A False-Color Image of Your Very Own

Behold a false-color image of Messier Object 27, better known as the Dumbbell Nebula.

False-color images of astronomical objects are not unusual, of course, but what's unique about this one is that I created it my ownself, while noodling around on software the final day of LaunchPad.

And the absolutely cool thing is that you can do this too, because the software is free for download, and is available for most operating systems.

Version 2.0 of this software was called Next Generation, so of course the current 3.0 version is called DS9. Geeks call the shots on these things!

What you do, see, is get the raw Hubble or Chandra data from NASA--- which is available here and here--- and then you load it into DS9, and you start making cool astronomical gorgeousness.

I'm thinking of producing a calendar, myself.

Trapped With Astronomers in a Hot, Airless Room!

So I am back from Laramie, where I spent a week at LaunchPad, the workshop designed to cram as much astronomical knowledge into your skull as can possibly be accomplished without the use of a mallet.

I filled an entire legal pad with notes. I wonder if, a year from now, any of it will be decipherable.

I would have typed the notes into my laptop, except that my word processor doesn't do equations, and is very clumsy with scientific notation.

Most of the workshop took place in a small, windowless, hot, airless classroom. It had to be windowless, because we screened videos and slides, but I wonder if it had to be without ventilation. As the day wore on, and the heat and CO2 increased, it became harder and harder to stay awake. We clearly needed time scheduled for siestas. Or fresh air. Or both.

But we also got to three observatories, and to view the stars from Mike Brotherton's driveway (the seeing was surprisingly good), and otherwise hang out for a number of festive meals in local eateries. And it has to be said that this was a smart, cool bunch of people, including Mark J. Williams, Cecilia Tan, Carrie Vaughn, Bud Sparhawk, Ian Randal Strock, Rachel Swirsky, and a bunch more.

Plus, I learned a lot--- which is not surprising, considering that my last college astronomy class was in 1972, and the whole field has changed a zillion times since then. And if I ever start writing space opera again, it's going to be jam-packed with a lot of high-concept, intriguing celestial madness.

If, of course, the Big Rip doesn't get us first.

Launch Pad

Hey, in July I get to go to Laramie and hang out with some cool people for a week!

How nifty is this?