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3D, astronomy, hubble space telescope, star formation, starbirth

3D This and 3D That

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Viewing Space in Three Dimensions

IRAS 05437+2502 -- click to go to 3D page.

These days you see the term “3D” attached to just about anything that somebody wants to sell you.  It’s kind of over-hyped for a lot of things — like toothpaste. Yep, I saw an ad for toothpaste that hyped it’s “3D”-ness.  And there are 3D movies and glasses and all that.  But, did you know that you can do cheap 3D to look at really cool objects in the universe?

IRAS 05437+2502 as seen by HST. Courtesy NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

The Hubble Space Telescope looked at IRAS 05437+2502, a cloud of interstellar dust that floats in space in the direction of the constellation Taurus, the Bull. It’s a star-forming region first seen in images taken by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS)  in 1983.  Hubble took this image to help astronomers determine what is causing the bright arc at the top of the topmost peak of the cloud. Is it the wake of a star that has left the nebula?  The glow from within?  Or something else?  Further studies will tell the story of this gorgeous little cloud of gas and dust and its shiny arc.

So, where’s the 3D aspect of this? An astronomer in Japan has created some lovely “3D” views — which you can see if you click on the image at left above. It’ll take you to a website where you can simulate the 3D view of this cloud of gas and dust simply by crossing your eyes and staring at the view. It’s really a beautiful piece of work!  And, worthy of the term “3D view”!  Enjoy!

astronomical society of the pacific, astronomy, astronomy education, astronomy groups and organizations

Groovin’ on Astronomy

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With My Friends

I wasn’t around much this past week, at least online. I was, however, very much in attendance at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific meeting, held at the University of Colorado in Boulder — my alma mater. The ASP is an international organization of people from more than 70 countries who teach and spread the news about astronomy and space science,  and related topics.  This year about 400 of us met to talk about astronomy, astronomy outreach methods (I taught a class on how to make podcasts, for example), climate science, and geological science.  It really was a great meeting and I had a wonderful time getting re-acquainted with old friends and making new ones.

I’ve been a member of ASP for quite a long time, and recently have been working with them to create podcasts about the science behind some of the news stories we see from time to time. The project is called Astronomy Behind the Headlines, and we’ve created seven so far.  Two more are in the pipeline, and we hope to do more in the near future.

Membership in ASP is like joining a group of your friends who are REALLY into spreading the news about the astronomy and all the sciences connected to it.  In this case, the friends include planetarium folk, teachers, public information officers at institutions (observatories, research groups, etc.), NASA people, and so forth. The sessions we attended ranged from the best ways to teach astronomy in the classroom, in informal settings, and through media presentations to a very fascinating talk about the discovery of the expansion of the universe, given by author Marcia Bartusiak (a long-time friend of mine), to a great talk about climate science.

There were sessions at Fiske Planetarium (where I once worked and where Mark and I got married) as well as a stargazing party and a wonderful banquet.  The sessions were good, the hallway conversations were amazing, and the people you meet are wonderful.

If you’re interested in advancing science literacy through astronomy — which is the ASP’s motto — then I suggest you join ASP, or at least send a few doubloons their way. They’re a worthy organization to belong to and support — and you’ll be supporting science literacy in the bargain! Go check ’em out at the link above!