Eight Minutes Old

UPDATE: It is online in the Mediathek.

Apparently, the documentary for which a German television team visited the institute last week will be aired tomorrow it now seems to be scheduled for Friday 23rd evening on “3Sat” in a “Nano” show at 6:30 pm. Unfortunetely it is in German, of course, but it will be available online after the show. I will post a link once it is online.

Tags: 3Sat, Newton, Astronomy, Dark Matter, Effelsberg, Gravity, IYA, Law of gravity, Nano, Newtonian Dynamics, Radio Astronomy, Radio Telescope, Star Gazer, Tips, TV series, TV, Universe, University of Bonn

From today, Thursday (June 25) till Saturday (June 27), there is the “SternenZelt” (Star-Tent) on the Muensterplatz in Bonn (open from 10a.m.-8p.m., Saturday until 10p.m.). As a part of the “International Year of Astronomy” (IYA), scientists and research institutes from our region present astronomy, answer questions and show some of their work to the general public. Everybody is invited to come, it is free and I’ll be there this morning, so if I am in the mood I’ll write something about this later. The announcement an information on the “SternenZelt”-website is in German, but as science is mainly done in English I’m sure everybody will be happy to answer your questions in English, too.

UPDATE: I’ve been there for six hours. It was very nice, the tent is not too big but there are plenty of interesting people, presentations and experiments. We had some English-speaking guests, too. I must admit it was almost easier for me to describe radio-astronomy in English than in German.

I was at the booth of the Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, there were also four from the University (The Observatory on the “Hoher List”, one on galaxies, one from the physics department on cosmic rays and one from the Geodesy showing the potateo-like form of our earth and explaining how this can be measured). Furthermore, the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the German Museum Bonn, the “Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt and some amateur astronomers (observing spots on the sun) were present. And lots of interested people, ranging from small children to elderly people. Even though this only was the first day, I think it is not too early to say this event is a success.

Tags: Astronomy, Bonn, Germany, IYA, Radio Astronomy, Radio Telescope, Star Gazer, Star, University of Bonn

The really short answer would be: “No!”.

But ok, I’ll explain if briefly.

Nobody doubts the common origin of astronomy and astrology: thousands of years ago, people wondered what those strange, tiny lights above them were. They had no idea, but egocentric as humans are, they assumed they would have some influence on their daily life. The planets, observed as wandering stars, got names of gods and were given attributes, like Mars to be related to war because of it’s red color. Some people started calling themselves experts, telling others about their future and made a living out of it.

Then the telescope was developed. The people began to do science with them. They realized the lights in the sky were stars and planets, much like our own, and followed nature’s laws. Well, not all of them realized. This lead to the splitting into astronomers and astrologers.

Today, astronomy is a science, astronomers use the scientific methods and rely on measured data, statistics and rational arguments, they demand theories to be testable and will reject those that are falsified by new data. Astrologers don’t. One could say Astronomy and Astrology have a similar relation like day and - no, not night, but - banana pudding. They are completely different things, utilize completely different systems. They have nothing to do with each other. astrologers might talk about stars and planets, but don’t care much about what they are.

So, to get together again, one of two things has to happen:

• Either, astronomers have to accept what astrologers do, accept that there is some spooky influence the stars have on our lifes, and reject to analyze this scientifically. They then could argue in an astrological manner, meaning that every astronomer would have his very own set of believes, connected only through the use of scientifically-sounding terms. That would of course end astronomy as a science. So this would not lead to an approach between astronomy and astrology, because the science of astronomy would vanish in the process.

So, there is one more possibility:

• Astrologers could accept the scientific method. So they would have to base their “work” on measurable results. All well done studies show that astrological predictions are in no way significant. Thus, astrologers trying to approach astronomy will have to realize that what they do is nonsense. Resulting in an rejection and abandonment of astrology. Again, the two can not find together again.

To put it together: The basic principles of astronomy and astrology lead to a mutual exclusion.  There is no way to put the two together and still have both remaining. Whoever demands that astronomy and astrology have to get together again probably wants to discredit the science of astronomy (or is simply stupid). Because applying rational thoughts, astrology already has discredited itself to the status of a joke.

Tags: Astrologer, Astrology and Esoteric, Astronomers, Astronomy, Philosophy of Science, Planets, Pseudo-Science, Questions, Science, Scientific Method, Star Gazer, Star, Statistics, Telescope

If you happen to be in Bonn tomorrow and are interested in astronomy, there is a very interesting event: The Science Cafe. Astronomy meets Gastronomy is the motto of this event special to the International Year of Astronomy. In the restaurant “Harmonie” in Bonn Endenich (Frongasse 28-30, 53121 Bonn), guests and visitors have the chance to speak to real astronomers, ask questions about astronomy and astrophysics or just hang out with some cool star-gazers.

It’s the first time such an Science Cafe for the general public takes place in Germany. Of course I’ll be there, too. It starts at about 8:00 pm (on Tuesday 03.03.). More info can be found on the German IYA-site here.

(It’s for free. You only need to pay for your drinks, obviously)

UPDATE: Damn, 39 degrees celsius temperature force me to stay at home. Sorry. But I’m sure ther are lots of interesting peaople around. If someone would like to write a report about it (in English or German), I’d be very interested.

Tags: Astronomers, Astronomy, Bonn, Germany, IYA, Meeting, Radio Astronomy, Science Cafe, Star Gazer, Talk, Telescope

To all my photographing readers[1]: Have you ever dreamed of having a extreme tele-lens? Did you ever participate in a informal competition with fellow photographers to shoot with the best, biggest and most expensive lens? How about shooting with a 576,000 mm tele lens having a diameter of 2.4 meters, costing several billion dollars. It’s not even the biggest lens on earth. Actually, it is floating above earth. I’m talking about the Hubble Space Telescope. Ok, you might not be the one to take the picture, but now you have a vote on where Hubble will be pointing for their International Year of Astronomy special.

You have the choice among six different objects in the sky. These are:

1. Star-Forming Region: NGC 6334: A birthplace for stars, forming in molecular clouds and letting the surrounding gas glow in spectacular colours. So this is the ideal choice for baby- and kid-photographers or family guys.
2. Planetary Nebula: NGC 6072 or
3. Planetary Nebula: NGC 40: These have nothing to do with planets or planet formation, the name merely has historic reasons. These spectacular clouds are the results of dying stars. The outer layers of those stars get ejected, forming a shell like structure around them which glow in different colours due to the ionizing radiation of the soon to be dead star. Thus, these are a good topic for social documentary photographers (or fireworks-lovers )
4. Spiral Galaxy: NGC 5172: A spiral galaxy similar to our own. Showing us a more or less “face on view”, so we can see the disk and the spiral arms around the central part. This is what a portrait photographer would choose, I guess.
5. Edge-on Galaxy: NGC 4289: A spiral like the before mentioned, but seen in a profile. Maybe street photographers would like this, as it is similar to the Milky Way .
6. Interacting Galaxies: Arp 274: Two spirals interacting with each other and going to merge in the future. This is astronomical action photography at it’s best. Ok, the action takes place over millions of years, but astronomically speaking this is pretty fast.

Currently, the interacting galaxies are number one, followed by the face-on spiral galaxy and then the star forming region. But things still can change: Cast your vote on YouDecide.HubbleSite.com until March 1 and the picture taken with this amazing instrument will be published during the IYA’s 100 Hours of Astronomy worldwide event between April 2 and 5. And when you vote you even have the chance to win a 16″x20″ photo print of the object Hubble eventually takes the picture of.

[1]: Of cause also for my astronomy-interested readers and probably for everybody else, too.

Tags: Astronomy, Clouds, Hubble Space Telescope, IYA, Milky Way, Nebula, Neutron Star, Photography, Planetary Nebula, Portrait, Spiral Galaxy, Star Gazer, Star-Forming, Star, Street Photography

These are the stories that are one of the reasons I enjoy astronomy: Three undergraduate (!) students, from Leiden University, discovered an extrasolar planet. And the best: they were not even looking for it. Their research project was to create a search algorithm, looking for light fluctuations in databases. Initially it wasn’t even planet to use their algorithm on the OGLE* database. But they had time left and within the brightness data of 15700 stars found one star which became fainter for two hours every 2.5 days. This was a strong hint at a planet passing by in front of the star, with an orbital period of those 2.5 days. When the planet is in front of the star, he shades some of the light. Because of the huge distances in space, the star (nor the planet) can not be resolved, but the shading leads to a decrease of the stars total brightness we measure on earth. The confirmation that it is indeed a planet, and not another, faint star in a binary system, was done using the Very Large Telescope.

The planet found by the students, a gas giant, is about five times as massive as Jupiter, the solar system’s most massive planet. It’s very close to it’s host star, with an distance of only 3 percent of earth’s. Even though by now there are over 300 known extrasolar planets, the discovery even is a special find: it’s the first planet discovered around a fast rotating, hot star.

Finding such an configuration is hard, as the planet’s orbit has to bring it exactly between the star and the observers (us). The most efficient way to find a planet is to look for shifting spectral lines. Stars are not fixed in space, but move similar to their planet. If the star and the planet were of equal mass, they would circle around each other (in fact, around their center of mass). Because stars are much more massive than planets, the center of mass lies almost at the same position as the star’s center. Thus the stars move only a bit. But this movement can be enough to shift the lines of a stellar spectrum according to the Doppler effect: when the stars moves into our direction, it appears bluer, when it moves away it appears redder. Think of the often cited emergency vehicle sirens: when the car drives into your direction the siren have a higher pitch, when it moves away a lower.
Now, as said the star moves only slightly, the shift of the spectral lines it thus very tiny. In a hot, fast rotating star, the spectral lines are broader (e.g. because one side of the star moves into your direction, the other away, so the lines will be broadened by a Doppler effect caused by the rotation). Thus it is hard to find a planet around a hot, fast rotating star with the classical method. But the new discovery shows that there can be planets orbiting around such stars.

Unfortunately the name of the planet has to follow the OGLE scheme and thus is OGLE2-TR-L9b. The three students would have preferred to name it after them: ReMeFra-1. Good to see they attached a number. Go on and find many more ReMeFras!

* For the OGLE-II database, 15700 stars were observed once or twice every night for four years. The acronym OGLE stands for Optical Gravitational Lens Experiment. It’s major goal is not to find planets, but to look for another acronym: MACHOs, massive compact halo objects. These are one possible explanation for dark matter. But the OGLE surveys have revealed several planets as a side effect.

You can find the corresponding paper on astro-ph: “OGLE2-TR-L9: An extrasolar planet transiting a fast-rotating F3 star”.

Tags: Astronomy, Discovery, Eclipse, Extrasolar Planets, Jupiter, Leiden University, Planets, Science, Star Gazer, Students, Study

Two years ago I worked for one summer at the Max-Planck-Institute for Radioastronomy, in the public relations department. My job was to give talks to visitors of the radio telescope in Effelsberg. It’s situated in a valley the Eifel, near Bonn in Germany. There is no possibility to actually visit the telescope, like in a guided tour, because this would disturb the observing plans. But they have a pavilion build for visitors.
My other main task was answering questions. Many were sound and well-grounded, but sometimes I came across special ones. They made me realize that there exist some misunderstanding concerning radio astronomy.
If you are not engaged in astronomy you don’t come across the necessary concepts and explanations what radio astronomy actually is. Even if you have an basic understanding of optical astronomy, there are some major differences to radio astronomy. I have decided to give some basic insights in this blog and re-answer the sometimes bizarre questions so everyone can benefit. Even though I am no radio astronomer, when studying in I did attend lectures and did work at the radio telescope, so my explanations should be sufficient.

When talking about astronomy, what comes in most peoples mind first are telescopes and guys looking through them all night long. When radio astronomy is mentioned, it can happen that these thoughts combine with associations on the topic ‘radio’ combine. This leads to the question: ‘What do radio astronomers see?’

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