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Book Review: The Georgian Star, by Michael D. Lemonick

Reviewed by Todd Stelling, Endicott College

September 6, 2018 · Galactic and Extragalactic Astronomy
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If you have never heard of the Herschels, then you are missing out on the most important astronomers of the 18 th and 19 th Century. William Herschel, discoverer of Uranus, together with his able and dedicated sister Caroline and his erudite son John revealed the Milky Way and its diverse contents as never before. Through careful visual observations with their giant telescopes, this dynastic dynamo bore witness to a multitude of dancing double stars, incandescent nebulae, and the Milky Way itself. Today, we inherit from them the picture of a disk-like galaxy which contains our Solar System and countless other stellar systems. This book review by Endicott College student Todd Stelling provides a fine introduction to Michael Lemonick’s lively portrait of the Herschels and their cosmic discoveries.

A Day at Wadi Elhitan

May 23, 2018 · Galactic and Extragalactic Astronomy
Alaa Ibrahim Nov 2009

 For several years, Prof. Alaa Ibrahim (Observatory Director at the Zewail City of Science and Technology) has been taking his students out of the teeming metropolis of Giza and into the deep desert.  Their destination, Wadi Al-Hitan National Park, is best known for its amazing fossils of ancient whales that roamed this area some 40 million years ago, when much of Egypt was completely under water.  The remoteness of this site also endows the place with night skies that are essentially free of light pollution.  For many of Prof. Ibrahim’s students, this venture into the desert was their first opportunity to view planets, constellations, and the Milky Way in a pristine dark sky.  With the aid of large portable telescopes that were deployed on-site, they also got to view star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies.  These combined experiences were in many ways transformative to the students.  I hope that you will find their personal reflections (below) as heartwarming and inspiring as I do. – William H. Waller

Lucky Planet: Why Earth is Exceptional – and What That Means for Life in the Universe

Book Review

October 8, 2017 · Cosmochemistry and Astrobiology
Twombley_Profile

 Humankind has pondered the idea of life existing beyond our solar system for many generations. Recent discoveries of “earthlike” planets have re-energized these speculations. But what makes Earth perfect for life, and what does that mean for extraterrestrial life? Lucky Planet by David Waltham addresses these questions.

Collected Dispatches from the International Astronomical Union’s 29th General Assembly in Honolulu, HI – August 2015

William H. Waller

August 27, 2015 · Galactic and Extragalactic Astronomy
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The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is the largest astronomical organization in the world.  Every 3 years, the IAU convenes a General Assembly somewhere on the planet.  This year, the General Assembly took place in Honolulu, HI for the first time ever. 

The Multi-armed Milky Way

Ronald Drimmel

August 27, 2015 · Galactic and Extragalactic Astronomy
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How the Earth Got its Water

William H. Waller Ph.D.

May 6, 2015 · Cosmochemistry and Astrobiology
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 Water has been identified in the most uncanny of places – as vapors in the nebulae that roam our Milky Way Galaxy, as ices in the protoplanetary disks that surround many protostars, and as liquids below the icy crusts of the Jovian moons Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. In 2005, the Cassini spacecraft imaged geysers of liquid water erupting from the surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The liquid form of water is especially important to biotic processes, as it provides an essential solvent for making the sundry hookups and energy transfers that are necessary to life.

Musical Explorations of the Messier Catalogue of Star Clusters and Nebulae

Bruce Lazarus

February 8, 2014 · Galactic and Extragalactic Astronomy
B_Lazarus Headshot

“It does not do harm to the mystery to know a little about it. For far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined it. Why do the poets of the present not speak of it?” — Richard Feynman (1918 – 1988)

How to Talk to Aliens

Tony Reichhardt

November 30, 2013 · Galactic and Extragalactic Astronomy
Elliott-flash

 

The Magic of Comet Hunting

David H. Levy, Jarnac Observatory

November 29, 2013 · Solar System Exploration
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Our Elusive Milky Way

William H. Waller Ph.D.

August 21, 2013 · Galactic and Extragalactic Astronomy
bill

 For 25 years as an astronomy educator, I have informally polled hundreds of students, teachers, and the general public regarding their awareness of the night sky. Invariably, no more than 25 percent have ever seen the Milky Way with their own eyes.

Naked-eye Exoplanet Host Stars

Michael Deneen Ph.D. & William H. Waller Ph.D.

June 20, 2013 · Galactic and Extragalactic Astronomy
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 Reports of new exoplanets are an almost daily occurrence. But how many can you point to in the night sky? The authors have put together a table of a few dozen naked-eye host stars for you to share.

Cosmochemistry and Astrobiology

William H. Waller Ph.D.

June 9, 2013 · Cosmochemistry and Astrobiology
Waller

 

Interstellar Communications

William H. Waller Ph.D.

June 9, 2013 · Galactic and Extragalactic Astronomy
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Galactic and Extragalactic Astronomy: an Introduction

William H. Waller Ph.D.

May 29, 2013 · Galactic and Extragalactic Astronomy
Waller

 Amateur telescopes can reveal thousands of other galaxies in those sections of the sky that are sufficiently far from the Milky Way’s congested disk. The digital images of elliptical, spiral, irregular, and interacting galaxies that these “citizen scientists” can now obtain surpass the best images obtained professionally just 25 years ago. 

Aerospace Astrobiology Atmosphere Carbon comets Diversity DNA Earth Exoplanets H20 Harvard College Observatory Herschel Light Pollution mars messier milky way NASA Orbits Oxygen Parallax solar system STEM Uranus Venus Women in Astronomy

GAAC Presents Robert Naeye on Saturn’s Moons

GAAC Presents Small Telescopes: Glenn Chaple

GAAC Presents Space Telescopes — Kevin Hocker

Navigating the Milky Way — William H. Waller

Bruce Lazarus, “Andromeda”

Mysterious x-ray signals from Perseus

A Telescope Bigger Than a Galaxy

Voyager Hears Plasma Waves

Bright Galaxies, Dark Universe (Carnegie)

Neil deGrasse Tyson, Black Holes (PBS)

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