NASA Blueshift

It's summertime, which means that Hollywood is releasing a bunch of long-awaited, big-budget blockbusters! You can cool off in the theater with action, adventure, and... astronomy? Space science has been written into a variety of films - from the predictable genre of science fiction to romance, drama, and comedy. But do these movies get it right? Occasionally, but many movies have astronomers and other space-savvy members of the audience gritting their teeth and groaning at the misconceptions and misrepresentations upon the big screen. We took our microphone into the hallways and offices of the Astrophysics Science Division and asked: What's your pet peeve about astronomy in the movies? The opinions included represent that of the individuals we interviewed, and not Blueshift or NASA. Sound off on our website or Twitter about astronomy movies that drive you crazy!

It's easy to think of a satellite as a fancy digital camera - just point, shoot, and look at the pretty picture that emerges. But it's not that simple. Astronomical data has a far longer journey to make it from the satellite to end users. Bounced between satellites, sent to Earth, processed, networked, and archived... each observation has to pass through several steps before it can be analyzed by scientists. And that's not even considering the further effort required to make a pretty picture! This episode follows data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope on its odyssey from space to Earth, interviewing key personnel along the way.

To kick off our special summer series about data, we interviewed 2006 Nobel Laureate John Mather about the importance of imagery in communicating science and sharing data with the public. More than just "pretty pictures," data can be used to tell a story and explain the mysteries of the cosmos. Not every piece of data would be considered a work of art, but the information contained is at the very heart of NASA science. Working with COBE and the James Webb Space Telescope, Dr. Mather is no stranger to the power of data and the importance of scientific imagery. We got the scoop on how data is used in communication and why every bit of data is beautiful in its own way.

The telescope on everyone's mind during this month's Space Shuttle flight was certainly the Hubble Space Telescope, as astronauts inspected, repaired, and upgraded the satellite for years of additional scientific observations. But two additional telescopes were aboard Atlantis for this historic flight - a museum-quality replica of one of Galileo's telescopes, and a 200-year-old telescope built by master craftsman Jesse Ramsden. To give you the scoop about these telescopes, we interviewed Marvin Bolt of the Adler Planetarium. Hubble may be NASA's best-known telescope, but it wouldn't be here without 400 years of innovation.

NASA is famous for its acronyms and technical jargon. If you've ever watched a rocket launch or a spacewalk, you've heard some of them. Blueshift is produced by the ASD EPO team at NASA GSFC - that is, the Astrophysics Science Division Education and Public Outreach team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Do we need to spell out NASA, too? In this episode, we explore NASA mission names and where they come from. And we make a very special dedication - this one's for you, Stephen Colbert!

Join Blueshift for a unique tour of the solar system, as we walk the B and A Trail's Planet Walk in Maryland and talk to scientists along the way. Armed with hiking boots and a portable recorder, Francis Reddy brings you the sounds of the solar system and a factoid about each planet along the way. Also featuring the Sun and lonely former-planet Pluto! Recorded during the 100 Hours of Astronomy earlier this month, this episode gives you a taste of the activities organized by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and its community partners.

In astrophysics, the development of innovative technology is crucial to answering scientific questions about the Universe around us. The types of technology invented are determined, at least in part, by the answers we are seeking. At the heart of this science-technology cycle are "professional tinkerers," scientists and engineers that balance the needs of the astrophysics field and the opportunities afforded by an impressive palette of tools. In this episode, we interviewed Dr. Harvey Moseley, one of the "tinkerers" here at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. He gave Blueshift some advice on how to take inventions from the drawing board to reality.

2009 has been chosen as the International Year of Astronomy because it marks the 400th anniversary of a big event in astronomical history - the first recorded observations of the night sky with a telescope. Galileo Galilei pointed his telescope at the Moon, the stars, and Jupiter, and changed our perceptions of the Universe forever. In celebration, there will be a variety of special events throughout 2009. The first big global event will be the 100 Hours of Astronomy, held April 2-5, 2009. In honor of this special year, we decided to interview Galileo himself about what he did and why it was important to astronomy. We hope you'll look into 100 Hours of Astronomy events in your own area, and perhaps take a look through a telescope yourself.

HD 80606b would not be a fun place to live, with its high winds, intense storms, and temperatures thousands of degrees hotter than any region on Earth. This exoplanet goes on a wild ride around its host star, with an orbit that takes it extremely close - and then extremely far away. This sends the planet through rapid heating and cooling cycles that astronomers are keenly studying to learn more about planetary atmospheres and climate patterns. In this episode, we interviewed Dr. Drake Deming, a Goddard astronomer studying HD 80606b, about this extreme planet and what makes exoplanets so interesting and valuable to observe. Though it isn't a friendly place, this extreme planet may be a step along the way to finding another world much like our own.

Have you ever wondered where Google Sky gets the data that lets you pan and zoom your way around the cosmos? Much of it comes from NASA's SkyView Virtual Observatory, a database of astronomy data from a variety of different sources. Google Sky and WorldWide Telescope are two sites that access the database for users, but anyone can use SkyView directly with just a web browser! It's like having a powerful - and versatile - telescope at your fingertips, ready to show you whatever you'd like to see in the Universe. We interviewed Tom McGlynn, the creator of SkyView, about what this powerful virtual telescope can do and how people are using it. Hunt for near-Earth asteroids, research a homework assignment, check out multiwavelength data... or just play!