Daily Archives: January 21, 2019

The Universe as the United States

Posted on January 21, 2019 by Andrew Talley

If there’s one straightforward lesson from astronomy, it’s that we’re tiny. We’re small compared to the Earth’s vast size, which is small compared to the sun, which is tiny compared to the space that contains our solar system, which is a tiny dot in one arm of the Milky Way galaxy, which is one of … Continue reading The Universe as the United States → Continue reading →

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2200 Nanometers

Posted on January 21, 2019 by jacksonhubble2904

About 1/50th a hair’s width. That’s the size of the error which seriously set back the Hubble telescope. Perkin-Elmer diagnostics was tasked with grinding down the primary mirror, a 7.8 foot wide *almost* flat surface. The mirror’s curvature was determined by a reflective mirror array which bends a laser to precisely trace the surface’s desired … Continue reading 2200 Nanometers → Continue reading →

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NASA Solar System Exploration Website

Posted on January 21, 2019 by jordyn27

While searching for a website that is useful for observing the solar system, I found the NASA Solar System Exploration website. The landing page rotates through all of the planets in our solar system and provides quick facts about each planet. Currently, listed below this display are facts telling the time until a total lunar … Continue reading NASA Solar System Exploration Website → Continue reading →

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Our Earth, the Spinning Top?

Posted on January 21, 2019 by Sam Bianco

What if I told you that in a couple thousand years from now, your Zodiac sign would no longer be your Zodiac sign? It may be devastating to devout followers of astrology, but the relative positions of the Zodiac constellations are changing very, very slowly, at least from our viewpoint. This is due to a … Continue reading Our Earth, the Spinning Top? → Continue reading →

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Bright Lights (and not much else)

Posted on January 21, 2019 by jiayu

Matchbox Twenty’s Bright Lights. CeeLo Green’s Bright Lights Bigger City. My personal favorite is Sara Bareilles’s Bright Lights and Cityscapes. There is no shortage of songs about… Read more “Bright Lights (and not much else)” Continue reading →

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A Brief History of Precession

Posted on January 21, 2019 by richardficek

The priests of ancient Babylonia and Egypt were pioneer astronomers – they studied the sky, mapped constellations, and noted movements in both the Sun and the Moon – but, it was a Greek astronomer, Hipparchus, who made the first major new discovery in astronomy: precession. Comparing observations more than a century apart (particularly those done by … Continue reading A Brief History of Precession → Continue reading →

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Blog #1: Solar Eclipse Calendar

Posted on January 21, 2019 by Katie

A solar eclipse is when the moon comes between the sun and the Earth and completely or partially blocks the light from the sun. This can only occur when the moon is at the nodes of its orbit and when its precession allows it to be in this position while being between the sun and … Continue reading Blog #1: Solar Eclipse Calendar → Continue reading →

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The Cosmic Calendar

Posted on January 21, 2019 by kierannaughton5896

The Cosmic Calendar is the life of the universe condensed into a calendar year. It begins on January 1st at midnight and ends on December 31st just before midnight. The noteworthy time on this calendar is 8pm on December 1st: the start of human life. The universe is approximately 14 billion years old, so humans … Continue reading The Cosmic Calendar → Continue reading →

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Life on the Moon!!…Kinda

Posted on January 21, 2019 by dayvon

Does extraterrestrial life exist? Can living things even survive on another world? These are questions that have been asked for a long time and continue to be asked today. China tried to address the latter recently by experimenting with cotton seeds along with 6 other organisms, including potato seeds and fruit fly eggs, on their … Continue reading Life on the Moon!!…Kinda → Continue reading →

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