Wed December 8, 10
Quiescent volcanic activity on Io in November 2010
On the first half-nights of November 29 and 30 UT, telescope time with the W.M. Keck II telescope and its Adaptive Optics (AO) was granted to us. The goal of this observation program was to search and study multiple asteroids. Since Jupiter was close to its opposition and observable at the beginning of the night, [...]
Wed December 1, 10
Three months without a post…
It has been almost three months that I did not post anything on this blog. My last post written on September 9 was about the moving to a new location of the SETI Institute. I am happy to say that the moving is now completely finalized. We are back!
While the institute was closed for a month, [...]
Thu November 18, 10
We do not understand nature, we measure it
The Great Debate is over. In the next days you will be able to see it here. Although I had plenty of urgent things to do, I could not resist to follow the live blog by Marcel Pawlowski and Andreas Küpper, who kept reporting and answering questions for the whole duration of the debate. It [...]
COBE turns 21
Today (18 Nov) marks 21 years since the COBE launch. 21st birthdays in the US are often marked by binge drinking. So we could have a joke:
Spacecraft walks into a bar, and says “Bartender, I just turned 21.”
Bartender: “Great, what’ll you have?”
Spacecraft: “Give me 700 liters of liquid helium.”
The Great Debate is Now!!
The Kroupa/White Debate on Dark Matter just started! See the live blog here.
The Great Debate is Today!
Today is THE day. Marcel Pawlowski just informed me that there will be a live blog, reporting on the White/Kroupa debate in Bonn. You can have a look, for instance, at what they already wrote here. The debate will be filmed by a local TV, and later on the footage will be made available online. [...]
Wed November 17, 10
The Great Debate is tomorrow!
Tomorrow Pavel Kroupa and Simon White will publicly debate on Dark Matter. The Colloquium is going to be held at the University of Bonn, in the context of the Bethe Lectures. As far as I understand from Pavel, it will be videotaped, but there will be no live broadcast.
For your convenience, here is a summary [...]
Mon November 15, 10
Exploring Solar System from classroom
Last week, langitselatan went to Tunas Unggul kindergarten and elementary school to teach astronomy for the students.
Because we had 2 different level of students from kindergarten and 2nd grade of elementary school, we decided to have 2 different class and session. So the kindergarten students starts with astronomy class and the elementary school students [...]
Sun November 14, 10
Pesta Blogger, National Blogger Gathering in Indonesia
Pesta blogger (blogger party) is a big vent for blogger in Indonesia. This is a blogger gathering around the country since 2007. At the first Pesta Blogger, the information and communication minister announce October 27th as blogger day in Indonesia. This year, the blogger party opened by Education minister.
In 2010, pesta blogger (PB) held [...]
PSB Singapore School Star Party
Last month, on October 28th, we had a chance to have starparty and astronomy session with PSB Singapore School students for 7 grade level. It was our first time to have a starparty with international school in Indonesia. And it was fun indeed.
PSB Singapore school was in their lesson trip from Jakarta to Bandung, [...]