Monthly Archives: January 2014

Google Earth Sky

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Chad F

In the video above, Sally Ride, helps teach us how to use Google Earth as a star gazing program.  Instead of a program like Stellarium, Google Earth provides a way to actually zoom in on the galaxies around us.  The vantage point of Google Earth Sky is not on Earth.  Instead, the camera is located at […] Continue reading →

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The slowness of the speed of light

Posted on January 26, 2014 by bsturge93

Warp Speed The speed of light is about 3*10^8 m/s, or in more recognizable units, over 670 million miles per hour. To observers on Earth, this is unimaginably fast and allows us to communicate almost instantly with anyone, no matter where they live. In fact, light can travel around Earth over 7 times in a … Continue reading The slowness of the speed of light → Continue reading →

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Lightspeed Activate!

Posted on January 26, 2014 by Chad F

The speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second.  Nothing that we know of travels faster than light, and that’s a good thing because everything we see depends on light traveling from the object to our eyes.  Because light has to travel to our eyes, we always see things as they appeared in the past. […] Continue reading →

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Different speeds of light

Posted on January 26, 2014 by drewhamilton0

Although we often refer to “the speed of light” as a singular value (c = 299,792,458 m/s), the truth is that when we see light, it is actually moving slower than this speed. This is because the light we see is not moving in a vacuum, but through our atmosphere instead. Light moves at different speeds… Continue reading →

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Seasons on Earth

Posted on January 26, 2014 by efb28

  Unless you live near the equator, you have experienced how much the temperature outside varies by season (or by day in TN). Many people assume this has something to do with Earth’s orbit being an imperfect circle, but they are wrong. As pictured above, it is actually Earth’s tilt that causes seasons to change; […] Continue reading →

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Zodiac

Posted on January 26, 2014 by katiew

The Zodiac was created about 2,000 years ago as a way to track time. Each month, the sun appears to pass through 1 of 12 constellations that are each tied to a sign (In 1930, the International Astronomical Union, actually defined 13 constellations that the Sun passes through, but one does not have a sign). […] Continue reading →

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Size and Expansion of the Universe

Posted on January 26, 2014 by katiew

I have always thought that the universe is almost unfathomably huge, but until recently I had not spent much time contemplating how humans have determined this. While reading about the topic, I came across information about the Hubble Space Telescope. Not being familiar with astronomy, I did not know much about it or its purpose. […] Continue reading →

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Size and Scale of the Universe

Posted on January 26, 2014 by efb28

The size and scale of the universe in which we live in is mind boggling. This is because we all live relatively short lives and most of us do not even see many of the places here on Earth. In the picture above (if you can see it), we can see just how small everything […] Continue reading →

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Solstices and Equinoxes

Posted on January 26, 2014 by philipapelles

Dividing our calendar into four segments, the equinoxes and solstices detail length of daylight hours and how the sun interacts with Earth. The solstices, or days by which the summer and winter are defined by, represent the longest and shortest days in our calendar. June 21, or the summer solstice (in the northern hemisphere), is… Continue reading →

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Potential to Shed New Light on Our Cosmic Calendar

Posted on January 26, 2014 by waldentb

Interplanetary Dust Particles Interplanetary dust is dust that been shorn away from asteroids, comets, planets, and other leftover debris from …

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