Carnival of Space 207

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1. ZME Science – Beautiful exoplanet aurorae 1000 times brighter than on Earth

2. Docmadhattan – Brian May, astrophysicist: a little review of research activity of Queen’s guitarist.

In 1972 and 1973 two papers signed by Mr.May are be published: MgI Emission in the Night-Sky Spectrum and An Investigation of the Motion of Zodiacal Dust Particles (Part I), written with Mr.Hicks and Mr.Reay. May and collegues are interestend in zodiacal light, in particular in MgI spectrum, near the 5183.62 Å wavelength. The importance of this kind of studies is that the MgI and MgII formation is one feature in the interaction between atmosphere and star radiations

3. Ian Musgrave the Astroblogger ruminations of the last pass of the Shuttle in the sky.

4. “What we do here will improve life on Earth.” Kentucky Space readers may want to know that Program Scientist for the International Space Station, Dr. Julie Robinson, will describe at IdeaFestival 2011 the research program on humanity’s orbiting laboratory now that it has been completed.

5. We have been celebrating the first Neptunian year since the discovery of the eighth (and as far as we know last) planet in the Solar
System. Neptune’s discovery was a famous triumph of nineteenth century astronomy. Less well-known is the aftermath, when a ninth solar planet was discovered. This planet was called Vulcan. Once thought to be a certainty to exist, our Solar System’s Vulcan is now known to be as much a fantasy as the Star Trek one. Here is the cautionary tale of Vulcan’s discovery.

6. Niall talks about one of the benefits of living in Honolulu – the peculiar astronomical phenomenon Lahaina Noon, which occurs when the sun is directly overhead.

No shadow. sun is directly overhead

7. Cheap Astronomy (podcast) expresses some frustration at media claims that ‘dark energy has been confirmed’ – when all we have really confirmed is that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate – something first observed back in 1998.

8. Vega00 – What is the meaning of “Eath moid”? A lot of people is saying the comet Elenin will impact with us due to the low value of this parameter, but the interpretation is not the correct. [In Spanish]

9. Nextbigfuture – Two new brown dwarf stars 15 and 18 light years away and still the possibility of brown dwarfs closer than Proxima Centauri

10. Nextbigfuture – A basic roadmap to a Kardashev level two civilization. We can get to 1-10% of Kardashev level one by staying on the planet and leveraging factory mass produced deep burn nuclear with ocean uranium supplies and using aerostat directed solar. Bubbles for collecting and focusing solar power make a Dyson swarm very light weight

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