Tag Archives: ganti

Reusable Launch Vehicle

Posted on April 19, 2016 by ST Editors

by Prasad Ganti SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was recently launched from Cape Canaveral. It was a routine launch on a routine mission except for a couple of differences, which are important steps for a brighter future. SpaceX or Space Exploration … Continue reading →

Posted in May 2016 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Star Wars – The Force Awakens

Posted on April 2, 2016 by ST Editors

by Prasad Ganti The seventh “Star Wars” movie was released in December of 2015. After almost a decade after Disney bought the franchise from George Lucas, there were uncertainties over how much would it stick to the original cult classic. … Continue reading →

Posted in April 2016, Sidereal Times | Tagged , | Leave a comment

“The Martian” and Ernest Shackleton

Posted on January 26, 2016 by ST Editors

by Prasad S. Ganti “The Martian” is a science fiction book written by Andy Weir. It was made into a movie starring Matt Damon as a Mark Watney, an astronaut stranded on Mars who was certain to be the first … Continue reading →

Posted in January 2016, Sidereal Times | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Neutrinos and the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics

Posted on November 17, 2015 by ST Editors

by S. Prasad Ganti Last year I wrote about neutrinos, the mystery particles, based on the book I read entitled “The Neutrino Hunters” by Ray Jayawardhana. This year, the Nobel Prize in Physics went to Takaki Kajita and Arthur McDonald who … Continue reading →

Posted in November 2015, Sidereal Times | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Optimizing the U.S. Ground-Based Optical and Infrared Astronomy System

Posted on May 30, 2015 by ST Editors

by S. Prasad Ganti Recently, the committee on a Strategy to Optimize the U.S. Optical and Infrared System (OIR) in the Era of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) came up with set of recommendations. This is a summary of … Continue reading →

Posted in June 2015, Sidereal Times | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Supernovae

Posted on May 3, 2015 by ST Editors

by S. Prasad Ganti April’s guest lecture was about supernovae and their remnants. It reminded me of something special about them. Although they seem to be esoteric objects in the Universe, far, far away from the earth, and far away … Continue reading →

Posted in May 2015, Sidereal Times | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Dinosaur Detectives

Posted on April 3, 2015 by ST Editors

by S. Prasad Ganti Both children and adults alike are fascinated by dinosaurs, the supersized “terrible lizards” of the past. Although they became extinct long ago, imaginations were stoked when Michael Crichton brought them to life in his sci-fi novel … Continue reading →

Posted in April 2015 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A Watchtower in Space

Posted on March 1, 2015 by ST Editors

by Prasad Ganti Very recently, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off into space with a payload. The launch was routine but the payload was something special. It carried a satellite called DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory). The observatory will … Continue reading →

Posted in March 2015, Sidereal Times | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Interstellar

Posted on January 31, 2015 by ST Editors

by Prasad Ganti One of my favorite all time great scientists postulated that time and space are relative, which means that they do not seem to be as straight forward as they appear to us Earthlings. Under normal circumstances, they … Continue reading →

Posted in February 2015, Sidereal Times | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Into Deep Space and Back

Posted on December 30, 2014 by ST Editors

by Prasad Ganti The ride lasted only 4.5 hours. The space enthusiasts waited with bated breath for a successful early morning launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida; a successful circling of the Earth; a trip into deep space in an elongated … Continue reading →

Posted in January 2015, Sidereal Times | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Landing on a Comet

Posted on November 29, 2014 by ST Editors

by Prasad Ganti For the first time a manmade probe landed on a comet. Riding on a spaceship called Rosetta, the probe Philae was launched by ESA (European Space Agency) about a decade ago. Rosetta and Philae traveled four billion … Continue reading →

Posted in December 2014, Sidereal Times | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Big History

Posted on November 2, 2014 by ST Editors

by S. Prasad Ganti Most of us are curious about how it all started. We study history of specific countries and periods like European history during the medieval ages or American history since the civil war, but not about everything … Continue reading →

Posted in November 2014, Sidereal Times | Tagged , | Leave a comment