NASA Blueshift

In July, we featured a guest post on our blog from astronomer Nick Howes about how he was able to image the Herschel observatory, which sat a million miles away from the Earth at the 2nd Lagrange point (and is now being moved into a graveyard orbit). For this podcast, we interviewed him about the back story about how he imaged Herschel, the telescopes he used, and what got him into astronomy.

This is the last part of our interview with Dr. Phil Plait, the so-called "Bad Astronomer." Phil is a scientist who now writes about science for the public, with a large focus on debunking bad science and astronomy. In this podcast, we talk with Phil about how science works, and how we learn.

This is part three of four of our interview with Dr. Phil Plait, the so-called "Bad Astronomer." Phil is a scientist, writer, and specializes in debunking bad science. In part 1, we learned how he got started, and in part 2, we talked about science in entertainment. In part 3, we discuss how he busts misconceptions, and the value of looking up at the sky.

A college friend of Maggie's, Dr. Eric Mamajek, discovered a cool potential exoplanet system that might also have a ring system - we reported on it last January after the American Astronomical Society conference. We checked with Eric a year later to talk more about his discovery, any updates, and the art done of his potential exoplanet system by Ron Miller, who we also recently interviewed in our two-part series about "The Art of Space." Visit our website (http://universe.nasa.gov/blueshift/) to see Ron's visualization of the exoplanet system discussed in this episode.

This is the second episode of our two-part interview with space artist Ron Miller. In this episode, Ron talks specifically about how he illustrates exoplanets, and we discuss specific pieces of his art. To listen to the first part of this interview, and to see examples of Ron's art, visit our website at: http://universe.nasa.gov/blueshift/

Blueshift recently interviewed space artist Ron Miller. Not only is he an amazingly talented illustrator, but he’s also the author, consultant, and former art director for the National Air and Space Museum's Albert Einstein planetarium. He's written and illustrated many books, one of which, "Out of the Cradle," is a classic and a huge inspiration to our generation. We recently came across his art illustrating a news article about an unusual exoplanet system which might actually have a ring system like Saturn's. This led us to Ron and resulted in a two-part podcast all about his extraordinary work. This is part 1. You'll find examples of Ron's art on our website at: http://universe.nasa.gov/blueshift/

Dust - on Earth, it's a nuisance. But in space, it's a valuable natural resource, a raw material essential to the formation of nearly any object imaginable. NASA Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Christina Richey studies interstellar dust grains through laboratory-created analogs, comparing the properties of simulated stardust to data from missions like SOFIA, Spitzer, and Herschel. This hands-on approach gives Christina and other researchers unique insight into the building blocks of stars, planets, and even life. This research complements observational data, computer simulations, and other studies of how objects form and work in space. In this interview, Blueshift spoke to Christina about her research as well as her adventures outside the lab, looking for life in exceptionally hostile environments.

As you might imagine, the James Webb Space Telescope is a pretty big deal here at NASA Goddard, because much of it is being assembled here. As a companion to all our tech coverage of Webb, we thought it would be nice to talk about the science it will do and how it is the scientific successor to, rather than the replacement for, the Hubble Space Telescope. We chatted with Dr. Amber Straughn, one of the project scientists on Webb, to learn about what this new observatory will bring to the scientific community. We also talked about Amber’s own research, how she uses Hubble data, and what she hopes to get out of Webb data in the future.

As science educators, encouraging critical thinking and skepticism is something we think is really important. We interviewed the "Bad Astronomer," Dr. Phil Plait, to get his thoughts on the subject. He is a trained scientist who used to work at NASA Goddard… but now he works full-time as a science writer and a public advocate for good science. In Part 1 of our interview with Phil, we learned why he started blogging about hoaxes and misconceptions, about the importance of asking "why," and ended with the start of an intriguing discussion about how the trend today in entertainment is for scientists to actually be the heroes and the good guys. This podcast is Part 2 of our interview (with two more to come), in which Phil shares his experiences with the TV shows The Big Bang Theory and Mythbusters, and tells us why he gets such joy out of teaching people about how great science is.

It's an exciting experience for any space geek to watch a new satellite launch into orbit. Earlier in 2012, we were excited about the launch of NuSTAR, a small explorer X-ray mission collaboratively created by teams at Caltech, NASA, and over a dozen other institutions around the world. NuSTAR advances the international astronomical community's ability to observe some of the hottest, densest, and most energetic objects in the Universe. We were interested to find out more about NASA Goddard's involvement in the mission, so we interviewed post-doc Dr. Dan Wik about his work with the satellite's optics and his interest in observing galaxy clusters with NuSTAR.

In a follow-up to our previous interviews with co-creator of "The Big Bang Theory," Bill Prady, we interviewed Dr. David Saltzberg, the show's resident astrophysicist and science consultant. Find out more about his research, adventures in astrophysics, and how he keeps the science of the show fresh, real, and accurate. For more, visit our website!

One of the bonuses of our set visit to The Big Bang Theory was that we got the chance to talk to co-creator and executive producer Bill Prady about how the show came to be, and how they get the science right in every episode. Since much of what we do is about communicating science to the public, we were naturally interested in how real science was worked into what is primarily a comedy. To supplement our podcast interview with Bill, Blueshift's Maggie Masetti wrote a web feature for NASA.gov.

Wouldn't it be exciting to do astronomy in the Amazon, surrounded by the wild plants and animals of the rainforest? In January, visitors to the AstroZone event in Washington, DC, got to do something like that - they met dozens of astronomy professionals at the National Zoo's Amazonia exhibit! AstroZone is a special public event that's offered in conjunction with each meeting of the American Astronomical Society (the major professional organization for astronomers). For one afternoon, astronomers share their passion for the Universe with the local public with hands-on activities, goodies, and other special opportunities. We talked to some of the exhibitors at the event in DC, and we wanted to share their exciting science with you. The next AstroZone event is this weekend in Miami, Florida - if that's your hometown, come check it out at the Miami Dade Main Public Library on May 22nd!

When you were a kid, dreaming of the future, did you expect to have a flying car someday? Or to live on the Moon? Traveling into space has fueled the dreams of many people, but the reality is that space flight is difficult and expensive. Though escaping Earth's gravity to reach orbit is a real challenge, it is much easier and less expensive to take sub-orbital flights - that is, those that reach an altitude of 100 km (approximately 62 miles) above Earth. This may prove to be an affordable way for scientists to do science in space, especially with the technology to do these getting close to being ready for use. One of our scientists, Joe Hill, builds x-ray and gamma ray instruments... and she also wants to be an astronaut. Recently, she was given the opportunity to participate in sub-orbital scientist training, which took her one step closer to realizing her dream of going into space.

Working at NASA can provide unique and exciting job opportunities. It can be the chance of a lifetime to work on a satellite and see the products of your hard work launched into space. The flip side is that many projects only span a few years, so your dream job may not last forever. Many of us change projects routinely - and also have to deal with some level of uncertainty concerning employment. There are, however, some long-running projects at NASA - and the Hubble Space Telescope is one of them. HST was carried into orbit nearly twenty years ago, and it has been serviced by astronauts four times. Each repair of Hubble called for specialized skills that may or may not be applicable elsewhere. With Servicing Mission 4 successfully complete, we wanted to find out what the people who spent years (and perhaps their entire careers) on Hubble were doing now that the final servicing mission is done.