Spotlight

Chris Impey Discusses Active Learning in a Variety of Contexts

In this article by Tom Beal about Professor Chris Impey, we see the notion of active learning in a variety of contexts, and the difficulty of implementing such a process, or even the concentration/determination needed to succeed, in MOOCs. Beal also mentions several of Prof. Impey's books. The article can be found HERE

Image: Courtesy Chris Impey

NSF Finalizes Funding - LSST Construction to Start

LSST, whose complicated primary-tertiary mirror was cast and polished in the Steward Mirror Lab, is the endpoint of a long process that began with a telescope design by Steward Professors Roger Angel and Mike Lesser, and Roland Sarlot and Roger Dunham. It was later improved and refined by optical designers at other LSST institutions. Private support also arrived at the right time to keep the project moving forward. Finally, the construction can begin, with the telescope expected to be on-sky for shakedown in 2019. The big survey is expected to begin in early 2022. The UANews article can be found HERE.

Image:Todd Mason, Mason Productions Inc./LSST Corporation

We're Focused on the Future

A UA Astronomy Major is visible all over Tucson and Phoenix, thanks to her image on a SunTran and a ValleyMetro bus. Student Megan Nieberding is seen posing at the eyepiece of the 21" Ray White Telescope on Campus. Our astronomy majors are doing front-line research and ending up with great careers, and now the major population centers of Arizona know about Megan and implicitly about the Dept of Astronomy and Steward Observatory. Photo: Paul O'Mara, UA University Relations

Ice Crystal Halos

Dean Ketelsen (photo copyrighted by him) took this great photo of ice crystal halos that are not normally seen because the Earth is in the way. But flying in an airplane and paying attention gave him this reward. The British site "Astronomical Optics" is perhaps the best such website in the world at this moment. Dean also posts many photos at his blog theketelsens.blogspot.com. Right now there are start-of-monsoon photos from Kitt Peak, and many others. There's a infrared- airglow video about halfway down the page. Larger photos of the sub-halos at the astronomical optics site.

More Eyes on the Skies

The Giant Magellan Telescope Project has announced that Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo has joined. Read more about GMT and other big telescopes coming on line in the next decade in this NY Times article by Dennis Overbye:

HERE and at the GMT website: www.gmto.org

image credit: www.gmto.org

The photo is a book cover from a modern reprint, by Emerson-Adams Press in 1998, of perhaps the most important book in the field, first published in English in1966 (published in Russian by Shklovsky alone in 1962)

Should Humanity Try to Contact Intelligent Aliens?

This article about communicating with alien civilizations contains quotations by Seth Shostak, Chris Impey of Steward, and Steven Dick and Michael Michaud. The photo is a book cover from a modern reprint, by Emerson-Adams Press in 1998, of perhaps the most important book in the field, first published in English in1966 (published in Russian by Shklovsky alone in 1962)

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Spotlight

Chris Impey Discusses Active Learning in a Variety of Contexts