off X-Ray and Optical light, and by […]

Variable stars come in many forms - there are happy little regular stars, widely separated and merrily circling ones dancing an eon long dance. Some white dwarfs - dead stars, cooling into stellar embers of stars - become vampires as they gravitationally suck mass from their companion and heat themselves back out of the stellar […]

So, if you’re like, you may not own a telescope (story later, because I know you’ll ask). Like me, you may love looking through telescopes, taking images through telescopes, and just being able to intellectually get your hands dirty doing observational astronomy. If you are like me, you just can’t quite afford the scope you […]

The following interview is from what was by far the funniest poster I’ve ever seen that was legitimate.
[audio:http://media.libsyn.com/media/starstryder/StarStryder-080311-DustCotton.mp3]
Here is a link to her science: Paper

One of the themes that constantly crops up in papers on Mars is water. Did it exist? If it did, is it responsible or is something else responsible for the gullies, deltas, valleys, and other features that look like (and are thus named like) formations here on Earth.
One of the more often argued over structures […]

I spent Thursday afternoon in the lauded amphitheatre, with its comfortable chairs, tables and the ability to feed my (by then) hungry laptop. Today the amphitheatre was offering a double showing: 1.30 – 3.15, Enceladus. 3.30-5.15, Venus.
We were mere minutes late getting back from lunch, so the first session was in progress when I got […]

This subject is best described in one word: Pretty.
Case in Point (from HiRISE):

Scientifically, that one word explanation and picture, however, really don’t quite cut it. Nonetheless, the session started with a pretty picture show. I’m kind of frustrated because the best image that was shown wasn’t captioned and I can’t find it. I’ll share with […]

This morning, Pamela and I traded subjects – I went to the session on Mars, while she went back to the session on the Moon.
This session was about 10 feet over my head – but we’ll see what I can do to tell you about it.
The first talk I heard was probably the most understandable, […]

Quick notes, often copied from PowerPoints. Attempts to write in full paragraphs not made.
Jim Green, Director of Planetary Science Division at NASA
State of the State of NASA Planetary Science Division (PSD)
18 months ago PSD had these problems:

The Reserarch and Analysis budget had been cut 15%. This below life support levels! With this level of cuts, […]

Posting out of order here. I have a ton of notes on this morning’s Moon sessions, but before piecing together pages of lunar science, I want to share something neat: Science results on Crater Carancas. This newest, smallest crater on the planet Earth was formed September 15, 2007 in Peru. The impact site is fairly […]