Poster: http://www.physics.uwo.ca/colloquia/Colloquia%20Notices/2011_2012/BARMAN%20Colloquium.pdf

The University of Western Ontario
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY

PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY COLLOQUIUM

Date:          Thursday, 8^th March 2012
Time:          1:30 p.m.
Location:    Physics & Astronomy Seminar Room 22

Dr. Travis Barman
Lowell Observatory
Flagstaff, Arizona

“Direct Imaging and Spectroscopy of Young Giant Planets”

ABSTRACT

Several young gas giants in wide orbits (> 10 AU) have now been directly imaged. These exciting discoveries provide new insights into the formation and early atmospheric properties of giant planets. This talk will focus on recent attempts to measure the near-infrared spectra of two planets orbiting the star HR8799. These data have aided in the characterization of the planets’ cloud and chemical properties, but also highlight the many difficulties we face when modeling planet atmospheres.

The few planets imaged so far are just the beginning. New instruments, tailor made for high-contrast imaging, are coming online this year and will reveal dozens of young planets. These instruments will also provide low resolution near-IR spectra of each new planet, revealing a wealth of information across a wide range of planet masses and ages. Given the lessons we are learning from systems like HR8799, interpreting these data will not be easy and significant observational and planet modeling obstacles must be overcome.

Coffee & Cookies will be available.

I was looking at this the other day and it made me a bit worried. I wonder if there is any serious work to handle the issue of space debris.

http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2012/pr201204.html

These are changing times for human spaceflight but we shouldn't forget that Canada has two relatively new astronauts and one heading to the International Space Station (ISS) later this year.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield has racked up several first in Space, including the first Canadian space walk, but in December 2012, he will take up his biggest role yet: Commander of the ISS.

More information is here: http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/missions/expedition34-35/default.asp and there is a nice interview from a couple of day ago here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17092546

Researchers suspect that the mind must reformulate physical actions each and every time they are performed. It makes me wonder if that is why some of golf's greatest players have been improvisers such as the likes of Seve Ballesteros and Bubba Watson. 

Here are the results of one study at Stanford.

It has often been said that science and politics should not mix; however, unfortunately for us scientists, politics does play a huge role in defining funding for science, what science gets done, and even what science gets reported. The latter is particularly troubling here in Canada where, as reported in this BBC news article, the Canadian government is "muzzling its scientists": 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16861468

Having worked at the Canadian Space Agency before coming to Western 4 years ago, I can say that this is not some media hype but is actually happening and is what all government scientists are facing. It's interesting that this BBC news article was on their front page for a time, but received very little attention here in Canada!

There is a CBC news article here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/02/17/science-federal-muzzling-s...

We should all be aware of this and voice our concerns whenever we can.

It was 50 years ago that John Glenn became the first American in Space. At 90 years old, he's still going strong, serving as a model for all of us.

This nice article discusses the impending death of the Herschel space observatory, but don't panic it still has a little left in it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17087434

How cool is that?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/20/science/physicists-create-a-working-transis...