Palomar Observatory Movie for IYA

Here's the video about Palomar Observatory that I produced for the Around the World in 80 Telescopes IYA event. You can see it in the webcast (linked a few posts below), but here it is in case anyone wants to see it all on its own.



If you prefer, you can find it here on YouTube.

Meet Me At the Corner

The International Year of Astronomy isn't just for adults, it is for kids too. To celebrate the folks from Meet Me at the Corner recently came to Palomar. They interviewed my friend Dennis Mammana about astronomy. You can see the results on their website and below.

Around the World in 80 Telescopes Visits Palomar

Here it is:

Video clips at Ustream

A direct link is here. Please ignore their bad spelling of Palomar (it isn't Palomer) and the fact that we are not in Puerto Rico.


Now it is time for sleep.

Sharpless 106

Here is the new astrophoto we unveiled during the live webcast:


Sharpless 106 is a giant molecular cloud, basically a cloud that is in the process of forming a star cluster. This near-infrared image was captured using the Hale Telescope's Wide-field Infrared Camera.

Be sure to click to enlarge

Awaiting the Webcast

The view a few hours before the Around the World in 80 Telescopes webcast.

Around the World in 80 Telescopes stream

I just realized that I can stream the event directly here. Hopefully this will work.

Free TV : Ustream

Around the Word in 80 Telescopes TONIGHT!

Here's a reminder that the Around the World in 80 Telescopes begins at 2:00 a.m. tonight (well, Friday morning).

Visit http://100hoursofastronomy.org/webcast

or watch on

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/100-hours-of-astronomy

Since the 100 Hours of Astronomy website is getting hit hard, you might want to try viewing directly on the Ustream.tv channel.

Here's the programming information for the 5 Caltech observatories on the show:

W.M. Keck Observatory 3 am Friday
Caltech Submillimeter Observatory 4:20 am Friday
Galaxy Evolution Explorer (Galex) 1:20 pm Friday
Spitzer Space Telescope 2:20 pm Friday
Palomar Observatory 1:40 am Saturday

All times are PDT

During the Palomar webcast you'll get to see a new astronomical image from the Hale Telescope and a short movie about the observatory. Both of which will be seen here after the event.

Busiest Weekend Ever?

The 100 Hours of Astronomy is underway. Click on over to their website to find a star party in your area. UPDATE From the 100 Hours of Astronomy folks: "We are currently experiencing greater than anticipated load on the web server - we are currently adding more capacity. We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience."

In the San Diego area there will be a star party (weather permitting) at Mira Costa College at 8 p.m. on April 3 & 4. Be sure to check it out.

Remember that the Around the World in 80 Telescopes live webcast event begins Friday morning at 2 a.m. Pacific and runs until 2 a.m. Saturday morning. You can watch at the 100 Hours of Astronomy website and on Ustream.tv. I'll be in on at 1:40 a.m. Saturday morning. I'll be looking to see if you are watching.

If that wasn't enough Tours of the Hale Telescope resume this weekend and the San Diego Science Festival's Expo Day is Saturday from 10:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. in San Diego's Balboa Park. Stop on by and I'll show you the Sun through a telescope!

Have a Science Weekend.

Kuiper Belt Podcasts

This week Caltech Grad student Darin Ragozzine gives us a great podcast on The Informative Dwarf Planet Haumea which was followed by a podcast on the New Horizons mission to Pluto. Great stuff for fans of the icy bodies of the outer solar system.

Visualizing the Future of Big Telescopes

You may remember Todd Mason from The Journey to Palomar. He and his wife Robin were the filmmakers who brought the career of George Ellery Hale to life in their fine documentary. If you saw the film you also saw some the 3-D graphics that Todd produced of the Hale Telescope.

While making the documentary Todd was also producing graphics for some of the big new telescopes that are now on the horizon. His new site Todd Mason Graphics has wonderful renderings of some future telescopes like the Giant Magellan Telescope, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and (our local favorite) the Thirty Meter Telescope.

Here is one of his of renderings of TMT:


There are plenty more on his new website. It is well worth the look if you are interested in any of these new telescopes.

If you have The Journey to Palomar DVD, you can see his work in the special features that describe some of these giant new telescopes.