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AAS: Astronomy and popular culture

I'll be sad to miss the public lecture tomorrow night by Andy Fraknoi, as there is a previously scheduled press event at the same time. But for you science/pop culture buffs out there, see if you can answer some of the questions Fraknoi poses in his abstract:

- In what popular movie does Daryl Hannah play an astronomer? (Answer.)
- What Japanese car company is named after a well-known star cluster? (Answer.)
- What science fiction story, written by an astronomer under a pseudonym, features a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of stellar evolution? (Answer.)
- Can you recite the most famous neutrino poem, and name the poet? (Answer.)

And here's really geeky one I haven't a clue about - if you know, comment below please!
- What rock group had its members' names included in a reference in the Astrophysical Journal, unbeknownst to the editor?

Posted by Alex Witze on January 08, 2008
Categories: American Astronomical Society | | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

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I think question 3 is a dud, since it seems really likely that other astronomer-authors have written novels with H-R diagrams in them. I'm sure there's one in at least one Greg Benford novel (I'd suggest "Eater" as the most likely -- and its fun anyway for the character sort-of-based on Martin Rees). So why does Yoji Kondo get credit for doing the same thing pseudonymously?

Posted by: Oliver | January 10, 2008 12:50 PM

I think the answer to that is, it is the only such story *to Andy Fraknoi's knowledge*.

Also he has emailed me to say it was the Byrds who ended up in an ApJ reference - though details remain tantalizingly slim...

Posted by: Alex Witze | January 10, 2008 01:19 PM

Details less slim in the post I've just added here
http://blogs.nature.com/news/blog/2008/01/aas_rocknrollnapj.html

Posted by: Oliver | January 10, 2008 05:56 PM

Re the H-R diagram: I vaguely recall a (short?) story in which the hero was lost in space (no, not that story!) and navigated his way out by use of the H-R diagram and some kind of star chart. IIRC, the key words to the diagram (OBAFGKMN) had been written on the wall by some previous astronaut.

Posted by: Mike Maxwell | October 14, 2008 11:04 PM

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