NASA Blueshift

It's an exciting experience for any space geek to watch a new satellite launch into orbit. Earlier in 2012, we were excited about the launch of NuSTAR, a small explorer X-ray mission collaboratively created by teams at Caltech, NASA, and over a dozen other institutions around the world. NuSTAR advances the international astronomical community's ability to observe some of the hottest, densest, and most energetic objects in the Universe. We were interested to find out more about NASA Goddard's involvement in the mission, so we interviewed post-doc Dr. Dan Wik about his work with the satellite's optics and his interest in observing galaxy clusters with NuSTAR.

At its heart, science is about asking questions - looking at the universe around us and asking, "How? Why?" Science takes our natural curiosity and adds structure and rigor, examining things methodically to answer our questions and ask the next ones. It's not just a field of study, it's a valuable way to think about the world around you. In this first part in a series, well-known science advocate Dr. Phil Plait talks about his background, how he came to be "The Bad Astronomer," why he blogs about misconceptions, and how to keep good skepticism alive.

In a follow-up to our previous interviews with co-creator of "The Big Bang Theory," Bill Prady, we interviewed Dr. David Saltzberg, the show's resident astrophysicist and science consultant. Find out more about his research, adventures in astrophysics, and how he keeps the science of the show fresh, real, and accurate. For more, visit our website!

One of the bonuses of our set visit to The Big Bang Theory was that we got the chance to talk to co-creator and executive producer Bill Prady about how the show came to be, and how they get the science right in every episode. Since much of what we do is about communicating science to the public, we were naturally interested in how real science was worked into what is primarily a comedy. To supplement our podcast interview with Bill, Blueshift's Maggie Masetti wrote a web feature for NASA.gov.

Wouldn't it be exciting to do astronomy in the Amazon, surrounded by the wild plants and animals of the rainforest? In January, visitors to the AstroZone event in Washington, DC, got to do something like that - they met dozens of astronomy professionals at the National Zoo's Amazonia exhibit! AstroZone is a special public event that's offered in conjunction with each meeting of the American Astronomical Society (the major professional organization for astronomers). For one afternoon, astronomers share their passion for the Universe with the local public with hands-on activities, goodies, and other special opportunities. We talked to some of the exhibitors at the event in DC, and we wanted to share their exciting science with you. The next AstroZone event is this weekend in Miami, Florida - if that's your hometown, come check it out at the Miami Dade Main Public Library on May 22nd!

When you were a kid, dreaming of the future, did you expect to have a flying car someday? Or to live on the Moon? Traveling into space has fueled the dreams of many people, but the reality is that space flight is difficult and expensive. Though escaping Earth's gravity to reach orbit is a real challenge, it is much easier and less expensive to take sub-orbital flights - that is, those that reach an altitude of 100 km (approximately 62 miles) above Earth. This may prove to be an affordable way for scientists to do science in space, especially with the technology to do these getting close to being ready for use. One of our scientists, Joe Hill, builds x-ray and gamma ray instruments... and she also wants to be an astronaut. Recently, she was given the opportunity to participate in sub-orbital scientist training, which took her one step closer to realizing her dream of going into space.

Working at NASA can provide unique and exciting job opportunities. It can be the chance of a lifetime to work on a satellite and see the products of your hard work launched into space. The flip side is that many projects only span a few years, so your dream job may not last forever. Many of us change projects routinely - and also have to deal with some level of uncertainty concerning employment. There are, however, some long-running projects at NASA - and the Hubble Space Telescope is one of them. HST was carried into orbit nearly twenty years ago, and it has been serviced by astronauts four times. Each repair of Hubble called for specialized skills that may or may not be applicable elsewhere. With Servicing Mission 4 successfully complete, we wanted to find out what the people who spent years (and perhaps their entire careers) on Hubble were doing now that the final servicing mission is done.

Professional meetings are a part of the lives of most scientists - but what actually goes on at one of these? It's not just sitting in meetings and listening to talks! These meetings offer an opportunity to share exciting results, catch up with old friends, and pick up some goodies in the exhibit hall. The Blueshift team team attended the American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting in January and we thought we'd give you a tour of what we were doing there. Because what happens at a professional meeting... ends up on Blueshift! Check out our gallery of photos, too!

A remote research outpost like McMurdo Station in Antarctica draws many different kinds of people - scientists, engineers, writers, artists, and more. The station provides many of the comforts of home, and it's difficult to get bored with the opportunities presented during a visit. Whether it's learning to drive the special ice-friendly vehicles or participating in a chili cook-off, visitors often find themselves embarking on adventures and picking up unusual skills outside the scope of their own area of expertise. In our last episode, we interviewed Dr. John Mitchell about scientific ballooning in Antarctica and his experiences launching his experiment, BESS, in 2004 and 2007. But what's it like to spend a summer on the southernmost continent? In the second part of this interview, Dr. Mitchell tells us about the unique experiences he's had at McMurdo during his visits.

Hunting for antimatter requires a serious expedition. Scientists aren't looking for run-of-the-mill particles - they're collecting cosmic radiation that could be the signature of primordial black holes or other forms of dark matter. With instruments suspended from enormous scientific balloons, they're looking for a launch site that offers long orbits and lots of particles to detect. Where's one of the best places in the world to go particle hunting? Over the remote Antarctic continent! To find out more about Antarctic scientific ballooning, we talked to Dr. John Mitchell, the lead scientist on BESS (the Balloon-borne Experiment with a Superconducting Spectrometer), a joint Japanese/US project that is studying antimatter in cosmic radiation. BESS has flown twice from Antarctica, and a team is headed back this month to recover their detectors from the last flight. We caught Dr. Mitchell just before he left for his latest Antarctic adventure. And no, the last name is not a coincidence - Dr. Mitchell is Blueshift producer Sara Mitchell's father!