6degrees Astroblog

My Father Died Today

My father died today.

The diagnosis of terminal cancer was made last summer. His doctors gave him a prognosis of six to twelve months. My family and I have had plenty of time to come to terms with his illness and to make the necessary preparations, both emotionally and logistically. However, the finality of this moment is still overwhelming.

My father died today.

He chose not to seek any treatment, as the chemo would have left him miserable and had little chance of providing him with any additional quality of life. He had already beaten cancer on five previous occasions, but realized that his time was coming to an end.

My father died today.

6degrees Astroblog

Standing in the Shadow of the Moon

It is quite probably the most visually spectacular sight we can witness in the sky. In ancient times it was a source of fear as people believed that the gods were somehow angered. One of these events even ended an ancient conflict in mid-battle! It is, of course, a total solar eclipse.

6degrees Astroblog

Cosmic Fireworks

The late scientist and educator Dr. Carl Sagan was fond of saying “we are made of star stuff.” What did he mean by this? In this month’s column, I would like to address this by discussing “Cosmic Fireworks,” in honor of our nation’s birthday on Friday.

6degrees Astroblog

A Blast From the Past

The morning of June 30th, 1908 dawned bright and clear in the heart of Siberia near the Stony Tunguska River. The nomadic herdsmen were tending their flocks of reindeer which were busy grazing and foraging. Traders at the post at Vanavara were just starting their daily bartering.

Unknown to them there was a small piece of an asteroid in interplanetary space which was on its final trajectory in their direction. No more than a few dozen meters in diameter, it nevertheless still packed an enormous wallop due to its high relative velocity with the planet in its orbital path.

6degrees Astroblog

2008 Bogus Basin Star Party

Saturday night (28 June), Bogus Basin Ski Resort and the Boise Astronomical Society will be co-hosting the annual Bogus Basin Star Party, weather permitting, in the parking lot of the Frontier Lodge located at the ski resort. I invite everyone to come up and join us for an evening under the stars. We will be starting at 7 p.m., with viewing of the Sun prior to sunset using specially filtered telescopes. At 7:30 p.m., park rangers will take interested attendees on a nightlife nature hike around the area that will last about one hour.

6degrees Astroblog

Life on Mars?

Editor's note: We know Mars has little to do with the Rocky Mountain West. Nevertheless, we have a resident Dr. Superscience with these degrees: MIT, BS Physics and BS Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science; Caltech, MS Astronomy; Caltech, Ph.D. Astronomy; WSU, BS Electrical Engineering; WSU, MS Electrical Engineering. We think he's real smart.

With last Sunday’s landing of the Mars Phoenix mission in the north polar regions of the Red Planet, there is once again a renewed interest in the exploration of our planetary neighbor. The history of Martian exploration is a fascinating story. It is filled with tall tales and wild speculation, spectacular failures and awe-inspiring successes. The role played by Mars in the development of human understanding of the universe and our place within it cannot be underestimated.

6degrees Astroblog

Astronomers Capture First-Ever Blast From Dying Star

A team of astronomers today announced the first-ever observation of a massive star at the moment of its death. The star was located in the galaxy NGC 2770 in the constellation Lynx at a reported distance of about 88 million light years. The observation was a serendipitous occurrence as two members of the team were observing the decay of another supernova in this galaxy using NASA’s Swift gamma-ray satellite.

On 09 Jan 2008, Alicia Soderberg and Edo Berger from Princeton University were using the Swift telescope to observe SN2007uy when they noted a rapid burst in the x-ray emission from this galaxy. The burst lasted about five minutes before fading away. Both researchers recognized that something unusual had just occurred and quickly informed the astronomical community of their discovery.

A rapidly organized observing campaign employing the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Swift satellite and a host of other facilities soon determined that the burst observed on that date was caused by the initial “break-out” of a supernova explosion, an event that had never previously been recorded. This object has since been labeled SN2008D.

6degrees Astroblog

Tomorrow is Astronomy Day

Tomorrow is Astronomy Day. Here in Boise, the Boise Astronomical Society will be holding a public solar and lunar viewing opportunity at the Discovery Center of Idaho beginning at 10 a.m. and going until mid-afternoon. We invite members of our community to come down and join us as we use specially filtered telescopes for solar observing and we’ll also observe the crescent Moon rising over the mountains in the early afternoon. This event is free.

6degrees Astroblog

What Should be Taught in Science Classes

For nearly a century a battle has raged in our country over the nature of science and how it should be taught to public school students. When Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species” in 1859 based on his observations of various animal species during his voyage on the H.M.S. Beagle, it immediately crystallized a growing disagreement between the proponents of a divinely inspired origin to life on Earth and those who looked for a natural explanation for the multitude of species.