This is not a NASA Website. You might learn something. It's YOUR space agency. Get involved. Take it back. Make it work - for YOU.
Astronomy
LATEST
Eclipse Day In North America
Eclipse Day In North America

Keith’s note: I am an eclipse talking head today. I did KTRH and Alhurra interviews yesterday and did CNN this morning [audio]. I did Deutsche Welle just after 2:00 pm EDT [audio] and then again at 4:45 pm EDT [audio] and yet again just after 7:00 pm EDT [audio] today. I also did CTV at 3:15 pm EDT [audio]. I have to say it is nice to have a day off from all of the otherwise horrible daily news on planet Earth – and be able to talk about millions of people staring up at the sky (with their special eclipse glasses on) to observe a wonderous dance of the worlds.

(more…)
  • NASA Watch
  • April 8, 2024
The Artemis Generation Uses Webb To View The Heart Of Our Galaxy
The Artemis Generation Uses Webb To View The Heart Of Our Galaxy

Keith’s note: One of the more profound things generated by the Webb Space Telescope is this view of the center of our galaxy. Contrary to what you’d think, the observation team’s Principal Investigator on this image wasn’t some middle-aged, tenured professor. Instead, he’s an undergrad at UVA. According to a NASA release “There’s never been any infrared data on this region with the level of resolution and sensitivity we get with Webb, so we are seeing lots of features here for the first time,” said the observation team’s principal investigator Samuel Crowe, an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. “Webb reveals an incredible amount of detail, allowing us to study star formation in this sort of environment in a way that wasn’t possible previously.” The Artemis Generation is making its mark. See “UVA’s Young, Rising Astronomy Star” for more about Samuel Crowe.

(more…)
  • NASA Watch
  • November 26, 2023
Talking About Euclid’s Stellar Cartography On BBC World Service
Talking About Euclid’s Stellar Cartography On BBC World Service

Keith’s note: I just did an interview on BBC World Service’s program “Outside Source” a few minutes ago about the stunning new imagery from Euclid. I used the stellar cartography scene from “Star Trek Generations” as my illustrative image (on radio). They’ll be playing this during the day and posting it online to a weekly audience of 364+ million. I emphasized how this is the sort of mission that has applicability to everyone everywhere – scientist or non-scientist alike. Meanwhile here is my [Audio] of the interview. I’ll post the BBC’s link later.

(more…)
  • NASA Watch
  • November 7, 2023
Talking About NASA Astronomy & Astrobiology On Arabic Language TV
Talking About NASA Astronomy & Astrobiology On Arabic Language TV

Keith’s note: I was just on Alaraby TV in Qatar talking about the recent discovery of methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of super-earth exoplanet K2-18b by the Webb Space Telescope and what this means in terms of Astrobiology and the search for life in the universe. It is fun to not have to talk to jaded American TV. Surprise: People outside of our Americo-centric news bubble are interested in things we don’t seem to care much about. Among many other international networks, I have been on Alaraby, Al Arabiya, Alhurra, and Al Jazeera. Also, since I am being translated into Arabic in real time, it is fun since I used to be a professional American Sign Language interpreter (often on TV) and the translators like that I am good at parsing technical things for translation at a pace that facilitates translation – in real time. Keith’s fun aside, I get the clear impression that NASA has little – if any – interest in making people available to this vast viewing audience. I have asked NASA PAO about this in the past but they always declined to answer. To be certain, the viewership of these Arabic language networks overlaps – but the core audience is somewhere between 200-300 million located in over 150 countries. NASA has an astonishing soft power and branding reach and it rarely takes full advantage of it. This is one example. Baffling. Anyway: here’s the [Audio]

(more…)
  • NASA Watch
  • October 1, 2023
NASA UAP Report Simply Repeats What Has Already Been Said
NASA UAP Report Simply Repeats What Has Already Been Said

Keith’s note: NASA has released its latest UAP report. There is a media briefing at 10:00 am EDT and of course, NASA PAO made sure that news media only saw the report by waiting until 29 minutes before the event to release it so we could all speed read it and ask intelligent questions. I spoke with the BBC World Service about the report moments before the press briefing began [Audio]. In a nutshell the report offers nothing new and simply repeats what was said at the committee’s 22 May 2023 meeting in other words – there is weird stuff going on out there and we need to study it more – and maybe dial down the stigma and add some more science. — Update: In the media briefing NASA speakers tried to put forth the notion that NASA should – and will – take study of UAP sightings much more serious using scientific rigor and with transparency to the public. There is no proof for/against the origin of these things – terrestrial or extraterrestrial. The committee chair David Spergel said “NASA can be a key player in a whole of government approach to UAP”. Bill Nelson said that NASA will announce a new Director of UAP research. Moments later a reporter asked who that person is. NASA SMD AA Nicky Fox said that they have a person who has been working on this for a while but she refused to give out “his” name. Dan Evans, NASA SMD assistant deputy associate administrator for research added that they are not going to name the person but that “Science should be free”. The whole stigma/trolling/harassment issue was cited – which is real. Oddly the entire panel was named. That said, what happened to all of that talk of “transparency” Bill Nelson? — Second Update: Here is the [Audio] from my second interview on the BBC World Service as the press event was ending.

(more…)
  • NASA Watch
  • September 14, 2023
Euclid Leaves Earth To Study The Dark Universe
Euclid Leaves Earth To Study The Dark Universe

Keith’s note: On Friday I spoke spoke with Deutsche Welle several times about ESA’s Euclid mission and how it will search for answers regarding dark energy and dark matter in the universe. [Audio]. More information on the mission in online at SpaceRef: Euclid Telescope Poised to Investigate Mysteries of Cosmic Expansion. Update: I spoke with DW again on Saturday about successful launch of Euclid by SpaceX. [Audio] and then I was on Alhurra on Sunday talking about the mission as well. [Audio]

(more…)
  • NASA Watch
  • July 2, 2023
Stove Piping Astronomy And Education At NASA
Stove Piping Astronomy And Education At NASA

Keith’s note: Check out Using Robotic Telescope-Based Observing Experiences to Boost STEM Enrollments and Majors on a National Scale: “Funded by a $3M Department of Defense (DoD) National Defense Education Program (NDEP) award, we are developing and deploying on a national scale a follow-up curriculum to “Our Place In Space!”, or OPIS!, in which approx. 3,500 survey-level astronomy students are using our global network of “Skynet” robotic telescopes each year.” If NASA’s Education Office (or whatever goofy name they call it now) really stayed on top of all space and astronomy related STEM education stuff then they’d certainly be expected to have a willingness to showcase allied efforts outside of NASA. Well, not so much. I did a search for this project and NASA – on Google and NASA’s own website and turned up nothing. You’d think that NASA Education, the OIIR, SMD and whomever is involved with students, astronomy, and other government agencies, would see this as a “rising tide lifts all boats” thing in an “all of government” way. Guess again.

(more…)
  • NASA Watch
  • April 10, 2023
NASAWatch Talking Head Time on Al Jazeera TV
NASAWatch Talking Head Time on Al Jazeera TV

Keith’s note: On 8 April 2023 I appeared on Al Jazeera Arabic TV to talk about a giant black hole that is traveling through the universe and creating stars in its wake (story). Yet another TV show with an Arabic translator wherein I have to distill down a science story into words a general audience can get – via an Interpreter. Strangely You do not see NASA personnel on these networks with huge global audiences – especially when there is one Arabic speaking astronaut on the ISS and another heading up soon. You’d think that NASA PAO, SMD, HEOMD, or OIIR would want to get some soft power synergies going. Guess again. Audio.

(more…)
  • NASA Watch
  • April 8, 2023
NASA Still Wants You To Pay Twice For The Research That YOU Support
NASA Still Wants You To Pay Twice For The Research That YOU Support

Keith’s note: NASA just posted this press release Hubble Unexpectedly Finds Double Quasar in Distant Universe which says “The results will be published in the April 5 journal Nature.” and points to this article behind a paywall which you can read/rent for $39.95 – unless you have already paid for access to this taxpayer-funded research (funded by NASA, NSF, NRAO, STSCI etc.) So if you want to see your tax dollars at work – and you do not subscribe to $200/year journals – then this PAO summary is all you get. Yet you can find the preprint of that paper online here – for free: A close quasar pair in a disk–disk galaxy merger at z = 2.17 and it is accessible anywhere on Earth – even on the ISS. It has been online since 22 September 2022. I have repeatedly told NASA SMD PAO (just a few weeks ago in fact) where and how to find these preprints – many of which come out the night before or the evening after a formal release. Some preprints are online and approved for publication well before then. The entire NASA-funded research community knows this since they are the ones who submit them to the preprint servers and want their research to be seen ASAP. But NASA Public Affairs seems to have a chronic lazy streak running through it wherein the least amount of effort expended is often more than enough to keep the taxpayers happy. (See my 22 March 2023 post NASA PAO Does The Bare Minimum (Again) To Announce Another Discovery) Update: Wednesday evening someone from PAO got around to checking to see if the link went to an open access article and then fixed it so that it does. Why they do not do this before publishing things – thus making people think that they have to pay – is baffling.

(more…)
  • NASA Watch
  • April 5, 2023
NASA PAO Does The Bare Minimum (Again) To Announce Another Discovery
NASA PAO Does The Bare Minimum (Again) To Announce Another Discovery

Keith’s note: NASA PAO posted this release today: NASA’s Webb Spots Swirling, Gritty Clouds on Remote Planet. Really cool stuff. Webb can do this amazing observation in just a few hours. You’d think that NASA PAO would want as many people as possible to see this – i.e. on NASA.gov etc. Well they posted the release including this line : “The team’s paper, entitled “The JWST Early Release Science Program for Direct Observations of Exoplanetary Systems II: A 1 to 20 Micron Spectrum of the Planetary-Mass Companion VHS 1256-1257 b,” will be published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on March 22.” But there is no link to an open access version of the paper. Guess what – it is here https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.00620 and it was posted on 11 February 2023 – more than a month ago. I have told SMD PAO multiple times where to find these things such that the hundreds of millions of people who pay the taxes to do this stuff can share in the discovery – but they seem to be uninterested in taking 60 seconds to go look for the paper. Why is NASA PAO so negligent in spreading its own good news?

(more…)
  • NASA Watch
  • March 22, 2023
Nicola Fox Is The New Science Mission Directorate AA
Nicola Fox Is The New Science Mission Directorate AA

According to NASA PAO: “Fox began her NASA career in 2018 leading the Heliophysics Division, overseeing the agency’s efforts to study the Sun and how its constant solar wind affects Earth and other planets. Prior to that, she worked at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, where she was the chief scientist for heliophysics and the project scientist for NASA’s Parker Solar Probe.” More

(more…)
  • NASA Watch
  • February 27, 2023
Apples, Oranges, And Exoplanets
Apples, Oranges, And Exoplanets

Keith’s note: I was on Al Jazeera Arabic TV tonight talking about recent exoplanet discoveries, life in the universe, etc. Since I was speaking through an interpreter (I used to be one too) I decided to use fruit instead of planets with their names – TOI 700e became the “apple planet” and LHS 475b became the “orange planet”. So yes, I was ‘comparing apples and oranges’. Audio

(more…)
  • NASA Watch
  • January 14, 2023
Revised SMD Scientific Information Policy
Revised SMD Scientific Information Policy

Keith’s Note: According to NASA SMD: The NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) announces a revised Scientific Information Policy SMD Policy Document (SPD-41a). The policy defines SMD’s commitment to sharing scientific information produced from NASA’s missions and research through Open Science practices. For new missions and grants starting with ROSES-2023, SPD-41a requires that:

  • Peer-reviewed publications are made openly available with no embargo period.
  • Research data and software are shared at the time of publication or the end of the funding award.
  • Mission data are released as soon as possible and unrestricted mission software is developed openly.
  • Science workshops and meetings are held openly to enable broad participation.

More

(more…)
  • NASA Watch
  • December 8, 2022
When Space Images Literally Talk To You
When Space Images Literally Talk To You

Keith’s note: Sometimes my background back in the day when I was a Sign Language Interpreter really grabs hold of me – such as seeing this new Webb pic of the “Pillars of Creation” with the hand-like nebula that seems to adopt a gesture that sends a word to my brain – as if it were speaking to me with a voice. So I tweeted this when the image was released today. FWIW I had the same reaction when the Hubble version was originally released.

(more…)
  • NASA Watch
  • October 19, 2022
New SMD Astrophysics Division Director
New SMD Astrophysics Division Director

Welcoming NASA Science’s New Astrophysics Division Director Dr. Mark Clampin, Thomas Zurbuchen “I am pleased to announce that I have made a selection to permanently fill the critical position of Astrophysics Division Director. Dr. Mark Clampin will join the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) on August 15. I want to extend my sincere appreciation to Paul Hertz, who has served as the Astrophysics Division Director for over 10 years. Paul’s efforts […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 19, 2022
Why Is All The Webb Stuff Important To Everyone Else, NASA?
Why Is All The Webb Stuff Important To Everyone Else, NASA?

Keith’s note: I did a lot of TV today. One question that the French, Turkish, Qatari, and German hosts asked me today is why this is important to people – real people. I gave the usual answers about science, knowledge, and maybe a few technological benefits. But I realized that I need to do more homework. I *really* need to give good examples of actual relevance to this global audience. […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 12, 2022