Nabin K. Malakar, Ph.D.

NASA JPL
I am a computational physicist working on societal applications of machine-learning techniques.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Moon Pictures from Observatory @Earth Science Department

For long time I was not aware of the 16inch telescope located at the roof top of the Earth Science Department @ SUNY Albany.
This year I am doing Teaching assistant ship job for Prof. Knuth's Star Systems class. (http://knuthlab.rit.albany.edu/courses/F09/StarSystems/)
Today provided very nice opportunity to invite students for stargazing through twitter and Phil's Black Board page. It was dark enough by 7 PM. The night sky was very very clear. We did some observations including Moon and Jupiter.
Here are some pics taken by my Mobile.



Please note that I could get only some portion in the field of view. Let me tell you:
It was amazing



Got a blurred version captured. You can see three of the Jupiter's Moons.



The Moon
http://www.atmos.albany.edu/mars/telescope-2.html

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Physics Frontline: Official Blog by Americal Physical Society




The scientific publications by Americal Physical Society has been viewed as very prestigious materials by/among the scholars. Physics Frontline is the latest effort to bring out discussions on general topics aimed to public and members.

Let me quote:
Physics Frontline covers the latest scientific news, analysis and commentary on the intersection of physics with science policy  issues, including innovation, education, energy, climate change, and nuclear policy.
I had also written about the "Physics", the online publication of APS, spotlight kind of site for Physics with interesting materials here... http://www.nabinkm.com/2008/11/subscribe-to-physics-new-venture-of.html.
The aim of "Physics.aps.org" was to highlight some interesting viewpoints, trends and promote the discussions with synopses.

I suppose the aim of Frontline is going to be more oriented towards general public. Looking at few postings in there, I can see that it is more towards the policy or the concurrent view of physics.

Let me quote once more:

To serve the needs of its membership and the general public, APS concerns itself with a number of issues that affect both the physics community and the nation as a whole.  They are:
Competitiveness & Innovation
Defense
Education
Energy & Environment
Research Funding
Visas



The American Physical Society is the leading professional organization of physicists, representing over 47,000 physicists in academia and industry in the United States and internationally.

Link:

http://physicsfrontline.aps.org/