News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
Turns out that NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope project manager is a self-described “parrot head.” The term is a playful reference to fans of calypso singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who project manager Bill Ochs recently quoted when congratulating the Webb Space Telescope team. (For his part, Buffett was said to once call his fans “parrot heads” … Read more
A new image captures NASA’s distant James Webb Space Telescope in a sky full of stars. The Rome-based Virtual Telescope Project took the exposure over five minutes using its robotic telescope, a PlaneWave 17-inch, tracking Webb on a Paramount ME mount. The image captured Webb just as it was arriving at its destination at the … Read more
With the rapid expansion of commercial space, there is a growing number of satellites in orbit around our planet. Most of these are in low-Earth orbit, which is becoming increasingly crowded. This has led some to be concerned about a catastrophic rise of space debris, as well as a growing frustration by astronomers due … Read more
The Earth Biogenome Project, a global consortium that aims to sequence the genomes of all complex life on earth (some 1.8 million described species) in ten years, is ramping up. The project’s origins, aims and progress are detailed in two multi-authored papers published today. Once complete, it will forever change the way biological research … Read more
Starlink is the name of a satellite network developed by the private spaceflight company SpaceX to provide low-cost internet to remote locations. SpaceX eventually hopes to have as many as 42,000 satellites in this so-called megaconstellation. The size and scale of the project flusters astronomers, who fear that the bright, orbiting objects will interfere with … Read more