Zeta Ophiuchi With A Bullet

Zeta Ophiuchi is a blue supergiant star 20 times the mass of our sun...

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA

It's located in the constellation Ophiuchus (yeah, the "new" 13th sign of the zodiac...Peh!) but an explosive supernova of its former companion star sent it zipping through the galaxy at 24 kilometers per second.  On Earth a pretty snappy rifle bullet travels a little over one kilometer per second, and only for a couple seconds.  As Zeta Ophiuchi plows through the interstellar medium its solar wind compresses gas and dust into a bow shock.  Other than the blue-white light from "Zeta Oph" none of this adventure can be seen as light to the human eye.  But NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) examines the cosmos in the infrared so the shock wave can now be seen plain as day.  The linked articles describe all the science better than I can ever hope to but this stuff is great fun to ponder.

Cassandra Skiing in Minneapolis

Cassie skied in the Mayor's Cross Country Challenge in Minneapolis this weekend...

In addition to watching the races on Saturday (Cassie was 3rd for her team and 33rd overall) and Sunday, we ate venison, played Scrabble, entertained the cats, and we watched movies of course.

The Town was much better than I expected.  Director Ben Affleck has a confidence with his material.  He balanced the crime caper action elements with some very interesting character development. 

Coincidentally, Gone Baby Gone, another Affleck film which starred his younger brother Casey, was also in our NetFlix queue.  I'd seen it before but Cassie hadn't.  It's very strong, unflinching stuff, but it's cleverly plotted and has an interesting pace.

We needed something a little lighter so we picked Penelope, a 2006 comedy starring Cristina Ricci, from the Watch Instantly queue.  It was whimsical and visually striking but the story was a little shy of being completely engaging.

That's Astronomy, Not Astrology!

Yes, there is a difference...

image from NASA APOD

Another excellent series of astronomy podcasts are actually recordings of two classes taught by Professor Richard Pogge at Ohio State University. Why these aren't on iTunes U instead of iTunes, I don't know, but these undergrad courses are excellent primers on astronomy. Astronomy 161 explains the local neighborhood - our solar system. Astronomy 162 deals with the big picture, deep time perspective - from the big bang to the heat death of the universe. Professor Pogge supplies copious supporting materials for 161 and 162 at the Ohio State website, but he does such a nice job explaining his topics you can get by without them...at least until you get home.

Astronomy Cast: Watch The Skies!

Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela Gay entertain and inform...

image from NASA APOD

Fraser Cain is the publisher of the Universe Today website.  Dr. Pamela Gay lectures at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.  Each week they come together to deliver the Astronomy Cast.  I found them on iTunes or you can visit their website where they have an episode archive 243 shows deep.  The average show is around 30 minutes in length and deals with a single topic (except for their fun "listener questions" episodes).  Each 'cast is supplemented by helpful show notes at the website.  Both hosts have voices that are easy enough to listen to at 2x on your iProduct (do MP3 players have variable playback speeds too?) so it will only take you a little over 60 hours to catch up...

Books and Ideas

Ginger Campbell's other podcast...

I've been listening Ginger Campbell's Brain Science Podcast on iTunes since I got my first iPod.  Dr. Campbell practices Emergency Medicine and still finds time to blog and podcast.  Neurology is her interest, not her specialty, but she has made it her business to popularize the ever-expanding discipline.  She has also organized a group called Science Podcasters where like-minded promoters of science can hang their hats.  Dr. Campbell also has a presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, a Twitter feed, and an iPhone app.  I'm always impressed when a fellow boomer dives headfirst into Web 2.0.

I don't know why I never tried any of her work at Books and Ideas but I'm glad I finally did.  She 'casts from this site topics that don't precisely fit the charter at Brain Science.  Not everything that interest Dr. Campbell interest me, but as I've caught up with her podcasts several struck my fancy...

#34 Bruce Hood, author of SUPERSENSE  Hood's book is on my 2011 reading list.

#32 "Unscientific America" 

#30 Tom Clark on Naturalism

#27 Jennifer Michael Hecht  Hecht, author of Doubt: A Hisory, was a skeptic of revealed truth a couple years before the four horsemen of the angry "new atheism" mounted their steeds. Listening to this interview reminded me to add her book to my 2011 reading list.

#25 Vaccines DO NOT cause Autism This one was 'cast on both feeds so I've heard this excellent interview before.  

#21 Interview with Eugenie Scott

#20 Mindfulness Meditation with Delany Dean

#19 "Predictably Irrational" with Dan Ariely

#14-Dr. Pamela Gay of Astronomy Cast  Dr. Gay gives a surprisingly candid interview in which she and Dr. Campbell discuss the challenges of being women in the male-dominated fields of science and medicine.

#12 Does Free Will Exist?  So, what does it mean to us if there is no "contra-causal" free will?

#5 How are Science and Philosophy Related?

#2 The Trouble With Physics

#1 Science vs. Pseudo-science 

Dr. Campbell is so genuine and committed it's easy to overlook the few glitches in some episodes as she negotiated her podcasting learning curve.  I recommend you give Brain Science and Books and Ideas a listen.