Daily Archives: February 15, 2017

Blog 3: Cosmic Background Radiation

Posted on February 15, 2017 by mchastr2110

A radiation that is an after-effect of the Big Bang still around today. It was actually discovered accidentally by two Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson in 1965. They noticed a static that appeared to be coming from every direction at the same strength. Later scientists were able to trace out a Black Body curve for … Continue reading Blog 3: Cosmic Background Radiation Continue reading →

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Blog 2: Celestial Navigation

Posted on February 15, 2017 by mchastr2110

Even though astronomers use scales such as arcseconds and arcminutes to measure certain distances between stars, the main tool of celestial navigation, the sextant, is only able to measure arcminutes. The sextant uses reflection in order to find the angle of celestial objects. Traditionally, the sextant has two mirrors. The horizon mirror is stationary and … Continue reading Blog 2: Celestial Navigation Continue reading →

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Blog 1: The Speed of Light And Refractive Index

Posted on February 15, 2017 by mchastr2110

Light travels at a velocity incredibly difficult for us to comprehend other then as just a very, very large number. To be exact, light travels at a constant velocity of 299,792,458 m/s within a vacuum. This is not the same for light traveling through other conditions. When light does travel through things other then a … Continue reading Blog 1: The Speed of Light And Refractive Index Continue reading →

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Blog 2 – Occam’s Razor

Posted on February 15, 2017 by johnjohnb4

For my second blog, I thought I’d discuss the idea of simplicity in astronomy; specifically, the idea of Occam’s Razor.  One of the hallmarks of science is the progression of creation and testing of models of nature that explain scientific observations as simply as possible.  This idea, that scientists should prefer the simpler of two […] Continue reading →

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Blog 1 – Cosmic Calendar

Posted on February 15, 2017 by johnjohnb4

For my first blog, I wanted to discuss the cosmic calendar.  From the picture below, you can see, from a human bias, the five most important events in universal history, symbolized in the julian calendar: the big bang in january, the formation of the milky way in march, the development of the solar system in […] Continue reading →

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