Top of page

Category: Astronomy/Mathematics

Silver stylized owl with radiant circles around its head, surrounded by a gold frame

Using Space-Based Observations for Improved Global Water Security and Sustainability: May 15 Lecture with NASA’s Dr. John Bolten

Posted by: Angel Vu

This post was authored by Stephanie Marcus, Science Reference Librarian in the Science, Technology, and Business Division. The combined stresses of overpopulation, water pollution, and poor water management practices require new approaches to better assess and manage global water security and sustainability. Dr. John Bolten will review the technological advances in satellite-based remote sensing and numerical …

Silver stylized owl with radiant circles around its head, surrounded by a gold frame

NASA Astrophysicist Dr. Scott Guzewich to Discuss ‘Swimming in Martian Lakes: Curiosity at Gale Crater’ on April 25

Posted by: Angel Vu

This post was authored by Stephanie Marcus, Science Reference Librarian in the Science, Technology, and Business Division. NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission landed the nuclear powered rover Curiosity on the floor of the 96-mile wide Gale Crater on August 6, 2012.  In a complicated maneuver using a sky crane, it touched down near “Mount Sharp,” …

Silver stylized owl with radiant circles around its head, surrounded by a gold frame

Finding Our Origins with the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes: Lecture with NASA’s Dr. Jonathan Gardner, March 22

Posted by: Angel Vu

This post was authored by Stephanie Marcus, Science Reference Librarian in the Science, Technology, and Business Division. The Hubble, the first space-based optical telescope, has been circling the Earth and making observations for nearly 28 years since its launch in April 1990.  Just this week it has had its eye on a relic galaxy, NGC …

Silver stylized owl with radiant circles around its head, surrounded by a gold frame

What’s for Lunch: 2018 Earth and Space Science Talks at the Library of Congress, Sponsored by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the ST&B Division

Posted by: Angel Vu

Lecture series coordinators Sean Bryant and Stephanie Marcus, Science, Technology and Business Division, contributed to this blog post. With March just around the corner, we are preparing to kick off our annual Earth and Space Science lecture series, now in its twelfth year.  The series is a partnership between the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center …

Silver stylized owl with radiant circles around its head, surrounded by a gold frame

Holiday Light Show from Space: Lecture with NASA’S Dr. Miguel Román December 7

Posted by: Ellen Terrell

This post was authored by Stephanie Marcus, Science Reference Librarian in the Science, Technology, and Business Division. Even from 512 miles above the Earth, holiday lights shine bright. Miguel Román, who is a research physical scientist and remote sensing specialist in the Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, has been looking …

Silver stylized owl with radiant circles around its head, surrounded by a gold frame

“To explore strange new worlds…” NASA’s Dr. Padi Boyd Speaks about Exoplanets on November 2

Posted by: Angel Vu

This post was authored by Stephanie Marcus, Science Reference Librarian in the Science, Technology, and Business Division. Dr. Padi Boyd, Chief of the Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, will speak at the Library of Congress about the thousands of planets discovered beyond our solar system and the evolving view …

Silver stylized owl with radiant circles around its head, surrounded by a gold frame

The Star that Ate Manhattan! Studying Neutron Stars from the International Space Station – October 17 Lecture with Dr. Zaven Arzoumanian

Posted by: Ellen Terrell

Dr. Zaven Arzoumanian is a research astrophysicist and the deputy principal investigator for the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. He will describe the NICER mission, an International Space Station payload devoted to studying neutron stars — the physics governing their interiors, their emissions, and their …

Silver stylized owl with radiant circles around its head, surrounded by a gold frame

Cassini’s Grand Finale: September 7 Lecture with NASA’s Dr. Conor Nixon

Posted by: Angel Vu

This post was authored by Stephanie Marcus, Science Reference Librarian in the Science, Technology, and Business Division. Now that we’ve had the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse, it’s time to move on to the next big event on NASA’s calendar, and that is the Grand Finale of the Cassini-Huygens Mission, a cooperative project of NASA, the …

The shadow of the moon partially obscures the orange sun

Chasing Shadows: Eclipses and Eclipse Observations in the Library of Congress Collections

Posted by: Angel Vu

Every so often the Moon passes directly between the Sun and the Earth, casting a shadow on the Earth and briefly blocking much of the Sun’s light from reaching the Earth. This, we call a solar eclipse. Humans have long been fascinated by solar eclipses. Reports of occurrences come from ancient civilizations. Succeeding generations of astronomers would add their own records. By the 19th century though, astronomers were beginning to observe and measure the dimmer outer corona of the sun. Astronomers, eager to observe more solar eclipses, began to travel farther from their homes, traveling on expeditions to remote locations. In recent years eclipse viewing has grown to encompass the scientific community in many more countries who contribute their reports to the collective body of scientific knowledge and observations have become ever more sophisticated.