Physics of Love for Valentine's Day

It's time again, the romance is oozing from loved ones and singles looking for a date or ignoring the day. For the geeks out there, folks at Symmetry magazine (published by Fermilab and SLAC) created a fun set of physics-themed Valentine's cards for both in-love and out-of-love which ever the hat you are wearing this year.

My favourite from the lot explains, 'if you seek to rekindle (or extinguish) a romance with someone intrigued by the invisible elements of the cosmos, such as the yet-to-be-discovered dark matter, one of these cards might do the trick.'

Head over to Symmetry magazine to check more cards and to print yours. Just make sure that you choose the correct one for your current (or soon-to-be-x) partner.

Happy valentine's day folks! Enjoy wherever you are with whoever you are with (or perfectly fine to let it go as just another day).

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Watch Asteroid 2012 DA14’s Earth Fly-By Live

A List of Live Webcasts to Watch the Asteroid 2012 DA14’s Earth Fly-By

NASA Television (USA) - With commentary, the live feed will start at 19:00 UTC (UStream link)

Bareket Observatory (Israel) - The observatory will have a live feed of images refreshing every 30 - 60 seconds starting from 19.30 UTC

Virtual Telescope (Italy) -  Dr. Gianluca Masi will narrate and answer questions as he shares the minor planet’s motion through the sky beginning at 22:00 UTC

Slooh Space Camera (Canary Islands and Arizona) - Starting from 02:00 UTC (2/16), the webcast will provide views of the asteroid from observatories in the Canary Islands and in Arizona. The event will accompany real-time discussions with Slooh Space Camera’s Paul Cox, astronomer and author Bob Berman, and Prescott Observatory manager, Matt Francis.

NASA JPL (USA) - Near real-time imagery of the asteroid's flyby in Australia and Europe, weather permitting, will be streamed beginning at about 17:00 UTC

NASA MSFC (USA) - Watch a feed of the flyby from a telescope at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama starting at 02:00 UTC (2/16)

The Planetary Society (USA) - Join Planetary Society Director of Projects Bruce Betts and host of Planetary Radio, Mat Kaplan for the web stream starting from 19:50 UTC

GLORIA Project (Europe) - A number of GLORIA telescopes plan to observe the asteroid. Images will be uploaded to the website every ~5 minutes starting from 19:00 UTC

Clay Center Observatory (USA) - Rreal-time high-definition video from the Clay Center Observatory will be available from 23 UTC onwards.


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Image courtesy of SLOOH

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Watch Live - Total Solar Eclipse, Australia 2012

Links to several websites that will be streaming the total solar eclipse from Australia on 14 November (local time) are listed below. Totality will begin at 06:35 Australian Eastern Standard Time on 14 November (20:35 UTC on 13 November)

More information about the Total Solar Eclipse visit NASA Eclipse page. If you know more webcasts, please drop me an email in order to add to the below list.




Cairns Solar Eclipse, 2012

The official destination website for the total solar Eclipse over Cairns and Great Barrier Reef will feature Terry Cuttle from the Astronomical Association of Queensland as the host. He will be joined by Kate Russo (eclipse chaser and author), Ben Southall (winner of the 'Best Job in the World' promotion and tourism ambassador), Richard Fitzpatrick (an underwater cameraman, will be live from under water) and Alan Hale (from Hale-Bopp comet who is studying comets close to the Sun which can only be seen during an eclipse).

SLOOH

SLOOH will broadcast a free, real-time feed of the stunning total solar eclipse live from Cairns, Australia. The broadcast team includes Patrick Paolucci, Bob Berman, Lucie Green, Matt Francis and Paul Cox.

2012 Eclipse live from a Cairns Hot Air Balloon

Up to a dozen hot air balloons floating west of Cairns, Queensland Australia, with visitors from 20 different countries will be part of a live webcast of the 2012 total solar eclipse.

Cairns City Eclipse 2012 webcam

Can't make it to Cairns to see the Eclipse? No problem! Just check back on 14 November before 6:39am AEST (GMT+10) to see it live on our webcam.

GLORIA Project

Videos and pictures of the eclipse will be broadcast live on the internet starting at 20:30 UT. Additionally meteorological data will be collected to allow students to perform an interactive experiment. During the broadcast there will be live commentary in Spanish and English.

Live Web Camera from Port Douglas Australia 2012



Images credit: Luc Viatour / fir0002 | flagstaffotos.com.au / Jay Anderson


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Another Orbit

Universe is too wonderful to not to share with anyone, specially with children. Unfortunately many children discover the beauty of the Universe bit too late, or some never get to enjoy it. That's why I fully support Universe Awareness (UNAWE) - a program which put its heart and soul into inspiring every child with our wonderful Universe, regardless of the social status.

As I complete yet another orbit around the Sun, I couldn't have celebrated my birthday better than with children from an orphanage in Sri Lanka, doing astronomy!

Thank you for everyone who sent in wishes and helped with the event, specially my dad and aunt for helping with cooking, and Kavindi (UNAWE-Sri Lanka), Kaminda, Gihantha, Tijitha, and Janith for helping with the activities.

teaching basic astronomy concepts to kids

tour around the Universe

not only kids, but orphanage staff enjoyed the Universe

lunch time

it's wonderful to see how kids visualize the Universe

kids version of the Universe :-)

kids with UNAWE - Sri Lanka

busy with the "Eggnauts" challenge!

teaching kids is such a rewarding experience

"Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand"

time to test those "Eggnauts"

it was a wonderful day

This was just a tiny effort to show the beauty of the Universe to children. We all need to play our part, continue our effort to educate the future generations, to help them to discover our Universe , to make the world a better place.

On a closing note, please consider making a donation towards “Astronomy in Timor-Leste: Celebrating the Transit of Venus 2012” (a project of UNAWE) – that’s my “Birthday Wish”.

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Stars of Somalia: Tomorrow is late

People in the Horn of Africa, living under the same sky as we live, are suffering from hunger and drought. Join us on August 13 to help the famine victims of Somalia.

Ever since the ancient times human being has been staring at the stars above, wondering what they are. One of these dazzling stars is the Sun, which is closer than any other star to the Earth. Our Sun has witnessed everything happened on Earth; the formation of life, all creatures, existence of human and his eagerness for knowing and finding more about the Universe. The Sun has been a witness to every crisis on earth; happiness and misery as well as war and peace. But recently the Sun is much more displease than any other time as with every dawn it observes the same old story of poverty and starvation in North Africa; this time even wider and much more tragic. The story of the drought crisis, civil wars, and enforced immigration of Somalis to find a secure place to survive, is a remarkable conflict of men against nature and men against his own race.

Many cultural and scientific organizations and NGOs around the Globe are trying to make peace and invite people to put an end to the battle of men against nature. StarPeace believes that all of us should participate in helping of the victims. According to the news, the situation is critical, and the experts warn us that even a small delay has a great impact: “Tomorrow is Late”. StarPeace invite all the members and cooperators to hold a public stargazing night in their cities and towns on August 13 to organize a fund raising event in order to help the drought victims of Somali. Donation might be inadequate, but it may well be sufficient to provide the victims a meal.

We all hope the innocent Somali children, who are enduring a hard time in refugee camps, will soon spend their nights under the twinkling stars of the Sky without suffering from hunger and fear.


More info:
Stars of Somalia: Tomorrow is late
StarPeace

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Sources:
Text - StarPeace / Poster - StarPeace / Image - Filipe Moreira

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