Monthly Archives: January 2022

My first eclipse

The solar eclipse of May 20, 2012 is the most spectacular astronomical event I have ever personally experienced. The event was an annular eclipse with the moon only blocking out the center of the sun, resulting in a ring of light around the dark moon. The eclipse occurred less than 48 hours after apogee, so […] Continue reading

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Blog 1: The Mystery of the Light-Year

People often confuse a light-year for a measure of time instead of a measure of distance. This is understandable since it has “year” in the name. A light-year is NOT a measure of time. The true definition of a light-year can be easily understood with a few simple facts and calculations. First, light travels at […] Continue reading

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Moon Phases!

To start off, I am going to be focusing on our own Earth’s Moon. As we all know, the Moon goes through phases as it orbits the planet. It’s current phase is dependent on where it is in the sky…

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Blog 1 – Initial Review of SkyView Lite

SkyView Lite is an iPhone application that allows the user to point their phone at different parts of the sky and see an overlay of constellations in the direction that they point. I downloaded the app and tried it out. This post is going to be about my experience using the app. The app works […] Continue reading

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The speed of light and what it means for the Earth-Sun system.

The speed of light is one of the most important laws (or principles) in our Universe. The speed of light determines what we see and when we see it, as well as providing a universal “speed-limit” for countless celestial objects that zoom throughout the universe. I find it illuminating to consider the speed of light […] Continue reading

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“Powers of Ten” and the Scale of the Universe

I didn’t remember until I started the video, but I had seen “Powers of Ten” before in some science class many years ago. This staying power, evidenced by my recollection and the countless Youtube comments saying similar things, is proof of how mind-blowing the concept of scale is. Scale determines what we can comprehend andContinue reading ““Powers of Ten” and the Scale of the Universe” Continue reading

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Blog 1

The scale, and “end points” to our universe, is widely unknown. Because as humans have not ventured or seen any type of universe ending barrier, the question of infinity comes into play. One common assumption that a human naïve to the theories of astronomy would have is that the universe is never ending. This, however, […] Continue reading

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The Scale of the Universe (Post 1)

The universe is so massive that it can be difficult for humans to comprehend its scale, so I will break it down using something that we can easily understand. Earth is 1 AU (astronomical unit) from the sun or 150 million KM. If a human were travelling this distance in a car at 100 miles […] Continue reading

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Blog 1-Why the Cosmic Calendar is so interesting

By far one the most interesting aspect of understanding the cosmos for me revolved around the cosmic calendar. Essentially, The Cosmic Calendar takes the time span of the entire universe and condenses it into single year based on the calendar. Just like any other calendar year, time starts on January first and ends at 11:59 […] Continue reading

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The Vastness of the Universe

Our universe is composed of two: the observable and entire. There is a distinction between the two because light takes time to travel through space. From what we know, the observable universe is 13.8 billion years old. Already, that’s an intimidating age, but the thought of the entire universe makes it even more intimidating. There…Continue reading » Continue reading

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