MICA’s popular series of astronomy talks in SL continues this coming Saturday. Here are the details:

Title: The World of Galaxies

“Hoag’s Object, an example of a ring galaxy”

Speaker: Dr. George Djorgovski

Date: Saturday, June 13, 2009

Time: 10:00 AM Pacific Time (SL Time)

Location: The large amphitheater on the sim named StellaNova SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/213/210/32/

Abstract: Galaxies are the basic building blocks of the universe on large scales. Studies of their structure, physics, evolution, and formation are the arena which spans most of the contemporary research in astronomy and observational cosmology. This lecture will present a brief overview of our present knowledge and understanding of galaxies and their lives.

This science talk is intended for the general public. All are welcome. It’s part of a series of popular talks organized by MICA, the Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA).

For more information, see http://mica-vw.org/ Feel free to ask questions or make comments.

Link on the Official SL Events calendar

You’re invited to this free public science talk on Saturday: Dr. Knop Talks Astronomy

Title: Time Dilation and Simultaneity in Special Relativity

Date: Saturday, May 30, 2009

Time: 10:00 AM Pacific Time (SL Time)

Location: The large amphitheater on the sim named StellaNova - SLURL

Abstract: Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity is one of the bedrocks of modern science. It’s an extremely well-tested theory that underlies much of our understanding of the Universe. Yet, it remains a difficult to understand mystery to many people. In this talk, I’ll show how the basic assumptions of Einstein’s theory lead to the conclusion that moving clocks run slow, and that whether or not two events happen at the same time depend on how you are moving relative to them. All of this may be understood without any recourse to mathematics. As a bonus, I will show how with only an understanding of early high-school level algebra, you can actually derive the formula for how slow moving clocks run given the basic tenets of Special Relativity.

This science talk is intended for the general public. All are welcome. It’s part of a series of popular talks called Dr. Knop Talks Astronomy. Dr. Knop was on one of the teams that discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe. Feel free to ask questions or make comments.

Produced in association with the Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA). For more information, see http://mica-vw.org/

The next edition of Dr. Knop Talks Astronomy is this coming Satuday! Here are the details:

Title: The Most Distant Explosion: Gamma Ray Burst 090423

“Artist’s illustration of a bright gamma-ray burst”

Date: Saturday, May 16, 2009

Time: 10:00 AM Pacific Time (SL Time)

Location: The large amphitheater on the sim named StellaNova SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/213/210/32/

Abstract: On April 23, 2009, the Swift gamma ray satellite detected light from an explosion that was measured to have a redshift of 8.2—making it the most distant individual object we’ve observed, and evidence for the earliest star we know of that formed after the Big Bang. In this talk, I’ll describe what gamma ray bursters are, and how it is that we can measure how far away they are. I’ll also talk about the significance of this discovery when it comes to understanding the formation of the first stars and galaxies in our Universe.

This science talk is intended for the general public. All are welcome. It’s part of a series of popular talks called Dr. Knop Talks Astronomy. Dr. Knop was on one of the teams that discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe. Feel free to ask questions or make comments. Produced in association with the Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA).

For more information, see http://mica-vw.org/

Link on the Official SL Events calendar: https://secure-web15.secondlife.com/events/event.php?id=2697156&date=1242457200

You’re invited to the next edition of Dr. Knop Talks Astronomy, in which Dr. Knop will explain how we know that dark matter exists.

Date: Saturday, May 2, 2009

Time: 10:00 AM Pacific Time (SL Time)

Location: The large amphitheater on the sim named StellaNova SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/213/210/32/

Abstract: Modern cosmology tells us that the majority of the Universe is made up of stuff whose nature is largely unknown to us. Two thirds of it is Dark Energy; most of the rest is Dark Matter, the subject of this talk. Dark Matter interacts with normal matter through gravity, but otherwise it interacts hardly at all. Yet, we have very high confidence that this mysterious Dark Matter really does exist. Because it doesn’t interact with light, we haven’t seen it glowing, nor have we observed it absorbing background light as we’ve seen with dust clouds. All of the evidence we have for Dark Matter comes from its gravitational interaction with other matter, and with light. Yet, this evidence is extremely compelling. In this talk, I will attempt to convince you that there is no reasonable doubt that Dark Matter exists.

This science talk is intended for the general public. All are welcome. It’s part of a series of popular talks called Dr. Knop Talks Astronomy. Dr. Knop was on one of the teams that discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe. Feel free to ask questions or make comments. Produced in association with the Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA).

For more information, see http://mica-vw.org/

Link on the Official SL Events calendar: https://secure-web7.secondlife.com/events/event.php?id=2643613&date=1241247600

You’re invited to the next installment of Dr. Knop Talks Astronomy!

Title: A Snapshot of the Early Universe: The Cosmic Microwave Background

Date: Saturday, March 7, 2009

Time: 10:00 AM Pacific Time (SL Time)

Location: The large amphitheater on the sim named StellaNova SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/213/210/32/

Abstract: If you look between all of the stars and all of the galaxies, and you get outside of the Earth’s atmosphere, and even outside the glow of the gas and dust in our own galaxy, you would see that everywhere the sky glows at a temperature of about 3 degrees above absolute zero. This is the cosmic microwave background, and it represents a snapshot of the aftermath of the Big Bang. In this talk, I’ll summarize how it was discovered, I’ll describe how it came to be a few hundred thousand years after the Big Bang, and I’ll tell you some of the very important things we’ve learned about our Universe from studying it.

This science talk is intended for the general public. All are welcome. It’s part of a series of popular talks called Dr. Knop Talks Astronomy. Dr. Knop was on one of the teams that discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe. Feel free to ask questions or make comments. Produced in association with the Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA).

For more information, see http://mica-vw.org/

Link on the Official SL Events calendar: https://secure-web12.secondlife.com/events/event.php?id=2434573&date=1236412800

The Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA - http://mica-vw.org) has organized a workshop on Monday, Feb. 16. It’s open to the general public.

Date: Monday, Feb. 16, 2009

Location: The MICA small amphitheater at StellaNova (70,206,31)

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/70/206/31

Schedule

Quick Link for the schedule:  http://bit.ly/MICAws

All Times are SLT (SL Time = Pacific Time)

10:00 - 10:20   Piet Hut / Pema Pera (IAS & MICA):  “From MODEST to
MICA, and from a Vax to virtual worlds: a personal perspective”

10:20 - 10:40   Roundtable discussion: reviewing the progress over the
past year

10:40 - 11:00   Steve McMillan / Lagrange Euler (Drexel & MICA), and
others: “Stellar Dynamics in VWs: A Progress Report”

11:00 - 12:00   Roundtable discussion: “Towards more general WV
environments: OpenSim, interoperability, and portability”

12:00 - 2:00    Lunch break

2:00 - 2:20     Adrienne Gauthier / Ourania Fizgig (U. Az. & IYA2009):
“International Year of Astronomy 2009”

2:20 - 2:30     Open discussion: “Broadening astronomy participation in SL”

2:30 - 2:50     David Pitman / Rez Tone (IBM):  “Computational chemistry
and visualization in VWs: a progress report”

2:50 - 3:10     Open discussion: “How to advance and facilitate
interdisciplinary collaborations in SL and VWs?”

3:10 - 3:30     Coffee break

3:30 - 3:45     Matthew Graham / Matthew Grantham (Caltech & MICA):
“Looking to the future: semantic web and virtualization of knowledge
environments”

3:45 - 4:15     Open discussion:  “The future of virtual worlds in a
broader context”

4:15 - 4:45     Roundtable discussion:  “Art and science in SL”

4:45 - 5:00     George Djorgovski / Curious George (Caltech & MICA):
“Where next?  The future of MICA, and science and scholarship in
virtual worlds”

5:00            Adjourn

Quick Link for the schedule:  http://bit.ly/MICAws

This coming Friday and Saturday, MICA, the Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics, will be hosting events for the grand opening of their new sim, StellaNova.

Check out the MICA website for all the details!

A scene in the new MICA sim, StellaNova

All times are Pacific Time.
Friday, Jan. 30: Day One of the Grand Opening of the new MICA sim (StellaNova) . 1:30 - 1:45 pm: Opening remarks, MICA building dedication [MICA building]. SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/24/108/32 . 1:45 - 2:00 pm: Explore around StellaNova. SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/129/129/32 . 2:00 - 3:00 pm: Open discussion: Science in Virtual Worlds [Small amphitheater]. SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/76/200/32 . 3:00 - 3:30 pm: New initiatives in OpenSim N-body work [MICA seminar room]. SLURL: <a href=”http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/27/114/21“>http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/27/114/21

StellaNova beach house and eagle - Image by Korii Tiger

Saturday, Jan. 31: Day Two of the Grand Opening of the new MICA sim (StellaNova) . 10:00 - 11:00 am: Inaugural Popular Lecture - Dr. Knop Talks Astronomy - “Colliding Galaxies in a Virtual Universe” [Large amphitheater]. SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/206/211/32 . 11:00 - 12 noon: Informal discussion: Astronomy and SL [MICA Clubhouse]. SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/127/43/22 . Please join us in celebrating and learning! The inworld SL group is the open-membership MICA - VW Astrophysics. Feel free to join and keep up with future events. Check out our wiki at http://mica-vw.org for events and slides/records of past talks to learn more! See you at the opening of StellaNova!