Chaotic Astronomy

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ESOcast 4: 24 hours in the life of an ESO astronomer.

Have you ever wondered what it must be like to be an astronomer? In this fourth episode of the ESOcast, Dr. J takes us behind the scenes at ESOs Very Large Telescope in Chile to show us what a day in the life of an ESO staff astronomer is like.

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The countdown for an exciting night with an observation run at the world’s most advanced optical telescope, the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT), has begun …

In this ESOcast episode, were going to follow a day in the life of Dieter Nürnberger. Dieter is a staff astronomer at ESO. His job is to support those scientists that have managed to get observing time on ESOs Very Large Telescope at Paranal Observatory in Chile. Dieter spends most of his working days helping the successful few to make ground-breaking discoveries.

Dieter Nürnberger is on his way to meet the visiting scientists to team up for the night to come. The three have been observing together for several nights, today is their final evening and they are keen to get started. Over dinner they discuss plans for the night ahead.

Well before sunset they leave the Residencia and drive up the desert road to the building housing the VLT control room. At the control building they prepare the observations and check the set up of the telescope. Observing time on these great Telescopes is precious and delays must be avoided at all costs.

Like a pilot checking his plane before departure, Dieter goes through a detailed check of his instrument, while the telescope operator does the same for the giant telescope. The astronomers have travelled far for a glorious view of the Universe, and here a glorious view of the sunset is included for free! As usual at Paranal, the conditions are perfect and Dieter and the visiting astronomers return with high expectations.

Read more: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/ESOCAST4/ESOCAST4.pdf

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ESOcast is produced by ESO, the European Southern Observatory. ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the pre-eminent intergovernmental science and technology organisation in Astronomy designing, constructing and operating the worlds most advanced ground-based telescopes.

• http://www.eso.org/
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Duration : 0:6:0

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Members of Association of Amateur Astronomers seen enjoying during the Sky party which was held on 12/07/2010 at Citizen English School, Nanjangud.

Duration : 0:2:1

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Technorati Tags: aaa, amateur, association, Astronomer, Astronomy, Celestron, mars, party, planets, sky, star, stars, telescope

Phil Plait, the bad astronomer himself, answers the question “why is science important?” One of many answers to this question from high profile scientists, writers and teachers at www.whyscience.co.uk

Duration : 0:4:44

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Technorati Tags: Astronomer, Astronomy, bad, phil, plait

http://www.pbs.org/nova/telescope William Herschel often gets the credit, but his sister Caroline was also a pioneer astronomer. For more, watch NOVA’s Hunting the Edge of Space airing April 6 and 13 on PBS. http://www.pbs.org/nova/telescope Hunting the Edge of Space produced for NOVA by Brook Lapping

Duration : 0:4:24

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Technorati Tags: Astronomer, Astronomy, Edge, herschel, hunting, NOVA, PBS, space, telescope, William

Part 1 in a series explaining how solar storms impact the Earth. This episode recounts disasters linked to solar storms. Astronomy. NASA. Sun.

Duration : 0:9:16

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Technorati Tags: 1859, ACE, Astronomer, Astronomy, aurora, blackout, Carrington, CME, coronal, cross, disasters, discovery, Edge, ejections, flares, geomagnetic, Goddard, GPS, HINODE, history, lights, mass, NASA, NASAEdge, northern, Odenwald, photon, Quebec, radiation, Richard, SOHO, solar, southern, space, Sten, STEREO, storm, STORMS, sun, sunspots, super, weather

Ancient Astronomy – Best Of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos (Part 17)

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BEST OF CARL SAGAN’S “COSMOS”:

1) 10 Years After: Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan Reflect:

2) Lost Between Immensity And Eternity:

3) The Realm Of The Galaxies:

4) Our Galaxy, The Milky Way:

5) Our Solar System:

6) Eratosthenes And The Round Earth Model:

7) The Library Of Alexandria:

A Short History Of The Universe:

9) Artificial And Natural Selection:

10) The Cosmic Year:

11) Tree Of Life – 4 Billion Years Of Evolution:

12) The Miracle Of Life:

13) DNA – The Common Basis Of Life:

14) Abiogenesis The Origin Of Life:

15) Astronomy vs Astrology:

16) Pictures In The Sky:

17) Ancient Astronomy:

18) Triumph Of Modern Science Over Medieval Superstition:

19) The Mysterious Tonguska Event:

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Carl Edward Sagan, Ph.D. (1934-1996) was an American astronomer, astrochemist, author, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).

He is world-famous for writing popular science books and for co-writing and presenting the award-winning 1980 television series “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage”, which has been seen by more than 600 million people in over 60 countries, making it the most widely watched PBS program in history.

A book to accompany the program was also published. He also wrote the novel “Contact”, the basis for the 1997 Robert Zemecki’s film of the same name starring Jodie Foster.

During his lifetime, Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he frequently advocated skeptical inquiry, secular humanism, and the scientific method.

http://www.carlsagan.com

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Duration : 0:8:58

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