In the Sky This Week – March 12, 2019

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This entry is part 86 of 88 in the series In the Sky This Week

Tonight, my wife Connie, who is also a volunteer NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, is running a huge Astronomy Night event at her school; she takes two days to transform the first floor into an astronomy wonderland with posters. We have a 100-foot “Walk the Solar System” down one hall with BEAUTIFUL 3-foot square color posters posters we just printed at the Macomb Intermediate School District’s teacher workshop. We were at the MISD for almost three days straight printing those posters… We’re having several lecturers from the Warren Astronomical Society give talks, and we’re opening up the computer lab where I’ll be showing a Virtual Reality fly-over of Saturn’s rings, and allowing attendees to play with space software like NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System and Kerbal Space Program. My wife will be at a table with meteorites, and we’ll hopefully have clear skies so we can set up telescopes outside. I also have a couple posters shamelessly plugging the Vatican Observatory … Continue reading →

NASA’s Pi in the Sky Challenge

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On March 14, NASA will join schools, students and science centers across the U.S. as they celebrate one of the most well known and beloved numbers: pi. Used throughout the STEM world – especially for space exploration! – pi is the number that results from dividing the circumference of any circle by its diameter. Pi can be and often is rounded to 3.14 (even though its decimals never end), which is why 3/14 has been designated National Pi Day. Educators and students can participate in honoring this mathematical marvel by taking part in the 2019 NASA Pi Day Challenge, an illustrated math problem set that gets students solving the same problems scientists and engineers do to explore space. Answers to the 2019 challenge will be revealed on March 15. Explore even more pi-related resources for educators and students below! For Educators Pi Day Challenge Lessons These illustrated math problems and problem sets featuring pi and NASA missions and science work all … Continue reading →

Skyward: March 2019

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For the Love of Comets If you have read this column more than once, you probably are not too surprised to understand that I love comets. Comets are a part of me, a part of who I am. But I had to wait a while before I saw my first comet. I was already 17 years old and had been interested in the sky for a number of years. When I learned that the two young Japanese amateur astronomers Kaoru Ikeya and Tsutomu Seki had discovered a comet that could become the comet of the century, I was spellbound. During the mild autumn of 1965, as I awaited this mighty comet, I decided to begin a comet search program of my own. At the end of October I finally saw this comet as it rose, tail first, in the sky to the east beyond the St. Lawrence River. I observed it again a week later in early November. I have … Continue reading →

Ladyzhenskaya’s Icon

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On March 7 the “Google Doodle” featured mathematician Olga Ladyzhenskaya.  If you clicked on the “doodle” you probably saw something like the Wikipedia entry that showed up at the top corner of the screen: Olga Aleksandrovna Ladyzhenskaya was a Russian mathematician. She was known for her work on partial differential equations and fluid dynamics. She provided the first rigorous proofs of the convergence of a finite difference method for the Navier–Stokes equations. I wanted to find out a little more about this person, and in searching around I came upon a 10-year-old blog post from Mihai Caragiu, Professor of Mathematics at Ohio Northern University, who noted a “photograph of a 79 years old Ladyzhenskaya in her apartment in St. Petersburg featuring an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos [Mother of God]”.  I could not really tell for sure that the woman in the picture was Ladyzhenskaya, and there was not additional information, but a little more searching quickly turned up … Continue reading →

ⓜ Diary of March 8, 2019

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This entry is part 38 of 38 in the series Diary

It’s an amazing morning; for the first time in about three weeks I don’t have some deadline that has to be met by today, and I can actually catch my breath! Some Stats: But first, my monthly (a bit late this month!) summary of statistics. As of this writing we have 8,336 people signed up to get notifications of these posts either via Twitter, Facebook, or directly asking for email updates here. That’s not quite a hundred more than last month, when we had 8242. And we’re up to 120 subscribers, an addition of 4 new members. Thanks, and welcome! If we could double the size of the readership, would we double the number of supporters? It’s probably not that simple… but it would certainly help. And what’s new: So what is it that has kept me so busy? Travel to Kentucky and Ohio (including in Wapakoneta, the home of Neil Armstrong);  the Tucson Festival of Books; and talks to … Continue reading →

From the Tablet: Why is Ash Wednesday So Late This Year?

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This entry is part 62 of 178 in the series Across the Universe

This column ran in The Tablet for the new year’s issue of 2008, when Easter occurred remarkably early, on March 23. It was relatively early in 2016, on March 27th, when we ran it here. This year, it’s about as late as it can be! Early or late, the explanation is the same… and so probably worth running again. Why is Ash Wednesday so late this year? Contrary to popular conception, the Vatican Observatory doesn’t set the date of Easter. (We don’t cast horoscopes for the Pope, or evangelize UFOs, either.) But since Pope Gregory’s reform of the calendar in 1582 marked the beginning of the Vatican’s support for astronomy, we have a historical connection. Our calendars have always been marked by a confusion of days, planets, and gods. Even today, our week begins with the Sun’s day, followed by the Moon’s day and ending with Saturn’s Day. The month (think, “moonth”) was originally based on the 29.5 day period of the Moon, … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – March 5, 2019

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This entry is part 85 of 88 in the series In the Sky This Week

Planets are splashed across the south-southeastern predawn sky all week. With each morning, Venus and Saturn spread a little farther apart – Saturn getting a little higher and moving to the south, and Venus moving towards the east. Mercury can be seen very low in the western sky at dusk this week. Look quick! Mercury will only be visible for a couple days, and will get dimmer with each passing day. For an observing challenge, try to spot Mercury and a very thin crescent Moon on March 7th at 6:46 PM! Mars and Uranus are high in the west-southwestern sky before midnight; Mars will slowly move away from Uranus all month. The Moon will appear very near Mars on Mar. 11th! The Rosette Nebula The spectacular Rosette Nebula, a glowing hydrogen-rich cloud, is located some 4,700 light-years away toward the constellation of Monoceros (the Unicorn). In the middle of the nebula shines the open star cluster NGC 2244, full of … Continue reading →

Annie Jump Cannon: Two Books

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Annie Jump Cannon was an astronomer with Harvard Observatory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  She was one of a number of women who were hired by Edward Pickering, the director of the observatory at that time.  Cannon’s specialty was stars and their spectra.  She worked on the Henry Draper catalog of stars, and she is the one who developed the OBAFGKM classification system for stars (O stars being the hottest, M being the coolest).  If you know that the sun has a spectral type G, or that Rigel is a type B, you are referencing Cannon’s classification system. But Cannon was the author of another book besides the Henry Draper catalog.  When she was in her late 20’s she went to Spain to photograph an eclipse of the sun.  Cannon had received a degree in physics from Wellesley college.  After graduation she had returned home, where she taught herself photography, tutored students in math and history, and … Continue reading →

Across the Universe: Japan

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This entry is part 61 of 178 in the series Across the Universe

This column first ran in The Tablet in March 2011, soon after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan. We ran it here in 2015. This year we’re swapping March columns with February columns… I had wanted to follow up here on the results of the Hayabusa mission, which I have mentioned many times over the years in this column. This was the probe the Japanese Space Agency had sent to asteroid Itokawa, which touched the surface of that asteroid in late 2005. After overcoming a number of technical crises, including the failure of the system they’d devised to get chunks of rock into a sample canister, the probe actually succeeded in sending its sample return capsule to the Australia desert during the summer of 2010. Since the sampling system had failed, the most they could have hoped to recover were a few bits of dust inside the container. Their silence in the following months had led me to conclude that they had … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – February 26, 2019

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This entry is part 84 of 88 in the series In the Sky This Week

This summer’s nationwide library reading program, “A Universe of Stories,” coincides with NASA’s 60th anniversary, and the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. The Warren Astronomical Society (Michigan) has received multiple requests from libraries for summer speakers, astronomy programs and display case setups – and they’re still coming in! I’ve reached out to other astronomy clubs and volunteer NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassadors in southeastern Michigan for help covering all the outreach requests. If you are looking for speakers for this summer, Solar System Ambassadors in your state, and local astronomy clubs are a great resource. You can find many clubs and events listed on the NASA Night Sky Network site. Venus and Saturn continue to spread apart this week, and the waning crescent Moon appears very near several planets in the southeastern predawn sky. Mercury can be seen very low in the western sky at dusk this week. Mars and Uranus are high in the west-southwestern sky before midnight; … Continue reading →

Playing Chess With The Homeless

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Last weekend, the Gospel we reflected upon was Luke’s version of the Beatitudes. What makes Luke’s presentation of those who are blessed unique is his emphasis on the immediacy of those who are blessed in contrast to the Gospel of Matthew. Let’s take a look at a side by side comparison of the beatitudes from both Gospels. One way to approach these differing texts is to explore the subjective and objective nature of each. With Matthew’s beatitudes, they ring more subjectively, using broader language that can be applied in many ways, making it easier to reflect on questions like, “How am I called to be poor in spirit?” Luke, on the other hand, is radically objective, using language that begs an immediate recognition those who are blessed by God this very moment. Whether it be the stark use of “Blessed are you who are poor” or the insertion of the word “now” when we hear “blessed you who are now … Continue reading →

ⓜ Diary for February 25, 2019

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This entry is part 37 of 38 in the series Diary

(ⓜ = members only!) Back home in Tucson (and about to leave for another trip!)… The usual daily task is answering emails. But my emails tend to lead me down interesting rabbit holes: Giordano Bruno (I got two questions about him this week), what it’s like to attend a science fiction convention, and updates on book chapters both newly published and overdue… Two emails about book chapters, in fact: On behalf of Joseph W. Koterski, S.J. and Graham Oppy, I am pleased to announce the publication of Theism and Atheism: Opposing Arguments in Philosophyin both print and as an eBook. Citation information for the title is as follows: Joseph W. Koterski, S.J. and Graham Oppy, eds. Theism and Atheism: Opposing Arguments in Philosophy. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2019. I finally got to read the atheists’ arguments based on science. Um… I’m not convinced. At the same time I got another email reminding me that back in 2017 I had promised a … Continue reading →