krandall
Posts by this author
October 27, 2011
By Dr. Gerry Harp, Senior Astrophysicist, Center for SETI Research, SETI Institute, and Gail Jacobs
Trained as a quantum mechanic, Dr. Gerry Harp was deeply interested in possibilities for using the multiple telescopes of the Allen Telescope Array to generate steerable "beams" on the sky -- beams…
October 3, 2011
By Dr. Janice Bishop, Senior Scientist
SETI Institute
October 3, 2011
Two small depressions on Mars found to be rich in minerals formed by water could have been places able to support life relatively recently in the planet's history. These findings were published October 1, 2011, in the journal…
September 26, 2011
By Dr. Richard Quinn; Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute, and Gail Jacobs
Is the surface of Mars really sterile, or could there be still-undiscovered traces of life littering this hostile landscape? Chemist Richard Quinn focuses on understanding the reactive…
September 23, 2011
By Dr. Gerry Harp, an astrophysicist at theSETI Institute.
Figure 1: A waterfall plot. This shows the signal as a function of frequency (increasing to the right) and time (increasing to the top). A slanted straight line is just the sort of thing we look for in SETI searches. In this case, it is…
September 15, 2011
By Dr. Franck Marchis, SETI Institute
Kepler-16 is another great discovery coming from the Kepler telescope, the 10th NASA Discovery mission which is devoted to finding Earth-size exoplanets by monitoring variations of brightness due to transit. Today the Kepler team found a circumbinary exoplanet…
September 15, 2011
By Dr. Laurance Doyle, an astrophysicist at the SETI Institute, and lead author of a paper that will appear in the journal Science on September 15, 2011.
For the first time, astronomers with the NASA Kepler spacecraft mission have discovered a planet orbiting two stars. This is a fundamentally…
August 29, 2011
By Dr. Rachel Mastrapa; Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute, and Gail Jacobs
Rachel Mastrapa studies the surface processes of icy Solar System bodies by interpreting their infrared spectra. The majority of her work involves performing the ground truth…
August 12, 2011
SETI Institute Engages the Public and Celebrates ScienceClick on images for larger view
The cosmos can be mysteriously alluring to all -- from the young in age to the young at heart. In particular, space science and astrobiology fill us with wonder, amazement and awe -- but the scientists who work…
July 19, 2011
By Dr. Cynthia Phillips
Planetary geologist at the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute
The final mission of Space Shuttle Atlantis has spawned a whole series of perspective pieces on the history, state, and future of space exploration. Some, like the YouTube…
June 29, 2011
By Dr. Friedemann Freund; Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute, and Gail Jacobs
Friedemann Freund doesn't shrink from taking on the really big problems. His research has elucidated such important phenomena as the fact that rocks under stress behave like batteries…
May 19, 2011
By Dr. Janice Bishop; Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute, and Gail Jacobs
Dr. Janice Bishop is a chemist and planetary scientist who explores the planet Mars using spectroscopy. Her investigations of CRISM data of Mars are revealing clays and sulfates in the…
May 6, 2011
Today, NASA announced three future key missions preselected as part of the Discovery program named GEMS, TiME and Comet Hopper. This is an important announcement, which was eagerly expected by our community.
The NASA Discovery program is a low-cost mission ($425 million FY2010) program aimed at…
April 19, 2011
By Dr. Lori Fenton; Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute, and Gail Jacobs
Planetary scientist Dr. Lori Fenton joined the SETI Institute's Carl Sagan Center as a Principal Investigator in 2006, and was awarded NASA's Carl Sagan Fellowship for Early Career…
March 31, 2011
By Dr. Mark Showalter
Senior Research Scientist at the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute
Four and a half billion years ago, a fluffy "snowball" coalesced out of the cloud of ice, dust and debris still surrounding our Sun. Most of the snowballs like it later…
March 28, 2011
By Dr. Jon Jenkins; Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute, and Gail Jacobs
Dr. Jon Jenkins of the SETI Institute is the Analysis Lead for NASA's Kepler Mission. He heads up a group of about two-dozen scientists and programmers who designed and built the software…
February 28, 2011
Remembering Dr. Emma Bakes
An exceptional person, Dr. Emma Bakes passed away on February 28, 2011. She accomplished a great deal and touched many people in an unfortunately short time. Her accomplishments span oceans and included the physical sciences, medicine, fashion, martial arts, and…
February 10, 2011
By Dr. Ignacio Mosqueira, an astrophysicist at the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute, and Gail Jacobs
Ignacio Mosqueira works with Paul Estrada to piece together the way in which giant planets - such as Jupiter and Saturn -- and their moons and rings formed.…
February 2, 2011
By Franck Marchis
There will be a before and after Kepler Era in astronomy. Today, with the release of 1,202 exoplanet candidates from data collected with the Kepler spacecraft over 140 days of observation, we have just entered in a new age of astronomy.
The Kepler spacecraft is the 10th NASA…
January 25, 2011
By Dr. Darlene Lim, a geobiologist and limnologist at the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute, and Gail Jacobs
Dr. Darlene Lim's research interests span Earth and Space Science. She conducts limnological and paleolimnological investigations of remote lakes and…
January 11, 2011
By Dr. Franck Marchis
Astronomer at the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute
It is done. The Kepler team finally announced the discovery of its first terrestrial exoplanet. A referred journal, accepted in the Astrophysical Journal by Natalie Batalha and a large…
December 1, 2010
By Dr. Rosalba Bonaccorsi
Environmental Scientist at the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute, and Gail Jacobs
Rosalba, what first sparked your interest in science?
I've always had big dreams -- even as a young girl. As soon as I started to walk, I took an…
October 27, 2010
By Dr. Adrian Brown
Planetary physicist at the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute, and Gail Jacobs
When most people look at photos of the Martian landscape, they see the kind of dry topography that, while attractive, shows only that at first glance Mars…
September 28, 2010
By Dr. Paul EstradaPlanetary physicist at the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute, and Gail Jacobs
If planets are a dime a dozen, moons are less than a penny each. There are at least 139 moons just within our own solar system. Most of these are the property of…
September 14, 2010
By Dr. Mark R. Showalter
Planetary astronomer at the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute
It was just a few months ago that Stephen Hawking was making headlines with his bold assertion that extraterrestrial beings, if they exist, are best avoided. His argument was…
August 12, 2010
Every summer, the SETI Institute hosts 15-20 college students from around the country as part of its Astrobiology Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) internship program. The program, which is funded by the National Science Foundation and the NASA Astrobiology Institute, pairs each student…
August 4, 2010
By Dr. Adrian Brown
Planetary Research Scientist at the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute
The last two months have witnessed several extremely important events with respect to future Mars Exploration. The first two revolved around the rover "Spirit." The other…
August 3, 2010
Don Backer, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Berkeley who discovered the first millisecond pulsar, died on July 25. He was director of Berkeley's Radio Astronomy Laboratory and the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) in Hat Creek, California - a collection of 42 dishes that recently began…
July 30, 2010
By Dr. Franck MarchisPlanetary Astronomer at the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute
I mentioned in my previous post that we observed several known multiple asteroid systems during our last observing run with the W.M. Keck Observatory and its Adaptive Optics…
July 30, 2010
By Dr. Franck MarchisPlanetary Astronomer at the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute
I'd like to share the first of two blogs on observations of Io that we did using the Keck telescope and its Adaptive Optics (AO) system.
Similar to last year, my summer is busy…
July 23, 2010
By Dr. Mark R. ShowalterPlanetary Astronomer at the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute
In 1609, Galileo introduced to the world his new invention, the astronomical telescope. It opened up new opportunities to explore a territory that all prior generations had…