Notice To Users
Gerard Williger
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Local Links
Gheens Science Hall & Rauch Planetarium
Why astronomers go to
observatories:
Reflections on
Procrustes and Antaeus
Popular articles about
our group's Large Quasar Group discovery abound. Try the 22 Jan 2001
issue of Newsweek,
or:
New York
Times article
BBC piece
Der
Spiegel
or make a search for
"williger" and "astronomy"
Other links:
Help with research:
classify Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies!
Mars' close
approach on 27 Aug 2003
A
popular description of the National Virtual Observatory
A
popular description of the Virgo Consortium
news
about black holes
American Museum of
Natural History Science Bulletins
Astro-news
from Physics & Astronomy 107
Useful links from NASA etc.:
Afterschool Universe:
engaging activities targeted at middle school students
Random interesting astronomy facts: www.unexpectedscience.com
The Perseids Meteor Shower
(every August):
Perseids
Show 11-13 Aug 2004
Popular Astronomy:
A
"Movie"
of Hubble Space Telescope photos
Perseids,
Aquarids 2003
Clear
Dark Sky site
Light
Pollution Map for Louisville KY
The Pecking
Order of Astronomers
The
Leonids Meteor Shower (every November ~19):
space.com
Leonids 2006 expected to be strong Nov 18
NASA
Leonids 2004 Page
Major meteor
showers:
name
date
duration limits
#/hr max parent object
Quadrantids
Jan
4
1 day Jan
1-6
100
---
Lyrids
Apr
22
2 days Apr 19-24
10 C/1861
G1 (Thatcher)
Eta Aquarids
May
5
3 days May
1-8 20 1P/Halley
Delta Aquarids Jul
27-28 7
days Jul 15-Aug 15
30
---
Perseids
Aug
12
5 days Jul 25-Aug 18
70 107P/Swift-Tuttle
Orionids
Oct
21
2 days Oct
16-26
30 1P/Halley
Taurids
Nov
8
10 days Oct 20-Nov 30
10 2P/Encke
Leonids
Nov
17
1 day Nov
15-19
10 55P/Tempel-Tuttle
Geminids
Dec
14
3 days Dec
7-15
60 3200 Phaethon
Interesting
links:
QuasarChile (tours in Chile with
astronomy)
Astronomy
Picture of the Day
HEASARC
Picture of the Week
Particle Physics
Picture of the Week
Physics
News Update
SETI
home
The Moon
ISS transits the Moon
Thoughts
of lunar missions in 1903
The
Rise of Anti-rationalism in the US, Susan Jacoby, Washington Post,
2008 Feb 17
Unskilled
and Unware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing
One's Own Incompetence leads to Inflated Self-Assessments (Kruger &
Dunning 1999)
Why is astronomy important?
Nothing more can be done by the theorists. In this matter it is only
you,
the astronomers, who can perform a simply invaluable service to
theoretical
physics.
-- Albert Einstein, Aug. 1913, to Berlin astronomer Erwin Freundlich,
encouraging
him to mount a solar-eclipse expedition to measure the bending of
starlight
as it passed near the Sun. The astronomer eagerly accepted the challenge
from the theoretical physicist. Unfortunately for Freundlich, the
eclipse
of 1914 was in the Crimea during the outbreak of WW I. In an
extraordinary
rendition, Freundlich was captured, his equipment confiscated, and he
was
imprisoned as an enemy combatant. Eventually he was released, but of
course
he missed the eclipse. This is just as well, because in 1914 Einstein's
prediction for the deflection of light by the Sun on the basis of his
(at the time) incomplete theory of gravity was wrong by a factor of two.
Source: Rocky Kolb, arXiv:0708.1199,
"A Thousand Invisible Cords Binding
Astronomy and High-Energy Physics"