This video from the White House star party held the other night makes me smile. A lot.
Wow, that’s quite a star lineup! I wish I could’ve been there too. Maybe next year…
And the quote of the night from the President, who said this in response to a young girl who was 14 when she discovered a supernova, and a high school sophomore who found a rare type of pulsar:
NASA’s equipment is some pretty powerful stuff. But astronomy also depends on the curiosity and contribution of amateur astronomers. [...] If they can discover something great, so can any of you other students who are here tonight. All you need is a passion for science.
Damn straight. And awesome.
October 9th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Yup. I saw that yesterday.
Not to nitpick (have you listened to the Geologic podcast today? Ha!) but no NASA equipment was used to find that pulsar. It was all NSF funded with AURA/NRAO equipment:
http://www.nrao.edu/index.php/about/facilities/gbt
Too bad they didn’t have dark enough skies to put that Celestron on the Ring Nebula… Would’ve made a better story than the double double. Maybe he’ll take his girls to the Naval Observatory and have a peek through the Clark refractor over there.
BTW, if any of you BAblogees are in Virginia this weekend:
http://www.nrao.edu/index.php/festival
The NRAO is having an open house! Come one, come all! Lots of activities for the kids!
October 9th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
I’m sure they would have seen more if they turn off the camera lights! That’s worst than sitting under a street light for viewing.
October 9th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
[...] Video from the White House star party: [Via Bad Astronomy] This video from the White House star party held the other night makes me smile. A lot. [...]
October 9th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
It’s too bad they didn’t turn the lights out! I can’t imagine being able to see much with all the TV lights and such!
October 9th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
I saw this video last night. Personally I thought it was hilarious see Barack looking in the telescope, having gone to so many public programs with my astronomy club, it was clear that he couldn’t see it, or didn’t know what he was supposed to be looking for.
But everything he said about amateur astronomer’s contributions and such is excellent. Great to see science advocacy in politics.
On a side note, gee, Caroline Moore has really become a celebrity. Normally the media doesn’t pay much notice to astronomical discoveries, but when you add a human element, like the youngest person to discover a supernova, or similar, it gets quite a lot of attention.
October 9th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Heh. I saw the blue doors behind the president and immediately thought, “TARDIS”.
October 9th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Ha ha ha… way to ruin the night of those two poor students.
I’m sure they were feeling awesome and special until Obama said anyone could do what they did.
October 9th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
completely off topic, but I’ve been wondering for a while now:
Have you unveiled your science tattoo yet?
If so, how did I miss it and where can I see it?
If not, when?
October 9th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Much better than GWB’s star party, in which Mr. Potus commanded them astrologers to point their scopes toward the Executive Office Building ‘n see if they could spot some heavenly bodies. Snicker. Snort.
October 9th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Look who made the list:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/10/09/follow.friday/index.html
October 9th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Anyone complain that President Obama was brainwashing the children again?
October 9th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Did he not mispronounce Mae Jemison’s name to “Jameson”? I’m sure that must be something she gets alot.
October 9th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
I wonder if he could actually resolve Epsilon 1 and 2 with those powerful lights overhead. Would’ve been cooler if they had the lights off, and filmed in night vision.
October 9th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
The science advisor should’ve eschewed the microphones and gone over to the scope with Obama and lent a hand. He could’ve given him some assistance at least. Maybe the owner of the scope could’ve stepped in and helped… Prolly heavily armed fellows there who’d have taken a dim view (get it?) of all that, though…
Wish -I- would’ve been there too. I had a meeting to run, soooooo………..
October 9th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Just to see a President who cares enough to do this and spotlight it, and shows enthusiasm for science, both professional and amateur, is good enough for me. Makes me appreciate what we’ve missed for oh so many years of lackluster scientific interest from the top.
October 9th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Wow, that’s a fantastic comment from the President. Just fantastic.
October 9th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Interesting to see the ‘entire’ (compared to the :15 soundbytes) party intro. I also watched reports on MSNBC’s site for both Countdown and Rachel Maddow Show about LRO and this party.
Richard Drumm: the ‘scope was from Derrick Pitts, Franklin Institute Chief Astronomer (was on Countdown).
J/P=?
October 9th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
The White House also released another video (click my name) which is well worth watching. It’s a half hour of questions with Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, on the White House lawn, advocating for science.
October 9th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
[...] agreement with Phil Plait, this video made me smile too. A [...]
October 9th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Great stuff
He should get some kind of prize 
October 9th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Dennis:
Have a look here:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/tag/physics-tattoos/
Maybe Phil has something better?
Wow.
October 9th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
The speech was Saganesque, but I liked that, given the impossibility of going from staring into camera-lights to looking into a telescope, he went back for another try.
October 10th, 2009 at 1:25 am
Thank FSM he didn’t end the speech w/ “GbyaGbA”.
Ed Weiler makes an appearance at the 10 min mark, fwiw.
October 10th, 2009 at 2:31 am
President Obama is famously a left-handed writer, but is looking through the telescope with his right eye. Interesting.
October 10th, 2009 at 5:05 am
@ 5. tsmiljanich Says:
Just to see a President who cares enough to do this and spotlight it, and shows enthusiasm for science, both professional and amateur, is good enough for me. Makes me appreciate what we’ve missed for oh so many years of lackluster scientific interest from the top.
Seconded by me!
October 10th, 2009 at 7:20 am
I am proud to have a president who cares about science and wants kids to be passionate about it. I hope he gets a chance sometime to do some observing under more favorable conditions!
October 10th, 2009 at 10:19 am
I do not think the Secret Service would approve of turning all of the lights out with the President in attendance. Security takes priority over everything else, at least in this case.
October 10th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
“All you need is a passion for science”, nice to hear that from our President.
October 10th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
My favorite story, that I tell my students every year, is the Mae Jemison was inspired by Star Trek, became an astronaut, then got a part in…..Star Trek!
BTW, was that Epsilon Lyrae they were looking at?
October 10th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Yup, Epsilon Lyrae, the double double. It’s near the zenith in the early evening these days and you can see by the orientation of the scope that’s what they’re looking at. Nice to look at, but not a show-stopper. Should’ve highlighted Jupiter instead, and milked the Galileo anniversary angle… Oh well…
October 11th, 2009 at 7:06 am
I may not agree with a lot of his politics, but it’s brilliant to have a president who seems genuinely excited about science and promoting science to our children.
Kudos Mr O.
October 11th, 2009 at 8:42 am
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October 11th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
[...] to Phil Plait , who posted this Video from the White House star party on his blog, Bad Astronomy. On October 7, as part of the International Year of Astronomy, the White [...]
October 11th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Great stuff! Could you imagine George W. Bush doing anything like this
October 11th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
@30 I feel the same way. However, it’s also good that they highlighted something that most people would not have heard of before (including yours truly.) That would draw attention to the new subject (in this case Elipson Lyrae) and make the populous just that much more educated.
October 12th, 2009 at 10:06 am
[...] around the globe stayed up late or got up early to futilely observe, followed hot on the heels of a Presidential endorsement of science and astronomy at the White House — all of which is occurring around the [...]
October 17th, 2009 at 9:08 am
I was a great event, They did turn the lights off on the white house and the press was told no lights or flash. The President and first family spent about an hour and a half looking at all sorts of stuff, they even got a look in a 24″ Dob. the event ended at 10:00 when the light came back on. and you I’m the Robert from the star party video.
October 20th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
[...] always something going on! Besides lots of cool astronomy stuff (a White House Star Party?! Awesome!), there are tons of other events for anything one may be interested [...]