Events

Ever since we publicized the "deepest note in the Universe" in 2003, I have admired outreach efforts that combine music and astronomy. These efforts have continued this summer and fall with a program by Don Lubowich, from Hofstra University, who has organised astronomy exhibits to be installed at a large number of music festivals and events. My small role in this program involved displaying images from the "From Earth to the Universe (FETTU)" exhibit on the first day of the Newport Folk Festival at the end of July, added to Don's astronomy banners which also included material from FETTU.

The International Year of Astronomy continues to reach new audiences. Photographs from the "From Earth to the Universe" (FETTU) gallery have been viewed by people all over the world in a variety of venues since 2009. A tactile version of the FETTU exhibit, based on the book Touch the Invisible Sky by Grice, Steel and Daou, was also created in 2009 so people could explore the multi-wavelength universe non-visually, by touch.

On July 20, 2011 the tactile FETTU exhibition continued on to the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland. The images were examined by students attending the National Federation of the Blind Youth Slam - an innovative STEM enrichment program for high school students who are blind or have low vision. Noreen Grice was a course instructor for the Youth Slam Space Track and was on-site at the exhibition. She verbally described the color images as students explored the tactile counterparts by touch. The tactile FETTU exhibition will now be on permanent display at the National Federation of the Blind and will hopefully continue to excite a new generation of science enthusiasts.

-Noreen Grice

(Photos by N.Grice)

On the evening of July 9th, as the intense heat of the summer sun on the National Mall faded into a cool breeze and sunlight gave way to a pale waxing gibbous moonlight, crowds quickly gathered at the National Air and Space Museum's public observatory for the 2nd annual Astronomy Night on the National Mall event.

DC area Astronomy Night on the National Mall changed to Saturday July 9, 6-11 PM due to weather!

For those of you in or around the Nation's Capitol this post-July 4th week, be sure to take note of a free event happening in the heart of DC. On July 8th, from 6pm to 11pm, there will be all sorts of astronomy activities - including star gazing if weather permits – on the National Mall between 4th and 7th Streets.

This week, the American Astronomical Society held its bi-annual meeting in the fair city of Boston. Since those of us involved with Chandra spend most of our time on the other side of the river (meaning Cambridge), this is a chance to expand our horizons ever so slightly.

Of course, the big bonus of the AAS meeting is the ability to hear talks and mingle with people who don’t work at our institution. It’s a chance to catch up with old colleagues and meet new ones. In a world increasingly dominating by electronic communication, there’s something irreplaceable about actually sitting across from someone in person.

We are very excited to announce the launch of a new – and yet somewhat familiar -- project. Today, “From Earth to the Solar System” officially opens. As the name implies, FETTSS (our new favorite acronym) is a direct descendent of the “From Earth to the Universe” project.

Today is the first official day of the American Astronomical Society meeting here in Seattle (Twitter user? The hashtag is #aas217). Right now, scientists are announcing the first rocky planet found by NASA's Kepler mission. Later on, there will be a black hole press conference -- including Chandra data! -- and then news from Fermi on the gamma-ray sky. While this news is being announced, here is a little behind-the-scenes information on this process.

What constitutes 'fun' for astronomers? Well, besides getting new data and results, it might be *talking* about their new data and results. A lot of astronomers will get a chance to do this next week at the twice-annual American Astronomical Society meeting. This one is happening in Seattle, WA, where, in addition to rain, many new and exciting discoveries are expected. Chandra will have new stories coming out on Wednesday and Thursday so keep an eye open for those here. We'll be posting more information as we go, but in the meantime, here's an official announcement about next week's meeting:

This past weekend, the Chandra team had a great time at the USA Science & Engineering Festival. From nearly the start of the day on Saturday through the end of Sunday, there was a steady stream of people stopping by. Those who did attend had to deal with street closures from road races, as well the regular DC activity around the National Mall. Everyone was rewarded, however, with some fabulous autumn weather – sunny and dry.