Small Bytes Podcast - Astronomy with David Williams

Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 09:56 PM by Dave

Listen to the Small Bytes Podcast with former Planetarium Director David Williams talk about Astronomy and SCSU’s planetarium. Originally published October 2008.Small Bytes Podcast - Astronomy

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New Planetarium Director for St. Cloud State University

Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 12:17 PM by Dave

This May, St. Cloud State University has hired a new Planetarium Director to replace the retiring Dave Williams. Annette Lee, recently from Missouri, has been hired to filled this important position in St. Cloud State University’s Public Outreach Program.

Annette comes to St. Cloud with a variety of skills and experiences. We are very excited to have Annette on staff in the Physics, Astronomy, and Engineering Sciences Department in the College of Science and Engineering.

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Dark Matter Comes to St. Cloud State University

Friday, January 30th, 2009 at 10:03 AM by Dave

One of our illustrious alumni is returning to St. Cloud State University. We are honored to have Dr. Dan Hooper give a presentation to the public on Thursday, February 26 in the Ritsche Auditorium of Stewart Hall at 7:00 p.m. He will speak to the general public on the topic entitled: “In Search of our Universe’s Missing Mass and Energy”.

Here is a summary of his presentation:

“Much of what physicists have learned in the twentieth century suggests that a huge amount of our Universe is unseen — that we live in a dark cosmos. In fact what we can see — a book, a cat, or our planet — makes up only 5% of the Universe. The invisible part comes in two varieties — dark matter and dark energy. One holds the Universe together, while the other tears it apart. The make-up of these forces has been a mystery but the latest discoveries of experimental physics have brought us closer to that knowledge.”

The general public is invited to hear Dr. Dan Hooper give this talk.

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Perseid Meteor Shower

Monday, August 4th, 2008 at 11:07 AM by Dave

My favorite meteor shower is this month, the Perseids. They are fairly numerous and bright but will be seen very well due to the moon setting around 1 am on the morning of the 12th. The best time to view them is around 3 - 5 am that morning. A friend of mine gave me his checklist for meteor shower watching. Here it is.

Meteor Shower Checklist:

· Get up early or stay out late.
· Best time is between 3am & 5am. Sunrise is 5:55am.
· Get away from city lights if possible.
· Count how many you or your group witness. Expect to see one “falling star” every minute or two.
· Bring bug spray!
· Bring lawn chair or blanket.
· Look all over the sky.
· You do not need binoculars or telescope.

Look towards the eastern sky to the constellation of Perseus. Perseus looks like a swirly letter A below Cassiopeia, the W in the sky.

Here are some meteor facts:

· Most meteors are no bigger than a grain of sand.
· The dust grains come from debris left by a comet.
· Meteors can travel over 40 miles per second!
· The Leonids in 1833 were stunning! An estimated 20 meteors per second fell. One witness said, “it was as difficult to count them as to number the raindrops”.
· Most burn up at the top of the Earth’s atmosphere—40 to 60 miles above you!
· The word “Meteor” comes from the Greeks—meaning “high in the air.”
· If the meteor is about bowling ball size, part of it may survive the friction with our atmosphere and impact the Earth as a meteorite.
· Around 1,000 tons of meteorite dust falls to Earth each day!

Clear skies to you! See you outside on the morning of August 12.

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The Biggest Nothing in the Universe!

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 11:30 AM by Dave

On Monday, March 31, at 7:00 pm, in room 116 in the Wick Science Building, the biggest nothing in the universe comes to St. Cloud State University. Professor Lawrence Rudnick from the University of Minnesota co-discovered the largest area in the universe where nothing appears to be found. He will speak about nothing and his discovery that evening.

The biggest nothing in the Universe — 1 billion light years across — made worldwide news last fall and was voted #16 in Discovery Magazine’s list of the top 100 for 2007. What is this big nothing? How was it found? Is it still there or has it disappeared with further study? Why should we care? All this and more about nothing will be discussed in a talk by Professor Lawrence Rudnick.

Professor Rudnick has been involved with a wide variety of professional development activities for faculty members and graduate students at the University and public education and outreach activities in the community. He worked with the Minneapolis Public Schools on science education projects, and was recently co-PI of a 5 year NSF Local Systemic Initiative Grant for training of K-8 teachers in using hands-on science. For more than a decade he was a consultant and a frequent on-screen guest expert with the public television show “Newton’s Apple”. He is a founding member of the Minnesota Planetarium Society, which is currently seeking funding to match the state grant for a new planetarium and space discovery center.

Lawrence Rudnick is an internationally known research scientist, distinguished teacher and longstanding contributor to public education and the professional development of K-12 science educators. His research work, supported by both the National Science Foundation and NASA, focuses on the interactions of relativistic plasmas with the thermal gas in supernova remnants, radio galaxies, and clusters of galaxies, through radio, X-ray, optical and infrared observations.

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