Amazing Skies is coming to the International Musuem of Arts and Science
By Angelique Marin

Amazing Skies will be in two Texas cities this year, San Antonio and McAllen. The exciting event will feature NASA astronauts, hands-on activities, exhibits and feature presentations for the whole family. Additionally a night sky viewing is scheduled with the help of local amatuer astronomers to observe the wonders of the night sky. Amazing Skies is scheduled for Saturday, March 22, 2008 in McAllen, Texas at the International Museum of Art and Science. The San Antonio event is currently in the planning stages and is tentatively scheduled for May 2008.

NASA Astronaut, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger will be the featured speaker for Amazing Skies in McAllen. Mrs. Metcalf-Lindenburger was selected by NASA as a Mission Specialist in May 2004. In February 2006 she completed Astronaut Candidate Training that included scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in Shuttle and International Space Station systems, physiological training, T-38 flight training, and water and wilderness survival training. Completion of this initial training qualifies her for various technical assignments within the Astronaut Office and future flight assignment.

Exhibitors Sign Up for Event

Amazing Skies in McAllen is drawing many exciting exhibitors with hands-on activities and exciting learning opportunities.

The event will feature exhibits from NASA, Challenger Learning Center, Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy, The Science Wall, Rio Grande Valley Model Rocket Club, STARS - Valley Astronomical Society, The Space Wall, WalMart and others.

 

Breakthroughs in Astronomy at the University of Texas Brownsville

Physicists at UT Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, Caltech, and the Goddard Space Flight Center have made major breakthroughs allowing Einstein’s equations for colliding black holes to be solved a decade earlier than expected.  The breakthroughs will make it possible to verify Einstein’s theory of spacetime curvature, which predicts gravitational waves, or ripples in spacetime, generated by the motion of massive bodies.”

These results will affect the design and development of a $2 billion NASA/European Space Agency gravitational wave mission scheduled to be launched in 2015. 

“By detecting ripples in the fabric of space time itself, this mission will open a new window into the universe,” said Dr. Fredrick Jenet, a gravitational wave astrophysicist at the Center. 

The primary scientific objective of this mission will be the detection of gravitational waves from colliding supermassive black holes, the most powerful source of energy in the universe. 

 

Pepsi-Cola and the Urban Science Initiative, Inc., have partnered to create the Scholarship 1000 for Amazing Skies. The scholarship program is open to Rio Grande Valley seniors who plan on majoring in a science field. Application deadline is March 10, 2008. Cllick logo for details and application.