Where Would You Point Hubble?

I remember working in the Space Lab at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History as an exhibit interpreter when I was a teenager. We had one exhibit labeled "Where Is Hubble Now?" People would always be really surprised to see that the display was a spherical model of Earth viewed from a bit out in space with a dot labeled "HST" near it. For some reason, far too many people think that the Hubble Space Telescope has actually traveled hundreds, thousands or even billions of lightyears through space to take the images it sends back to Earth. Of course you and I both know that's not true; HST is in low Earth orbit at a distance of 559 km above the earth.
HST takes great images because it's out of Earth's atmosphere. Trying to do astrophotography on the surface of the earth is like taking a picture from the bottom of a swimming pool; our turbulent atmosphere is always moving and flowing, which wreaks havoc on all those photons we're trying to capture. HST doesn't have that problem and, as a result, it takes some of the best images ever recorded of our universe.
If you were in charge of the Hubble Space Telescope for a day, where would you point it? NASA is giving you a chance to decide! In honor of IYA (see, I'm not the only one excited about it!), the folks at HubbleSite are offering us the people the chance to decide on what Hubble will study next. You can vote online here. If you're an educator, you can also register to receive a free Hubble Education Package. I won't tell you what I voted for, but I'll give you a hint: I voted for a "peculiar" target which gravity has distorted.

Sing Along Time

Did you know that IYA has its own theme song? Yes, it's true; the renowned science-popsters AstroCapella have penned a theme song, Shoulders of Giants. Little Dudestronomer and I have been rocking out to this number all morning. It's available for free download here, and is also the subject of the Astronomy Music Video Contest. That's right, you can make your own music video and enter to win a fabulous prize. First prize is $500 and a telescope, and categories include middle school, high school, graduate and artist (artist category is for original song and video). The deadline is January 7, 2010, so get cracking!