Daily Archives: February 17, 2014

The Space Race

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Drew Hamilton

The Space Race was a competition of sorts between the United States and the Soviet Union that started in 1955 and led to the first artificial satellites being sent into orbit, the first humans being sent into space, and the first humans landing on the Moon. The USA was the first to announce intentions to… Continue reading →

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X-ray Telescopes

Posted on February 17, 2014 by eschellhase

Light comes at many different wavelengths and energies. The light we see represents light with wavelength from about 400 to 700 nanometers. Infrared light and radiowaves have longer wavelengths (and thus carry less energy) than visible light, while UV rays and x-rays and gamma rays have shorter wavelengths (and carry higher energy). Even though we […] Continue reading →

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Tides

Posted on February 17, 2014 by karapetros

This video is a cool, informative, easy understand animation of how the gravitational pull between the Earth and the Moon affect tides. It clearly and concisely describes how tidal forces cause high tides twice per day even though the moon is only overhead once per day and why the gravity is weaker at a greater … Continue reading Tides → Continue reading →

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Hipster Lens Flare–From Whence Do They Come?

Posted on February 17, 2014 by claremcdaniel

This photo shows a pretty typical example of a lens flare. In chapter 5, we cover light, the visible spectrum, the three basic type of light, how it moves and bends and what can bend it. Lens flares are a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Planetarium

Posted on February 17, 2014 by mariah0407

Growing up, one of my favorite things was going to the planetarium.  I was very eager to go learn about each of the planets and the universe.  I would spend lots of time trying to find the constellations, and my brother even got a star named for me! The star is located near Pegasus and […] Continue reading →

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Tides

Posted on February 17, 2014 by mariah0407

Having grown up near the ocean, I always found tides fascinating.  Until now though, I never quite understood what was happening. Moon tides are caused by the Moon’s gravity which creates two “bulges.”  Additionally, there are Sun tides, but these are not as strong due to how far away the Sun is. Recently, in the […] Continue reading →

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Blog #4: Telescopes

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Lauren

Even though I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, I have never taken the time to visit the renowned Griffith Observatory until this past winter break.  After my trip, I found my awestruck in wonder by the breathtaking beauty of the night sky.  It is difficult to see stars in the city since […] Continue reading →

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Blog Post #3: Defying Gravity

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Lauren

It always blew my mind that despite the vastness of the universe, there was a central force that centered it all.  Just thinking about how far away the sun is from the earth, but how a certain force (gravity) can still pull the two together past the distance to create an orbit and a revolution […] Continue reading →

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Let’s just go back to the good old Greek days

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Asad Pabani

Whilst it is true we have a lot more to discover about the Universe, we have dramatically increased the knowledge we have on the Universe in recent times. Indeed, just my astronomy textbook is about 750 pages. All this learning, yet we can never know enough about the Universe. It just makes me think sometimes, […] Continue reading →

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X-Ray vision is pretty useless

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Asad Pabani

X-Ray vision. Sounds pretty cool right? In a discussion of which superpower one could have, it would rank right up there as a people’s favourite. The reality however is a bit of a letdown. Most things in everyday life like people, clothes and houses do not emit X-Ray vision which means you would have very […] Continue reading →

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