The Space Show this week

The guests and topics for The Space Show this week:

1. Monday, June 23, 2014: 2-3:30 PM PDT (5-6:30 PM EDT, 4-5:30 PM CDT): No show due to host travel schedule.

2. Tuesday, June 24, 2014:, 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EDT, 9-10:30 PM CDT): We welcome back ROBERT ZIMMERMAN for space news updates.

3. Friday, June 27, 2014, 9:30 -11 AM PDT (12;30-2 PM EDT; 11:30-1 PM CDT): We welcome GREG CECIL back to his show for STEM, NewSpace, and more. .

4. Sunday, June 29, 2014, 12-1:30 PM PDT (3-4:30 PM EDT, 2-3:30 PM CDT). We welcome back JOHN OEHLER for his new book Papyrus: A Thriller.

See also:
/– The Space Show on Vimeo – webinar videos
/– The Space Show’s Blog – summaries of interviews.
/– The Space Show Classroom Blog – tutorial programs

The Space Show is a project of the One Giant Leap Foundation.

Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS) going strong

The ARISS (Amateur Radio on the ISS)  activities were highlighted during the ISS Research & Development Conference held last week in Chicago: Amateur Radio Role on Space Station Featured at ISS Research and Development Conference – ARRL

ARISS is the first and longest continuously running educational outreach program involving the International Space Station. The first ARISS school contact took place in late 2000, and nearly 900 such Amateur Radio contacts have taken place since then. ARISS functions with participation from the ARRL, NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Russian Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS), CNESJAXA,CSA and AMSAT. It allows students, as part of a science and technology curriculum, to speak with a member of the ISS crew and ask questions about life in space or other space-related topics.

ARISS conducts about 100 such school contacts per year, each about 10 minutes long — the time of a typical ISS pass — with students in the US and around the world. Preparation for the ARISS experience motivates both students and teachers to further their educations. Educators involved in an ARISS event can learn about electronics and wireless technology through the hands-on training provided in an ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology session — several are held each year. In similar fashion, youngsters preparing for a contact with an ISS crew member may learn about radio waves, space technology, science experiments onboard the ISS, geography, and the space environment. Some 15,000 students are touched directly by an ARISS contact each year, and many more become aware the program and its benefits either directly or via news media coverage resulting from an event.

See also the  ISS Fan Club for more about amateur radio on the ISS.

Program sends educators to Space Camp

The Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy project sends teachers to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama:

this professional development program is designed to help middle school math and science teachers from around the world become more effective educators in science, technology, engineering, and math. Educators are empowered with supplemental teaching techniques through simulated astronaut training and innovative educational tools that help bring science to life in the classroom.

Here’s are article about teachers in Illinois who participated in the program: At Space Academy, teachers learn to help students reach for the stars – Chicago Sun-Times.

Universe Awareness: introducing kids to astronomy

UNAWE or Universe Awareness is a program started in Europe that seeks

to educate children aged 4-10 years (especially those from underprivileged communities) about astronomy because it embodies a unique combination of scientific and cultural aspects:

  • Our awe-inspiring Universe captures the imagination of children, making it a great stepping-stone to introduce youngsters to science and technology. Indeed, many scientists can trace their interest in science to a moment as a young child when they were first introduced to the wonders of the cosmos.
  • Considering the vastness and beauty of the Universe and our place within it provides a special perspective that can help broaden the mind and stimulate a sense of global citizenship and tolerance.

The organization now has projects in 47 countries. Their website has a lot of information and resources about the program, how to get involved, and about amateur astronomy.

Here’s an article about programs like UNAWE to attract young and old to astronomy: Starstruck: Welcome to the universe of amateur astronomers – the Poughkeepsie Journal.

Crowd-sourcing astrophotography

Images from multiple amateur telescopic images of a given region of the sky can be combined using tools at Astrometry.net to create the equivalent of super long exposures.  The results can be

Here’s an article and paper about this crowd-sources approach to astronomical imagery:

From the article:

The combined image for the M51 galaxies is just as impressive, taking only 40 minutes to produce on a single processor. It reveals extended structures around both galaxies, which astronomers know to be debris from their gravitational interaction as they collide.

Lang and co say these faint features are hugely important because they allow astronomers to measure the age, mass ratios, and orbital configurations of the galaxies involved. Interestingly, many of these faint features are not visible in any of the input images taken from the Web. They emerge only once images have been combined.