Steinn Sigurðsson
Professor of Astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University. Science Editor at Astrophysical Journal. Icelandic. Herder of Cats.
catdynamics
Posts by this author
January 22, 2017
I've been puzzling over the rationale for some recent events...
Exxon has a large contract to develop oil and natural gas resources in the Russia.
This can only go forward if sanctions on Russia are lifted, which seems likely to happen in the near future.
But, there is too much oil and capacity to…
January 22, 2017
The Aspen Art Museum is doing a series of interdisciplinary lectures, titled "Another Look"
Another Look Lecture: Gabriel Orozco & Cosmology - so this is a thing.
I did one of the lectures. The first one, I gather.
It was quite an interesting experience, for me at least.
Good fun, riffing on…
December 23, 2016
The origins and history of the Yule Lads with bonus Christmas Cat...
Even I did not know that peak Yule Lads was 82!
Criminy!
December 23, 2016
Ok, I confess, I was supposed to get these reviewed before the Holidays, but a Sequence of Unfortunate Events Intervened and I am only part way through these.
Anywho, if you need a last second pressie for random acquaintances so disposed, there are a couple of interesting science books out there…
December 23, 2016
Roads to Rome
All roads really read to Rome
moovel lab makes funky maps,
go play
December 12, 2016
Grímfrost in Sweden give their take on the Meaning of the Season
- the Goat of Þór is serious business though...
December 12, 2016
Today is the 12th of december, and there are 13 days until christmas.
This means, of course, that the first of the yule elves came to town this morning.
As you know, Bob, there are thirteen of the Yule Lads, or jólasveinar, as we call them.
And they are not really elves, since their mother is a…
August 24, 2016
The Pale Red Dot project has found a planet.
It is a terrestrial planet, orbiting in the formal habitable zone of Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Solar System.
This wide-field image shows the Milky Way stretching across the southern sky. The beautiful Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) is seen at…
June 27, 2016
In case anyone hasn't noticed, Iceland is playing England in the Euro 2016 Cup today, round of 16.
This is the first time Iceland has been in a major football tournament, the first time, obviously, they have progressed to the second stage, and as I write this they are unbeaten in tournament play.…
June 23, 2016
Summer continues, and the public lecture series on physics continues a pace at the Aspen Center for Physics with Dr. Catherine Heymans of the University of Edinburgh talking today on the "Dark Side of the Universe".
The talk is part of one of the three workshops currently taking place:
"Testing…
June 10, 2016
Tabby's Star - KIC 8462852 - remains one of the more interesting and mysterious objects in the sky.
There is a good update at "Updates on Boyajian’s Star" - Astrowright's blog and "Bradley Schaefer: Further Thoughts on the Dimming of KIC 8462852" at Centauri Dreams has the latest on the controversy…
June 10, 2016
The Aspen Center for Physics organizes weekly public lectures durings its winter conferences and its summer workshops.
This week the public lecture was by Roni Harnik of Fermilab on “The Higgs Boson and the Mystery of Mass.” The lectures are videoed by Aspen Grassroots television, and archived, and…
June 9, 2016
"If life were a mellow elementary school run by well-meaning education PhDs what would your report card say?"
June 9, 2016
Yay, NASA Senior Review is out:
SeniorReviewReport_2016
tl;dr - everyone is above average, they're good enough and we like you.
Mission ranks
bad news: per AAAC meeting earlier, there is not enough $ to actually pay for all these lovely toys, so something will have to give, somewhere.
Someone…
February 11, 2016
In 2011 Daniel Holz gave a Heinz R. Pagels Public Lecture at the Aspen Center for Physics on the topic of Gravitational Waves. The talk is one of the better explanations of what this is all about, with a bonus introduction!
February 11, 2016
LIGO and allies have also provided a bunch of fun useful stuff:
Have We Detected Gravitational Waves Yet?
Stretch and Squash
Black Hole Hunter
Einstein@Home
Gravitational Waves 101 - Markus Pössel's excellent visualizations.
The Data
The Papers
SXS - Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes visualizations…
February 11, 2016
February 11th was a good day.
I spent the day at the "Dynamics and accretion at the Galactic Center" Conference at the Aspen Center for Physics, where about 75 physicists have spent the week talking about black holes and stuff.
This morning we watched the LIGO press conference, frantically…
November 30, 2015
Ethan Kruse has update the Kepler Orrery, just in time for Extreme Solar Systems III now under way.
Enjoy
November 18, 2015
Skrekkur is an annual talent show for Icelandic schools, roughly 9-10th grade, and it has grown to become quite a big deal.
The winning act is usually stunning and original and very well executed, and I don't just say that 'cause my little cousins keep winning...
This year the winning performance…
November 18, 2015
Why sex is just like a nice cuppa...
This animation from Emmeline May and Blue Seat Studios is really quite excellent and has been making the rounds, but that doesn't mean everyone has seen it...
"Copyright ©2015 Emmeline May and Blue Seat Studios
Non-commercial use: Video must have copyright…
November 10, 2015
The Kepler 2 mission serendipitously observed Neptune about a year ago.
The images were posted on the K2 website, but according to the website stat like nobody shared them, which sucks.
The animation was just shown at the Division for Planetary Sciences meeting, #DPS15, in DC so it is time to show…
October 19, 2015
As of this morning we have discovered over 1,500 exoplanets, planets orbiting stars other than the Sun.
In addition to the confirmed discoveries, we have over 3,000 candidate exoplanets, most discovered by the NASA Kepler Mission through transits, where we see the shadow of a planet as it crosses…
October 16, 2015
Well, that took longer than expected.
Anyone still out there?
Lots to talk about, eh?
February 13, 2015
We haven't done an iPod iChing prognostication in a very long time, and needs must!
So, Oh Mighty iPod One! What say you?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Woosh.
The Covering: The Secret Marriage - Sting
The Crossing: I Will Not Be Denied - Bonnie Raitt
The Crown: Away in a Manger - Kenny G
The Root:…
February 3, 2015
Bee at Backreaction has been busy over the last few months, here is my backlog reading list:
A Thousand Words
Do we live in a computer simulation?
Consciousness and Physics from Scratch
10 things I wish I had known 20 years ago
Science changed my life and yours too
Do we write too many papers…
February 2, 2015
Because I must trim browser tabs, here is a current short list of things that might be useful:
Threebody - online implementation of the open source IAS15 integrator - a 15th order high precision N-body integrator -
ASCL - Astrophysics Source Code Library - Open Source Code
Visible Spectra of the…