Apparent Brightness » Robert Cumming http://apparentbrightness.net astronomy and stuff Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:07:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 en ESO. Astronomy made in, well, South America actually http://apparentbrightness.net/2007/06/07/eso-astronomy-made-in-well-south-america-actually/ http://apparentbrightness.net/2007/06/07/eso-astronomy-made-in-well-south-america-actually/#comments Thu, 07 Jun 2007 14:24:17 +0000 Robert Cumming http://apparentbrightness.net/2007/06/07/eso-astronomy-made-in-well-south-america-actually/

The ESO guesthouse in Santiago (credit: ESO)


The European Southern Observatory has (not before time) redesigned its website. Among the changes are a new tagline: Astronomy made in Europe. Now I know that a lot of ESO’s astronomy gets done in Garching in Germany, and plenty more at people’s home institutions, but the really cool stuff that ESO does gets done at its observatories in Chile. And in this postcolonial world, that is not Europe, no matter how regularly Kaffee und Kuchen is served at the ESO Guesthouse.

]]> http://apparentbrightness.net/2007/06/07/eso-astronomy-made-in-well-south-america-actually/feed/ Darkness prevents crime http://apparentbrightness.net/2007/03/02/darkness-prevents-crime/ http://apparentbrightness.net/2007/03/02/darkness-prevents-crime/#comments Fri, 02 Mar 2007 11:10:18 +0000 Robert Cumming http://apparentbrightness.net/2007/03/02/darkness-prevents-crime/ On Övertorneå council’s webcam, you can check how well lit the place is.
In the northern Swedish town of Övertorneå, a dispute between the local council and its electricity distributor has meant that the town has had no streetlighting for many months now (TV programme in Swedish about the controversy here). Today Swedish television and other media report that since the streetlights were switched off, thefts and burglaries have halved. ‘Maybe the thieves are afraid of the dark’, says council boss Arne Honkamaa. On the other hand, maybe it’s being able to see the night sky that’s reducing crime.

Cross-posted (more or less) on popast.nu

]]> http://apparentbrightness.net/2007/03/02/darkness-prevents-crime/feed/ Crab voted best supernova of all time http://apparentbrightness.net/2007/01/25/crab-voted-best-supernova-of-all-time/ http://apparentbrightness.net/2007/01/25/crab-voted-best-supernova-of-all-time/#comments Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:21:19 +0000 Robert Cumming http://apparentbrightness.net/2007/01/25/crab-voted-best-supernova-of-all-time/ Expect the retrospectives to come thick and fast over the next few weeks – supernova 1987A is about to celebrate its 20th birthday. But when a 130-strong Stockholm public last night voted for the best supernova of all time, 87A didn’t stand a chance.

This was a public lecture which I got saddled with, but once I’d decided on the title ‘The 10 most amazing (sv: häftigaste) supernovae of all time’, it took on a life of its own. My examples of cool supernova physics became the nominated stars in an unexpected awards gala. Question time was upstaged by a show-of-hands vote – which of the ten exploding stars was the most wow-inducing? There was no doubt about the winner anyway: SN 1054, the supernova that gave us the Crab nebula with its amazing pulsar. Runner-up Geminga, the gamma-ray pulsar that must have given our ancestors a fright 300,000 years ago, made a good showing too.

I’d tipped the universe’s last ever supernova, but it’s a remote prospect, to put it mildly. But most of all it was really enjoyable. Next up: the universe’s 10 coolest galaxies? The 10 scariest black holes? The most fascinating exoplanets? I think we may have stumbled on something fun.

And the results from the Stockholm jury are…
History’s best supernovae, according to 130 astronomy fans in Stockholm.

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