Andrew Fraknoi: Exploring the Universe: My Second Published Science Fiction Story Now Avai...

Andrew Fraknoi: Exploring the Universe: My Second Published Science Fiction Story Now Avai...:   As some regular readers know, one my recent projects is writing short science fiction stories based on good astronomy. After a...

My Second Published Science Fiction Story Now Available Free On Line

 As some regular readers know, one my recent projects is writing short science fiction stories based on good astronomy. After a long learning period, two of my stories have now been published in science fiction anthologies. The second one, which is about exploding stars and music, just had its rights returned to me, and so I am happy to put it up free on the web for everyone's enjoyment at: 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310397794_Supernova_Rhythm 

After the short story, I have put a non-technical explanation of the science behind the fiction.

The accompanying photo is a NASA composite showing the remnant of Tycho's Supernova, a star seen to explode by the great astronomer Tycho Brahe in October 1604. In this image, blue and green colors shows what the remnant would look like if you had x-ray eyes, the yellow shows what it looks like in visible light, and the green shows the heat rays (infrared) coming from the object. Blended together, all the colors show where this remarkable "left-over"of a star that blew itself to bits is still glowing brightly more than 400 years later.

By the way, if you also want to read my first published science fiction story "A Cave in Arsia Mons" (about a surprising discovery on Mars), you can do so at: 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282914928_The_Cave_in_Arsia_Mons

Andrew Fraknoi: Exploring the Universe: My Talk to the Commonwealth Club on the Moon

Andrew Fraknoi: Exploring the Universe: My Talk to the Commonwealth Club on the Moon: The Commonwealth Club of California invited me to give an illustrated public talk about the Moon on the occasion of the 50th anniversar...

My Talk to the Commonwealth Club on the Moon

The Commonwealth Club of California invited me to give an illustrated public talk about the Moon on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the first human steps on our neighbor world. The video record is now available free on the Web, so if you are any of your friends (or students) are interested, you can find it at: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/…/astronomer-andrew-frakno…

I wanted to speak not so much about the astronauts and their journey (which so many other media and articles are covering in vast depth) but about the Moon itself, and what we now know about it, 50 years later. Hope you enjoy.

An audio-only version of the talk is also available as a podcast, at: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/archive/podcast/astronomer-andrew-fraknoi-50-years-our-first-step

The photo shows the Moon in front of a full Earth as seen from millions of miles away by the Deep Space Climate Discovery Spacecraft in 2015.

Andrew Fraknoi: Exploring the Universe: Total Eclipse of the Sun in South America July 2; ...

Andrew Fraknoi: Exploring the Universe: Total Eclipse of the Sun in South America July 2; ...: Tomorrow, July 2, there will be a total eclipse of the Sun visible in Chile and Argentina. A live webcast is planned at:  https://www.ex...

Total Eclipse of the Sun in South America July 2; Future U.S. Eclipses

Tomorrow, July 2, there will be a total eclipse of the Sun visible in Chile and Argentina. A live webcast is planned at: https://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse

Another total eclipse will be visible from southern South America on Dec. 14, 2020.

Looking further ahead, an annual eclipse will be visible on a path that goes across the U.S. on Oct. 14, 2023.

And Apr. 8, 2024 another total eclipse will sweep across the U.S. from Texas to New England. For a clear map of this eclipse, see: https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/april-8-2024

(Shameless plug: Dennis Schatz and I have written a children's book all about eclipses, called "When the Sun Goes Dark," for the non-profit National Science Teachers' Association Press. See: https://www.nsta.org/store/product_detail.aspx… )

A free app about eclipses, called "Totality" is available from astronomer Jeff Bennett, at: https://www.bigkidscience.com/eclipse/

[Our photo is by astronomer Rick Fienberg and shows a sequence of images before, during, and after a total eclipse.]