Monthly Archives: February 2016

The Tidal Forces

Posted on February 14, 2016 by alecsolarsystem

Tides are a well known and commonly occurring natural phenomenon that most people have witnessed. While many people just accept tides and don’t really think much about them, they are prime examples of how much of an impact other objects in our Solar System have on seemingly normal occurrences. The tides on a beach like […] Continue reading →

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Zero Gravity on Earth

Posted on February 14, 2016 by HB

OK Go, a band famous for their awesome music videos, just released the music video for their newest song. And the whole thing was filmed in zero gravity! However, the music video wasn’t filmed in space and the band wasn’t in orbit. So how did they achieve this feat? There are types of planes called … Continue reading Zero Gravity on Earth → Continue reading →

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The Gran Telescopio CANARIAS

Posted on February 13, 2016 by Chloe

When it comes to reflecting telescopes, bigger can mean better. The Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC), located on the island of La Palma in the Canaries, Spain, is currently the largest single-aperture optical telescope in the world. Its primary mirror surface is made up of thirty-six hexagon segments; together these segments function as one primary mirror […] Continue reading →

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The Sun and the Missing Neutrinos

Posted on February 13, 2016 by solarsystemjoe

First of all, what is a neutrino?  It’s an elementary particle, like an electron or a photon, but it hardly interacts with matter.  In fact, billions of neutrinos pass through you every second, but you don’t feel them.  This characteristic makes them hard to detect.  It’s no wonder that, in recent history, scientists thought some […] Continue reading →

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Newgrange, Archeoastronomy Before Stonehenge

Posted on February 13, 2016 by solarsystemjoe

Although Stonehenge is the most famous ancient astronomy site in Europe, it isn’t the oldest.  While Stonehenge was built around 3000 BCE, Newgrange, a tomb in Country Meath, Ireland, was built around  3200 BCE. At first glance, this tomb doesn’t seem to have much to do with astronomy; there is no telescope, nor is there a spire to […] Continue reading →

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What Happens in Space…

Posted on February 12, 2016 by impossibleensign

Unlike Vegas, the effects of your space trip come back to Earth with you. Continue reading →

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What’s the deal with black holes?

Posted on February 11, 2016 by danielicopeland

(Artist’s depiction of a black hole “stealing” mass from a nearby star) What are black holes? Black holes are supermassive cosmic objects. They can be very large or as small as an atom. These atom-sized black holes are so massive that, if on Earth, they could have the same mass as a large mountain. Super […] Continue reading →

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Gravitational Waves Confirmed

Posted on February 11, 2016 by danielicopeland

Picture and Video Explaining Gravitational Waves Thursday February 11th 2016 was a monumental day for physics. Albert Einstein first theorized gravitational waves in 1916 as part of his theory of general relativity. Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of the universe caused by massive cosmic events, such as the collision of black holes. These ripples […] Continue reading →

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The Center of the Universe

Posted on February 10, 2016 by jasperluastronomy

While reading the textbook, I found it very disappointing just how close the Greeks were to figuring out that Earth was not the center of the universe. Had they not been fooled by looking for parallax, they would have been led to the right conclusion that the Earth orbits the sun, rather than that everything […] Continue reading →

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Growing up on the Moon

Posted on February 10, 2016 by jasperluastronomy

We talked a bit in class on Tuesday about what would happen to someone’s body if he were to spend too long in space. His bones would start deteriorating, his muscles would get weaker, and his body would produce less blood as he adjusts to zero G. I was reminded while we were talking about […] Continue reading →

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