June 30, 2009 at 6:52 pm
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It’s easy to think of a satellite as a fancy digital camera – just point, shoot, and look at the pretty picture that emerges. But it’s not that simple. Astronomical data has a far longer journey to make it from the satellite to end users. Bounced between satellites, sent to Earth, processed, networked, and archived… each observation has to pass through several steps before it can be analyzed by scientists. And that’s not even considering the further effort required to make a pretty picture!
This episode follows data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope on its odyssey from space to Earth, interviewing key personnel along the way.
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June 18, 2009 at 7:54 pm
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To kick off our special summer series about data, we interviewed 2006 Nobel Laureate John Mather about the importance of imagery in communicating science and sharing data with the public. More than just “pretty pictures,” data can be used to tell a story and explain the mysteries of the cosmos. Not every piece of data would be considered a work of art, but the information contained is at the very heart of NASA science.
Working with COBE and the James Webb Space Telescope, Dr. Mather is no stranger to the power of data and the importance of scientific imagery. We got the scoop on how data is used in communication and why every bit of data is beautiful in its own way.
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May 31, 2009 at 11:07 am
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The telescope on everyone’s mind during this month’s Space Shuttle flight was certainly the Hubble Space Telescope, as astronauts inspected, repaired, and upgraded the satellite for years of additional scientific observations. But two additional telescopes were aboard Atlantis for this historic flight – a museum-quality replica of one of Galileo’s telescopes, and a 200-year-old telescope built by master craftsman Jesse Ramsden.
To give you the scoop about these telescopes, we interviewed Marvin Bolt of the Adler Planetarium. Hubble may be NASA’s best-known telescope, but it wouldn’t be here without 400 years of innovation.
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May 18, 2009 at 3:59 pm
The scene: July 9, 2005, nearly midnight. A large conference room at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center full of assorted scientists, engineers, and support staff. This was the launch party for Astro-E2, a joint Japanese-American satellite mission strapped to a rocket thousands of miles away from Goddard at Uchinoura Space Center in southern Japan. The lucky few were at the launch site, and the rest of us showed up at work on a Saturday night to celebrate.
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May 18, 2009 at 1:26 pm
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NASA is famous for its acronyms and technical jargon. If you’ve ever watched a rocket launch or a spacewalk, you’ve heard some of them. Blueshift is produced by the ASD EPO team at NASA GSFC – that is, the Astrophysics Science Division Education and Public Outreach team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Do we need to spell out NASA, too?
In this episode, we explore NASA mission names and where they come from. And we make a very special dedication – this one’s for you, Stephen Colbert!
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April 30, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Astronomers have a funny way of talking about things sometimes. Take temperature, for example. When scientists say something is “hot,” they aren’t talking about “hot” like the Sahara desert, or “hot” like the seat of your car on a summer day. No, they’re talking about an unimaginably high temperature beyond that which any humans (or spacecraft) can stand. Then when they say “cold,” they might mean an equally extreme temperature… or a temperature that doesn’t seem that cold to our bodies. Compared to the searing heat of the Sun, the Earth’s climate seems downright frigid!
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April 30, 2009 at 1:53 pm
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Join Blueshift for a unique tour of the solar system, as we walk the B&A Trail’s Planet Walk in Maryland and talk to scientists along the way. Armed with hiking boots and a portable recorder, Francis Reddy brings you the sounds of the solar system and a factoid about each planet along the way. Also featuring the Sun and lonely former-planet Pluto!
Recorded during the 100 Hours of Astronomy earlier this month, this episode gives you a taste of the activities organized by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and its community partners.
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April 17, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Some people just have a knack for building things, or taking things apart to make them work better. My grandfather is one of these people – he looks at the stuff he uses everyday and tinkers with it to make it better suit his needs. As a kid, I laughed at his toaster tongs (so you don’t burn your fingers), his long-reach grasping device (so you can reach things beyond arm’s length), and his half-sized roll of paper towels (so you get exactly how much you want). As an adult, I recognize the sheer practicality of each of these items. And I’ve also seen very similar items pop up on the shelves of the supermarket or on late-night infomercials.
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April 17, 2009 at 1:58 pm
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In astrophysics, the development of innovative technology is crucial to answering scientific questions about the Universe around us. The types of technology invented are determined, at least in part, by the answers we are seeking. At the heart of this science-technology cycle are “professional tinkerers,” scientists and engineers that balance the needs of the astrophysics field and the opportunities afforded by an impressive palette of tools.
In this episode, we interviewed Dr. Harvey Moseley, one of the “tinkerers” here at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. He gave Blueshift some advice on how to take inventions from the drawing board to reality.
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March 18, 2009 at 6:43 pm
If you look at a calendar, it seems like every day is a holiday somewhere in the world. Today is Flag Day in Aruba. It’s also celebrated as the Pillsbury Doughboy’s birthday. And tomorrow is National Chocolate Caramel Day… I’m not kidding. It also seems like every year is the “year of” something. Some of these have cultural or mythological significance. Others are decreed by national or international governments. 2009 has been chosen as the International Year of Astronomy by the International Astronomical Union and endorsed by the United Nations. So it’s official, but what does it mean? Why should we care?
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