Category Archives: astronomy

astronomy, radio astronomy

Astronomy at Low Frequencies

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From Outback Western Australia

We just finished a short video introduction to a new radio array being built in Western Australia called the Murchison Widefield Array. This new radio telescope array is sensitive to frequencies between 80 and 300 MHz (or, in wavelength terms, 1-4 meters), and one of its main science goals is to explore a time in cosmic history called the Epoch of Reionization. It occurred more than 13 billion years ago, when the first stars were beginning to shine out and the first shreds of galaxies were forming. The array will also probe solar and heliospheric events, as well as transient events that occur all over the sky in those wavelength ranges.

Most of the signals in the wavelength range the MWA is sensitive to are masked or covered up by broadcast and other signals that humans use for telecommunications. This makes it very difficult to catch the signals from distant events and objects in space.

In order to catch the signals they want to study, the MWA’s planners chose a location in one of the most radio-quiet places on Earth: Western Australia. The population density there is practically zero when compared to more populated areas, and there’s just not a lot of radio frequency interference to disturb the signals MWA is designed to get.

Scientists in the U.S., Australia, and India are already working with the array, even as it’s being built. The video, which is called MWA: From the Outback to the Cosmos, shows you where the array is and what they hope to do with it. You can also read more about the array at the link at the top of this story.

astronomy, star names

The Star Name Game

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Mid-August Star Musings

I’m a sucker for cool names of astronomy objects. The monickers for stars have come down to us through the ages or from data catalogs that list distant and dimmer stars. On any given night you can look up at the sky and see a bright star with a name like Gomeisa or a dimmer one that may simply have a few letters and a number that denote its name — like HIP80001.  Open up just about any stargazing book and you’ll find lists of the brighter stars, and all of them have “word” names like Alnath or some such. There are also more than a few web sites with those lists, like Skyeye (which not only gives you the  name of the star, but a star chart showing how to find it).

So, I was idly scrolling through the list at SkyEye and got to thinking that these make some dandy first names for characters in science fiction (or even a newborn baby, if you’re daring enough). For writers, it’s kind of fun to make a game of it. For example, say you are REALLY stuck for a name for the hero of your new science fiction adventure. Simply go to the list and for the first name of the person, pick one star name.  You need a last name, so select the name of something like your favorite sports team*, or your favorite make of automobile and append the term “-walker” or “-fighter” or “-gazer” to the end of it.  Thus, you get names like Baiten Kaitos Bronco-walker or Nunki Pirate-fighter or Regulus Eclipse-gazer.

Now, for babies, you probably need to be a little more circumspect (not the least because you DO have to explain this one to your in-laws at some point).  So, I wouldn’t suggest saddling your kid with Rukbat or Scheat or Sualocin (which kind of sounds like the name of a new drug for for skin rashes).  But, Maia is rather nice, as is Vega or Shaula or Mira, or Caroli.

If you do that for your kid, then you’ll (of course) have to take them out when they get big enough so you can show them the star they’re named after.  It’s far better (and much more sensible, not to mention cost-effective) than paying to name a star and then finding out that the name you paid for isn’t official…

(*This probably won’t work too well with Manchester United, although Arsenal could squeak through… just sayin’… )