Monthly Archives: February 2016

Tycho, Shakespeare, Michelangelo, and the New World

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Michaela Thomas

  Tycho Brahe lived from 1546 to 1601. Here is a page detailing his contributions to astronomy.  William Shakespeare wrote his first 23 plays during Tycho’s lifetime. These plays include such major works as Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Hamlet. Click here for a list of Shakespeare’s major works.  Also, in 1584, the first …

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Tycho, Shakespeare, Michelangelo, and the New World

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Michaela Thomas

  Tycho Brahe lived from 1546 to 1601. Here is a page detailing his contributions to astronomy.  William Shakespeare wrote his first 23 plays during Tycho’s lifetime. These plays include such major works as Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Hamlet. Click here for a list of Shakespeare’s major works.  Also, in 1584, the first […] Continue reading →

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Copernicus in Context

Posted on February 8, 2016 by harperastronomyblog

Historical Context of Nicholas Copernicus  Portrait of Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543) Nicholas Copernicus  was born in the Kingdom of Poland on February 19, 1473 and died in the same area he was born on May 24, 1543. He was an extremely important and influential figure for early astronomy, and his work became the basis for a lot of […] Continue reading →

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Johannes Kepler In Context

Posted on February 8, 2016 by andyastronomer

Johannes Kepler (b. December 27, 1571 – d. November 15, 1630) Important Historical Events (Courtesy of Frank E. Smitha) 1616 – The death of William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare is one of the most important literary figures/playwrights of all time. 1620 – Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower arrive at what would become Plymouth, MA. This was one […] Continue reading →

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kepler’s Discoveries in Context

Posted on February 7, 2016 by chasejaeger

Johannes Kepler was born on December 27th, 1571 and died on November 15th, 1630. Kepler was important to astronomy primarily because of his development of the  laws of planetary motion. In short, these laws state that all planets’ orbits are ellipses, show that a planet’s orbital speed is inversely proportional to its distance from the body it orbits, and give […] Continue reading →

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Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on February 7, 2016 by alecsolarsystem

Nicholas Copernicus (2/19/1473 – 5/24/1543) played a massive role in laying down the foundation for modern day astronomy. He came up with the heliocentric model of the solar system where the Sun was at the center, as opposed to the Earth as everyone had previously thought. This sparked the Copernican Revolution where a lot of new information […] Continue reading →

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Learning the Planets

Posted on February 7, 2016 by hallesolar

We all remember trying to learn the names and order of the planets in our Solar System in grade school. Some of us got pretty thrown off by the removal and addition of Pluto on the list. For me, the Blue’s Clues Planet Song we the best way to remember the planets and a fun […] Continue reading →

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Want to Buy a Telescope?

Posted on February 7, 2016 by hallesolar

If you would love to see deeper into space from your own home, you may be interested in buying your very own telescope! Fortunately, Sky & Telescope has some guidelines to help you make this big purchase, as described by Kelly Beatty in her recent article, “How to Choose Your First Telescope.”  Here are some highlights […] Continue reading →

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Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on February 7, 2016 by hallesolar

My chosen astronomer is Johannes Kepler, who lived from 12/27/1571 – 11/15/1630. Kepler helped us understand orbits. He developed three rules, the first of which tells us that things orbit in elliptical shapes. His second rule tells us that when something is in orbit, it sweeps equal areas in equal time. His third rule shows us a […] Continue reading →

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SCED: The Science of Perspectivism

Posted on February 6, 2016 by evinske

Hey guys! Rani and I have been talking a lot about perspective for this week’s blog. First, I wanted to think about the place historical context holds in a STEM course similar to this one. Dr. G mentioned last Tuesday that our lecture about historic science (Copernicus, Tycho, Gallileo, etc.) would likely be the last […] Continue reading →

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