Archives for the 'General' Category
Posted by Davin Flateau on 18 Apr 2007 at 9:05 am.
Make a Comment. Filed under General, Event, Astronomy, Exploration Place.
If it’s April, that must mean it’s time for Exploration Place’s “Spring Spaceout”, also known as AstroFest 2007! Kansas’ largest celebration of National Astronomy Day is on Saturday, April 21 from 10am - 2pm, and is a packed fun-filled day of activities, demonstrations, special guest lectures, and digital space theater shows for the whole […]
Read ‘AstroFest - April 21 - Out of This World!’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 4 Sep 2006 at 8:40 am.
Make a Comment. Filed under General.
We’ve just been so busy putting together a great lineup of new astronomy and space shows and exhibits, that posting about all of the great new exhibits went to the back burner. Hopefully, everyone’s been following all the developments in The Eagle.
Sue: TheT-Rex is captivating thousands of people in its opening weekend, […]
Read ‘Fantastic New Shows and Exhibits at EP!’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 19 Apr 2006 at 8:49 am.
Make a Comment. Filed under General, Astronomy, Exploration Place.
Saturday, May 6, 2006
10am-5pm
Exploration Place
Wichita, Kansas
Get all the details!
No doubt you’ve noticed the scarceness of posts over the past few weeks. No, we weren’t hit by a rogue meteor, or swallowed up by merging black holes, but we still had a pretty good reason. We’ve been busy planning Kansas’ largest Astronomy Day festival […]
Read ‘Announcing: AstroFest 2006 at Exploration Place!’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 24 Mar 2006 at 6:55 pm.
Make a Comment. Filed under General.
Posted by Davin Flateau on 24 Mar 2006 at 11:32 am.
Make a Comment. Filed under General, Astronomy, Exploration Place.
I recently saw a full page ad in the Sunday New York Times placed by the Ad Council for the Girl Scouts of America. That’s probably the largest printed public service message you can get on the planet. Click on the ad for a larger view:
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (resung by science)
Twinkle, twinkle […]
Posted by Davin Flateau on 16 Mar 2006 at 11:50 am.
1 Comment. Filed under General.
The 36th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference is currently being held in Houston, and is slated to wrap up on Friday. It’s a gathering of scientists, students, NASA, and educators sharing the latest discoveries about solar system. Topics about Jupiter’s moons, asteroids, comets, our moon, Saturnian moons, current missions, future missions, Mars, more […]
Posted by Davin Flateau on 15 Mar 2006 at 11:03 am.
Make a Comment. Filed under General, Astronomy.
Even though I produce astronomy documentaries for the really big screen, I’m generally not a huge fan of ones produced for the small screen. Some TV astronomy documentaries go out of their way to bore the viewer, playing right into that stereotype that astronomy is an abstract and meaningless topic best left to the […]
Posted by Davin Flateau on 14 Mar 2006 at 11:52 am.
1 Comment. Filed under General.
It’s also March 14… 3/14… or 3.14, or everyone’s favorite transcendental number, Pi. Happy Pi Day! It’s simple enough - just divide any circle’s circumference by its diameter. You’ll get a string of numbers that goes on forever…
3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841
971693993751058209749445923078164062862
089986280348253421170679821480865132823
066470938446095505822317253594081284811
174502841027019385211055596446229489549
303819644288109756659334461284756482337
867831652712019091456485669234603486104
543266482133936072602491412737245870066
063155881748815209209628292540917153643
678925903600113305305488204665213841469
51941511609…
Wikipedia tells us the proper time to celebrate the day:
It is usually celebrated at 1:59 […]
Posted by Davin Flateau on 13 Mar 2006 at 4:13 pm.
1 Comment. Filed under General.
You’ve got to hand it to the folks at Google - their geekiness knows no bounds. If you’ve ever gone to Google during a holiday or during a popular event (like the recent Olympics), you’ve probably noticed that they modify the google banner in the spirit of the event. Hearts on Valentine Day, […]
Posted by Davin Flateau on 10 Mar 2006 at 5:39 pm.
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MRO Mission Control just erupted in applause as the Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter was confirmed to be in orbit around Mars! Horray! And phew! Many spacecraft have turned from multimillion dollar missions into useless junk or crash debris at this stage, but not today. NASA’s batting average goes up a little.
Today, we […]
Posted by Davin Flateau on 10 Mar 2006 at 11:20 am.
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Just a reminder: The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter goes into orbit today! Pop some popcorn, turn on NASA TV, and watch humans navigate a spacecraft to Mars.
NASA TV coverage:
MRO Pre Arrival briefing 11 am CST
Live Mars Orbit Insertion Coverage 2:30pm CST to 4:45pm CST
From NASA:
All About orbit insertion
Follow along step by step
Watch the signal
Watch NASA […]
Read ‘Reminder: Mars Recon Orbiter Today’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 6 Mar 2006 at 5:19 pm.
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I’m not originally from Kansas. I grew up about a mile from the H.J. Heinz headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA. Depending on the direction of the wind, the entire neighborhood would often be inundated with the smell of vinegar wafting from the plant which packaged pickles and ketchup. It sounds awful, but you […]
Posted by Davin Flateau on 1 Mar 2006 at 6:01 pm.
2 Comments. Filed under General, Astronomy.
Lunacy:
The word is borrowed via French from Latin “lunaticus”, which gains its stem from “luna” for moon, which denotes the traditional link made in folklore between madness and the phases of the moon.
The association of craziness and the Moon may be outdated, but today, many lunar astronomers would tell you they’re crazy for the […]
Posted by Davin Flateau on 28 Feb 2006 at 4:14 pm.
2 Comments. Filed under General, Astronomy.
On March 29, the moon’s shadow will fall silently onto the earth’s surface. The dark circle will cruise at over 1500 miles per hour across the western shores of Brazil, over the Atlantic Ocean, and darken a narrow swath across Africa, central Asia, before finally disappearing into darkness when the sun sets on the horizon […]
Read ‘Total Solar Eclipse Webcast’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 27 Feb 2006 at 4:04 pm.
4 Comments. Filed under General, Astronomy.
Andrew Shaner of the University of Arizona writes us that great things happen when kids and space get together:
This image was taken by a camera on a high altitude balloon two weeks ago. This image was taken at an altitude of over 95,000 ft.
This balloon launch was part of the Changes in Altitude program […]
Posted by Davin Flateau on 23 Feb 2006 at 9:18 am.
Make a Comment. Filed under General, Astronomy.
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have taken images that reveal two new moons around the solar system’s tiniest planet, Pluto. The observations also hint at a possible faint ring around the planet. From a press release:
In a paper published today in Nature, a team of U.S. scientists led by Dr. S. Alan […]
Read ‘Pluto Adds Two Moons, Maybe a Ring’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 22 Feb 2006 at 11:36 am.
1 Comment. Filed under General, Astronomy.
Space.com has a cool mini-documentary movie about black holes. It includes great animations and interviews with astronomers and astrophysicists. Quicktime is required, and you do have to sit through an ad at the beginning and at the end, but well worth checking out.
Read ‘Black Hole Mini Documentary’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 21 Feb 2006 at 5:22 pm.
Make a Comment. Filed under General, Astronomy.
In the previous post, I talked about astronomers figuring out the cause of the extragalactic glow of x-rays. But in a separate discovery, astronomers have discovered what’s causing the glow of x-rays observed from within our galaxy. It’s not black holes this time, but huge numbers of white dwarfs, another fate of dying […]
Read ‘X-Rays in the Milky Way’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 21 Feb 2006 at 10:33 am.
3 Comments. Filed under General, Astronomy.
Supermassive black holes — the huge black holes at the centers of galaxies — appear to litter the Universe, according to astronomers using the orbiting Chandra X-Ray Observatory at an announcement at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in St. Louis last week.
These deep, extragalactic X-ray surveys looked at carefully chosen patches of […]
Read ‘My God! It’s Full of Black Holes!’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 20 Feb 2006 at 11:13 am.
Make a Comment. Filed under General, Astronomy.
University of Arizona astronomer Dr. Fulvio Melia spoke under the giant 60-foot dome of Exploration Place’s CyberDome Theater on February 17 and 18. The assembled audiences were treated to a deep but down to earth explanation of one of the most exotic, cutting-edge topics in science today - the supermassive black holes found at […]
Read ‘Supermassive Black Holes with Fulvio Melia’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 17 Feb 2006 at 2:32 pm.
Make a Comment. Filed under General, Astronomy.
Comedian and The Daily Show star Lewis Black is angry, in case you didn’t know. Last night on The Daily Show, he had some choice words for the New Horizons mission to Pluto slated to arrive there in 2015.
“I can’t wait that long!! I need to know what’s going on at […]
Read ‘Lewis Black Yells Into Space’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 16 Feb 2006 at 5:53 pm.
1 Comment. Filed under General, Astronomy.
There’s a theory that subatomic particles from space hitting our atmosphere may create incredibly tiny short-lived subatomic black holes right here inside Earth’s own air supply. It’s a wild theory that has has a lot of implications, from the possibility of scientists creating their own tiny black holes in the lab, to the confirmation […]
Read ‘Atmospheric Black Holes’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 15 Feb 2006 at 4:41 pm.
Make a Comment. Filed under General, Astronomy.
The great Italian astronomer and philosopher Galileo Galileii was born on this day in 1564. His work and invention in astronomy was nothing short of revolutionary, as he observed and recorded details about Jupiter, the Moon, sunspots, and the stars that would rock our view of the Universe from that moment on.
His […]
Read ‘Happy 442nd Birthday Galileo’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 14 Feb 2006 at 10:15 am.
Make a Comment. Filed under General, Astronomy.
The theories were there; the thousands of pages of equations telling its story could plaster the inside of an aircraft hanger from floor to ceiling. Science had written a tale of black holes that would seem completely absurd if it weren’t backed up by so much physics. Black holes were an inescapable celestial abyss that would crush […]
Read ‘Black Holes: A Massive Birth Part 3’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 10 Feb 2006 at 12:06 pm.
Make a Comment. Filed under General, Astronomy.
This is the second article in a series about black holes, in conjunction with the release of the new Black Holes CyberDome show at Exploration Place on February 17.
The History of Black Holes, Part 2
In the first part of our history of black holes, we covered an amazing 228 years in the development of physics, […]
Read ‘Black Holes: A Massive Birth Part 2’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 7 Feb 2006 at 5:22 pm.
1 Comment. Filed under General.
This is the first article in a series about black holes, in conjunction with the release of the new Black Holes CyberDome show at Exploration Place on February 17.
The History of Black Holes, Part 1
Every child in school learns about the basics of the scientific method: observation, hypothesis and experiment hopefully leading to some […]
Read ‘Black Holes: A Massive Birth’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 1 Feb 2006 at 11:03 am.
Make a Comment. Filed under General, Astronomy, Exploration Place.
To celebrate the opening of the new CyberDome Theater show Black Holes on Friday, February 17, we’ll be featuring articles about these mysterious and powerful objects all month long. By the time March rolls around, you’ll be a an expert, ready to roll into your next cocktail party talking about event horizons and Hawking […]
Read ‘Black Holes All February!’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 30 Jan 2006 at 5:59 pm.
1 Comment. Filed under General, Astronomy.
As the New Horizons probe launched last week hurtles toward it’s 2015 flyby of Pluto, it’s cosmic serendipity that we celebrate the centennial of the planet’s discoverer, Kansan Clyde Tombaugh. He will be honored at 8pm this Saturday, February 4 in KU’s Alderson Auditorium. Special guest speaker and New Horizon’s Principal Investigator Alan […]
Read ‘Clyde Tombaugh’s 100th Birthday’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 11 Nov 2005 at 11:35 am.
2 Comments. Filed under General, Astronomy.
Beccy Tanner at The Wichita Eagle reported today that what may be the largest meteorite found in the U.S. may have been found in western Kansas!
Meteorite hunter and former Wichitan Steve Arnold found the 1,400 pound monster a few weeks ago in Kiowa county under 7 feet of earth.
“It is aesthetically the type of meteorite […]
Read ‘Largest U.S. Meteorite Found in Kansas’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 2 Nov 2005 at 3:56 pm.
1 Comment. Filed under General, Astronomy, Exploration Place.
See Mars at Exploration Place through our telescopes from 6-9pm on Friday, November 4, and put your mind at ease!
It seems like just about everyone got a copy of that recent hoax email that claiming that Mars was going to come very close to earth and grow “as big as the Moon,”,and cause all kinds […]
Read ‘Mars Observing at Exploration Place on Friday’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 2 Nov 2005 at 12:10 pm.
2 Comments. Filed under General.
Don’t worry! I know, we’ve taken about a month off of updating the site, but rest assured - we’ll be back in force very soon! Make sure you keep the site bookmarked as we resume our updates to astronomy events in Kansas, the latest astronomy news and information, as well as new features! […]
Posted by Davin Flateau on 8 Jun 2005 at 11:04 am.
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Oh no! Stars Over Kansas has been ruthlessly attacked. Not by hackers, but by:
Alien Spaceships!
Meteors! (use the mouse to click on ground zero)
Dinosaurs!
Oh, the humanity!
Posted by Davin Flateau on 6 Jun 2005 at 1:17 pm.
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Courtesy of our friends at Universe Today, a guide to what’s happening in the night sky this week. Go forth and look up!
Read ‘What’s In the Sky This Week: 6/5’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 31 May 2005 at 9:33 pm.
Make a Comment. Filed under General.
You’ll notice a new calendar on the right bar. It’s our way of letting you know of star parites, meetings, lectures and other astronomy events near you. Just click on the month or day to see a list of events. Again, if you have any events you’d like to see publicized, just […]
Posted by Davin Flateau on 31 May 2005 at 1:11 pm.
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As you may have noticed, I didn’t exactly sit near the lake ALL Memorial Day weekend. I was busy overhauling the look of the site. Let me know of any problems or issues you encounter - I hope it works well for everyone. More features are currently being added, so apologies in […]
Posted by Davin Flateau on 29 May 2005 at 10:22 am.
Make a Comment. Filed under General, Astronomy.
Late spring and early summer is a special time in Kansas. The warm weather and long days with the sun high in the sky invigorate everything with needed energy. In just a few days, endless expanses of wheat fade from a growing green to a mature amber. A constant but invisible wind […]
Posted by Davin Flateau on 6 May 2005 at 2:15 pm.
2 Comments. Filed under General.
On July 4, NASA’s Deep Impact probe will smash part of itself into Comet Tempel 1, gathering data about the comet’s composition from the collision.
Now, a Russian court has ruled that an astrologer can sue NASA over the mission, contending that the impact would “disrupt the natural balance of the universe.” Her lawyer tries […]
Posted by Davin Flateau on 27 Apr 2005 at 3:35 pm.
1 Comment. Filed under General.
Astronomy is a scientific field where amateurs can conduct meaningful — and sometimes groundbreaking — research. Often times, the data that thousands of amateurs collect would be impossible to get by any other means. The sky is a huge place, and professional astronomers are usually focused on relatively few objects or phenomena. […]
Posted by Davin Flateau on 26 Apr 2005 at 9:09 am.
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Look for this site to start being updated on a daily basis. Consider this the official start of the Stars Over Kansas website!
If you are involved in astronomy, space, rocketry, or other related events in Kansas or the region, and would like to submit your event info to us, please feel free to contact […]
Posted by Davin Flateau on 12 Feb 2005 at 12:00 am.
1 Comment. Filed under General, Event, Astronomy, Exploration Place.
March 5, 2005
Exploration Place
Wichita, Kansas
Celebrate everything Mars at MARSAPALOOZA at Exploration Place on March 5, sponsored by NASA, P2K, and the National Science Foundation. It’s been an incredible year of discovery on Mars for the twin 6-wheeled mobile science laboratories called the Mars Exploration Rovers. Thanks to a dedicated team of scientists […]
Posted by Davin Flateau on 1 Feb 2005 at 4:06 am.
3 Comments. Filed under General, Astronomy.
Wow!
Read ‘Huygens Lands on Titan!’
Posted by Davin Flateau on 31 Jan 2005 at 8:50 pm.
Make a Comment. Filed under General.
Welcome to the new Stars Over Kansas website! Brought to you by Exploration Place in Wichita Kansas, Stars Over Kansas, both the website and the popular planetarium show at Exploration Place, is your only stop on the web to learn about what’s happening in astronomy. You can learn about the latest discoveries about […]
