Newbie’s Luck : Astronomy And Area Information

Participation of girls in physics and astronomy in an instructional setting: We all know that there are few ladies in physics and astronomy, but what does “few” imply? There are a number of good databases with numbers on this subject. The primary place I might recommend looking is the NSF, which maintains a set of tables on graduates and employment by area, sex, incapacity, race and ethnicity, citizenship, and year. The American Astronomical Association’s Committee on the Status of Women maintains an in depth set of hyperlinks to various studies and informational sources. The American Physical Society has some helpful information on its website.

The Roman word for the solar was “Sol” so our solar system has one thing to do with the sun. The sun is the center of the photo voltaic system which includes eight planets, a lot of planetoids, multiple hundred seventy moons, some comets, numerous asteroids, and other house objects that journey in paths across the solar. The sun is the most important object in our photo voltaic system, but it is a medium-sized star, and it’ll deplete its power and die in about 5 billion years!

The Hoba meteorite is the most important intact meteorite ever discovered. It has never been moved and is estimated to weigh over 60 tons. Scientists consider that, since it’s flat on prime and backside, the item might have skipped like a stone on water through the environment. That might help to elucidate why it didn’t cause an impression crater when it fell to Earth. The photo voltaic winds produced by the Solar extends to about 50AU, the place AU is the distancethe Earth to the Solar. Daylight takes 8 minutes to succeed in the Earth and is chargeable for the ocean currents and weather patterns on our planet.

I began my month by reading by way of the listing of “Stargazing Basics” articles on SkyAndTelescope.com Those articles are tremendous helpful and straightforward to understand. Simply read them. Or at the very least skim them. Find Local Astronomy Teams You’re reading a resource page dedicated to providing you with asteroid details. Data you need to use to study whether particular near Earth Objects are threats or not. While NASA tries to give essentially the most accurate data it may well, the press releases may be interpreted improperly by the press or misunderstood by the general public.

Stars make up galaxies corresponding to our personal galaxy, the Milky Manner. The Milky Means is one in every of many billions of galaxies in the identified universe. The Milky Approach alone comprises between 100 and four hundred billion stars. Galaxies are vast, gravitationally certain methods containing not only stars, but in addition nebulae, rogue planets (planets with out a host star) and varied different celestial bodies. They fall into three broad lessons described as elliptical, spiral and lenticular galaxies.

B.S. Option In Astronomy

Every summer the Nationwide Science Basis and NASA fund undergraduate analysis faculties at several sites around the United States. The packages range considerably from web site to site, but most convey together roughly a dozen undergraduates from around the country for a two to 3 month interval. College students work on individual analysis initiatives underneath the supervision of a senior scientist, and take part in group seminars and different activities. The applications pay a modest stipend and travel expenses. This can be atechnique to get hold of research experience early in your career, and to make contacts with different scientists and students from around the country.

Scholarship funds are available to incoming students majoring in Astronomy thanks to 2 endowed funds explicitlydesignated to support astronomy students, the Tombaugh Fund and the Harriet Johnson Scholarship Fund Particulars on each of those may be found at this website As well as,feminine majors in any departmental undergraduate diploma program are eligible for assist from the Badgely Scholarship Fund Scholarships for incoming freshmen within the Department of Physics and Astronomy often are awarded on the premise of the informationsubmitted as a part of the admissions course of. It is subsequently crucial that possible majors designate Physics and/or Astronomy as their probably main to be thought-about for these funds.

The division has an excellent library and a number of effectively-geared up laboratories and observatories, as well aspupil pc cluster for which college students can receive accounts. College, students, and workers access national supercomputers via the Web. The central machine shop is fully geared up and staffed by skilled instrument makers and machinists, and there are electronics and machine retailers to be used by superior students and analysis workers. The astronomy and astrophysics school have a reputation for glorious instructing. All of the programs taught in our department are taught by school actively engaged in astronomical research, not by graduate college students.

The Astronomy Department awards several undergraduate scholarships every tutorial 12 months. All scholarships are restricted to declared Astronomy majors, and supply support for two semesters. The variety of scholarships and the amount awarded varies from year to 12 months, however typically we make between 5 and 10 awards in amounts ranging from $500 to $2,500 per 12 months. College students who have acquired scholarships in earlier years are eligible to re-apply for one more award. Scholarship software forms are distributed to all Astronomy majors. Software deadlines are usually set for late March. Financial Assist: Instructing-Associated Job Alternatives

Undergraduates wishing to main inastrophysics must complete the next courses in the AstronomyDepartment: Non-obligatory Astro7A, 7B 1 1of: Astro120, 121 (lab course) 2of: Astro160, C161, C162 2 Required Upperdivision electives in order that the full is 30 items for a single major and24 models for a double major 3 Physics and astronomy majors find jobs in research and growth in excessive-tech industries, in engineering, and pc software/IT They go on to graduate college in all engineering fields, the physical or organic sciences, as well as to skilled faculties similar to medicine, regulation (especially patent regulation), and enterprise. They work in universities and authorities labs, observatories and planetariums.

Mystery Of Ancient Astronomical Calculator Unveiled

The final fate of the star relies on its mass, with stars of mass greater than about eight instances the Solar turning into core collapse supernovae ; sixty three whereas smaller stars type planetary nebulae , and evolve into white dwarfs sixty four The remnant of a supernova is a dense neutron star , or, if the stellar mass was at the very least three times that of the Solar, a black gap sixty five Close binary stars can observe more complicated evolutionary paths, similar to mass transfer onto a white dwarf companion that may potentially cause a supernova.

By cautious thinking based upon observation, some ancient Greeks realized that it was attainable to seek out regularities and patterns hidden in nature and that these regularities had been the important thing to unlocking the secrets and techniques of the universe. It turned evident that even nature needed to obey sure guidelines and by figuring out those guidelines one might predict the behaviour of nature. Many historic calendars are based mostly on the cycles of the Sun or Moon. The Hellenic calendar included these cycles. A lunisolar calendar based mostly on both cycles is tough. Some Greek astronomers labored out calendars based on the eclipse cycle Eudoxan astronomy edit

The event of astronomy by the Greek and Hellenistic astronomers is taken into account by historians to be a significant part within the history of astronomy Greek astronomy is characterized from the beginning by looking for a rational, physical explanation for celestial phenomena. 1 A lot of the constellations of the northern hemisphere derive from Greek astronomy, 2 as are the names of many stars and planets. It was influenced by Babylonian and, to a lesser extent, Egyptian astronomy ; in flip, it influenced Indian , Arabic-Islamic and Western European astronomy. Archaic Greek astronomy edit

A couple of mathematicians of Late Antiquity wrote commentaries on the Almagest , together with Pappus of Alexandria in addition to Theon of Alexandria and his daughter Hypatia Ptolemaic astronomy became commonplace in medieval western European and Islamic astronomy till it was displaced by Maraghan , heliocentric and Tychonic programs by the sixteenth century. Nevertheless, not too long ago found manuscripts reveal that Greek astrologers of Antiquity continued utilizing pre-Ptolemaic strategies for his or her calculations (Aaboe, 2001). Affect on Indian astronomy edit Hipparchus of Rhodes” Faculty of Arithmetic and Statistics, University of St Andrews, Scotland. Archived from the unique on 23 October 2007 Retrieved 28 October 2007

A robust side of science is that it goals to detach itself from notions with specific use and appears for common principles with broad purposes. The more basic science becomes the more summary it’s and has more purposes. What the Greeks derived from Egyptian arithmetic have been primarily guidelines of thumbs with specific functions. Egyptians knew, for example, that a triangle whose sides are in a 3:four:5 ratio is a right triangle. This was true not just for the three:4:5 triangle, but it surely was a principle relevant to every other proper triangle, regardless of its dimensions.

Historical Astronomical Observatories Of India

By using fastened locations on the horizon, sailors memorized a whole lot of stars and were capable of determine their longitude and latitude to a excessive accuracy. By memorizing the positions, brightness, colours, and time of year that stars were seen, sailors have been equipped to navigate at any time throughout the yr. Stenger, Richard “Star sheds gentle on African ‘Stonehenge’” Archived from the unique on 12 July 2012. CNN. 5 December 2002. Retrieved on 30 December 2011. a b Scharringhausen, B. “Curious About Astronomy: What is the difference between astronomy and astrophysics?” Archived from the unique on 9 June 2007 Retrieved 20 June 2007

A solar wind of plasma particles always streams outward from the Solar until it reaches the heliopause This solar wind interacts with the magnetosphere of the Earth to create the Van Allen radiation belts , as well as the aurora the place the traces of the Earth’s magnetic field descend into the atmosphere fifty four Planetary science edit Sometime around one hundred fifty AD, the ideas of Anaximander and different Geocentric astronomers were collected and codified by the Roman astronomer Claudius Ptolemy. Because of this, the Geocentric model can also be generally called the Ptolemaic mannequin.

Equinoxes, solstices and eclipses had been a big part of aboriginal astronomy. These ideas had been frightening to the early peoples who didn’t actually understand why they were occurring. They didn’t realize that it was as simple as the solar, earth, and moon revolving and sometimes slipping into each other’s light path. However, many cultures additionally chose to have these items start their calendar years. For example, Persian’s New Year is well known. One of the most fascinating historical myths is the myth that existed in Persepolis at the time.

A robust aspect of science is that it aims to detach itself from notions with specific use and looks for basic rules with broad applications. The extra basic science turns into the more summary it is and has extra functions. What the Greeks derived from Egyptian mathematics have been mainly guidelines of thumbs with particular functions. Egyptians knew, for instance, that a triangle whose sides are in a 3:4:5 ratio is a proper triangle. This was true not only for the three:four:5 triangle, however it was a principle applicable to every other proper triangle, no matter its dimensions.

The Chinese have been observing the sky for a number of millennia, making them the oldest civilization with a steady astronomical report. A number of the wonderful records that the Chinese language hold is the first documented photo voltaic eclipse – over 4000 years in the past in 2136 B.C. The primary recording of any planetary grouping was made by the Chinese in 500 B.C. In the 400′s B.C. they made the E book of Silk , the earliest recognized atlas of comets, and it was found in a tomb in 1973. McKissack, Pat; McKissack, Frederick (1995). The royal kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: life in medieval Africa H. Holt. ISBN 978-zero-8050-4259-7

History Of The Leander J. McCormick Observatory

All of the visible objects have been seen to maneuver in circles around the Earth in a time constituting a ‘day’. The varied minor discrepancies among the planets have been accounted for by assuming further round motions superimposed upon the uniform each day rotation. The ‘fixed’ stars had been thus considered being carried round by the rotation of the ‘celestial sphere’ whose axis, since lots of them periodically ‘rose’ in the east and ‘set’ in the west, was held to be variously inclined to the surface of the Earth.

Babylonian astronomy was the premise for a lot of what was accomplished in Greek and Hellenistic astronomy, in classical Indian astronomy, in Sassanian Iran, in Byzantium, in Syria, in Islamic astronomy, in Central Asia, and in Western Europe.2 Answers to Global Warming Skeptics is a separate part in regards to the climate change debate occurring among the many general public. It’s not part of the common textbook. The part has been up to date, including the latest “taking place the up escalator” outcomes. Galactic astronomers examine our galaxy, the Milky Way, while extragalactic astronomers peer exterior of it to find out how these collections of stars type, change, and die.

For these observations we used solely 26 of ALMA’s eventual full complement of sixty six antennas. Indications of snow traces around different stars are already showing up in other ALMA observations, and we are satisfied that future observations with the complete array will reveal many extra of those and supply further, thrilling insights into the formation and evolution of planets. Simply wait and see ,” concludes Michiel Hogerheijde from Leiden Observatory, the Netherlands. Notes as canals constructed by an important, dying Martian civilization tocarry water from the poles to carry water to their crops. Later, images proved that the “canals” were merely an optical phantasm.

The Copernican Model of the Universe, while nonetheless incorrect, did three important things. It explained the prograde and retrograde motions of the planets. It took the Earth out of it’s spot as the center of the universe. And, it expanded the dimensions of the Universe. (In a geocentric mannequin, the size of the Universe is restricted in order that it will possibly revolve as soon as every 24 hours, or else the stars would get slung off resulting from centrifugal pressure. What’s darkish power and what number of types are there? – The telescope will instantly map area-time utilizing distant tracers to identify dominant types of vitality in the universe.

Were women ever allowed or inspired to be astronomers in historic occasions? Did the builders of Stonehenge incorporate into its structure an eclipse prediction system? How did the Mayan calculate the length of a 12 months with such accuracy without a computer? Members benefit from a range of quality publications, which Institutional members additionally obtain. And have access, by association, to our Sir Robert Ball Library in Birmingham. There are new featured sources highlighted at Curriki for the month of July, in math and science, and in social research and English language arts. See these pages on the Curriki website masking the 4 subject areas:

Society Of Novice Radio Astronomers

When the receiver is properly tuned, most of the time you may hearnothing however a gradual hiss. When a meteoroid produce an ionized path in the proper part ofthe sky, you’ll briefly hear the sign from the distant FM station. The signal may be soshort that you will hear a quick “ping”. Or you may hear a number of phrases or a fewmotes of music. Usually the mirrored sign will be as sturdy as a local station.

Detailed pre-launch specs offered by JPL for the CloudSat radar are given in the hyperlink at left called ” JPL Technical Information ” and a technically-informed discussion of CloudSat’s impression on ALMA is contained in the ALMA memo 504 linked just below that. This doc should function a template for understanding CloudSat in the radio-astronomical context. It additionally incorporates some illustrative examples of CloudSat’s orbit traits, based on the orbital components of the A-practice formation of satellites – already up – with which it can fly. The CloudSat home web page linked at the prime of this website also contains data on CloudSat.

Radio astronomers use totally different techniques to watch objects within the radio spectrum. Devices could merely be pointed at an brisk radio source to research its emission. To “picture” a region of the sky in additional element, a number of overlapping scans can be recorded and pieced collectively in a mosaic image. The type of instrument used is dependent upon the strength of the signal and the quantity of element wanted. Use of excessive-pace community links has additionally enabled “Target of Alternative” and “Fast Response” science, giving the flexibility to observe unexpected astronomical events such as supernova explosions and gamma ray bursts.

In case you have been an novice radiooperator or shortwave listener for some time, you most likely have already heard it; anunmistakable rush of soft static that sounds amazingly like waves crashing on a seashore.You probably didn’t know nevertheless, that this “interference” was not of earthlyorigin, slightly it originated at the least 500,000,000 miles away from us with the planetJupiter. This is in reality a misnomer. An amazing proportion of our scientificunderstanding of space has been derived by listening to area throughradio telescopes. The info we glean from listening to area is everybit as vital and essential to our comprehension of the Universeas more traditionally understood optical observation.

The results of this study indicated the existence of three forms of interference: brief download time from local time for downloads like distant, persistent wheezing from a mysterious supply of standard motion across the sky. Picture description: “Messier 87 (M87), an enormous elliptical galaxy within the Virgo Cluster as imaged in a wide area view from the HST.”) CFRARE is situated (presently) in Whitesboro, Texas, roughly 70 miles north of Dallas, Texas and in between Gainesville and Sherman, Texas. The Robert C. Byrd Inexperienced Bank Telescope is the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope. It has been in full-scale scientific operation since 2002.

International Astronomy Present Friday 17th May By Richard Bailey

The Looking Device: This tool is mainly connected to the Wiki Articles that present additional data on many topics mentioned in the textbooks. Once you search something, the search results are displayed in one in all two alternative ways. First, there’s a “Wikimap” that shows within the heart the article of most relevance to the search. The articles related around it, are also relevant, however may be sub-topics of the item that was searched.

This 8-hour course unit is a sequence of lectures masking the scale of the universe, objects that may be discovered within the universe and planet sizes. The unit ends with questions that students can use to check their information of the topics lined, along with an answer key. Astronomy at University of California – Berkeley That is my face page, yet to b completed i wish to add some paint, color and beads. i drew the tribal necklace from the Museum just to add a tribal facet. What’s unsuitable, Harry?” She requested in a breathy seductive voice. “Don’t you discover the thought of me without clothes enticing?”

Fraser: Astronomy Solid episode 288 for January 27 th , 2013, Phases of Matter. Welcome to Astronomy Cast our weekly fact primarily based journey by way of the cosmos. We hope you perceive not only what we all know, however how we know what we know. My title is Fraser Cane, I’m the writer of Universe Right this moment, and with me is Dr. Pamela Homosexual a professor at Southern Illinois College Edwardsville. Hey Pamela how are you doing? Houdini used to brag about going three and a half minutes underwater,” Mr. Blaine stated. “Take a look at how simply you beat Houdini.”

Fraser: So the last thing that I want to discuss is plaaaasma. The solar is, what is it, a miasma of incandescent plasma? No? It’s a “They Could be Giants” tune? These practice dummies,” Harry mentioned, “will protect themselves and send simulated spells at you as follow. In their arms are sticks to simulate wands. If you happen to manageto hit them with an expelliarmus, they may lose their wands. They will transfer to the correct and left and might duck. Try to not get hit with their simulated spells and to disable youropponent.”

A/N: When this chapter was originally posted, it ended right here with a ballot of my readers for which prank was the very best. I received lots of of votes from individuals with their favorites andmany gave reasoning for why one was higher than another. Their votes served because the voices in Harry’s head, telling him which one was finest when he sat right down to decide. If you’re learning astronomy don’t forget the ladies that made an influence in the subject. Try this record of wonderful achievements by women astronomers and astrophysicists: Historic:

Headed Canine, Goddess Lend Names To Pluto Moons

The apex of Greek astronomy was reached within the Hellenistic period by the Alexandrian faculty. Aristarchus (c.310–c.230 BC) determined the sizes and distances of the moon and solar relative to the earth and advocated a heliocentric (sun-centered) cosmology. Though there were errors in his assumptions, his strategy was actually scientific; his work was the primary serious attempt to make a scale model of the universe. The first accurate measurement of the actual (versus relative) size of the earth was made by Eratosthenes (284–192 BC).

Hipparchus lived around 127 BCE. He was Greek astronomer and mathematician. He found the precession of the equinoxes, calculated the size of the 12 months to inside 6.5 minutes, compiled the primary identified star catalog, and made an early formulation of trigonometry. His star catalog logged the positions of the stars in terms of celestial coordinates, listed about 850 stars, and specified their brightness by a system of six magnitudes, which appears similar to fashionable calculations. He correctly recorded the irregularity of the Moon’s motion that was as a consequence of its elliptical orbit. Hiscontribution to geography was his growth of latitude and longitude.

Greek and Hellenistic astronomers played a major position within the historic evolution of Western astronomy. Greek astronomy begins with a rational, logical, and physical clarification for outer area actions. Many of the constellations of the northern hemisphere are understood from Greek astronomy together with the names of many stars and planets. Although early Greek astronomy was influenced by Babylonian and Egyptian astronomy, it laid the foundation for growth of Indian, Arabic,and Western European astronomy. The Librarian Who Measured the Earth , by Kathryn Lasky (1994). An account of the life and work of Eratosthenes, who discovered the circumference of the earth. Explains how he did it. For youths.

Aristotle lived round 384 to 322 BCE. He was a Greek thinker and scientist whose ideas decided the course of Western intellectual history for two thousand years. He developed two causes for believing the planet Earth was round. First, when he observed a ship arriving over the horizon, its flagpole was initially seen, then its deck, and later your entire ship. Second, he noticed that the Earth’s shadow on the moon throughout a lunar eclipse was curved. He decided that only a spherical Earth may produce such a shadow. He proposed a geocentric (Earth-centered) photo voltaic system.

Whether or not we like it or not, the technical details of astronomy have influencedcosmology for the reason that time of the ancient Greeks. The basic two-sphere model (with extra circles or spheres for individuals who cared about planetary details) becamethe dominant cosmological model throughout the traditional Mediterranean and past.In the course of the Center Ages, Islamic and Christian students adopted this cosmology andincorporated it into their writings with solely minor modifications. (One important additionwas the placement of Heaven, the house of God and angels, simply past thesphere of the stars.) This world-view made its method into necessary literaturesuch as Dante’s Divine Comedy

Decoding The Historical Greek Astronomical Calculator Identified As The Antikythera Mechanism

Because the Renaissance was coming to and end, a German man namedJohannes Kepler (1571-1630), who believed Copernicus, startedlooking on the records of Brahe’s observations. Hediscovered that none of the ideas presented to this point about themotions of heavenly our bodies lined as much as the evidence in Brahe’srecords so he formulated his personal ideas. After seventeen years ofwork, he finally came up with the true motions of the planets andpublished them in two books in 1609 and 1619.

The geometric idea that underlies all historical and fashionable measurements of astronomical sizes and distances is angular measurement The angular size of an object is calculated from two measurements. The firstthe apparent measurement, which is decided just by holding up a ruler next to an object as you have a look at it. For instance, when you hold a ruler at arms’ size and measure the apparent measurement of the complete Moon, you’ll get something between 5 and eight mm, relying on the size of your arm.

What exactly Kepler did or didn’t do cropped up in one other publish this time on Chad Orzel’s Unsure Ideas blog. Chad wrote a pleasantin regards to the relative deserves of theoretical and experimental physics , mainly complaining accurately that individuals tend to underrate experimental physics. The misconceptions about seventeenth century astronomy turned up within the feedback column. Commentator Peter Morgan wrote: I actually wrote this post a few weeks in the past and have solely now obtained round to posting it. There are a couple of others in the pipeline, too.

Earlier than the invention of the telescope, trendy arithmetic, fashionable physics, and modern ways of science, historical civilizations have been nonetheless in a position to discover a tremendous quantity of details about astronomy. All the planets within the photo voltaic system except for Uranus , Neptune , and Pluto have been recognized to ancients. Historical Egyptians were ready to figure out how long a 12 months was primarily based upon the movements of the solar and the flooding of the Nile River.

He is also credited with inventing trigonometry , in an early example of the strong link between astronomy and arithmetic.Other discoveries attributed to him are measuring the apparent diameter of the sun and recognizing the significance of the star constellation Ursa Minor (The Little Bear), as a information to navigation for seafarers. Whilst troublesome to establish from the scattered records, plainly he believed that the earth was flat. Historic Astronomers: Anaximander of Miletus (C. 550 BCE) Aniaximander’s Universe. On the left, daytime in summer; on the best, night time in winter. (Artistic Commons)

Zooming To The Heart Of The Milky Manner — GigaGalaxy Zoom Phase 2

It needs to be noted that zoom binoculars for astronomy allow for far more than high magnification viewing. The zoom perform makes it quite simple to target an object that one wants to view. Astronomers know, finding an object within the sky is a time consuming job even if onewhen and where to look. Barska astronomy binoculars can be used at low energy to view a large part of the sky. The zoom can be adjusted and increased very effectively with the simple turn of a zoom lever which makes the job of focusing on an object in the evening sky an actual cinch.

Additional extensions would include integration with astrometry.net to mechanically locate and annotate uploaded pictures, and support for clipping out and downloading certain sections of a picture, to not mention group features like sharing with buddies, comments, and embedding in different pages. As for astronomy software, there are a wide range of astronomy software program which might be academic. Some of this software program is very designed for children, such as Sesame Road Ernie’s Adventures in House and Zoom Astronomy-Enchanted Studying Software. Astronomy information may also be found online. The European Southern Observatory, on it’s Gigagalaxy Zoom web page, has a zoomable 360 diploma panorama of the Milky Way galaxy on it.

For more information: The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment : First Detection of High-velocity Milky Method Bar Stars, Astrophysical Journal Letters , 755(2), L25, doi:10.1088/2041-8205/755/2/L25. JournalAstrophysical Journal Letters. A printable exercise worksheet through which the student reads a bar graph of the common temperatures of the planets to reply questions, for instance, “On common, is it warmer on Jupiter or Mars?” Or go to the answers Go to a pdf version of the worksheet Of the 6 EPs on check, only the SkyWatcher and the Baader showed no internal reflections at all, when viewing vivid objects.

The Soviet Sputnik house missions have been the primary to orbit the Earth. The phrase Sputnik means “Traveling Companion” in Russian. The primary Sputnik mission was launched on on October four, 1957; this was Earth’s first artificial satellite tv for pc. Sputnik 1 was about the dimension of a basketball, weighing roughly 183 kilos. It was despatched into an elliptical orbit across the Earth, revolving in about ninety eight minutes. Sputnik 2 was launched on November 3, 1957 with the canine Laika aboard. Sputnik 3 failed on February 3, 1958. The last Sputnik mission, Sputnik three was efficiently re-launched on Might 15, 1958 and remained in orbit for 2 years.

The solstices are days when the Solar reaches its farthest northern and southern declinations. The winter solstice occurs on December 21 and marks the start of winter (this is the shortest day of the yr). The summer season solstice occurs on June 21 and marks the beginning of summer time (this is the longest day of the yr). Saturn’s rings are seen edge on on this photo taken by Cassini in January 2011. Five of Saturn’s moons are seen within the image. See textual content under for his or her identities. Credit score: NASA/JPL/Area Science Institute

A Transient Historical past Of Astronomy

Nancy Atkinson is Universe Immediately’s Senior Editor. She also is the host of the NASA Lunar Science Institute podcast and works with the Astronomy Cast and 365 Days of Astronomy podcasts. Nancy can be a NASA/JPL Photo voltaic System Ambassador. Paper presentations and panel discussions lined topics from Kepler’s calculations and the four-hundredth anniversary of the telescope to “The Relations between Dutch Radio Astronomers and Their Soviet Colleagues through the Heyday of the Chilly Conflict,” by Astrid Elbers of the Leiden Observatory. JOST A MON : Science, history, math, journey, artwork and literature (amongst different subjects) collide in a single intriguing, eclectic weblog.

To scientifically clarify these observed motions, historical Greeks, culminating with Ptolemy, developed the primary scientific fashions. Ptolemy’s mannequin was geocentric. It placed Earth at the middle of the cosmos. Greekideas favored circles and spheres as perfect geometric figures. The ancient Greeks thought that celestial objects should be good spheres shifting in round paths at a uniform pace. All celestial objects therefore moved round Earth in paths consisting of combos of uniform round motions. Philadelphia Space Heart for History of Science : Be sure you transcend the blog for extra data on the history of science and different events which will enchantment to interested parties.

The best astronomer of antiquity was Hipparchus (190–one hundred twenty BC). He developed trigonometry and used it to determine astronomical distances from the noticed angular positions of celestial our bodies. He acknowledged that astronomy requires correct and systematic observations prolonged over long time periods. He due to this fact made great use of old observations, evaluating them to his personal. Many of his observations, particularly of the planets, have been meant for future astronomers. He devised a geocentric system of cycles and epicycles (a compounding of circular motions) to account for the movements of the sun and moon.

Ibn Sina was one of the best Muslim scientists that ever lived. He was so proficient in his talent that he had good command over Qur’anic study and numerous sciences by the age of 10. Ibn Sina is essentially the most famous physician, thinker, encyclopedist, mathematician and astronomer of his time. The seasons grew to become essential; during different occasions of the year, different stellar patterns appear in the sky. Within the spring, Virgo and her accompanying constellations signal the time to organize the earth, to plant crops, and to be wary of floods. In the fall, Orion rises to point time to harvest and to arrange for winter.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The books had been simply gorgeous, a e book person’s fantasy. The first few have been books about optics and lens grinding, all illustrated with stunning engravings and woodcuts. Then I discovered a few about microscopes, with illustrations of the tiny worlds hitherto invisible to the human eye, seen and knowable now solely due to the arrival of this new know-how. Opincon Pure History : The Queens College Organic Station in Ontario retains guests updated in regards to the natural phenomena in the space, especially with reference to their previous, current and doable future.

Up Star Photos Poke Holes In Century

The second of three photographs of ESO’s GigaGalaxy Zoom challenge has simply been released online. It’s a new and fantastic 340-million-pixel vista of the central components of our house galaxy as seen from ESO’s Paranal Observatory with an novice telescope. Transferring around the app shouldn’t be difficult, but it surely additionally just isn’t something that jumps out at you when first using the software. To maneuver your view around you can use both the mouse or arrow keys to pan the image. The Tele Vue Click-Stop Zoom accepts Tele Vue DIOPTRXastigmatism correction lenses. These allow eyeglass wearers to view withouttheir glasses, a characteristic that may very well be essential to some customers.

The solar year (additionally referred to as the tropical 12 months) is the period of time that passes between two consecutive returns of the solar to the vernal equinox In 1900, the solar year lasted three hundred and sixty five days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds (shorter than the sidereal yr ); the length of the photo voltaic yr is reducing zero.53 second per century ad the Earth slows down in its orbit. The outer planets include: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. They are principally large, mostly gaseous, ringed, and have many moons (plus Pluto, which is a dwarf planet that has one large moon and two small moons).

The new Gladiator zoom binoculars sequence by Barska are designed for amateurs in addition to professionals. The most powerful Gladiator zoom binoculars 20-140x80mm (Model AB11184) options 20-140x zoom magnification and a constructed-in tripod mounting put up for celestial viewing. At the most magnification of 140x that is the very best zoom power binocular that Barska has ever designed for astronomy. Order your very personal Gladiator Astronomy Zoom Binocular RIGHT THIS MOMENT!

For the sake of taking an image of stars, I’d need uncooked photos and less noise. For the moon, I’ve by no means had success with exposures over 1 second. It’s just too vibrant to want that. Likewise with Jupiter, a couple of 1 second exposure is fine in any other case Jupiter’s glare dwarfs its moons. Academic Films – 7 explanatory movies about probably the most fascinating pure phenomena such as the Solar eclipse, tides, Moon phases, season change, zodiac cycle and more with multilingual subtitles and voice-over in English Telescopes used within the take a look at have been a 12″ Dob – a 10″ newt – and a 80m ‘ ED ‘ refractor

In a information story released by the Hubble House Telescope Press Workplace, Perseus A is described as a “Erupting Magnetic Monster”. Plasma from the nucleus of NGC 1275 is being ejected out into the encompassing galaxy cluster and is forming large filaments that are then shaped by the magnetic fields of NGC 1275. These energetic filaments stretch out for over 20, 000 light years. The press launch continues to comment that it has been a problem for astronomers to know how the delicate structures withstood the hostile, excessive-vitality environment of the galaxy cluster for over one hundred million years.

David Lee Summers’ Internet Journal

In 1960 A.C. Crombie was optimistic. 1 After more than a century of neglect, historiography had once again turned its consideration to the historical past of science as an necessary part of civilization alongside social and intellectual history. In line with Crombie, this represented a return to the origins of recent historiography first developed in the 18th century. “Classically educated historians” focused on political and constitutional historical past, excluding topics not traditionally considered a part of the humanities.

Cosmologists deal with the universe in its entirety, from its violent start within the Huge Bang to its present evolution, all the way in which to its eventual death. Astronomy is commonly (not at all times) about very concrete, observable things, whereas cosmology sometimes entails giant-scale properties of the universe and esoteric, invisible and typically purely theoretical issues like string concept , darkish matter and darkish power , and the notion of a number of universes. The group is at all times a very combined group,” Dowd says, adding that some 50 folks attended this year. “Historians of astronomy come from completely different backgrounds. You’ve bought a number of different kinds of people.”

The Egyptians built their monuments pointing within the cardinal instructions and used them to replicate essential celestial occurrences revealing the time of 12 months. Additionally they developed a sophisticated calendar, albeit with numerous complexity and the need to run three separate calendars.This may appear unusual to us, however the concept of a number of calendars is a solution that the Mayans arrived at independently. In truth, we use a number of calendars, with the Islamic world sustaining a lunar calendar quite than the solar calendar of the Western world, and Orthodox Christian Churches use the Julian calendar to determine ceremonial dates.

Michael Hoskin taught Historical past of Astronomy at Cambridge College for thirty years and was head of the Department of Historical past and Philosophy of Science. He’s a Fellow of Churchill College and Emeritus Fellow of St Edmund’s College, Cambridge. In 1970 he based the Journal for the Historical past of Astronomy , which he has edited ever since. He is a former President of the Historical past of Astronomy Fee of the Worldwide Astronomical Union, and the only historian to have given an Invited Discourse to the Union. In 2002 the Union named Minor Planet 12223 ‘Hoskin’ in his honor.

All that is set out by Smith with solely relatively minor historical inaccuracies; however he does not right here make clear that the ‘constant and equable motions’ reported by dependable commentators to have been demanded by Plato had been in reality uniform angular motion in completely circular paths. Nor, although he has his personal view as to the human urge to see coherence and a continuous chain in pure phenomena, does he touch upon Plato’s postulatesflat opposition to the evidence of the senses, except in respect of the daily revolution.

History Of Astronomy In Hawaii

How typical is our photo voltaic system? What are planetary techniques round different stars like ? – The telescope will look at very many nearby stars from young to old. Spectroscopic analysis of planets will help determine composition and atmosphere. Imaging of outer planets and asteroids in our photo voltaic system will complement future area missions. Evaluation of the distortion reveals that a number of the distant star-forming galaxies are as vibrant as forty trillion (40 million million) Suns, and that gravitational lensing has magnified this by up to 22 times.

You’ll discover more particulars inside this website, and contacts if you want to discover out extra – why not join us? Quigley’s Cupboard : Author Christine Quigley might hold a fascination with morbidity, but she shares some incredibly insightful research on life.revolve around journey, pure history, biology, fossils and extra. Island Nature : Through vivid photography and painstaking analysis, the passionate Dave Ingram shares the natural historical past of Vancouver Island. Loads of updates made to many of the chapters, particularly the asteroid/comet/exoplanets, other galaxies, cosmology, and further-terrestrial life chapters as part of updating the hardcopy edition that came out in the summer of 2013.

The importance of this essay to modern students lies mainly in the preamble and the first three sections; these comprise an announcement and elaboration of the chief ‘principles’ that Smith believed to ‘lead and direct philosophical enquiries’. But by 1758 a scholar would have been better suggested to read Jean–Étienne Montucla’s Histoire des mathématiques (written by the way within the enlightened spirit characteristic of the young Adam Smith) which by 1802 had been revised and extended by Jérôme de Lalande. The first historical past of astronomy still used as an essential work of reference was accomplished by Jean–Baptiste–Joseph Delambre in 1827.

One in all his well-known discoveries is that he precisely decided the solar year as being 365 days, 5 hours, 46 minutes and 24 seconds. He additionally decided that the longitude of the sun’s apogee had elevated since Ptolemy by 16o, forty seven’, implying discoveries of the motion of the photo voltaic apsides and of a sluggish variation within the equation of time. Here are only a few of the ‘Greats’ in relation to medicine, algebra (named for the man himself), philosophy, astronomy, non secular understandings, history, arithmetic, geography and more. Take a look.

As a Christian, I believe the Biblical account of creation as initiated by God who exists outdoors of time and called all things into being by the power of His Word. The Bible states that God simply spoke to the darkness and lightweight burst forth. But while that’s all tremendous and dandy, it hardly satisfies our human need to know why and how the universe began. We are able to conceive the “why”. As a result of God commanded it so. But I need to understand how that occurred and what that seemed like!

What Occur?!: Chinese language Astrology

An Egyptian astronomical curiosity can be detected in the alignment of their temples and pyramids, however not often on the extent of sophistication seen in Mesopotamia. The ceilings of royal tombs from the Center Kingdom on, for example within the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, include drawings that might be described as simple celestial maps, yet with the partial exception of their solar calendar it doesn’t appear to have occurred to them to seek for any deeper clarification of what they noticed. The Egyptians “seem to have produced no systematic information of planetary movements, eclipses, or other phenomena of a plainly irregular type.”

Anaximander judged eclipses to be the results of blockage of the apertures in rings of celestial fire. Based on the thinker Heraclitus, the heavenly our bodies are bowls full of hearth, and an eclipse happens when the open aspect of a bowl turns away from us. David C. Lindberg elaborates in his accessible guide The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Custom in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, Prehistory to A.D. 1450 : Yunli Shi (January 2003), “The Korean Adaptation of the Chinese-Islamic Astronomical Tables”, Archive for History of Exact Sciences ( Springer ) fifty seven (1): 25–60 26, doi : 10.1007/s00407-002-0060-z , ISSN 1432-0657

Scientific thought has appeared throughout history and all around the world, however it’s clear that the scientific enterprise loved more success in some areas and time periods than in others. The explanations for this are totally unclear. What elements of culture, economics, and philosophy have an effect on the rise scientific thought? The Babylonian tradition, for example, didn’t permit deviation of any sort from custom or typical follow. Such a culture is perhaps anticipated to hinder the progress of science, but science and arithmetic flourished there.

After offering beginning details through the first visit, the shopper is requested to return a few days in a while the pretext that it will take time to seek out his horoscope among the many hundreds held by the astrologer. While the shopper is away, the astrologer, primarily based on the information supplied by the shopper, writes his or her horoscope on a recent palm leaf and soaks it in a slurry of coconut kernels and mango bark, each of that are rich in tannin.

Vai ṣṇ avatradition indicates that the jyotiṣa śāstra isindigenous to Vedic culture, and this is supported by the very fact thatthe astronomical siddhāntas do not acknowledge overseas sourcematerial. The trendy scholarly view that each one essential points ofIndian astronomy were transmitted to India from Greek sources istherefore tantamount to an accusation of fraud. Although students ofthe present day do not typically declare this openly in theirpublished writings, they do declare it by implication, and theaccusation was explicitly made by the primary Indologists in the earlynineteenth century. Historical Chinese astronomical devices on average with a coordinate system equator set up fixed star positions, while the Western world with photo voltaic street system.

Columbian Metropolis Constructed By The Mayan

The Mayans handed on much of their astronomical observations and different knowledge to later cultures. Much of the Mayan information was lost, nevertheless, after Spanish priests burned a lot of the Mayan manuscripts in 1562 as a result of they believed them to be sacrilegious. Certainly one of three priceless Mayan manuscripts that also survive is a file of solar eclipses, the motions of Venus, and different astronomical information. A number of the main observatories of Mesoamerica have survived to the current day and will be visited. The discovery was made in a small, sub-surface dwelling located in Xultún, Guatemala — one of many largest Maya archaeological sites on Earth.

From the Maya , we now have the numbers that present one of many better of their many discoveries about the rhythms of the sky, however we have no account of the emotion the astronomer-monks or the widespread people felt as soon as they observed an eclipse. You’ll be able to be taught additional about What may occur on 2012 on the author site.

There are quite a few other improbable and exciting things to find out contained in the night time sky. Nearly all of these objects have again tales and legends hooked up to them which are often as fascinating and wondrous because the our bodies by themselves. One requirements only to consider a look exterior during the evening to determine simply how wonderful a gift weve received been supplied. CAV: The secret of the Mayan Calendar lies in its simplicity, its numbers describe cycles of stars transferring through the photo voltaic path. Its logic tracks the quickest and brightest bodies first, then the slower and less vivid.

The two fundamental calendars had been a ceremonial calendar (The Tzolk’in), a 260-day calendar of 13 numbers and 20 day names, and the obscure calendar (The Haab), of 12 months. This calendar had 18 months of 20 days, with a 5-day month added at the end of the year. The reason that they used 20 days for a month is essentially based upon their vigesimal numeric system, which is a base twenty system versus our base ten decimal system.

However there may be one fascinating astronomical alignment. On December 21, the solar will reach its lowest level within the sky for the Northern Hemisphere whereas it’s in entrance of a darkish rift in the Milky Way and immediately between Earth and the Milky Method Galaxy’s heart. This alignment has been in place for several years, but is commonly cited by the doomsday prophets. The black hole near the galactic heart has the same impact on us at the moment as it does on any day.

Astronomer Conversation Collection Premiers Monday

When the receiver is properly tuned, most of the time you will hearnothing but a gradual hiss. When a meteoroid produce an ionized path in the best half ofthe sky, you may briefly hear the sign from the distant FM station. The signal could also be soshort that you’ll hear a quick “ping”. Or chances are you’ll hear a number of words or a fewmotes of music. Typically the reflected signal will likely be as strong as an area station.

Radio telescopes are used to measure broad-bandwidth continuum radiation in addition to spectroscopic features resulting from atomic and molecular traces found in the radio spectrum of astronomical objects. In early radio telescopes, spectroscopic observations were made by tuning a receiver throughout a sufficiently giant frequency range to cowl the assorted frequencies of interest. This process, however, was extraordinarily time-consuming and enormously restricted observations. Modern radio telescopes observe concurrently at a large number of frequencies by dividing the indicators up into as many as several thousand separate frequency channels that may vary over a total bandwidth of tens to tons of of megahertz.

My aim for this challenge was to detect Cassiopeia A Cassiopeia A is the strongest radio source aside from the Sun in the sky and is about eleven,000 mild years from Earth. What’s funny about this supernova remnant is that it is rather exhausting to see visually. Solely very long exposures could make this nebula out yet it is extremely vivid in the radio spectrum! Right here is certainly one of my first profitable recordings of Cassiopeia A. It was taken on November the fifteenth, 2008.

The temperature of the radio telescope, its reflector, and its receiver are all sources of noise with which the observer must contend. Since every thing with a temperature above absolute zero provides off electromagnetic noise in one form or one other, and the truth that what a radio telescope ‘sees’ is basically electromagnetic noise, the radio telescope needs to be highly selective and reject as much superfluous noise as doable. However, in this Reddit submit patchvonbraun explains that the Funcube’s much smaller bandwidth is problematic, and so the rtl-sdr may very well be higher fitted to radio astronomy.

The aim is the same as for any otherscientific investigation. That’s, to examine the universe, make any discoverypossible and let your work be known. That is accomplished by patient, methodicaldata taking, cautious analysis with out private bias, and the publicationof the consequence. For newbie radio astronomers, the SARA Journal is one mediumfor publication. Photo voltaic activity performs a serious position in radio communications. We feature out experiments on numerous wavelengths analyzing the relationship between Solarand Radio Communications. In addition we also experiment with radio wave meteor scatter and sometimes communicate with other radio stations over thousands of miles utilizing these mirrored radio waves.

The Quest For A Residing World

It’s completely beautiful that we find such an infinite number of younger stars up to 140,000 gentle-years away from the middle of M83,” mentioned Frank Bigiel of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany, lead investigator of the brand new Galaxy Evolution Explorer observations. For comparability, the diameter of M83 is just 40,000 light-years across. Working with the future occupants of the area, the design staff was finally capable of advocate modifications to office and lab equipment that can scale back energy use by 60-plus percent over typical tools in a facility like the Robinson + Linde Laboratory. Fuel Cells and Chemical-Sniffing Fume Hoods

Throop Faculty of Technology, in Pasadena California has just lately afforded a hanging illustration of one way by which the Analysis Council can safe co-operation and advance scientific investigation. This institution, with its able investigators and glorious research laboratories, could possibly be of great service in any broad scheme of cooperation. President Scherer, hearing of the formation of the council, instantly supplied to participate in its work, and with this object, he secured within three days an additional research endowment of 100 thousand dollars. 15 Into being an excellent astronomer,” Hawley famous, “Roger additionally is a good man to work with – each extraordinarily vibrant and easygoing.”

Observe : The other authors on the The Astrophysical Journal Complement Series paper, “ Retired A stars and their companions VII. Eighteen new Jovian planets ,” embrace former Caltech undergraduate Christian Clanton, Caltech postdoctoral scholar Justin Crepp , and 9 others from the Institute for Astronomy on the University of Hawaii; the College of California, Berkeley; the Heart of Excellence in Information Systems at Tennessee State College; the McDonald Observatory at the University of Texas, Austin; and the Pennsylvania State College. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and NASA.

Don’t count on the planet names to be something like Star Trek. There is no Rigel VII, Vulcan or Sigma Iotia II. Shockley, whose role as coinventor of the transistor would win him a share of the 1956 Nobel Prize in physics, succeeded in luring a various group of accomplished scientists, including Moore, to the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory, in Palo Alto, California. He then proceeded to antagonize and alienate enough of them to inspire an exodus.” Hillary Bhaskaran (2002 (from Quantity 36, Quantity 2)). “Calibrating Gordon Moore” Caltech News. Occasions Increased EducationUniversity Rankings – Top 50 Engineering and Technology Universities” Times Increased Education 2011 Retrieved January 21, 2012

Professor Crawley ‘s lab was only shown as soon as, it has rows of tables with glass cages on them featuring all types of different insects, bugs and arachnids. Professor Crawley was compelled to depart the lab when his funding was minimize off to go live together with his daughter in Oxnard. So it is unknown what’s of the lab at the moment (however it is strongly steered that the Physics Division took over the Lab after he left). The door has indicators that read AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY and ENTOMOLOGY DIVISION.

Analysis And Assets On Chinese Astronomy

Aristarchus, Timocharis and Aristyllus have been three astronomers who all worked at Alexandria and their lives actually overlapped. Aristyllus was a pupil of Timocharis and in Maeyama 23 analyses 18 of their observations and reveals that Timocharis observed around 290 BC while Aristyllus noticed a technology later round 260 BC. He additionally reports an astounding accuracy of 5′ for Aristyllus’ observations. Maeyama writes 23:- Penston, Margaret J. (14 August 2002). “The electromagnetic spectrum” Particle Physics and Astronomy Analysis Council. Archived from the original on 8 September 2012 Retrieved 17 August 2006

From a distinction in length of shades, and also several experiments it may receive diploma of curvature of the Earth. Having made a binding to distance between two monuments, it could not give a rough estimate of the sizes of the Earth. (From theof its preliminary measurement of distance between two monuments had been misguided. The scale of the Earth counted by it has appeared is simply too small, the error in an error has made 40 %). The scientist used the same experiences for a distance estimation between the Sun and the Earth, the Moon and the Earth.

In the 4th Century BC, Plato, and his student Aristotle, wrote a number of essential treatises concerning the Geocentric Model of the Photo voltaic System. In line with Plato, the Earth was a stationary sphere at the centre of the universe. He additionally believed that the sun, moon and planets orbited the Earth on individual spheres, which he believed explained the round movement of the stars and planets. The name also occurs to be shared by the Roman god of volcanoes but the Roman god just isn’t intently associated with Pluto, it stated.

That’s it for this week. Remember, in the event you observe under gentle polluted skies like we do, try to get out after eleven:00 PM native time when some businesses flip off their indicators and visitors is all the way down to a minimal. There’s fact within the saying “it’s at all times darkest before the daybreak”. Try to observe when your goal objects are straight overhead, on the Zenith. That is at all times the darkest a part of the sky.

Hesiod, who wrote within the early seventh century BC, provides the star Arcturus to this listing in his poetic calendar Works and Days Although neither Homer nor Hesiod got down to write a scientific work, they trace at a rudimentary cosmology of a flat earth surrounded by an ” Ocean River” Some stars rise and set (disappear into the ocean, from the point of view of the Greeks); others are ever-seen At certain instances of the 12 months, sure stars will rise or set at dawn or sunset. To not be confused with Astrology , the idea system claiming that celestial phenomena are synchronous with the lives and behavior of people.

Patti Carroll: Extraterrestrials Or Transients? The New Age Of Radio Astronomy And The Race To Shed Gentle On The Cosmic Daybreak

Allen Telescope Array -The design of the ATA was funded by philanthropists Paul G. Allen and Nathan P. Myhrvold in July 2000. Paul Allen was co-founding father of Microsoft with Invoice Gates, and Myhvold the director of strategic planning for Microsoft. The ATA will consist of 350 individual 20-foot antennas linked to form the equivalent of a single massive antenna and will exchange the BIMA telescopes at the moment situated at the observatory. The present schedule requires completion of the telescope array by December 2005.

I have had quite a lot of bother getting the CATV tuner to produce a sign on its IF output pin. The IF pin is used because the signal output from the CATV tuner which is then AM demodulated utilizing a 1N34A germanium diode and DC amplified using a INA122 instrumentation amplifier. The amplified DC sign is then fed into a recorder. This is the usual configuration for a basic radio telescope.

Of the numerous satellite orbit prediction programs accessible, some are very precise however others are extraordinarily poor. One of the precise is “TrakStar” which is offered from the Celestrak website online; for an index to this and lots of other programs, together with in some instances source code, click on here or comply with the celestrak links on the left facet of this page. Tools at varied ranges for various platforms are additionally linked on the AMSAT dwelling page. CloudSat orbiting, radar operates 2 June 06, see CloudSat dwelling web page , &/or use hyperlinks at left right here for orbit & overpass info

The seen colors, infrared, radio, X-rays and gamma rays are all types of light and comprise the electromagnetic spectrum. Here you can compare their wavelengths with familiar objects and see how their frequencies (bottom numbers) improve with decreasing wavelength. Credit score: ESA Essentially the most significant was the use in 1998-2003 of Jodrell bank , and its 76m Lovell radio telescope, in Mission Phoenix This was a seek for alerts from about 1,000 close by stars. Organised – and paid for – by the Seti Institute in California, it ultimately discovered nothing.

No maintenance required. By use of CFRARE services, Observers don’t have the fee and maintenance of their very own gear. CFRARE handles all restore/maintenance/updating of equipment and software on the distant facilities. CFRARE will totally maintain the research facility and be obtainable on web site for any service required. Different institutions participating on this research are: Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Germany; the INAF-Cagliari Astronomical Observatory and the Cagliari Observatory and University, Italy; Swinburne College of Technology, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Analysis Organization, the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics and Curtin College, all in Australia; and West Virginia University, Morgantown.