Monthly Archives: January 2020

How the Universe?

The universe is much, much, much bigger than you may think it is. I personally find it inconceivable – my finite brain does not register infinity. The observable universe, as we know it today, is 14 billion years old – this means that we can see 14 billion light-years into the universe. Within this universeContinue reading “How the Universe?” Continue reading

Posted in Class, Universe | Tagged , | Comments Off on How the Universe?

Blue Moon

I’m sure you have heard the phrase “once in a blue moon” which is widely used to describe rare or seldom events. However, it wasn’t until I was in high school that I learned the true origins of the colloquial phrase. After seeing an article headline announcing the occurrence of a blue moon, my friendContinue reading “Blue Moon” Continue reading

Posted in Class | Tagged | Comments Off on Blue Moon

Infinite Possibilities

Upon reading this chapter, I was sort of disturbed by the reality of how infinite the universe is and how minuscule we are as humans (in the grand scheme of things). The Cosmic Calendar, a scale of the universe over the course of one year, reveals that humans would have appeared within the last fewContinue reading “Infinite Possibilities” Continue reading

Posted in Class | Tagged , | Comments Off on Infinite Possibilities

Wormhole Theory

Reading about the vast size of the universe, I started exploring the possibility of travelling through the it. One popular theory on the structure of space-time is a wormhole. It postulates a theoretical passage through space-time that could create a shortcut to a different spot in the universe. So far, we’ve thought about travelling inContinue reading “Wormhole Theory” Continue reading

Posted in Class, Universe | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Wormhole Theory

The Powers of 10 Video

I think that the “Powers of Ten” video displayed not only conceptually how raising something to a power of ten affects it, but also the incredibly large scale of the universe. During the first half of the video when the perspective is going increasingly further away from the starting point, it seems as though theContinue reading “The Powers of 10 Video” Continue reading

Posted in Class | Tagged , , | Comments Off on The Powers of 10 Video

The Cosmic Calendar

The Cosmic Calendar is created by shrinking the life span of the entire universe down into the length of the Gregorian Calendar. In this time, a human life is less than a second long and modern humans have been around for about two minutes (The Cosmic Perspective). When I think about this, it is almostContinue reading “The Cosmic Calendar” Continue reading

Posted in Class, Universe | Tagged , , | Comments Off on The Cosmic Calendar

SkyView Lite

SkyView Lite is a app for Apple that makes stargazing super easy and fun for beginners. I have personally had this app for about 9 months. It’s great fun to pull out the app on warm summer nights. Even when the light pollution in the city gets in the way, this app allows the userContinue reading “SkyView Lite” Continue reading

Posted in Class | Tagged , , | Comments Off on SkyView Lite

How Do We Understand the Size of Our Universe?

It is hard for us to truly fathom the sheer size of our universe, this is clear- the distances involved are simply too big to comprehend with just the human mind. But we have begun to understand the nature of this size, and order the magnitudes of the universe in ways we can understand. TheContinue reading “How Do We Understand the Size of Our Universe?” Continue reading

Posted in Class, Universe | Tagged , , | Comments Off on How Do We Understand the Size of Our Universe?

Is it possible to travel faster than light?

Einstein created a new physics framework with the notions of space and time, known as the theory of general relativity. As he continued to study these concepts, he realized the connectedness between the two, then referring to it as space-time. His theory explained how time does not go by at the same rate for stillContinue reading “Is it possible to travel faster than light?” Continue reading

Posted in Class, Light | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Is it possible to travel faster than light?

The Equinoxes Throughout History

The winter and summer solstices occur as a result of the Earth’s tilt. The summer solstice occurs for a hemisphere when it is facing most directly towards the sun, and this marks the longest time of sunlight for that hemisphere. The winter solstice, is the exact opposite occurrence, resulting in the least amount of timeContinue reading “The Equinoxes Throughout History” Continue reading

Posted in Class, Historical | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The Equinoxes Throughout History