Monthly Archives: January 2014

A great App!

After I started taking Astronomy 201 I started to get curious about what stars I was seeing at night and if they were actually planets or not.  Since I live on campus I don’t have a telescope to look closely at the sky so I wasn’t sure how I could observe and learn more.  Then […] Continue reading

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Blog Post #1: I’m just a small girl in a HUGE world

It is difficult to even fathom how great the universe is in comparison to our small beings here on earth.  The fact that we are only limited to the observable universe, which means that there is a possibility for mankind to have not even witnessed the extent of the universe is mind blowing.  The fact […] Continue reading

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2500 light years away

One day this week I was checking a weather website to see what the temperature was for the day and I came across an interesting article.  The article talked about how scientists had found a planet in the star cluster messier 67 that was orbiting a star which they called a “twin Star” to our […] Continue reading

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Lunar Eclipses Explained

After reading chapter 2 of our textbook, one of things that surprised me was the distinction between solar and lunar eclipses, and how – on an everyday basis – we seem to use the term “eclipse” only when it refers … Continue reading Continue reading

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The “World” in Which We Live

Throughout the first few weeks of class, what I’ve found to be extraordinarily interesting in the field of astronomy is not so much the scientific discoveries we have come to understand, but rather what these findings can teach us in … Continue reading Continue reading

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Before Telescopes and Stuff

Today, we know a lot about the stuff out there: stars, galaxies, supernovae, black holes, and such. We probably know more about outer space than our own ocean depths. We owe most of the knowledge to the technologies developed through centuries after centuries of hard work and perseverance. Various observatories on mountains, the Hubble Space […] Continue reading

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Faster than you can say, “3.0 times ten to the eighth meters per second”

  photo from here When I was young, I read a biography of Einstein’s life. (If he wasn’t so brilliant, we might know him as Honest Al). In this book, a story was told about young Albert at the ship docks. A worker had Al stand 50 yards away from him and swung a hammer at … Continue reading Faster than you can say, “3.0 times ten to the eighth meters per second” Continue reading

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Technology that Helps

While simply looking up at the night sky is an enjoyable experience on its own, sometimes it can tremendously add to the experience to know what you’re looking up at. I’ve come across a few programs that I think are awesome for doing just this. The first is Stellarium. This program is incredible. It allows […] Continue reading

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So Big…

Possibly my favorite thing to think about when I look up at the stars is simply how far away they are. Even though I know the measurements we have come up for for several of these stars, the actual distances … Continue reading Continue reading

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Observing the Sky: Star Parties

“The tires crunched on the gravelly road. ‘How do I know where it is?’ said Mrs. Kelly. ‘It’s so dark.’ ‘Look for the red lights,’ said Mi-Su. . . . Up ahead–spots of red. ‘Lights out,’ said Mi-Su. The headlights went out. Only the red spots were visible now. Some moving, some still. ‘Back at […] Continue reading

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