Comments on: Denver Hub, black holes, and me

By: Guy

Guy — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:22:47 +0000

The talk was great, and we also had an expert on black holes in the audience too so between the two doctors we got some really great information. I’m looking forward to the book when it comes out for more of the gory details.

I also spoke with one of the operators there and he highly recommended the “city of stars” show, so I’m going to check that out sometime soon.

By: MandyDax

MandyDax — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 01:52:25 +0000

“I may be big in the science blogging field, but compared to what’s out there on the Web as a whole, I’m in a small pond,” Plait said. “Still, the water’s nice here.”

BA, you should watch out, you know who studies aquatic lifeforms…

Also, spaghettification was the first way that a black hole can kill which I learned about. I was maybe seven or eight. I think it was a “NOVA” episode about them. I remember my dad showing me Saturn through a telescope, too. We’d watch the PBS science shows like “NOVA” and “The Nature of Things” together. There was a partial solar eclipse one summer, and I set up the same telescope to view it on a card. I even saw a few sunspots. I had to manually track, though. You never realize how fast the Earth spins until you have to do that. … I rambled.

By: John Weiss

John Weiss — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:50:42 +0000

The Fiske projector, Fritz, is a Zeiss. It was purchased with a single, ear-marked donation back in 1971, which is how CU got its hands on the beastie. I’m told that it’s the best-maintained of its model in the world. (According to the regular maintenance guy who services the various ones around the world.) As Ducky stated, it’s a good projector and very lovable.

– John, who is checked out to run Fritz… and due to give a talk there in June.

By: Ducky

Ducky — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:46:56 +0000

Fiske’s projector is named Fritz. That is way more vital than what sort of projector it is.

Also, the Moon is almost always out of phase. But that’s just a quirk everyone’s OK with. I will be very sad when they get rid of Fritz in favor of a digital projector.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:43:58 +0000

All the information I can find is here: http://fiske.colorado.edu/history.php

It says that Fiske uses a Zeiss Mark VI that was purchased in 1971. I don’t know any more than that, though they do have several other projectors.

By: Ut

Ut — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:07:12 +0000

“Ut, your geek is showing.”

I can’t help it. I work in a planetarium that just decommissioned its Zeiss star projector in favour of a full-dome video system. I’ve spent the last eight months turning pots and sliding faders so that people can find Cassiopea. It’s the only planetarium I’ve ever been in, so I’m more than a little curious as to what other science centres are using.

Man, I love my job.

By: Buchempfehlung: Bad Astronomy /// Astrodicticum Simplex

Buchempfehlung: Bad Astronomy /// Astrodicticum Simplex — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:42:47 +0000

[...] all die Missverständnisse, die bei der Bevölkerung in Sachen Astronomie vorherrschen (Im aktuellen Eintrag ist passenderweise auch gleich ein Foto von ihm – also eine gute Gelegenheit, gleich mal [...]