StarStuff

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About Me

Hi, I'm Stuart Gary, I'm a journalist and broadcaster with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. I love science, especially the majesty and wonder of space, so I put together a weekly astronomy show for the ABC called StarStuff.

In my spare time I like to fly planes, practice karate and pistol target shooting and play around with my cars, a twin Turbocharged Falcon GT Interceptor and a DeTomaso Pantera GTS.

I’m vegan, a life member of the RSPCA and a supporter of several animal welfare organisations.

My other great passion is music which is understandable when you realise that I was a radio music jock long before I became a journalist. My record library contains tens of thousands of singles, albums, videos, CD’s and DVDs. These days that’s all stored in an 8 terabyte raid enclosure linked to a desk top PC at home. My tastes range from rock and grunge through to trance and new romantics. At the moment I’m listening to heaps of MGMT, William Control, Hawthorne Heights and Short Shack, but I have lots of time for the classics like Placebo and the early stuff from Silverchair, In fact Neon Ballroom is still my favourite album, and Emotion Sickness is still one of my two favourite songs (the other being William Control’s Death Club).

StarStuff is a great name for the show, but it works on more levels than just astronomy, it’s really cool for any science program because everything in the universe after the quark gluon plasma of the big bang is star stuff even the iron which makes your blood red was manufactured in the supernova explosions of stars. Carl Sagan said it best, we are all star stuff.


This blog is designed to allow me to publish all the things which can’t fit into StarStuff. There’s heaps of really interesting stuff out there and only a half hour window for the show, so each week becomes a battle to try and squeeze it all in. This blog lets me do that.

You can check out the show at the offical ABC StarStuff website:
http://www.abc.net.au/science/starstuff/

There's also an official ABC StarStuff Twitter feed: @abcstarstuff

And an official ABC Science website: http://www.abc.net.au/science/


The legal stuff: This is my personal blog. The views expressed in this blog are those of me only and not the Australian Broadcasting Corporation or its management. I do not claim ownership of any of the media in this blog. where possible credit and or source will always be given. If one of your photos or other media is submitted in this blog and you would like it removed please let me know.

Blogs I follow:

Theme by: Miguel
  1. spacettf: Sh2-101 Tulip nebula in hubble palette by swag72 on Flickr.

    spacettf:

    Sh2-101 Tulip nebula in hubble palette by swag72 on Flickr.

    2. 102 Notes
    Reblogged: spacettf
  2. letsbuildahome-fr: Extreme Architecture The Pont du Sart is a navigable aqueduct in the West of Belgium

    letsbuildahome-fr:

    Extreme Architecture

    The Pont du Sart is a navigable aqueduct in the West of Belgium

    (Source: thekhooll)

    3. 1303 Notes
    Reblogged: conrailbrian

  3. senior-crown:

    Post #978 is dedicated to my favorite Blackbird, #978. She was one of the first SR-71’s to be flown over to Kadena AB in 1968. The Playboy bunny logo was painted on with Hugh Hefner’s permission, earning her the name “Rapid Rabbit”, only one of four Sleds with individual names. Unfortunately, she was lost on July 20, 1972 at Kadena after attempting to land under extreme crosswinds. One of her rudders, however, was salvaged and installed on #975. When #975 was put on display at the March Field Museum, the inside of the rudder was painted as #978. The next Blackbird loss did not occur until 17 years later, and it was the last. More info:

    http://www.habu.org/sr-71/17978.html

    http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/loss_4.htm

    4. 33 Notes
    Reblogged: conrailbrian
  4. scott62568: Here’s looking at you !!!!!

    scott62568:

    Here’s looking at you !!!!!

    5. 46 Notes
    Reblogged: conrailbrian
  5. spaceplasma: This “lightbulb” Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) shows the three classical parts of a CME: leading edge, void, and core. In coronagraph images, direct sunlight is blocked by an occulter, revealing the surrounding faint corona. The approximate size of the Sun is represented by the white circle. Taken on February 27, 2000 by the LASCO C3 coronagraph. Credit: SOHO (ESA & NASA)

    spaceplasma:

    This “lightbulb” Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) shows the three classical parts of a CME: leading edge, void, and core. In coronagraph images, direct sunlight is blocked by an occulter, revealing the surrounding faint corona. The approximate size of the Sun is represented by the white circle. Taken on February 27, 2000 by the LASCO C3 coronagraph.

    Credit: SOHO (ESA & NASA)

    6. 84 Notes
    Reblogged: neuronsandneutrons

  6. astronemma:

    ESO’s Top 100 Images: 11-15

    11. ESO’s VLT reveals the Carina Nebula’s hidden secrets (bottom). Credit: ESO/T. Preibisch

    12. VST image of the giant globular cluster Omega Centauri (middle right). Credit: ESO/INAF-VST/OmegaCAM. Acknowledgement: A. Grado/INAF-Capodimonte Observatory

    13. Messier 78: a reflection nebula in Orion (middle left). Credit: ESO/Igor Chekalin

    14. Panoramic view of the WR 22 and Eta Carinae regions of the Carina Nebula (middle). Credit: ESO

    15. The hidden fires of the Flame Nebula (top). Credit: ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit

    7. 275 Notes
  7. npr: This map shows just-released satellite imagery of the damage from the tornado that struck Moore, Okla., and vicinity on May 20 — one of the most destructive storms ever recorded. Zoom in to see the extent of the damage.

    npr:

    This map shows just-released satellite imagery of the damage from the tornado that struck Moore, Okla., and vicinity on May 20 — one of the most destructive storms ever recorded. Zoom in to see the extent of the damage.

    8. 105 Notes
    Reblogged: npr
  8. space-pics: With Russian Meteor Fresh In Everyone’s Memory, ESA Opens An Asteroid Monitoring Centerhttp://space-pics.tumblr.com/

    space-pics:

    With Russian Meteor Fresh In Everyone’s Memory, ESA Opens An Asteroid Monitoring Center

    http://space-pics.tumblr.com/

    9. 15 Notes
    Reblogged: space-pics
  9. preachingtoinfinity: spaceplasma: The Very Large Telescope Snaps a Stellar Nursery and Celebrates Fifteen Years of Operations This intriguing new view of a spectacular stellar nursery IC 2944 is being released to celebrate a milestone: 15 years of ESO’s Very Large Telescope. This image also shows a group of thick clouds of dust known as the Thackeray globules silhouetted against the pale pink glowing gas of the nebula. These globules are under fierce bombardment from the ultraviolet radiation from nearby hot young stars. They are both being eroded away and also fragmenting, rather like lumps of butter dropped onto a hot frying pan. It is likely that Thackeray’s globules will be destroyed before they can collapse and form new stars. Credit: ESO Beautiful.

    preachingtoinfinity:

    spaceplasma:

    The Very Large Telescope Snaps a Stellar Nursery and Celebrates Fifteen Years of Operations

    This intriguing new view of a spectacular stellar nursery IC 2944 is being released to celebrate a milestone: 15 years of ESO’s Very Large Telescope. This image also shows a group of thick clouds of dust known as the Thackeray globules silhouetted against the pale pink glowing gas of the nebula. These globules are under fierce bombardment from the ultraviolet radiation from nearby hot young stars. They are both being eroded away and also fragmenting, rather like lumps of butter dropped onto a hot frying pan. It is likely that Thackeray’s globules will be destroyed before they can collapse and form new stars.

    Credit: ESO

    Beautiful.

    10. 142 Notes

  10. astronemma:

    ESO’s Top 100 Images: 1-5

    1. VISTA’s infrared view of the Orion Nebula (top left). Credit: ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit

    2. The Helix Nebula (bottom left). Credit: ESO

    3. VST image of the star-forming region Messier 17 (bottom right). Credit: ESO/INAF-VST/OmegaCAM. Acknowledgement: OmegaCen/Astro-WISE/Kapteyn Institute

    4. A 340-million pixel starscape from Paranal (middle). Credit: ESO/S. Guisard 

    5. NGC 2264 and the Christmas Tree cluster (top right). Credit: ESO

    11. 171 Notes
    Reblogged: aimlessinspace
  11. pappubahry: The comet Hartley 2, photographed by Deep Impact as part of its extended EPOXI mission, 4 November 2011. The original photos from this encounter were blurry (I’ve uploaded an almost equivalent gif here for comparison) because of a problem with the lens.  By pointing the camera at a star, effectively a point-source of light, and studying the precise way in which the point got blurred, the EPOXI team was able to work backwards and “deconvolve” the photos of Hartley 2.  This procedure makes them much sharper, but also introduces some ringing artefacts, which are especially visible in the first few frames.

    pappubahry:

    The comet Hartley 2, photographed by Deep Impact as part of its extended EPOXI mission, 4 November 2011.

    The original photos from this encounter were blurry (I’ve uploaded an almost equivalent gif here for comparison) because of a problem with the lens.  By pointing the camera at a star, effectively a point-source of light, and studying the precise way in which the point got blurred, the EPOXI team was able to work backwards and “deconvolve” the photos of Hartley 2.  This procedure makes them much sharper, but also introduces some ringing artefacts, which are especially visible in the first few frames.

    12. 253 Notes
    Reblogged: likeaphysicist
  12. space-pics: Astonishing Hi-Resolution Satellite Views of the Destruction from the Moore, Oklahoma Tornadohttp://space-pics.tumblr.com/

    space-pics:

    Astonishing Hi-Resolution Satellite Views of the Destruction from the Moore, Oklahoma Tornado

    http://space-pics.tumblr.com/

    13. 14 Notes
    Reblogged: space-pics

  13. jtotheizzoe:

    In the “Atoms In Motion” introduction to Richard Feynman’s famous Lectures on Physics (which you can actually watch, thanks to Microsoft), there’s a very interesting footnote. I saw it in the condensed and immensely enjoyable Six Easy Pieces, which everyone should read:

    “One can burn a diamond in air”

    That took me by surprise. But it’s true! The video above from Theodore Gray (who is really good at burning stuff) shows that diamond will ignite if brought to a certain temperature and given enough oxygen to latch on to. Like Feynman said, those carbon atoms and oxygen atoms love each other, and want to snap together (which gives off heat), but enough input energy must be applied first to break down the diamond crystal, (which also makes carbon atoms pretty happy).

    Interesting note about cheap old zirconium in there, too …

    (tip of the torch to Freelance Astrophysicist, where I found the video)

    14. 207 Notes
    Reblogged: jtotheizzoe
  14. spacettf: Messier 109  Image Credit & Copyright: Bob Franke Explanation: Beautiful barred spiral galaxy M109, 109th entry in Charles Messier’s famous catalog of bright Nebulae and Star Clusters, is found just below the Big Dipper’s bowl in the northern constellation Ursa Major. In telescopic views, its striking central bar gives the galaxy the appearance of the Greek letter “theta”, θ, a common mathematical symbol representing an angle. Of course M109 spans a very small angle in planet Earth’s sky, about 7 arcminutes or 0.12 degrees. But that small angle corresponds to an enormous 120,000 light-year diameter at the galaxy’s estimated 60 million light-year distance. The brightest member of the now recognized Ursa Major galaxy cluster, M109 (aka NGC 3992) is joined by three spiky foreground stars strung out across this frame. The three small, fuzzy bluish galaxies also on the scene, identified left to right as UGC 6969, UGC 6940 and UGC 6923, are possibly satellite galaxies of the larger M109. Nasa Apod 23 May 2013

    spacettf:

    Messier 109 
    Image Credit & Copyright: Bob Franke

    Explanation: Beautiful barred spiral galaxy M109, 109th entry in Charles Messier’s famous catalog of bright Nebulae and Star Clusters, is found just below the Big Dipper’s bowl in the northern constellation Ursa Major. In telescopic views, its striking central bar gives the galaxy the appearance of the Greek letter “theta”, θ, a common mathematical symbol representing an angle. Of course M109 spans a very small angle in planet Earth’s sky, about 7 arcminutes or 0.12 degrees. But that small angle corresponds to an enormous 120,000 light-year diameter at the galaxy’s estimated 60 million light-year distance. The brightest member of the now recognized Ursa Major galaxy cluster, M109 (aka NGC 3992) is joined by three spiky foreground stars strung out across this frame. The three small, fuzzy bluish galaxies also on the scene, identified left to right as UGC 6969, UGC 6940 and UGC 6923, are possibly satellite galaxies of the larger M109.

    Nasa Apod 23 May 2013

    15. 25 Notes
    Reblogged: spacettf
  15. distant-traveller: Station and Shuttle transit the Sun That’s no sunspot. On the upper right of the above image of the Sun, the dark patches are actually the International Space Station (ISS) and the Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-132. In the past, many skygazers have spotted the space station and space shuttles as bright stars gliding through twilight skies, still glinting in the sunlight while orbiting about 350 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. But here, astrophotographer Thierry Lagault accurately computed the occurrence of a rarer opportunity to record the spacefaring combination moving quickly in silhouette across the solar disk. He snapped the above picture on last Sunday on May 16, about 50 minutes before the shuttle docked with the space station. Image credit: Thierry Legault

    distant-traveller:

    Station and Shuttle transit the Sun

    That’s no sunspot. On the upper right of the above image of the Sun, the dark patches are actually the International Space Station (ISS) and the Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-132. In the past, many skygazers have spotted the space station and space shuttles as bright stars gliding through twilight skies, still glinting in the sunlight while orbiting about 350 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. But here, astrophotographer Thierry Lagault accurately computed the occurrence of a rarer opportunity to record the spacefaring combination moving quickly in silhouette across the solar disk. He snapped the above picture on last Sunday on May 16, about 50 minutes before the shuttle docked with the space station.

    Image credit: Thierry Legault

    16. 35 Notes
    Reblogged: distant-traveller