The (positive, though sometimes discouraging) habit that scientists have of publicly questioning one another’s work made the news this week. There was even an article in the premier science journal Nature about this debate, which is over whether the extrasolar planet that has been reported around the star Fomalhaut (the “Eye of Sauron” system) is real or not. Use the links below to read more.
The Discovery News Article I Mentioned in Class
Also, there are two extra credit opportunities coming up this next week:
1) Space Shuttle Astronaut Fred Gregory is giving a public lecture *TONIGHT* Wednesday, September 28 at 7pm in the Kupier Space Sciences Building on the U of A campus, room 308. More details are here.
2)The next Steward Observatory Public Evening Lecture is by Dr. Mark Sykes next Monday, October 3 at 7:30pm on the U of A campus (Steward Observatory room N210). Dr. Sykes is a member of the NASA Dawn mission team. The Dawn spacecraft is currently in orbit around the asteroid Vesta, where it will stay until next year when it heads for another of the biggest asteroids in the asteroid belt, Ceres. More information about the Dawn mission can be found here. You should also mark your calendars for the following public evening lecture by my colleague Dr. Don McCarthy (who subbed for the first three classes of the semester). He will be speaking about “Spacetime, Multiple Universes, and Time Travel: The Outrageous Legacy of Astronomy Camp (XXV)“. If you go to either of these, remember that you can stay afterwards and look through the observatory’s 36-inch (diameter) telescope! Ask to see the supernova in M101 (The Pinwheel Galaxy). It’s already past it’s peak brightness, so pretty soon you’ll run out of chances to see the brightest nearby supernova in decades!
Finally, the Size and Scale video that I showed at the beginning of class yesterday can be found here if you want to share it (or watch it again and turn the dramatic music up higher this time!)