Daily Archives: February 27, 2021

Reflecting Telescopes

Posted on February 27, 2021 by zhengjs1

Telescopes have allowed us to bring what is far and mysterious up close and personal. Scientists and astronomers have built telescopes for a variety of uses, whether it’s for imaging, spectroscopy, or time monitoring. Within the realm of telescopes, there a two main types: refracting and reflecting telescopes. Between the two types, reflectors are theContinue reading “Reflecting Telescopes” Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Light | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Reflecting Telescopes

Pi’ilanihale Heiau

Posted on February 27, 2021 by solarcecily

Pi’ilanihale Heiau is located on the island of Maui, Hawai’i. It’s the largest shrine on the island, and throughout all of Hawai’i. Temples like this one are custom throughout ancient Polynesia, and many individual households would build their own smaller, personal household shrines. In face, “Pi’ilanihale” directly translates to “house of Pi’ilani.” The structure extendsContinue reading “Pi’ilanihale Heiau” Continue reading →

Posted in Historical | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Pi’ilanihale Heiau

Weight and Altitude

Posted on February 27, 2021 by justinboreskyvanderbiltedu

Most people know that if you were to take your weight on the earth and then the moon, you would weigh a lot less on the moon. But what about your weight with different altitudes on the earth? Surprisingly your weight also changes with varying altitudes. If you were to take your weight at seaContinue reading “Weight and Altitude” Continue reading →

Posted in Universe | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Weight and Altitude

The Tides of Mont-Saint-Michel

Posted on February 27, 2021 by connorrobbwilcox

As many know, the Moon causes the tides to occur all over our planet. But those same people may not know the place that has the largest change in high and low tides. Said place is an islet and commune called Mont-Saint-Michel. Off the coast of Normandy, France, it has an accessible walkway to itsContinue reading “The Tides of Mont-Saint-Michel” Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Historical | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The Tides of Mont-Saint-Michel

Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory

Posted on February 27, 2021 by laineroberts

Looking for a place to up your stargazing? Vanderbilt University has an observatory just 20 minutes away from campus! The Dyer Observatory has a 24 inch reflecting telescope. This means that the telescope uses one or more mirrors to reflect light from space to form an image for the viewer. One of the advantages ofContinue reading “Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory” Continue reading →

Posted in Stars | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory

Newgrange

Posted on February 27, 2021 by bellagoodnight

When reading up on archaeoastronomy, I was immediately fascinated by Newgrange, a structure located in Ireland. This fascination was not only due to my slight obsession with Ireland, but also because of its age. It was built roughly around 3200 BC, meaning it is actually older than the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge! On the outside,Continue reading “Newgrange” Continue reading →

Posted in Historical, Light, Sun | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Newgrange

Spectroscopy and Stars

Posted on February 27, 2021 by christianc3

While it may seem impossible to be able to identify the types of elements that stars billions of light years away are made of, scientists discovered a way to do exactly that. In the 1850s, Kirchhoff and Bunsen managed to identify what the black lines in light spectra meant, and it allowed them to identifyContinue reading “Spectroscopy and Stars” Continue reading →

Posted in Stars | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Spectroscopy and Stars

Newton and His Laws

Posted on February 27, 2021 by allyworthington

Isaac Newton is a household name for his invention of calculus, laws of motion, and realization that gravity exists in the heavens (contrary to Aristotle’s beliefs!). College students that have studied introductory physics or math may have been exposed to Newton’s three laws of motion, but how exactly are they relevant in the context of … Continue reading Newton and His Laws → Continue reading →

Posted in Physics | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Newton and His Laws

Tidal Friction: a 5 hour long day to a month long day

Posted on February 27, 2021 by brandonlipper

Due to the Universal law of gravitation, we know that objects of equal mass have a larger gravitation force between them when they are closer together. Because the near side of the Earth is closer to the Moon than the far side of the Earth, the force between the Moon and the near side ofContinue reading “Tidal Friction: a 5 hour long day to a month long day” Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Moons, Physics, SolarSystem | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Tidal Friction: a 5 hour long day to a month long day

Wanderers of Space

Posted on February 27, 2021 by 20harriganc

In this post we will talk about the concept of retrograde motion. If you watch the movement of planets, it is actually quite complex. The word planet comes from a greek term meaning “wandering star”. Planets typically move eastward throughout the constellations. When there is apparent retrograde motion the planets are moving westward throughout theContinue reading “Wanderers of Space” Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Science, Space Travel, Universe | Tagged , | Comments Off on Wanderers of Space