SFA
Physics, Astronomy and Engineering News
February 18, 2004
Viewing Session - This Saturday at 7:00pm

SPS Meeting for Students

There will be a meeting of the Society of Physics Students on Thursday at 5:00 pm in room 318. Everyone is welcome and refreshments will be served. To find out how to become a member of this student organization, come to this meeting or see the SPS advisor, Mr. Ali Piran. They have lots of interesting activities going on this semester. Here's some background info: http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/sps/index.htm

SPS will sponsor the two events below that you can attend.

SFA Observatory

If you are new to SFA or have never been to the observatory, this might be a good weekend to do some star gazing. SPS will sponsor a public viewing session at the SFA Observatory have been scheduled on Saturday, Feb 21 at 7pm. Here are maps and directions. You can also get a ride on our bus located at the temporary commuter’s bus stop (located behind the Steen Library) at 6:45 pm. (It's a good idea to ride the bus on your first visit since it can be difficult to find the observatory in the dark.)

Physics Olympics

Every spring, local high school students gather at the SFA campus to engage in friendly competitions with physics themes. The Society of Physics Students and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Stephen F. Austin State University will be holding a Physics Olympics for area high school students on the SFASU campus on Saturday, March 6, 2004.

Seminar for Thursday

There will be no seminar this week. Only the three students in the seminar course (PHY 470) will meet this week to practice their talks. The department has weekly seminars on most Thursdays at 4:00 PM. All students and faculty are welcome to attend. Refreshments will be served before the seminars. Here is a list of our future seminars future seminars: http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/seminar.html.

Movies, Movies, Movies

Rubberband Heat Engine Movies and Rules (EGR112 class project at SFA)
City Boy and Electric Fence (MPEG)
Big Anchor Drops (MPEG)
Boredom at the Wheel (MPEG)
Flying Plane
Reality Snow Tow (MPEG)

Contributors Links

World's Easiest Quiz
http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~mindgym/games/wequiz.htm

M&M's obsession leads to physics discovery
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/02/16/science.candy.reut/index.html

Amateur Astronomer Discovers New Nebula
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/02/13/1324237

Intel Reports a Research Leap to a Faster Chip
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/12/technology/12chip.html?ex=1077595264&ei=1&en=c93afb8cebf57a0a

Rover sets Mars distance record
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3477455.stm

A New Form of Matter
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/12feb_fermi.htm?list942833

Impressive Color Images of Mars - Private Image Processing
http://lyle.org/mars/

Raw Images
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html

Watch NASA TV Online for updates
http://www.nasa.gov/ram/35037main_portal.ram

Hubble Images
http://wires.news.com.au/special/mm/030811-hubble.htm

What If Dark Matter Really Doesn't Exist?
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/02/09/128223&mode=thread&tid=134&tid=160

High-voltage lines, negative ions and rats
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/159773_ratzone07.html

One step closer to superconductors
http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2004/0202/p12s01-stss.html

Oxygen at Extrasolar Planet, a First
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/extrasolar_blowout_040202.html

Thanks to Dr. Trikosko, Matt Davis, Adam Blye, Andy Wagers, Tommy Gober, Heather Dalton, Chris Dahl, Larry Luther, Dr. Norman Markworth, and others for the links and information above. Feel free to send any interesting links that you find. This email message is sent to students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the department. If you would like to be removed from the emailing list or are getting multiple copies of these newsletter, then feel free to reply to this message with your request.

Clear skies,
Dan Bruton
astro@sfasu.edu