Regular readers may be aware of my penchant for whimsy. My happy grinnings when people mix pedantry with a sense of humour*. And today’s offering is just such a one. The description is perfectly apt: it IS a tediously accurate scale model of the solar system. But there are some wonderful surprises, and I found […]
astronomy
If Ptolemy had been right, and the magical theory of relativity
Two excellent pieces of visual science communication today. The first is a visualisation of what our solar system would look like it Ptolemy had been right. As you no doubt remember, he’s the chap who posited that the _earth_ was the centre of, well, everything. Sadly I can’t embed it here, but go and check […]
TOSP Episode 17: January 16th 2012
[Original post on the Sciblogs The Official Sciblogs Podcast site] Greetings, listeners! This week, aimee was away in Melbourne at the inagural AdaCamp barcamp. So Elf brought in his good friend Haritina Mogosanu, who works with KiwiSpace and World Space Week, to co-host with him. They talked about the number of planets in our galaxy, […]
TOSP Episode 13: December 5th 2011
[Original post on the Sciblogs The Official Sciblogs Podcast site] Another week, another collection of brilliant stuff to talk about. This week, Elf and aimee talk about groups. Well, mostly groups, but also weta, astronomy, learning and why we don’t have a cure for AIDS. As for groups - we look into how StarCraft 2 […]
A bit of Friday fun: the Galaxy Song
Monty Python, as is widely known, are the stuff of legend. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buqtdpuZxvk[/youtube] And, because it’s Friday and one is allowed to let one’s hair/pants/whatever else down, I thought I’d post a little astronomical fun: the Galaxy Song, from Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life*. Enjoy, and may your weekend be marvellous :) —————- * Not […]
the cost of SETI
the cost of SETI
Introducing a new blog: Just So Science
This could not have been better timed. Rather than making any jokes (I know, I know), we’re simply going to get straight to the point, and introduce Elf Elfridge, our newest blogger. Elf is the proud and, dare I say it, starry-eyed* owner of Just So Science, which will be looking at things which are […]
Space geekiness: a lecture
I really, really hate it when events don’t have an online presence. I like broadcasting things. Not to be able to do so easily, particularly when it’s something interesting, is upsetting. I have fitlets of pique thereover. As it were. Anyhoo, on to the point of this post: tomorrow, in Wellington, there’s going to be […]
Stunning visions of Mars
Humanity is now the proud owner of some 13,000 photos of Mars taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Monitoring Seasonal Albedo Patterns on South Polar Residual Cap (ESP_014405_0945) Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona The photos were taken by the most powerful camera of any on NASA’s spacecraft - the aptly (if dryly) named High Resolution Imaging […]