All students and faculty are welcome to attend our seminars. Refreshments will be served.

Title #1: "Microlensing" - Matt Pusko

Title #1: "Captured Light" - Nathan Frigo

Time: 4:00 PM on Thursday
          November 2, 2006

Place: Science Room 334

Movie of the Week
Ruben's Tubes
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=ruben%27s+tube&hl=en

Dr. B's Survey

November 8th - Mercury Transit

There will be solar telescopes outside of the science building between 1 and 3pm on Wednesday, Nov. 8th. SPS members and Physics and Astronomy faculty will set up the telescopes between the science building and the business building.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/20oct_transitofmercury.htm?list184210

PDF Document
http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/social/social158/MercuryTransitGuide.pdf

Job Opportunity - Manned Space Vehicle

Dr. Bruton,

I am sending you this, stumping for my company. SAIC has recently won a contract on the Safety, Reliability and Quality Assurance (SR&QA) contract for the next generation manned space vehicle. This will be the vehicle that will take man back to the Moon and eventually on to Mars. In that light, SAIC is currently hiring. I believe that they are not only looking for experience people, I believe that they are also looking for young scientists and engineers out of college to fill the ranks. This would be an opportunity for a person who is interested in space travel to get into the new vehicle, the new program on the ground level.

Our team uses our engineering, scientific and mathematical skills to provide risk, reliability and logistical analysis of current and future vehicles to assist in the design, maintenance and upgrades for these vehicles.

If there are any new or upcoming graduates that you know of who may be interested in something like this, please have them send me their resumes. I will then submit them to my management for their perusal and consideration. I cannot guarantee an interview or a job offer, but I can say that the resumes will be seen and considered for a position in our team.

James Teel
SAIC
Probabilistic Risk Analyst
S&MA Analysis Group
Mail Code NA2450
(281) 335-2289
James.E.Teel@nasa.gov

Editor's Note: James Teel graduated from SFA with a masters degree in physics in 1998.

Scholarships for Future Teachers

The American Association of Physics Teachers is offering two $2,000 scholarship for future high-school physics teachers. This scholarship, supported by an endowment funded by Barbara Lotze, is available only to U.S. citizens attending a U.S. school. Undergraduate students in, or planning to enter, physics teacher preparation curricula and high-school seniors planning to enter such curricula are eligible.
http://www.aapt.org/Grants/lotze.cfm

Science News

Very Cool Door
http://livedigital.com/content/1031130/c385

A really neat daytime picture of the Moon and Venus
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061030.html

Fun with Ferrofluid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5Ti6PeGdNQ&mode=related&search=

Floating magnet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8nCg0n0zXM&mode=related&search=

High Speed Imaging Movies
http://photron.com/gallery/gallery.cfm

Duke Medical Physics
http://www.pet.mc.duke.edu/mp/dukempflyer.pdf
http://www.medicalphysics.duke.edu/

ASSIST movie from MIT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZNTgglPbUA
http://rationale.csail.mit.edu/project_assist.shtml

Americans win Nobel physics prize
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/10/03/nobel.physics.ap/index.html

Software finds missing 'a' in Armstrong's moon quote
"One small step for a mankind, one giant leap for mankind."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/30/moon.quote.ap/index.html

CNN Video: Phones that Scream
http://www.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=viewThis&etMailToID=1055937567&pt=Y

Novarupta
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/03oct_novarupta.htm?list184210

T-Shirt
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/science/8964/

Movie: Working together really well!
http://astro.sfasu.edu/movies/Formadoporgente.wmv

Astronomers find supernova first spotted in A.D. 185
Nearly 2,000 years ago, Chinese astronomers spotted a bright light materializing in the night sky. Turns out the skywatchers had witnessed the spectacular explosion of a dying star. That was the year 185 AD. Tuesday astronomers said they might have identified the remains from this ancient stellar explosion, now considered the oldest supernova on record.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060928.html

Face on Mars -- Recent Images
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060926.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060925.html

Earth as seen From Saturn
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060927.html

Autumnal Equinox: Vertical Lines on the Sunlit Earth
http://astronomy.physics.tamu.edu/Java/Tools/Earth/Sun/

Movie: Magic Quarter with Chriss Angel?
http://astro.sfasu.edu/movies/MagicQuarter.wmv

Movies: The World's Safest Table Saw
http://www.sawstop.com/

The space station is really growing!
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060920.html

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 newsletters, then feel free to reply to this message with your request.

Clear skies,
Dan Bruton
astro@sfasu.edu