Monthly Archives: January 2015

Star Walk

Posted on January 23, 2015 by matthewrbirnbaum

As a student in the astronomy lab last semester I was told to download the Star Walk application because it would help during observing labs.  When I first downloaded it I assumed I would use it for a couple of labs and then delete it and use the space for a new version of Flappy […] Continue reading →

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Strange Light Found on Dwarf Planet Ceres?

Posted on January 23, 2015 by agiantchicken

Scientists claim to have spotted a strange bright light or object recently on the surface of Ceres, a dwarf planet and the largest object lying within the Asteroid Belt of our solar system. The following picture was taken of the planet as NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft flew in toward the object on January 13th. What is […] Continue reading →

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Blog #2: Eclipses

Posted on January 23, 2015 by oliviasn

Both in class and while reading the textbook, I found myself particularly fascinated by the phenomena of eclipses. Although it would be extremely cool to see eclipses every month, the fact that they do not occur very often because the moon’s orbit is tilted by 5° with respect to the ecliptic makes them so special […] Continue reading →

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The Vast Size and Scale of the Universe

Posted on January 23, 2015 by hbutter13

Recently I saw this link on Facebook and I decided to check it out. I had no idea what I was in for. We have been talking about our galaxy and our nearest neighbor, The Andromeda Galaxy, a lot in class and this picture just released by NASA gives us a better idea of what exactly […] Continue reading →

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Andromeda Galaxy

Posted on January 23, 2015 by matthewrbirnbaum

This picture…Wow.  Cliché as it may be, this 1.5 Billion pixel picture fascinates me.  To view this picture in its entirety, one would need 600 HD TVs.  While the picture is cool and would look great above my bed, I wonder if there are any implications of this picture.  According to NASA, this picture will […] Continue reading →

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Tennessee will be treated to a total eclipse in 2017

Posted on January 23, 2015 by lindenmuthadam

Due to the constant nature of the laws of physics, scientists can predict future eclipses with remarkable accuracy. These events are caused by the moon partially or (more rarely) totally obscuring the Sun’s path to the Earth. During solar eclipses we are able to see the Sun’s outermost halo, called the corona, which is usually […] Continue reading →

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Just how small… or big… am I?

Posted on January 23, 2015 by jamej00

The Known Universe This video really puts into perspective the true size of the observable universe.  Some say this makes us insignificant, but I disagree.  I think that our ability to map the nature of the universe to such an extent makes us quite significant! Realize that everything we know about the universe came solely from… Continue reading →

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The scale of supermassive black holes is mind boggling!

Posted on January 23, 2015 by lindenmuthadam

Crazy black hole video! They say learning about astronomy is a great way to feel insignificant, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the study of supermassive black holes. The amount of matter contained within these beasts is impossible to comprehend without visual aids. The black hole in the center of the Phoenix cluster […] Continue reading →

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Want to know your real sign?

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Marissa LePore

Cosmo magazine may be giving the cosmos the best PR around, thanks to the back of their magazine. Every Cosmopolitan has a section near the back dedicated to the astrological horizon- i.e., horoscopes. Whether we think it’s a sham or not, it’s fun to read about what the month will supposedly hold according to the […] Continue reading →

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Faster than the Speed of Light

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Marissa LePore

In summer of 2013, the New York Times published an article about NASA’s (then) newest project. Physicists and engineers were trying to determine whether “warp drive” might one day be possible. Warp drive, for those of you who are not Trekkies, is traveling faster than the speed of light or 3.0 x 10^5 km/s, and thus far […] Continue reading →

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