The Second Floor Librarians

Maybe it’s because I’ve been reading Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Death by black hole, and other cosmic quandaries (a great book, by the way – more on his books later in the post), but I was intrigued when I saw a link to NASA’s newest website for the public.

It’s called Asteroid Watch, and it’s produced by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). From their Twitter bio: “JPL’s Near Earth Object Office coordinates NASA’s efforts to detect, track & characterize potentially hazardous asteroids & comets that could approach Earth.”

On the Asteroid Watch website, you’ll find a blog, images, videos, and all sorts of information on these near earth objects.

They’ve even got an Asteroid Watch widget, which tells you about the upcoming earth approaches within a certain distance.

If you’re a space geek of any kind, you might find this a fun website to check out.

Now, more on Neil DeGrasse Tyson. He’s the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History. You may have seen him on TV, hosting NOVA scienceNOW.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson makes complicated things easy to understand for us laypeople. He writes in an engaging and readable way, and he also has a great sense of humor. He conveys the boundless enthusiasm he has for his subject so well, and it’s infectious. I’ve been learning a lot from Death by black hole, and at some point will pick up his other books. He also has a DVD series called My favorite universe.

Posted by Lisa, a second floor librarian