Communicating Science: Day 2
Join us for day two of live blogging the Communicating Science Workshop!
Communicating Science
We will be live blogging as we learn how to communicate science better!
Voyages through the Final Frontier: The Case of HD97658b.
This paper describes the detection of transits for a planet previously identified via radial velocities (RVs). Measuring the properties of the planet with both the transit and RV method allows the authors to determine the density, which suggests it should have a lot of volatiles (e.g. H2O, CO2, etc). This discovery is particularly exciting because the planet orbits a bright, nearby star: ideal for follow-up observations to characterize its atmosphere!
Kepler Reaction Wheel Failure Cripples Spacecraft, but Mission Thrives
Although the reaction wheel failure incapacitates the telescope, we are still finding new Earth-sized planets in the plethora of existing data.
AAS Summer meeting in Indianapolis: The abstract deadline is approaching!
Astrobites will be at the 222nd AAS meeting in Indianapolis, IN from June 2-6, 2013! Will you? Although the regular abstract deadline has passed, you can still present a poster. The late deadline for the meeting is coming up soon: April 18 at 9:00 pm ET. Also, the regular registration deadline is even sooner: April 11. After this date the registration cost increases slightly. It is worth noting that junior AAS members (i.e. students that join AAS) pay a fraction of the normal registration cost, making it easy to convince your advisor to send you to meetings! See the AAS website here for more details on submitting your abstract and registering for the meeting.For our undergraduate readers that have not yet had a chance to attend a AAS meeting, let me take a moment to convince you to go. Attending a AAS meeting is a wonderful opportunity to become involved in the US’s largest professional astronomy society. The summer meeting provides many of the same types of events as the better-known winter meeting, but it is a bit less crowded and thus can often feel more personal. Some of the exciting activities include: the exhibit hall (with lots of free giveaways from astronomy organizations, observatories, universities and astro-related companies) plenary talks from award-winning scientists oral sessions on specialized topics in astronomy press releases (everyone is invited to attend, not just the media) several receptions and town hall meetings that are great to sit in on and hear about the state of the field poster sessions (including yours?) Perhaps most importantly, attending a AAS meeting lets you start building your astronomy network. You...
A Tale of Two Surveys
Decadal surveys are the Bibles of space science policy. How are they prepared? How influential are they?