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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/blog_light_pollution.jpg\">\u003cem>A dark-sky spot amidst the urban light\u003cbr>\npollution of the Bay Area, taken from\u003cbr>\nChabot Space & Science Center. Credit:\u003cbr>\nCarter Roberts. \u003c/em>\u003c/span>When I was growing up, I spent my summers at a camp in the Sierra’s near Colfax, where my mother worked as head cook. This gave me two months' worth of nights every year under dark, sparkling skies far from the glare of the city lights. The sky bristled with stars beyond counting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back home in Oakland, then and now, the urban nighttime glow drowns out all but a few of the brightest stars. The official term for this condition is \u003ca href=\"http://www.darksky.org/\" target=\"_blank\">\u003cstrong>light pollution\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>: the reflection, or scattering, of urban light from the atmosphere above that turns the night sky into a pale ghost of daytime. To get an idea just how bad light pollution is at your location, the next time you take a look at the night sky, try to count the stars. If you come up with 10 or 20, then you've got light pollution problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fortunately, Bay Area geology offers refuge for those who want to see the stars closer to how nature intended. Like \"microclimates\" of relative darkness, pockets and swaths of shadow created by regional hills and mountains provide stargazers with habitat without having to drive a hundred miles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So where can you go? There are many good places, but here’s my A-list of places I have actually gone to for stargazing:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul class=\"links\">\n\u003cli>In the North Bay, the mountains and backroads around the Napa and Cotati valleys offer shelter from the lights. West of the Cotati Valley, all the way to the Bodega Bay and Point Reyes areas, it’s sparsely populated and fertile sky for star gazing.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>In the South Bay and Peninsula, the Santa Cruz Mountains may be the best in terms of dark skies—though trying to find a spot clear of tall trees can be challenging. The drive northward along Skyline Boulevard, especially the stretch south of Highway 92, offers many opportunities to pull over and park with little or no tree cover. Also, Henry Coe State Park [http://www.coepark.org/] near Morgan Hill has the advantage that its gates never close.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>In the East Bay, the Oakland-Berkeley Hills are lined with good ideas: Tilden Park in Berkeley, Sibley Volcanic Preserve just south of the Caldecott Tunnel, Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland (with Friday and Saturday night \u003ca href=\"http://www.chabotspace.org/visit/observatories.asp\">free telescope viewing!\u003c/a>), and Anthony Chabot Regional Park east of San Leandro—which also offers campsites for overnight star gazing trips! Further south, there are some decent places near Sunol, such as the Sunol Regional Wildnerness.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>In Contra Costa County, Briones Park near Pleasant Hill and Mount Diablo State Park are pretty choice. You can even camp in the latter.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Note: many parks and recreation areas close their gates after sundown, but in most cases a good roadside pullout can be found nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For me, there's really nothing quite like a good dark, star-filled sky to create or renew a sense of wonder. I've seen skies about as dark and sparkly as they can get-- either from camping trips in the Sierras or the Rockies or Death Valley, my Peace Corps tenure in a remote village in Cameroon, or my three-year residence in Flagstaff, Arizona. In those places, the skies can be so filled with stars that it's a challenge to find any dark spots at all!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Bay Area, we so often don't take the time to seek out the dark and starry secrets that are really in our own backyards-- figuratively if not literally-- but one good look at a real night sky will remind you that it's worth the trouble to find.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/icon_benb.jpg\">\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Benjamin Burress\u003c/strong> is a staff astronomer at The \u003ca href=\"http://www.chabotspace.org\">Chabot Space & Science Center\u003c/a> in Oakland, CA.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/blog_light_pollution.jpg\">\u003cem>A dark-sky spot amidst the urban light\u003cbr>\npollution of the Bay Area, taken from\u003cbr>\nChabot Space & Science Center. Credit:\u003cbr>\nCarter Roberts. \u003c/em>\u003c/span>When I was growing up, I spent my summers at a camp in the Sierra’s near Colfax, where my mother worked as head cook. This gave me two months' worth of nights every year under dark, sparkling skies far from the glare of the city lights. The sky bristled with stars beyond counting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back home in Oakland, then and now, the urban nighttime glow drowns out all but a few of the brightest stars. The official term for this condition is \u003ca href=\"http://www.darksky.org/\" target=\"_blank\">\u003cstrong>light pollution\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>: the reflection, or scattering, of urban light from the atmosphere above that turns the night sky into a pale ghost of daytime. To get an idea just how bad light pollution is at your location, the next time you take a look at the night sky, try to count the stars. If you come up with 10 or 20, then you've got light pollution problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fortunately, Bay Area geology offers refuge for those who want to see the stars closer to how nature intended. Like \"microclimates\" of relative darkness, pockets and swaths of shadow created by regional hills and mountains provide stargazers with habitat without having to drive a hundred miles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So where can you go? There are many good places, but here’s my A-list of places I have actually gone to for stargazing:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul class=\"links\">\n\u003cli>In the North Bay, the mountains and backroads around the Napa and Cotati valleys offer shelter from the lights. West of the Cotati Valley, all the way to the Bodega Bay and Point Reyes areas, it’s sparsely populated and fertile sky for star gazing.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>In the South Bay and Peninsula, the Santa Cruz Mountains may be the best in terms of dark skies—though trying to find a spot clear of tall trees can be challenging. The drive northward along Skyline Boulevard, especially the stretch south of Highway 92, offers many opportunities to pull over and park with little or no tree cover. Also, Henry Coe State Park [http://www.coepark.org/] near Morgan Hill has the advantage that its gates never close.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>In the East Bay, the Oakland-Berkeley Hills are lined with good ideas: Tilden Park in Berkeley, Sibley Volcanic Preserve just south of the Caldecott Tunnel, Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland (with Friday and Saturday night \u003ca href=\"http://www.chabotspace.org/visit/observatories.asp\">free telescope viewing!\u003c/a>), and Anthony Chabot Regional Park east of San Leandro—which also offers campsites for overnight star gazing trips! Further south, there are some decent places near Sunol, such as the Sunol Regional Wildnerness.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>In Contra Costa County, Briones Park near Pleasant Hill and Mount Diablo State Park are pretty choice. You can even camp in the latter.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Note: many parks and recreation areas close their gates after sundown, but in most cases a good roadside pullout can be found nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For me, there's really nothing quite like a good dark, star-filled sky to create or renew a sense of wonder. I've seen skies about as dark and sparkly as they can get-- either from camping trips in the Sierras or the Rockies or Death Valley, my Peace Corps tenure in a remote village in Cameroon, or my three-year residence in Flagstaff, Arizona. In those places, the skies can be so filled with stars that it's a challenge to find any dark spots at all!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Bay Area, we so often don't take the time to seek out the dark and starry secrets that are really in our own backyards-- figuratively if not literally-- but one good look at a real night sky will remind you that it's worth the trouble to find.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/icon_benb.jpg\">\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Benjamin Burress\u003c/strong> is a staff astronomer at The \u003ca href=\"http://www.chabotspace.org\">Chabot Space & Science Center\u003c/a> in Oakland, CA.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/blog_supernovae.jpg\">\u003cem>Artist's impression of a Type Ia Supernova \u003cbr>explosion. A white dwarf (left) steals the matter from the\u003cbr> outer envelopeof a red giant companion (right) until it can\u003cbr> no longer support the weight. The resulting explosion \u003cbr>can be seen across the universe. Credit: David A. Hardy,\u003cbr> \u003ca>www.astroart.org\u003c/a> & PPARC\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I'm writing this from the plane on a flight back to SFO from Colorado. I just spent the last week in Aspen at \u003ca href=\"http://www.aspenphys.org/\" target=\"_blank\">the Center for Physics\u003c/a> in a supernova workshop. Yes, you heard right, we actually have workshops on \u003ca>supernovae\u003c/a>!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You may wonder how it is that a group of people could spend an entire week discussing exploding stars. Well, I'll tell you, there's a lot we don't know about them. If you ask around, you'll find astrophysicists who have been studying supernovae for their entire professional careers, and who still don't have it figured out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before I start with all the things we don't yet know, let me tell you a couple of the things we do know. First of all, as I mentioned above, a supernova is an exploding star. Roughly speaking, there are two classes, \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_II_supernova\" target=\"_blank\">the core collapse\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_Ia_supernova\" target=\"_blank\">the Type Ia\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A large star (eight times more massive than the Sun) will die in a core collapse event when it burns off the last of its fuel. Without any fuel to burn, the nuclear explosions at the center stop firing, and no longer support the star against its own gravity. When this happens, the star implodes in a burst of light, energy and \u003ca href=\"http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=77\" target=\"_blank\">heavy elements\u003c/a>, leaving behind a \u003ca href=\"http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/pulsars.html\" target=\"_blank\">neutron star\u003c/a> or a \u003ca href=\"http://cosmology.berkeley.edu/Education/BHfaq.html\" target=\"_blank\">black hole\u003c/a>, depending on the size of the original star.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Type Ia supernova is a little less intuitive. This type of event actually requires two stars in a very specific kind of \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_star\" target=\"_blank\">binary system\u003c/a>. One of these stars is a red giant with a very large radius and a loosely confined atmosphere. The other star is a \u003ca href=\"http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/dwarfs.html\" target=\"_blank\">white dwarf\u003c/a>, a star made up largely of carbon and oxygen with no fuel left to burn. A white dwarf can support its own weight only up to a mass a little larger than that of our Sun. This mass limit is known as the \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrasekhar_limit\" target=\"_blank\">Chandrasekhar Mass\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The white dwarf is much more dense than its companion (one teaspoon of it would weigh a ton) and yanks the material away from its companion. The process is an extreme version of the way \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_force\" target=\"_blank\">the moon causes tides\u003c/a> on Earth. As the white dwarf collects this material, it eventually grows larger than the Chandrasekhar Mass. Once it grows so large, it cannot support its own weight anymore, and implodes, as shown in \u003ca href=\"http://www.skyandtelescope.com/skytel/beyondthepage/Supernova_Simulation.html?showAll=y&c=y\" target=\"_blank\">this computer simulation\u003c/a>. Type Ia supernovae therefore explode at a very well defined mass and composition. Unlike core collapse supernovae, most Type Ia events look very similar to each other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What I just painted was a very simple picture of the supernovae that we observe. When it comes to the details however, there are some great mysteries. For example, we don't know where the explosions start or how the explosions propagate through the star. We have some pretty good ideas, but we don't know the details of why Type Ia events actually differ by 20% or so, or how often supernovae go off in the Milky Way, much less a galaxy 10 billion light years away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are some of the issues we came to Aspen to discuss. I imagine that with improved telescopes and computer simulations, we will make some serious progress toward understanding the details of supernovae in the next ten years. I just hope no one figures it out too quickly, since I really enjoyed this weeklong trip to the Colorado Rockies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/icon_kdawson.jpg\">\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Kyle S. Dawson\u003c/strong> is engaged in post-doctorate studies of distant supernovae and\u003cbr>\ndevelopment of a proposed space-based telescope at \u003ca href=\"http://www.lbl.gov/\" target=\"_blank\">Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/blog_supernovae.jpg\">\u003cem>Artist's impression of a Type Ia Supernova \u003cbr>explosion. A white dwarf (left) steals the matter from the\u003cbr> outer envelopeof a red giant companion (right) until it can\u003cbr> no longer support the weight. The resulting explosion \u003cbr>can be seen across the universe. Credit: David A. Hardy,\u003cbr> \u003ca>www.astroart.org\u003c/a> & PPARC\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I'm writing this from the plane on a flight back to SFO from Colorado. I just spent the last week in Aspen at \u003ca href=\"http://www.aspenphys.org/\" target=\"_blank\">the Center for Physics\u003c/a> in a supernova workshop. Yes, you heard right, we actually have workshops on \u003ca>supernovae\u003c/a>!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You may wonder how it is that a group of people could spend an entire week discussing exploding stars. Well, I'll tell you, there's a lot we don't know about them. If you ask around, you'll find astrophysicists who have been studying supernovae for their entire professional careers, and who still don't have it figured out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before I start with all the things we don't yet know, let me tell you a couple of the things we do know. First of all, as I mentioned above, a supernova is an exploding star. Roughly speaking, there are two classes, \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_II_supernova\" target=\"_blank\">the core collapse\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_Ia_supernova\" target=\"_blank\">the Type Ia\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A large star (eight times more massive than the Sun) will die in a core collapse event when it burns off the last of its fuel. Without any fuel to burn, the nuclear explosions at the center stop firing, and no longer support the star against its own gravity. When this happens, the star implodes in a burst of light, energy and \u003ca href=\"http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=77\" target=\"_blank\">heavy elements\u003c/a>, leaving behind a \u003ca href=\"http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/pulsars.html\" target=\"_blank\">neutron star\u003c/a> or a \u003ca href=\"http://cosmology.berkeley.edu/Education/BHfaq.html\" target=\"_blank\">black hole\u003c/a>, depending on the size of the original star.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Type Ia supernova is a little less intuitive. This type of event actually requires two stars in a very specific kind of \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_star\" target=\"_blank\">binary system\u003c/a>. One of these stars is a red giant with a very large radius and a loosely confined atmosphere. The other star is a \u003ca href=\"http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/dwarfs.html\" target=\"_blank\">white dwarf\u003c/a>, a star made up largely of carbon and oxygen with no fuel left to burn. A white dwarf can support its own weight only up to a mass a little larger than that of our Sun. This mass limit is known as the \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrasekhar_limit\" target=\"_blank\">Chandrasekhar Mass\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The white dwarf is much more dense than its companion (one teaspoon of it would weigh a ton) and yanks the material away from its companion. The process is an extreme version of the way \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_force\" target=\"_blank\">the moon causes tides\u003c/a> on Earth. As the white dwarf collects this material, it eventually grows larger than the Chandrasekhar Mass. Once it grows so large, it cannot support its own weight anymore, and implodes, as shown in \u003ca href=\"http://www.skyandtelescope.com/skytel/beyondthepage/Supernova_Simulation.html?showAll=y&c=y\" target=\"_blank\">this computer simulation\u003c/a>. Type Ia supernovae therefore explode at a very well defined mass and composition. Unlike core collapse supernovae, most Type Ia events look very similar to each other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What I just painted was a very simple picture of the supernovae that we observe. When it comes to the details however, there are some great mysteries. For example, we don't know where the explosions start or how the explosions propagate through the star. We have some pretty good ideas, but we don't know the details of why Type Ia events actually differ by 20% or so, or how often supernovae go off in the Milky Way, much less a galaxy 10 billion light years away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are some of the issues we came to Aspen to discuss. I imagine that with improved telescopes and computer simulations, we will make some serious progress toward understanding the details of supernovae in the next ten years. I just hope no one figures it out too quickly, since I really enjoyed this weeklong trip to the Colorado Rockies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/icon_kdawson.jpg\">\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Kyle S. Dawson\u003c/strong> is engaged in post-doctorate studies of distant supernovae and\u003cbr>\ndevelopment of a proposed space-based telescope at \u003ca href=\"http://www.lbl.gov/\" target=\"_blank\">Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/Blog_faceVkg.jpg\">\u003cem>The Viking Orbiter’s picture of a hill in the Cydonia region\u003cbr>\non Mars that sparked popular speculation of a\u003cbr>\nmonument-building Martian civilization.\u003cbr>\nCredit: NASA/Viking\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I heard the news flash that came out in early June about the alleged discovery of standing puddles of water on Mars, a part of me was immediately skeptical. Considering how cold and thin Mars' atmosphere is known to be, standing liquid water simply cannot persist on the surface; it would either evaporate or quickly freeze-- something I've known since my earliest physics classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, I have to admit, a part of me tried to imagine how there possibly might be puddles on Mars' surface-- like, maybe such puddles could be supplied by a warm spring of some kind, right? It wasn't the scientific side of me that tried to make this square peg fit in the round hole; it was the part of me that simply wants to find liquid water there...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As it turned out, no puddles were found on Mars; the\u003ca href=\"http://www.newscientist.com/blog/space/2007/06/no-puddles-on-mars.html\" target=\"_blank\"> claim, controversy, and retraction\u003c/a>, which all occurred at warp speed, were a temporary blip on the radar screen of space exploration. Taken out of context, out of the bigger picture, images can easily mislead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>History is well-furnished with accounts of people who made an observation of this or that, interpreted what they saw-- and turned out to be wrong. The history of astronomy is not an exception.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While astronomers are trained to be objective observers and careful experimenters, and not to jump to conclusions, being human, it's hard not to guess at the nature of what is seen, not to preconceive notions to some extent, and not to use our imaginations to stretch a bit further than the observational evidence at hand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When telescopes were first turned to the skies, in 1609, astronomers could see more than before, but also had more to speculate about. Upon viewing Saturn through his telescope, Galileo described seeing what looked like \"jug handles\" on either side of the planet-- and while he probably never thought they were actual handles sticking to the planet, he did suggest they might be two large moons. What he saw, of course, were Saturn’s now-famous rings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When astronomers first observed galaxies, they were called nebulas (literally, ''clouds'') and believed to be merely composed of gas. The ''spiral nebulas'' (''nebulae'' for the sticklers of Latin grammar) turned out to be composed of billions of stars, not just gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_nebula\" target=\"_blank\">Planetary nebulas\u003c/a> -- shells of gas sloughed off by certain dying stars -- were so named because of their planet-like appearance in early, low-powered telescopes (although they were not actually believed to be planets).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fast forwarding a bit, the \u003ca href=\"http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/image/mariner4_8e.gif\" target=\"_blank\">first close-up pictures of Mars\u003c/a>, taken in 1965 by the Mariner 4 spacecraft, provided just enough visual evidence to characterize Mars as a barren, cratered world not unlike our Moon-- a far cry from the colorful world we know today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And who can forget the infamous \u003ca href=\"http://www.msss.com/education/facepage/face.html\" target=\"_blank\">''face''\u003c/a> on Mars?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I get plenty of phone calls and emails from people reporting seeing something completely astonishing and unique in the sky-- things that turn out to be known objects, like Venus or Sirius or the like. And, sometimes, it's a true uphill battle to convince an eyewitness to the inexplicable that what they witnessed was, in fact... well... explicable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/icon_benb.jpg\">\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Benjamin Burress\u003c/strong> is a staff astronomer at The \u003ca href=\"http://www.chabotspace.org\">Chabot Space & Science Center\u003c/a> in Oakland, CA.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/Blog_faceVkg.jpg\">\u003cem>The Viking Orbiter’s picture of a hill in the Cydonia region\u003cbr>\non Mars that sparked popular speculation of a\u003cbr>\nmonument-building Martian civilization.\u003cbr>\nCredit: NASA/Viking\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I heard the news flash that came out in early June about the alleged discovery of standing puddles of water on Mars, a part of me was immediately skeptical. Considering how cold and thin Mars' atmosphere is known to be, standing liquid water simply cannot persist on the surface; it would either evaporate or quickly freeze-- something I've known since my earliest physics classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, I have to admit, a part of me tried to imagine how there possibly might be puddles on Mars' surface-- like, maybe such puddles could be supplied by a warm spring of some kind, right? It wasn't the scientific side of me that tried to make this square peg fit in the round hole; it was the part of me that simply wants to find liquid water there...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As it turned out, no puddles were found on Mars; the\u003ca href=\"http://www.newscientist.com/blog/space/2007/06/no-puddles-on-mars.html\" target=\"_blank\"> claim, controversy, and retraction\u003c/a>, which all occurred at warp speed, were a temporary blip on the radar screen of space exploration. Taken out of context, out of the bigger picture, images can easily mislead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>History is well-furnished with accounts of people who made an observation of this or that, interpreted what they saw-- and turned out to be wrong. The history of astronomy is not an exception.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While astronomers are trained to be objective observers and careful experimenters, and not to jump to conclusions, being human, it's hard not to guess at the nature of what is seen, not to preconceive notions to some extent, and not to use our imaginations to stretch a bit further than the observational evidence at hand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When telescopes were first turned to the skies, in 1609, astronomers could see more than before, but also had more to speculate about. Upon viewing Saturn through his telescope, Galileo described seeing what looked like \"jug handles\" on either side of the planet-- and while he probably never thought they were actual handles sticking to the planet, he did suggest they might be two large moons. What he saw, of course, were Saturn’s now-famous rings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When astronomers first observed galaxies, they were called nebulas (literally, ''clouds'') and believed to be merely composed of gas. The ''spiral nebulas'' (''nebulae'' for the sticklers of Latin grammar) turned out to be composed of billions of stars, not just gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_nebula\" target=\"_blank\">Planetary nebulas\u003c/a> -- shells of gas sloughed off by certain dying stars -- were so named because of their planet-like appearance in early, low-powered telescopes (although they were not actually believed to be planets).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fast forwarding a bit, the \u003ca href=\"http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/image/mariner4_8e.gif\" target=\"_blank\">first close-up pictures of Mars\u003c/a>, taken in 1965 by the Mariner 4 spacecraft, provided just enough visual evidence to characterize Mars as a barren, cratered world not unlike our Moon-- a far cry from the colorful world we know today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And who can forget the infamous \u003ca href=\"http://www.msss.com/education/facepage/face.html\" target=\"_blank\">''face''\u003c/a> on Mars?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I get plenty of phone calls and emails from people reporting seeing something completely astonishing and unique in the sky-- things that turn out to be known objects, like Venus or Sirius or the like. And, sometimes, it's a true uphill battle to convince an eyewitness to the inexplicable that what they witnessed was, in fact... well... explicable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/icon_benb.jpg\">\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Benjamin Burress\u003c/strong> is a staff astronomer at The \u003ca href=\"http://www.chabotspace.org\">Chabot Space & Science Center\u003c/a> in Oakland, CA.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/blog-galaxy.jpg\">\u003cem>Overlay of the profile of the Bullet Cluster measured \u003cbr>using three different techniques. The light orange, round \u003cbr>galaxies that make up the cluster are seen clearly\u003cbr> in the image taken from optical telescopes. Overlaid is the \u003cbr>distribution of gas measured from X-ray observations in red \u003cbr>and the distribution of dark matter in blue. Composite Credit: \u003cbr>X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/ M.Markevitch et al.; Lensing Map: \u003cbr>NASA/STScI; ESO WFI; Magellan/U.Arizona/D.Clowe et al. \u003cbr>Optical: NASA/STScI;Magellan/U.Arizona/D.Clowe et al.;\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dark matter continues to be a hot topic at my dinner table. I am continually amazed by how my non-physicist friends are interested in the research on this elusive material that makes up 25 percent of the universe. Just last night I was bombarded with questions like \"How do we know it’s out there?\" and \"Can we see it?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2007/06/04/what-is-invisible\" target=\"_blank\">In my last post\u003c/a>, I tried to explain what makes observations of dark matter so difficult. We see ordinary matter through the very strong and efficient electromagnetic force. The problem is that this force does not appear to affect dark matter. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That leaves gravity as the most obvious force for tracking dark matter, but the effects of gravity are really difficult to observe without enormous masses. This difficulty is the main reason that the existence of dark matter wasn’t generally accepted until the 1970’s. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To study dark matter in detail, we have to learn how to pit the forces of gravity against the biggest objects in the universe. One such trick was used in a project at Stanford University, at the \u003ca href=\"http://www-group.slac.stanford.edu/kipac/\" target=\"_blank\">Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology\u003c/a>. In a \u003ca href=\"http://home.slac.stanford.edu/pressreleases/2006/20060821.htm\" target=\"_blank\">press release\u003c/a> from August of last year, Marusa Bradac describes some pretty convincing observations of dark matter in a massive cluster of galaxies \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2007/03/26/a-summer-at-the-south-pole/\" target=\"_blank\"> known as the Bullet Cluster\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Measurements of the normal matter in this cluster were pretty easy. The electrons and protons were studied with observations of the hot cluster gas from an X-ray telescope and galaxies from an optical telescope. These can be seen in the figure at the top of the page. Notice the way the X-ray gas (in the hot pink) appears in two vertical bands?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Observations of the dark matter were much more difficult. These researchers measured the effects of dark matter indirectly by \u003ca href=\"http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/~hoekstra/lensing.html\" target=\"_blank\">weak gravitational lensing\u003c/a>. Lensing is a complicated topic that will have to wait for another time, but for the impatient, a couple more good descriptions can be found \u003ca href=\"http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/features/news/grav_lens.html\" target=\"_blank\">here\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_lensing\" target=\"_blank\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, I will just say that we study this hidden matter by its effect on the appearance of the galaxies behind the cluster. The gravity is so strong that it acts like a lens and distorts the image behind it. The blue fog in the figure represents the distribution of dark matter inferred from the distortion of those galaxies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So why is this interesting? From the image above, we see that the enormous cloud of gas and the enormous cloud of dark matter have completely different experiences in this cluster. The flattened structure of the two bands of gas provides strong evidence in support of a recent collision between two large masses. In the collision, the dark matter passed through relatively unfazed, but the gas in the clusters swirled around like the wind between two fronts in a storm system. In the process, the gas slowed down and is now lagging behind the main material from the two colliding masses. This merger event is demonstrated by \u003ca href=\"http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~jwise/research/movies/HiResBullet.mov\" target=\"_blank\">a very nice computer animation\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In re-reading this post, I realize that there’s a lot of abstract material. I guess this is why the topic keeps coming up over dinner. Next time I should just apologize to my guests and try to shift the conversation to something less complicated, maybe politics?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/icon_kdawson.jpg\">\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Kyle S. Dawson\u003c/strong> is engaged in post-doctorate studies of distant supernovae and\u003cbr>\ndevelopment of a proposed space-based telescope at \u003ca href=\"http://www.lbl.gov/\" target=\"_blank\">Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/blog-galaxy.jpg\">\u003cem>Overlay of the profile of the Bullet Cluster measured \u003cbr>using three different techniques. The light orange, round \u003cbr>galaxies that make up the cluster are seen clearly\u003cbr> in the image taken from optical telescopes. Overlaid is the \u003cbr>distribution of gas measured from X-ray observations in red \u003cbr>and the distribution of dark matter in blue. Composite Credit: \u003cbr>X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/ M.Markevitch et al.; Lensing Map: \u003cbr>NASA/STScI; ESO WFI; Magellan/U.Arizona/D.Clowe et al. \u003cbr>Optical: NASA/STScI;Magellan/U.Arizona/D.Clowe et al.;\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dark matter continues to be a hot topic at my dinner table. I am continually amazed by how my non-physicist friends are interested in the research on this elusive material that makes up 25 percent of the universe. Just last night I was bombarded with questions like \"How do we know it’s out there?\" and \"Can we see it?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2007/06/04/what-is-invisible\" target=\"_blank\">In my last post\u003c/a>, I tried to explain what makes observations of dark matter so difficult. We see ordinary matter through the very strong and efficient electromagnetic force. The problem is that this force does not appear to affect dark matter. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That leaves gravity as the most obvious force for tracking dark matter, but the effects of gravity are really difficult to observe without enormous masses. This difficulty is the main reason that the existence of dark matter wasn’t generally accepted until the 1970’s. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To study dark matter in detail, we have to learn how to pit the forces of gravity against the biggest objects in the universe. One such trick was used in a project at Stanford University, at the \u003ca href=\"http://www-group.slac.stanford.edu/kipac/\" target=\"_blank\">Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology\u003c/a>. In a \u003ca href=\"http://home.slac.stanford.edu/pressreleases/2006/20060821.htm\" target=\"_blank\">press release\u003c/a> from August of last year, Marusa Bradac describes some pretty convincing observations of dark matter in a massive cluster of galaxies \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2007/03/26/a-summer-at-the-south-pole/\" target=\"_blank\"> known as the Bullet Cluster\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Measurements of the normal matter in this cluster were pretty easy. The electrons and protons were studied with observations of the hot cluster gas from an X-ray telescope and galaxies from an optical telescope. These can be seen in the figure at the top of the page. Notice the way the X-ray gas (in the hot pink) appears in two vertical bands?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Observations of the dark matter were much more difficult. These researchers measured the effects of dark matter indirectly by \u003ca href=\"http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/~hoekstra/lensing.html\" target=\"_blank\">weak gravitational lensing\u003c/a>. Lensing is a complicated topic that will have to wait for another time, but for the impatient, a couple more good descriptions can be found \u003ca href=\"http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/features/news/grav_lens.html\" target=\"_blank\">here\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_lensing\" target=\"_blank\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, I will just say that we study this hidden matter by its effect on the appearance of the galaxies behind the cluster. The gravity is so strong that it acts like a lens and distorts the image behind it. The blue fog in the figure represents the distribution of dark matter inferred from the distortion of those galaxies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So why is this interesting? From the image above, we see that the enormous cloud of gas and the enormous cloud of dark matter have completely different experiences in this cluster. The flattened structure of the two bands of gas provides strong evidence in support of a recent collision between two large masses. In the collision, the dark matter passed through relatively unfazed, but the gas in the clusters swirled around like the wind between two fronts in a storm system. In the process, the gas slowed down and is now lagging behind the main material from the two colliding masses. This merger event is demonstrated by \u003ca href=\"http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~jwise/research/movies/HiResBullet.mov\" target=\"_blank\">a very nice computer animation\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In re-reading this post, I realize that there’s a lot of abstract material. I guess this is why the topic keeps coming up over dinner. Next time I should just apologize to my guests and try to shift the conversation to something less complicated, maybe politics?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/icon_kdawson.jpg\">\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Kyle S. Dawson\u003c/strong> is engaged in post-doctorate studies of distant supernovae and\u003cbr>\ndevelopment of a proposed space-based telescope at \u003ca href=\"http://www.lbl.gov/\" target=\"_blank\">Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp> \u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/blog_titan2.jpg\">\u003cem>A comparison of one of Titan's 'seas'(left)\u003cbr>\nand Lake Superior. Credit: NASA/Cassini.\u003c/em>\u003c/span>Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has always held my imagination in a tight grip.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even back in my childhood (we're talking the 60's, before any interplanetary probe had even crossed the Asteroid Belt just beyond Mars), when we knew little more about Titan than its large size and the possibility that it might have clouds, I was spellbound. After all, the fewer hard facts you have, the more power your imagination has, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I read science fiction stories that presented Titan as a world with atmosphere, weather, clouds, and even seas of liquid (albeit seas of water and a breathable atmosphere...).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In retrospect, how prophetic some of those stories were. In the past two years, \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm\" target=\"_blank\">NASA's Cassini spacecraft\u003c/a>, now wrapping up its third year in orbit around Saturn, has revealed features on Titan that, in my mind, place it into the class of \u003cem>world\u003c/em>. (Not \u003cem>planet\u003c/em>, of course; even before the word planet was defined scientifically, Titan wasn’t one simply because it orbits an actual planet, and not the Sun.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early in 2005, the European Space Agency's Huygens probe, which was deposited on Titan by mothership Cassini, sent back aerial pictures of features on Titan’s surface that looked for all the world like meandering coastlines. These \"coastlines\" divided areas of land etched with what looked like river drainage networks and dark, flat expanses that gave the impression of being some sort of liquid surface. Huygens’ measurements also suggested that the ground on which it touched down may have been more like damp soil rather than dry desert dust and rock such as we've found on Venus and Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huygens ran out of battery power hours after landing-- but Cassini flew on, circling Saturn in long, wild orbits that have carried back by Titan on more than one occasion... for some very exciting results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2006, Cassini’s instruments--in particular its radar--revealed yet more liquid-body-like features: \"lakes,\" as they were called. \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-release-details.cfm?newsID=679\" target=\"_blank\">The series of lakes\u003c/a>, located in Titan’s high latitudes, ranged in size from about half a mile wide to 62 miles across. The lakes were believed to consist of liquid methane and ethane—compounds that exist in their gaseous state on Earth, but which would be liquid under the extremely cold temperatures of Titan. (Water on Titan would be solid ice.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most recently, in March this year, Cassini discovered not more lakes on Titan, but seas-- \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-release-details.cfm?newsID=731\" target=\"_blank\">seas-- near Titan's North Pole\u003c/a>, one of which is larger than any of the Great Lakes of North America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I have learned that I was wrong. I always assumed that the imagination has its greatest power to visualize fantastic places and things when it has the least factual information to go on—just as a blank canvas gives an artist the most freedom to create an image. But I’m finding that the more I hear about the scientific discoveries on Titan-- its hydrocarbon clouds, its probable rain and wind systems, its possibly muddy surface, its rivers, its lakes, and, yes, its seas, my imagination of this small world is positively stoked...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/icon_benb.jpg\">\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Benjamin Burress\u003c/strong> is a staff astronomer at The \u003ca href=\"http://www.chabotspace.org\">Chabot Space & Science Center\u003c/a> in Oakland, CA.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp> \u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/blog_titan2.jpg\">\u003cem>A comparison of one of Titan's 'seas'(left)\u003cbr>\nand Lake Superior. Credit: NASA/Cassini.\u003c/em>\u003c/span>Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has always held my imagination in a tight grip.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even back in my childhood (we're talking the 60's, before any interplanetary probe had even crossed the Asteroid Belt just beyond Mars), when we knew little more about Titan than its large size and the possibility that it might have clouds, I was spellbound. After all, the fewer hard facts you have, the more power your imagination has, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I read science fiction stories that presented Titan as a world with atmosphere, weather, clouds, and even seas of liquid (albeit seas of water and a breathable atmosphere...).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In retrospect, how prophetic some of those stories were. In the past two years, \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm\" target=\"_blank\">NASA's Cassini spacecraft\u003c/a>, now wrapping up its third year in orbit around Saturn, has revealed features on Titan that, in my mind, place it into the class of \u003cem>world\u003c/em>. (Not \u003cem>planet\u003c/em>, of course; even before the word planet was defined scientifically, Titan wasn’t one simply because it orbits an actual planet, and not the Sun.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early in 2005, the European Space Agency's Huygens probe, which was deposited on Titan by mothership Cassini, sent back aerial pictures of features on Titan’s surface that looked for all the world like meandering coastlines. These \"coastlines\" divided areas of land etched with what looked like river drainage networks and dark, flat expanses that gave the impression of being some sort of liquid surface. Huygens’ measurements also suggested that the ground on which it touched down may have been more like damp soil rather than dry desert dust and rock such as we've found on Venus and Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huygens ran out of battery power hours after landing-- but Cassini flew on, circling Saturn in long, wild orbits that have carried back by Titan on more than one occasion... for some very exciting results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2006, Cassini’s instruments--in particular its radar--revealed yet more liquid-body-like features: \"lakes,\" as they were called. \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-release-details.cfm?newsID=679\" target=\"_blank\">The series of lakes\u003c/a>, located in Titan’s high latitudes, ranged in size from about half a mile wide to 62 miles across. The lakes were believed to consist of liquid methane and ethane—compounds that exist in their gaseous state on Earth, but which would be liquid under the extremely cold temperatures of Titan. (Water on Titan would be solid ice.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most recently, in March this year, Cassini discovered not more lakes on Titan, but seas-- \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-release-details.cfm?newsID=731\" target=\"_blank\">seas-- near Titan's North Pole\u003c/a>, one of which is larger than any of the Great Lakes of North America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I have learned that I was wrong. I always assumed that the imagination has its greatest power to visualize fantastic places and things when it has the least factual information to go on—just as a blank canvas gives an artist the most freedom to create an image. But I’m finding that the more I hear about the scientific discoveries on Titan-- its hydrocarbon clouds, its probable rain and wind systems, its possibly muddy surface, its rivers, its lakes, and, yes, its seas, my imagination of this small world is positively stoked...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/icon_benb.jpg\">\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Benjamin Burress\u003c/strong> is a staff astronomer at The \u003ca href=\"http://www.chabotspace.org\">Chabot Space & Science Center\u003c/a> in Oakland, CA.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/blog_balloon.jpg\">\u003cem>Some forces, like the electromagnetic force,\u003cbr>\nare very easy to detect using small children\u003cbr>\nin the laboratory. Others aren't so easy.\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I finished off \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2007/05/21/astronomy-in-the-news/\">my last post\u003c/a> with mention of some \u003ca href=\"http://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni/uni_101matter.html\" target=\"_blank\">recent dark matter press coverage\u003c/a>. I'm going to take this opportunity to delve into this subject with a little more detail. I realize I've addressed this in \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2007/04/09/why-does-it-matter/\">a previous post\u003c/a>, but I have to harp on it, the nature of this material remains one of the most intriguing questions in cosmology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As I mentioned a couple months ago, no one has ever actually \u003cem>observed \u003c/em>dark matter, after all, it is dark. What do I mean by dark??? To answer this question, I have to explain the opposite of dark matter, we'll call it \"bright\" matter. The \"bright\" matter we're most familiar with is made up of electrons and protons. Electrons and protons interact through a \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_interaction\" target=\"_blank\">variety of forces\u003c/a>. The two forces most familiar to us are \u003cstrong>gravity \u003c/strong>and \u003cstrong>the electromagnetic force\u003c/strong>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/history/newtongrav.html\" target=\"_blank\">Gravity \u003c/a>of course is responsible for everything from the apple falling on Newton's head to the Earth's revolution around the sun. We typically associate this force with very large masses and very large distances. In the case of Newton's apple, we give credit to the mass of the Earth for pulling the fruit from the tree. We blame the mass of the sun for our yearly winters caused by the Earth's revolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the most obvious of its contributions, \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_force\" target=\"_blank\">the electromagnetic force\u003c/a> gives us electricity for our houses and for lightning strikes. More subtly, electromagnetism provides the force required to keep the particles together in the chair you're sitting in. The electromagnetic force also causes the interaction between photons and normal matter, which is how we see light.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Let's compare these two forces for a second. We can see the effects of gravity when we have something as massive as the Earth, or a star, but it’s very hard to see the effects of gravity when looking at much smaller objects. However, it's very easy to see the electromagnetic force: I can move electrons around on the surface of a balloon by rubbing it on the floor and it will stick right to the wall. Imagine trying to measure the gravitational force in that same experiment, it's nearly impossible. This is because the electromagnetic force is many billions of billions of times stronger than gravity. A penny makes a bigger dent in our national debt than the effects of gravity make compared to electromagnetism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now what does this have to do with dark matter? Well, while we see clumping normal matter primarily through the electromagnetic force, we do not have this option with dark matter. This matter does not interact with the electromagnetic force. It therefore does not emit light, it doesn't stick together in the form of chairs or planets, and it doesn't carry an electromagnetic charge. This makes individual dark matter particles very hard to detect, much harder than detecting an electron or proton. Next time, I'll describe some of the techniques for actually observing this invisible material.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/icon_kdawson.jpg\">\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Kyle S. Dawson\u003c/strong> is engaged in post-doctorate studies of distant supernovae and\u003cbr>\ndevelopment of a proposed space-based telescope at \u003ca href=\"http://www.lbl.gov/\" target=\"_blank\">Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/blog_balloon.jpg\">\u003cem>Some forces, like the electromagnetic force,\u003cbr>\nare very easy to detect using small children\u003cbr>\nin the laboratory. Others aren't so easy.\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I finished off \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2007/05/21/astronomy-in-the-news/\">my last post\u003c/a> with mention of some \u003ca href=\"http://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni/uni_101matter.html\" target=\"_blank\">recent dark matter press coverage\u003c/a>. I'm going to take this opportunity to delve into this subject with a little more detail. I realize I've addressed this in \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2007/04/09/why-does-it-matter/\">a previous post\u003c/a>, but I have to harp on it, the nature of this material remains one of the most intriguing questions in cosmology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As I mentioned a couple months ago, no one has ever actually \u003cem>observed \u003c/em>dark matter, after all, it is dark. What do I mean by dark??? To answer this question, I have to explain the opposite of dark matter, we'll call it \"bright\" matter. The \"bright\" matter we're most familiar with is made up of electrons and protons. Electrons and protons interact through a \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_interaction\" target=\"_blank\">variety of forces\u003c/a>. The two forces most familiar to us are \u003cstrong>gravity \u003c/strong>and \u003cstrong>the electromagnetic force\u003c/strong>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/history/newtongrav.html\" target=\"_blank\">Gravity \u003c/a>of course is responsible for everything from the apple falling on Newton's head to the Earth's revolution around the sun. We typically associate this force with very large masses and very large distances. In the case of Newton's apple, we give credit to the mass of the Earth for pulling the fruit from the tree. We blame the mass of the sun for our yearly winters caused by the Earth's revolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the most obvious of its contributions, \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_force\" target=\"_blank\">the electromagnetic force\u003c/a> gives us electricity for our houses and for lightning strikes. More subtly, electromagnetism provides the force required to keep the particles together in the chair you're sitting in. The electromagnetic force also causes the interaction between photons and normal matter, which is how we see light.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Let's compare these two forces for a second. We can see the effects of gravity when we have something as massive as the Earth, or a star, but it’s very hard to see the effects of gravity when looking at much smaller objects. However, it's very easy to see the electromagnetic force: I can move electrons around on the surface of a balloon by rubbing it on the floor and it will stick right to the wall. Imagine trying to measure the gravitational force in that same experiment, it's nearly impossible. This is because the electromagnetic force is many billions of billions of times stronger than gravity. A penny makes a bigger dent in our national debt than the effects of gravity make compared to electromagnetism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now what does this have to do with dark matter? Well, while we see clumping normal matter primarily through the electromagnetic force, we do not have this option with dark matter. This matter does not interact with the electromagnetic force. It therefore does not emit light, it doesn't stick together in the form of chairs or planets, and it doesn't carry an electromagnetic charge. This makes individual dark matter particles very hard to detect, much harder than detecting an electron or proton. Next time, I'll describe some of the techniques for actually observing this invisible material.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/icon_kdawson.jpg\">\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Kyle S. Dawson\u003c/strong> is engaged in post-doctorate studies of distant supernovae and\u003cbr>\ndevelopment of a proposed space-based telescope at \u003ca href=\"http://www.lbl.gov/\" target=\"_blank\">Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/blog_mars.jpg\">\u003cem>Gertrude Weise -- a deposit of silica uncovered by \u003cbr>the wheel of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit.\u003cbr> Credit: NASA/Mars Exploration Rovers.\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watching the unfolding story of the exploration of our solar system's fourth planet is like watching an episode of CSI: Mars. Robotic orbiters, like police helicopters, constantly circle the neighborhood while determined rovers doggedly comb the ground for evidence. Back at the lab (Earth), forensics investigators put all the clues and data through detailed analyses, looking for the smoking gun that will solve the crime….\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what's the crime? In a headline, \"Is Mars concealing a wetter, warmer past?\" \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the Mars Exploration Rovers, \u003ca href=\"http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/\" target=\"_blank\">Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter\u003c/a>, and other spacecraft have revealed, signs of past liquid water flowing on Mars' surface are abundant -- though scientists still tend to couch the evidence with the caution that there are other processes in nature that can produce these signs. Still, the preponderance of evidence points so strongly to past liquid action on the Red Planet, sometimes you can almost taste the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What startling piece of evidence has our forensics team uncovered this week? In a headline, \"Gertrude Weise: Scratching the Surface for Pay Dirt.\" I'll explain. NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, which has been \u003ca href=\"http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/mission/traverse_maps.html\" target=\"_blank\">exploring the giant Gusev Crater\u003c/a> for about the past 1,200 Martian days, recently dragged its non-operational wheel through the dirt to reveal a deposit of white material, which it identified as silica (silicon dioxide -- same material that glass is made of). (One of Spirit's six wheels stopped working awhile back -- which has made it a good soil furrowing tool, or plough!)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20070521a.html\" target=\"_blank\">Gertrude Weise\u003c/a>, by the way, is the name given to the silica deposit, named after a player in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. Yes, naming opportunities abound in our solar system -- dwarf planets, asteroids, craters, mountains, and, yes, small deposits of minerals!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The well-cautioned announcement is that silica deposits like this tend to be formed and concentrated by water--although there are other possible explanations. Whether by the action of standing pools or lakes of water, or geyser-like activity of hot water heated by volcanic activity and bubbling up to the surface, this is yet another strong piece of evidence for the \u003ca href=\"http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/science/goal1-results.html\" target=\"_blank\">existence of liquid water on Mars\u003c/a>, long ago. And, if volcanic heating is what produced the Gertrude Weise deposit, then this spot on Mars once boasted a hot spring -- a warm, mineral rich, watery environment that may have been quite conducive to life...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's probably the most exciting piece of the Martian puzzle right now: water and life, life and water. As it looks increasingly likely that Mars was indeed warmer and wetter in the past, and as we are finding life forms on Earth that thrive in conditions of extreme heat, cold, and toxicity (extremophiles), the Martian investigation seems to be mounting toward a climax. Is it only a matter of time before we find the fossil of a Martian microbe, or even higher order of life—or, maybe, beneath the frigid, dry, red soils, in an underground aquifer of liquid water, life that is living right now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stay tuned to this show. It's hard to say when the \"finale\" episode will be aired, but it promises to be a good one. For now, it's a real cliff hanger...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/icon_benb.jpg\">\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Benjamin Burress\u003c/strong> is a staff astronomer at The \u003ca href=\"http://www.chabotspace.org\">Chabot Space & Science Center\u003c/a> in Oakland, CA.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/blog_mars.jpg\">\u003cem>Gertrude Weise -- a deposit of silica uncovered by \u003cbr>the wheel of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit.\u003cbr> Credit: NASA/Mars Exploration Rovers.\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watching the unfolding story of the exploration of our solar system's fourth planet is like watching an episode of CSI: Mars. Robotic orbiters, like police helicopters, constantly circle the neighborhood while determined rovers doggedly comb the ground for evidence. Back at the lab (Earth), forensics investigators put all the clues and data through detailed analyses, looking for the smoking gun that will solve the crime….\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what's the crime? In a headline, \"Is Mars concealing a wetter, warmer past?\" \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the Mars Exploration Rovers, \u003ca href=\"http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/\" target=\"_blank\">Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter\u003c/a>, and other spacecraft have revealed, signs of past liquid water flowing on Mars' surface are abundant -- though scientists still tend to couch the evidence with the caution that there are other processes in nature that can produce these signs. Still, the preponderance of evidence points so strongly to past liquid action on the Red Planet, sometimes you can almost taste the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What startling piece of evidence has our forensics team uncovered this week? In a headline, \"Gertrude Weise: Scratching the Surface for Pay Dirt.\" I'll explain. NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, which has been \u003ca href=\"http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/mission/traverse_maps.html\" target=\"_blank\">exploring the giant Gusev Crater\u003c/a> for about the past 1,200 Martian days, recently dragged its non-operational wheel through the dirt to reveal a deposit of white material, which it identified as silica (silicon dioxide -- same material that glass is made of). (One of Spirit's six wheels stopped working awhile back -- which has made it a good soil furrowing tool, or plough!)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20070521a.html\" target=\"_blank\">Gertrude Weise\u003c/a>, by the way, is the name given to the silica deposit, named after a player in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. Yes, naming opportunities abound in our solar system -- dwarf planets, asteroids, craters, mountains, and, yes, small deposits of minerals!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The well-cautioned announcement is that silica deposits like this tend to be formed and concentrated by water--although there are other possible explanations. Whether by the action of standing pools or lakes of water, or geyser-like activity of hot water heated by volcanic activity and bubbling up to the surface, this is yet another strong piece of evidence for the \u003ca href=\"http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/science/goal1-results.html\" target=\"_blank\">existence of liquid water on Mars\u003c/a>, long ago. And, if volcanic heating is what produced the Gertrude Weise deposit, then this spot on Mars once boasted a hot spring -- a warm, mineral rich, watery environment that may have been quite conducive to life...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's probably the most exciting piece of the Martian puzzle right now: water and life, life and water. As it looks increasingly likely that Mars was indeed warmer and wetter in the past, and as we are finding life forms on Earth that thrive in conditions of extreme heat, cold, and toxicity (extremophiles), the Martian investigation seems to be mounting toward a climax. Is it only a matter of time before we find the fossil of a Martian microbe, or even higher order of life—or, maybe, beneath the frigid, dry, red soils, in an underground aquifer of liquid water, life that is living right now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stay tuned to this show. It's hard to say when the \"finale\" episode will be aired, but it promises to be a good one. For now, it's a real cliff hanger...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/icon_benb.jpg\">\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Benjamin Burress\u003c/strong> is a staff astronomer at The \u003ca href=\"http://www.chabotspace.org\">Chabot Space & Science Center\u003c/a> in Oakland, CA.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/blog_red_dwarf.jpg\">\u003cem>An artists conception of a planet orbiting a red dwarf star\u003c/em>\u003c/span> Is it just me, or have we seen a ton of astronomy news coverage in the last month? Lately, it seems like every time I check my inbox, there is a new question from my parents about some great new discovery with a link to the news article.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest burst of astronomy activity began with the \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/science/space/25planet.html?ex=1193284800&en=295f38ac6130ee08&ei=5087&excamp=GGGNgliese581\" target=\"_blank\">discovery of a possible earth-like and earth-sized planet\u003c/a>. This discovery came as part of one of those planet searches that both my \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2007/03/16/planets-by-the-hundreds/\">fellow blogger Ben Burress\u003c/a> and I \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2007/02/26/my-very-eager-mother-just-served-us-nachos/\">have written about\u003c/a>. Just like most of the 200 or so planets that have been discovered, this planet was found by observing the wobble of the central star.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this case, the star was a \u003ca href=\"http://www.emse.fr/~yukna/researchers/reddwarf.htm\" target=\"_blank\">red dwarf\u003c/a>, a kind of star cooler and less massive than our Sun. The planet orbiting the star was much smaller than most known extrasolar planets, only about 5 times the size of Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The small size of the star actually makes it easier to detect smaller planets. Each passing orbit of the planet causes a relatively large tug on the star compared to the effect of that planet on a much larger star. It’s like watching a \u003ca href=\"http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/7435\" target=\"_blank\">4-yr old swing Nick Swisher's baseball bat\u003c/a>. The aspect of this discovery that warrants an article in the \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/\" target=\"_blank\">New York Times\u003c/a> is the fact that the surface temperatures of this newly discovered planet may be quite similar to those on Earth, making it a possible environment for life. No other known extrasolar plant seems to fit this bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My parents' next astro-email was a couple of weeks later, following the discovery of \u003ca href=\"http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=22600\" target=\"_blank\">the brightest supernova ever observed\u003c/a>. Now, I haven't quite covered the realm of \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova\" target=\"_blank\">supernovae\u003c/a>, but I hinted at it in \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2007/05/07/gamma-rays-and-monsters/\">my last post\u003c/a>. There are several kinds of supernovae, each kind exploding for a different reason, and each kind exploding with a different brightness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This particular supernova, discovered by a team of astronomers from UC-Berkeley and University of Texas, is believed to be one of the rarest breeds. Brighter than any other of the supernova types, this supernova is believed to be the result of the collapse of a star 150 times as massive as our Sun. These stars are also extremely rare, there may only be a dozen or so in the entire Milky Way. This is exciting because one such star in our galaxy is \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eta_Carinae\" target=\"_blank\">eta Carinae\u003c/a>, merely 7500 light years away. We're all hoping that someday soon this star too will explode for the ultimate fireworks display, bright enough to be seen in the middle of the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest news came with the observations of the effects of \u003ca href=\"http://www.planetary.org/news/2007/0515_Invisible_Ring_of_Dark_Matter.html\" target=\"_blank\">dark matter around a massive galaxy cluster\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2007/04/09/why-does-it-matter/\">Dark matter\u003c/a> is another area of astronomy research that I covered in an earlier post. This is a topic that really fascinates me, so I will come back to it in more detail next time. In the meanwhile, I'll just have keep my fingers crossed that the New York Times will decide to do a piece on MY research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/icon_kdawson.jpg\">\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Kyle S. Dawson\u003c/strong> is engaged in post-doctorate studies of distant supernovae and\u003cbr>\ndevelopment of a proposed space-based telescope at \u003ca href=\"http://www.lbl.gov/\" target=\"_blank\">Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/blog_red_dwarf.jpg\">\u003cem>An artists conception of a planet orbiting a red dwarf star\u003c/em>\u003c/span> Is it just me, or have we seen a ton of astronomy news coverage in the last month? Lately, it seems like every time I check my inbox, there is a new question from my parents about some great new discovery with a link to the news article.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest burst of astronomy activity began with the \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/science/space/25planet.html?ex=1193284800&en=295f38ac6130ee08&ei=5087&excamp=GGGNgliese581\" target=\"_blank\">discovery of a possible earth-like and earth-sized planet\u003c/a>. This discovery came as part of one of those planet searches that both my \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2007/03/16/planets-by-the-hundreds/\">fellow blogger Ben Burress\u003c/a> and I \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2007/02/26/my-very-eager-mother-just-served-us-nachos/\">have written about\u003c/a>. Just like most of the 200 or so planets that have been discovered, this planet was found by observing the wobble of the central star.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this case, the star was a \u003ca href=\"http://www.emse.fr/~yukna/researchers/reddwarf.htm\" target=\"_blank\">red dwarf\u003c/a>, a kind of star cooler and less massive than our Sun. The planet orbiting the star was much smaller than most known extrasolar planets, only about 5 times the size of Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The small size of the star actually makes it easier to detect smaller planets. Each passing orbit of the planet causes a relatively large tug on the star compared to the effect of that planet on a much larger star. It’s like watching a \u003ca href=\"http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/7435\" target=\"_blank\">4-yr old swing Nick Swisher's baseball bat\u003c/a>. The aspect of this discovery that warrants an article in the \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/\" target=\"_blank\">New York Times\u003c/a> is the fact that the surface temperatures of this newly discovered planet may be quite similar to those on Earth, making it a possible environment for life. No other known extrasolar plant seems to fit this bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My parents' next astro-email was a couple of weeks later, following the discovery of \u003ca href=\"http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=22600\" target=\"_blank\">the brightest supernova ever observed\u003c/a>. Now, I haven't quite covered the realm of \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova\" target=\"_blank\">supernovae\u003c/a>, but I hinted at it in \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2007/05/07/gamma-rays-and-monsters/\">my last post\u003c/a>. There are several kinds of supernovae, each kind exploding for a different reason, and each kind exploding with a different brightness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This particular supernova, discovered by a team of astronomers from UC-Berkeley and University of Texas, is believed to be one of the rarest breeds. Brighter than any other of the supernova types, this supernova is believed to be the result of the collapse of a star 150 times as massive as our Sun. These stars are also extremely rare, there may only be a dozen or so in the entire Milky Way. This is exciting because one such star in our galaxy is \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eta_Carinae\" target=\"_blank\">eta Carinae\u003c/a>, merely 7500 light years away. We're all hoping that someday soon this star too will explode for the ultimate fireworks display, bright enough to be seen in the middle of the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest news came with the observations of the effects of \u003ca href=\"http://www.planetary.org/news/2007/0515_Invisible_Ring_of_Dark_Matter.html\" target=\"_blank\">dark matter around a massive galaxy cluster\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2007/04/09/why-does-it-matter/\">Dark matter\u003c/a> is another area of astronomy research that I covered in an earlier post. This is a topic that really fascinates me, so I will come back to it in more detail next time. In the meanwhile, I'll just have keep my fingers crossed that the New York Times will decide to do a piece on MY research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"left\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/imp/icon_kdawson.jpg\">\u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Kyle S. Dawson\u003c/strong> is engaged in post-doctorate studies of distant supernovae and\u003cbr>\ndevelopment of a proposed space-based telescope at \u003ca href=\"http://www.lbl.gov/\" target=\"_blank\">Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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}
},
"baycurious": {
"id": "baycurious",
"title": "Bay Curious",
"tagline": "Exploring the Bay Area, one question at a time",
"info": "KQED’s new podcast, Bay Curious, gets to the bottom of the mysteries — both profound and peculiar — that give the Bay Area its unique identity. And we’ll do it with your help! You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Bay-Curious-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/news/series/baycurious",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 3
},
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"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious",
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}
},
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"id": "bbc-world-service",
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"info": "The day's top stories from BBC News compiled twice daily in the week, once at weekends.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9pm-10pm, TUE-FRI 1am-2am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_world_service",
"meta": {
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"source": "BBC World Service"
},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/global-news-podcast/id135067274?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/BBC-World-Service-p455581/",
"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/26099305-72af-4542-9dde-ac1807fe36d5/kqed-s-the-california-report",
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}
},
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"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/City-Arts-and-Lectures-p692/",
"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 1
},
"link": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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},
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/commonwealth-club-of-california-podcast/id976334034?mt=2",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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}
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
"link": "/forum",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain",
"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0MxSpNYZKNprFLCl7eEtyx"
}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
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